Chapter 10: Meant To Be

Saying I was exhausted was an understatement.

When I arrived back home after my last exam, I headed directly to my room and dropped on the bed. I fell asleep with my street clothes on and all.

During those last days after going to Newt's place, I studied so much that I felt like I couldn't learn anything else. I was so swamped out with information and everything that no matter how hard I tried to study more, I couldn't.

But I still did kind of good on the exams.

So when I woke up and knew I was finally free from all that stress, I smiled.

I groaned when I remembered that I was supposed to go out for dinner with my family, though. Mom and dad insisted that they wanted us to have dinner with a couple they met during their journey and their kids.

But that would be on the evening, I was free all morning and afternoon.

I rolled over in my bed, knowing I could sleep for as long as I wanted to, and closed my eyes again letting my thoughts lull me to sleep.

I wondered how Newt, Minho, Thomas and everyone were doing. If Thomas' leg had gotten better. If Minho was still mad at him because of it. If Newt cheered up after he was done with the finals.

Of course, I didn't expect him to be nonchalantly after it all.

Your insecurities don't disappear just because someone says a few nice things to you. It helps, of course, but it's never that easy. Those toxic thoughts we have about ourselves take time to get rid of.

Just like I was still hurt because of what happened with Dave and being insecure about that and so many things, Newt had to fight his demons too.

But I was determined to help him do it. I had discovered that the best way to do it was distracting him.

You get lazy, you get sad. Start giving up. Plain and simple.

That was why I was so grateful to have such great friends and family. Because they made me so happy even in my darkest times. Because they reminded me of the good things in life and made me forget about the bad things. Because they fixed me when I was broken.

Of course, cuddling and watching a TV show while eating chocolate ice cream was cathartic too. And that was exactly how Newt forgot about everything for a while that day.

I sniggered to myself when I realized how deep my sleepy thoughts were. Maybe because my mind was so exhausted that I was kind of delirious.

But as I tried to leave my mind blank, I gladly surrender to the sweet slumber.

*

When I woke up next I figured I was alone because the whole house was silent.

Mom and dad were probably working, and Chuck was probably in school. I had the house for myself.

It was a week day, but college had given us a free week to recover from the exams, which I appreciated a lot. At least they did that right.

Embracing the spare time and being alone, I did whatever I felt like.

First I took a long and warm shower that relaxed me and washed away all the remaining stress from the finals.

Then I poured myself some cereal, which I ate with a smile on my face.

After that, since it had been a long time since I last did, I made a few leather bracelets –I had no idea why, but one of them reminded me of Newt. It seemed like he would wear it really well –and some origami and then I went to lie in my bed with some Coldplay in the background.

From my bed, I looked at Kuma, the giant teddy bear Newt gave me. And also the heart-shaped rock Minho found and gave me. They put the biggest smile on my face.

I was incredibly happy at that very moment.

*

After a few hours, around lunch time, I was still listening to music in my room.

And then, someone knock on the door. I wondered who it could be.

I calmly walked down the stairs and opened the door. A smile immediately flew to my face without a warning.

"A beautiful flower for a beautiful girl" Newt was there, as gorgeous as ever, offering me a red rose.

"What is that for?" I decided to tease him a little, watching his smile falling a little and being replaced by a smirk when I thought he was about to pout.

"For helping me the other day" He waved the flower in front of my face, but I crossed my arms over my chest and grinned.

"Minho passed by your place too"

"Take it, I don't bloody bite" He insisted.

"Aren't you going to give him some flo-?"

He shut me up with a kiss on the lips.

Pouting because I couldn't really resist him, I let him come in.

He chuckled as I took the rose when he offered it to me again. I sniffed the flower, still grinning like a fool.

"Next time bring daisies" I mumbled, still holding on to the red rose.

"They're your favorite?" Newt looked around the living room while I went to look for a vase to put the flower in water.

His gaze wandered around the room as if he had never been there, which I found amusing.

