Aru Shahness

Ad for Swedish Fish

FYI: Aiden doesn't know anyone except Rudy and his current family in this...

Aiden walked down the street of where the carnival was happening. There were bright lights and soul-lifting tunes every turn that he made. But he didn't want to be there. He had only come because his cousin, Rudy, had made him. Aiden looked to his left and saw a cliche Ferris Wheel. He walked a little closer to it so he could get a better look. The Ferris Wheel had red and green lights strung everywhere that was possible, and rotated at about the speed of a children's Merry-Go Round. 

Then, he saw a bizarre sight. A girl, whose hair was flying loose behind her, was eating...candy? Eating candy on the Ferris Wheel. Now that's something I've never seen before. thought Aiden. As the Ferris Wheel came down, she appeared to drop one of the pieces of candy, which flew towards Aiden. He quickly caught it in his right hand just as the girl made eye contact with him. Her eyes were a warm honey-brown. Then, the Ferris Wheel carried her up again and she broke eye contact with him.

Aiden inspected the candy. It's Swedish Fish. Not bad. he thought. Then, he heard a voice behind him.

"Cuz, come on! I found this really cool booth, and you have to try it with me!" Rudy said excitedly.

"Fine." Aiden internally groaned. He had wanted to keep observing the Swedish Fish girl. Rudy grabbed Aiden's left hand and dragged Aiden with him as he ran towards the mystery booth. Then, he stopped, and swiveled to his left. 

"Aha! Here we are. Take a look at this."

Aiden looked and saw the words Find Your Soul's Beloved on a poster. Then, a man who looked very handsome, but sort of monkey-like, approached the two cousins.

"Hello! I'm Hans, and I'll be helping you find your other half today!" he exclaimed.

"Umm so how does this work, exactly?" asked Aiden.

"Well, there's this curtain, which has holes for your hand to go through. On one side of this curtain will be girls, and on the other, will be boys. If you don't prefer the opposite gender, we have a different curtain set up over there for that." he paused to point a few feet away from him. 

"That's okay. We both like girls." said Rudy.

"Then you're right next to the correct curtain. Go behind the curtain and line up in a row parallel to the curtain. Choose any spot you like that's in front of a hole. Girls will be lined up on the other side. When I say go, stick your right hand through the hole in front of you, and the girl that chooses you will be your beloved." said Hans.

Aiden rolled his eyes. He already knew this wasn't going to work. What was the chance that a girl he liked would be at this exact carnival, when she could be literally anywhere else in the world? Nevertheless, Rudy gave him a nudge and he chose a random spot. There were a few other guys who came to fill in some of the other spots next to him and Rudy. Hans peered at the other side of the curtain, probably to make sure enough girls were there, before he shouted in a deep voice. "Three! Two! One! Go!" 

Aiden stuck his hand out before realizing that the Swedish Fish was still in it. But he was pretty sure Hans wouldn't like it if he pulled his hand back. As he was internally debating on what to do, he felt someone take the Swedish Fish off his palm before grabbing his hand. He saw Rudy look at him with wide eyes, indicating that someone had taken hold of his hand as well. 

A moment later, Hans lifted the curtain, and Aiden found himself staring into the same pair of honey-brown eyes as before. The girl didn't seem surprised to see him, though. She probably knew it was me when she saw the Swedish Fish, realized Aiden. Now that they were standing a few inches apart from each other, Aiden got a close look at her. She had a beautiful, almost perfectly circular face, framed by two locks of her elbow-length dark-chocolate colored hair. The rest of her hair was in a braid. And, she had a cute button nose. I'd buy her all the Swedish Fish she could possibly want, thought Aiden. (Later in his life, Aiden would discover that buying this much candy was harder than he thought.)

The girl seemed to be doing the same thing that Aiden was doing, as her gaze was focused on Aiden's face. 

"What's your name?" asked Aiden.

"Bond. James Bond." replied the girl. Aiden laughed.

"I'm Aiden Acharya." he told her.

"Aru Shah." she replied.

"Just so you know, you're still holding on to my hand. But it's nice, really, so umm."

Aru let go of his hand, her cheeks turning red. She blurted, "I know where you live!" Then her hands flew to her mouth. "I-um demons, bye!" She turned around and was about to run, but Aiden grabbed her hand. 

"Please don't leave me Shah." he said. Then he mentally scolded himself. Why did you say that? It sounded cringe. "I mean, can we be friends?" he asked the girl. She turned around and her face appeared to light up before she regained her composure.

"Of course, snob." she replied with a smirk. "Gimme your number."

"Sure thing, troll." Aiden said, letting go of her hand. As they exchanged numbers, he glanced at his cousin. Rudy appeared to be talking to a girl with glasses. The tips of Rudy's ears were red, and the girl was blushing slightly.

Maybe these carnival booth things do work, he thought, before looking back at Aru. 

Hans cleared his throat. "I don't do this for free, ya know! Pay up!" he bellowed. "10 dollars per person."

Aiden opened his satchel and couldn't find any money. He started to internally panic, when he felt a hand tap his shoulder.

"I've got it." said Aru, handing Hans a 20 dollar bill. "But I want something in return." Aru grinned mischievously.

"Yes?" asked Aiden, worried.

"Come to my birthday?" she asked. "It's in a week." 

"Of course." Aiden grinned, relieved.

"And, buy me all the Swedish Fish I want." said Aru.

Aiden ended up going broke two weeks later.

I think this was my longest piece of writing for one post so far. It took me a while also. I feel like I've been doing too much Aruden and not enough of the other ships, though. Oh, well.