"How was dance, Aru?" asked Krithika when she got home.
"It was alright," said Aru. "Urvashi Auntie gave me my dress for that dance on the 15th."
Kara gasped from the couch and grabbed the parcel out of her hands, "Let me see!"
"Excuse me?" asked Aru glaring at her sister, but Kara was too busy unwrapping the package.
"Oh my gods," said Kara.
Krithika looked at the dress and smiled, "It's beautiful. Come look, beta,"
The dress literally took Aru's breath away.
It was a rich gold lehenga with beautiful floral thread work and sequins. The skirt definitely had the twirl effect, and the anarkali-style blouse was absolutely stunning with full sleeves and a sheer bottom.
But what really caught her eye was the familiar initials among the floral print on the sleeve of the lehenga which could only mean this was one particular person's design.
"Did Nikita make this?" asked Aru incredulously.
She grabbed the parcel and dug through the jewellery pieces to find a note with familiar printing.
This took me the longest amount of time. 3 months for clarification. I only made this because I knew you were performing Aru, so you better dance the best you ever have.
P.S DRY CLEAN ONLY.
P.S.S Sheela says hi
With love,
N.J
"That's sweet of her," said Krithika, reading the note with Aru.
"I can't believe she's only 13 sometimes," said Suyodhana.
"Nikita's amazing, but just look at this jewellery!" exclaimed Kara, holding the gold bangles to her face.
"We're putting this away now," said Krithika, pearing the bangle away from Kara, putting it away.
Kara sighed, "I wish I could dance so that I could dress up like you, Aru,"
"Okay but the dress weighs like 10 pounds," said Aru. "Do you know how difficult it is to dance like that?"
"But you can make it look so pretty anyway!" exclaimed Kara.
Aru didn't know how to respond, just grabbed the bag out of Kara's hands aggressively and made a run for the stairs.
"Are you going to run away from Aiden like that?" asked Kara, a smirk playing in her voice.
"Which Aiden? Who's Aiden? Aru!" called Suyodhana.
"What did we speak about last night?" asked Krithika pointedly.
Aru mentally rolled her eyes.
Last night when Suyodhana and Kara went out to eat at their favourite restaurant that both Krithika and Aru didn't like, her mother had made them both hot cocoa and they snuggled on the couch watching Lord of the Rings, which was great. The bad thing is that halfway through, her mother had started talking about her new favourite topic...
Feelings.
Krithika had started talking about "tumultuous adult psyche" and started spouting things like "You're a young woman now." Which made absolutely no sense because what was before? A young horse?
"Mama, why don't you talk about that stuff to Kara?" asked Aru.
"Oh, we've already had that conversation before," said Krithika.
She heard Kara groan in despair, "That was the worst conversation ever."
"Hold on!" yelled Suyodhana. "Who is this Aiden boy?"
"Oh Aiden is-"
"Kara!" yelled Aru warningly. "I don't even like him like that!" She lied.
"Are you sure?" asked Kara.
"Yes!" yelled Aru down the stairs.
"Whatever you say."
On Monday, Aru found herself looking forward to meeting Aiden.
She felt like she was falling harder by the day and Aru felt like she was dying internally and externally. Aru just hoped it didn't show.
"Aru are you sure you're okay?" asked Kara when they were walking to school.
"Yeah," said Aru. "I just have something to tell Mini."
Kara raised an eyebrow but bought it anyway.
Once they reached the place Aru hated most, she walked down the hallway, past the 11th grade science class, to her locker.
Unsurprisingly, Mini was already there, unpacking her bag.
"Hi Aru!" she exclaimed, raising her elbow.
Aru reciprocated the elbow bump and smiled warily at her best friend.
"Are you okay?" asked Mini. "You look tired and you have dark circles under your eyes."
Aru looked at the mirror inside their locker which Mini had named "Dee Dee" when they were in the fifth grade.
Her lips were slightly chapped and the skin under her eyes took on a dark hue.
She looked like a racoon.
Great.
"Mini," said Aru. "If I tell you something, do you promise you won't tell anyone?"
"Is it serious?" asked Mini. "Did you get respiratory disease? Or type 2 Diabetes from all the Swedish Fish you've been eating?"
"No," said Aru. She took a deep breath, "I like Aiden."
To her surprise, Mini only raised an eyebrow and continued unpacking, "Are you sure you only like him?"
"Sorry what?" asked Aru.
"I mean, if I'm not wrong, you've liked him ever since he moved in front of the museum, which was approximately 4 years ago." said Mini as if it wasn't a big deal.
"What? How-"
"You're not subtle, Aru," said Mini sympathetically. "Brynne knows too."
Aru glared at her best friend, "Well you aren't either. You literally walked into a pole the first time you saw Rudy when we were 12."
Mini blushed, "But he didn't know I liked him then!"
"That's because he's Rudy, Mini. He's oblivious as hell and I was probably going to kill myself if you two pined any longer." said Aru incredulously.
"But we're dating now," said Mini. "And if you don't stop the pining I've been witnessing for the past 4 years, I might get angina."
"But he doesn't like me like that," said Aru, pushing her backpack into the shared locker.
Mini put a finger to her chin in thought, "I wouldn't be too sure about that."
YOU ARE READING
Teenage Dream
FanficAiden Acharya was not up for getting engaged. He was graduating high school, his whole life ahead of him, and it was all getting burned down in one day. Or was it? **PICTURES ON COVER ARE NOT MINE**