"Yes" I answered him when I walked back to him, holding a thin vase filled with water in which I put the rose.

"Suits you"

"Really? Why?"

"Like you, it's simple and natural but beautiful"

I blushed and took his hand. Smooth like klunk.

"Shut up, Newtie"

He used his free hand to hold the hair away from my face and give me a kiss on the cheek as it still burnt. His lips lingered on my skin as he laughed a little, which sent butterflies flying into my stomach as his laugh vibrated in my face.

For some reason I felt like he was especially loving that day. I couldn't help but think about what Alby said once, that he was only like that with me.

It made me feel special, and also fonder of him.

"Come here, I want to give you something" I pulled at his hand so he'd follow me up the stairs.

I realized then that he had never been in my room before.

I placed the base with his flower next to Minho's rock on top of my chest of drawers.

"What is it?" He asked curiously.

I saw how he subtly looked at the teddy bear he gave me, a tiny smirk forming on his mouth.

I rummaged through my desk, which was filled with origami figures and random bracelets, until I found it.

It was a wide piece of leather with a bunch or braded thinner pieces of leather overlapped over it.

Newt's face lit up as he saw it, and I knew he liked it for real.

"Thanks, love!" He excitedly said, rolling up the sleeves of his leather jacket to immediately put the bracelet around his bare right wrist.

Then he hugged me as an affectionate thank you. I grinned behind his back while he couldn't see me.

When we broke away and he looked at me, I could sense how excited he was that day. It was great to see that Newt was in an amazing mood, infectious as well.

"Tommy and Minho are waiting for me for lunch, want to come?"

"Making plans without me, huh?" I teased him, shaking my head in disapproval. "How disappointing"

The blond laughed and sat down in my bed.

"Are you coming or not, love?" Newt tugged at my pajamas shirt like a little kid.

"Okay" I giggled, swatting him away. "Wait here, I'll get changed"

"Not going anywhere, love" He lazily lied down on my bed, holding his arm up to stare at his new bracelet.

I picked up the clothes I would wear and couldn't help a tiny smile as I went to the bathroom to get changed. That boy made me smile like a fool every time.

*

We were almost there, according to Newt, when he dropped my hand since he had been holding it as we walked the whole way.

"Oh my God!" Newt then exclaimed, making me stop in my tracks. I hadn't noticed he wasn't walking next to me anymore. "Y/N!"

"What?!" I asked, worried.

I turned around and looked for Newt. He was crouching in the ground, his back facing me as he looked at something.

"What is it?" Hesitating, I placed a hand on his shoulder. What happened?

"Look!" Newt stood up and turned around.

In his arms he cradled a puppy of Golden Retriever, like it was a baby.

"Aaaaaw!" It was so tiny and adorable. And it made Newt ten times cuter just because he was holding it.

His smile was huge as he looked fondly at the pup in his arms.

"We should take him somewhere" I said, realizing that he had no collar. He probably was alone in the streets, poor thing.

"I should bloody take him to my place" Newt said, shifting his glare from him to me.

"I meant an animal shelter or something, Newt. Having a dog implies a lot of responsibilities"

"But Y/N..." Newt pouted and turned the little puppy around so he was facing me. "Look at those eyes"

I never thought Newt would be that cute, but apparently he was. And more when he spoke to the doggy like he would to a baby.

Still, he was right. He was the most adorable thing, with his brown fur and his sweet face. His puppy brown eyes reminded me of Newt's, and I giggled at the thought.

"I know, but we can't leave him here" Even if we had to go, I really wanted to stay with the puppy.

"I don't want to leave him" Newt agreed, staring at the puppy with sad eyes.

"You could call Alby and ask him to take him to the shelter"

"Fine" Newt handed me the puppy, which I held gingerly. "I'll call him, but I'm gonna stay here until he arrives"

"Okay, fair enough. I'll wait for you there"

He nodded as I handed him the puppy back once he had dialed the number and he held the phone against his ear.

"Bye, you little cutie" I petted the tiny dog and gave Newt a kiss on the cheek before I went on ahead.

When I finally arrived to the burger place, Minho and Thomas were already sitting in a table, waiting for us to make their order.

They looked up when they saw someone coming in and smiled at the sight of me.

"Y/N!" Minho stood up in a rush and engulfed me in a bear hug.

"Love you too, Minho" I laughed, hugging him back.

"I missed you so much" He pretended to be crying and squeezed me tight.

"Hi, shorty" Thomas peeked over Minho's shoulder to see me.

"Stephen" I greeted him with a smile.

"Don't ever stay away from me this long again" Minho couldn't keep a straight face and ended up laughing, and I did too because of him.

"Not that I'm not glad to see you, but what are you doing here?" Thomas asked me, confused.

"And where's Newt?" Minho completed for him.

"We found a puppy on the streets and he's waiting with him until Alby comes to take him to the animal shelter" I took off my jacket and placed it on the chair's back rest as they sat down again.

Thomas and Minho exchanged a glare.

"This Newt...."

"Oh, how's your leg?" I asked Thomas, just remembering about his injury.

"It's fine" My friend smiled at me, flattered by my concern. "Only hurts sometimes"

"You wouldn't have needed to heal it if you hadn't been so stupid, stupid" Minho angrily said, slapping Thomas across the head.

"Love is in the air" I sarcastically said, watching how they sent annoyed glares to each other.

Then I picked up the menu to see what I would order while those two mumbled swear words to one another.

*

Newt came back, apologizing for being late. He seemed a bit grumpy as he had to leave the poor puppy, but he soon cheered up again with our banter.

We were almost done eating our burgers when something surprised us.

I opened my eyes wide when the song that was playing on the burger place was so familiar. Because it was Coldplay.

Knowing how much I adored that band, all three of them glanced at me with an amused expression as I struggled not to fangirl in public.

"Well, well, well..." Minho raised his eyebrows and gently kicked me under the table.

It was Fix You. My favorite song in the whole wide world.

"This could be our song" Newt winked at me as he squeezed my hand briefly before letting go of it again.

He was so loving that day! Apparently, him being on a good mood meant a lot of kisses and cuddles. Which was perfectly fine by me.

"They're getting cheesy again..." Thomas groaned in exasperation.

"It was actually a coincidence that you were here today, love" Newt mumbled, ignoring those shanks.

He was right. Thomas and Mino had been very happily surprised to see me, so Newt probably thought of taking me too last minute and didn't t even tell them.

"Was it?" Minho smirked and coolly leaned one elbow on the table. "I think it was meant to be"

I let out an astonished but cheerful guffaw when he said that.

And Newt chuckled too, so I shifted my glare until it met his. When I looked at him, he sent me a significant glare.

He wasn't wrong. After all, we had been fixing each other in our darkest times. Or at least trying to, doing our little part to help the other to be okay.

"Hey, lovebirds?" Thomas tried to bring us back to reality. But we weren't having any of it.

"Before you start snogging, shall I remind you that we're eating?" Minho snapped his fingers before our faces.

Mockingly, Newt wrinkled his nose at their comments. And then he raised his eyebrows.

I didn't need him to talk to understand what he was trying to tell me.

So I leaned in and gave him a kiss on the lips.

"No!" Thomas and Minho complained, making me laugh in spite of myself and stopping me from kissing Newt anymore. "Ugh!"

*

We walked together, from left to right Minho, Newt, me and Thomas.

Newt walked with an arm over my shoulders, his hand holding mine as I stretched my arm up to reach his grip.

"Dude!" Minho exclaimed, loudly slapping Newt across the arm, making him wince in a funny way. "You had food!"

The blond slowly smiled and took his arm off my shoulders as he put his hand inside his jacket pocket, pulling out a big bag of M&M's.

He bought it in the burger place as a dessert for everyone, but we ended up not eating it. And Newt said that it was his anyway because he had been the one to pay it.

"Thanks for reminding me, mate" Newt smirked as he began eating, not offering any of us. Not even me.

"I said it because I'm hungry" Minho pouted, and I exchanged an amused glare with Thomas.

Minho was like a little kid when it came to food. Well, he always was like a little kid, but especially in that case.

Subtly, I pushed Newt with my shoulder. He turned to me and fed me just one M&M. The greedy little klunk.

Thomas and I laughed out loud when Minho calmly took Newt's bag of M&M's and began eating from it while he was distracted. He ran away from Newt and we laughed out loud as Newt chased him. Eventually, even if Minho was the fastest person I knew, Newt caught up with him. And we laughed even more when the blond angrily snatched it away from him.

After all the stress of the exams, it felt exhilarating being with my three favorite boys again, laughing and being silly with them.

"Since Newt here won't let me wind him up..." Minho didn't even finish the sentence, he just placed an arm around Thomas' shoulders and the both of them struggled as Thomas tried to get away from him before he could pull something up.

"Get away from me, you shank!" Thomas held Newt's arms and took the advantage that he was busy eating M&M's to push him to the side so he'd be a human shield between Thomas and Minho.

The Asian then shrugged and tilted his head to the side to look at me lazily.

"Seems like it's just you and me now, princess" Minho smirked evilly as he held me by the waist.

"Leave her alone, Minho" Newt took me by the arm and yanked me away from our friend. My boyfriend always got a little jealous whenever Minho fooled around with me.

"Yeah, Min" I said, mockingly pronouncing his name.

To my surprise, Minho had said the same exact words I had at the same exact time. Seemed like he knew me well enough to know what I was going to say.

"Jinx!" Minho exclaimed, earning a very angry glare from me.

Thomas and Newt cheered him, so I shifted my very angry glare to them.

The first one just laughed, but Newt luckily took pity on me.

"Y/N" He accompanied my name with a kiss on my cheek.

"Take that, Min" I stuck my tongue out at him as he threw me a death glare through squinty eyes.

"This will not end here"

Smiling because Minho then began to annoy Thomas again ("Thomas, have I ever told you you're one ugly shank?" "Shuck off, Minho"), I snuggled closer to Newt's side.

"I have to leave soon" I sadly said out loud to no one in particular even if Newt was probably the only one who heard.

I didn't really want to leave my friends to go to a boring dinner with my family and who knew what family else. "I have this dinner thing with my family"

"What a coincidence" Newt mumbled. "Me too"

"Social people" Minho waved his hand carelessly in the air, making me laugh at the face he pulled out.

"I should get going, though" Newt sighed, clapping Minho and 'Tommy' in the back. "Or I'm gonna be late"

"Same"

Thomas and Minho shrugged, saying that they would keep on partying when we were gone. If you could call that partying.

*

After that entertaining little while, it was time to get back home.

I got changed into a cute but elegant red dress (my favorite color) and went to the restaurant where mom, dad, Chuck and I would be meeting that other family our parents told us about.

They had been talking about them and about their son. They wanted me to date him so badly, but I declined even if I didn't really mention that it was because of Newt. Still, our parents insisted on having dinner together with that other family, so we had to go.

When the other family came in, my heart skipped a beat as I saw a very familiar mop of blond head.

"No shuck way..." I said under my breath.

Chuck snorted next to me when he spotted the blond too.

"Slim it, kid" I looked down to him and scowled, only making him laugh even more.

"Hello" The boy's parents greeted mine while he walked straight over to me.

"These are Y/N" When I sheepishly smiled at them, knowing they were Newt's parents, I felt more awkward. "And Chuck"

My little brother was about to explode and laugh out loud, his chubby cheeks red from the effort of keeping it in.

The older couple were about to introduce us to their son and daughter when they did themselves.

"Sonya" Newt's sister must have realized we didn't really want our parents to find out we were together, so she went along with us.

"Hi" The boy simply said, holding a hand out for me to shake. "I'm Newt"

"Y/N"

"Pleasure to meet you, Y/N" The way he said it made me laugh. Like in an exaggerated flirty way.

"Nice to meet you too, Newt"

I laughed when I realized Newt had introduced himself just like the first time we met, outside Professor's Paige office. Except for...

"You won't happen to have any chocolate on you, do you?" I discreetly asked him as we went to our table.

Newt grinned and shook his head.

"Sorry, love"

"Too bad"

Newt gallantly pulled my chair out and motioned me for me to sit down. I smiled at him as a thank you while he sat down next to me.

We had silently agreed that it was better if we pretended we didn't know each other.

That would be an interesting night.

*

I could literally feel Newt's pain as he struggled to conceal a smirk.

At first it was a little awkward and it was amazing to see Newt behaving so adorably. But then he began to enjoy the situation.

"Come on" He was offering me his plate for me to take a piece of his sushi and try it. But I didn't, knowing that the mischief clear in his eyes couldn't be good.

If I knew Newt as much as I thought did -which I did-, something mildly evil was forming in that little head of his.

"Go on, love, I don't-"

"I know" I rolled my eyes at him, watching that none of our parents were listening. "You don't bite"

Smiling because I had outsmarted him in his smug game, I took my glass of water and took a sip from it.

"I bloody might, actually" He whispered seductively in my ear, making me choke on my water.

Chuck began to laugh out loud, his guffaws sounding all over the restaurant. Sonya rushed to hit me softly in the back to help me as I struggled to recover.

"What's wrong?" My mom asked me, but I held my hand up and shook my head.

"I'm fine, I choked"

With the corner of my eye I saw Newt covering that huge smirk on his lips with his hand as he casually dipped a sushi roll on the sauce.

"You want to start a war, Newt?" I whispered to him once my parents went to talk with Newt's again.

"You can't keep up with me, love" The blond simply stated, not taking his eyes off the menu.

"Oh, you think?"

"Yep. You're too bloody shy"

Maybe I was shy, but I wanted revenge.

"We'll see"

I kept on eating my salad as I thought of ways to embarrass him. Two could play this game. And he would definitely not be the only one to have fun in that situation.

I had a few ideas.

However, I let time pass so he wouldn't suspect and wouldn't expect it. And then...

"Newt" I seriously called him, making him turn to me.

I motioned for him to get closer to whisper something in his ear.

Sonya must have noticed that I was up to something, because I saw her covering her mouth to laugh under her breath as she observed us.

"Game's on" I told him, pulling away just in time to see his confused frown.

"What?"

"Aw, he's so sweet!" I gave him a kiss on the cheek, a resounding one.

That took him off guard, because the smug expression that had been plastered on his face during the whole dinner faded into a deep blush of embarrassment.

"What happened?" Newt's mother sweetly asked me.

"He told me I look stunningly beautiful"

"Aw, Newt" His mother reached over the table and pinched his cheek fondly.

Newt wrinkled his nose in disgust but didn't complain.

I pursed my lips together as Sonya and I tried to keep ourselves from laughing.

"Well, it's not a lie" Newt tried to recover from it, but he was obviously having a hard time.

I fixed my eyes on him, enjoying the blush on his cheeks. That was a rare sight.

Feeling my glare, he briefly looked at me. He pouted when he realized my amusement and winked at me slyly.

"So... now that you had a chance to talk and get to know better" Newt's dad uttered, taking my mind off my evil planning. "What do you think?"

"Yeah, Y/N!" Mom encouraged me. "What do you think of Newt?"

I felt myself blushing as I tried not to think too much on how I felt towards him.

"He's great, maybe a bit goofy. But he's great"

"Newt?" My mom insisted. "Do you like Y/N?"

It was then when I realized that the whole dinner thing was an evil plans from our parents to get us together after all. Even if it was being a little awkward meeting each other's parents. Even if I told them I wasn't interested.

Too bad Newt and I were already dating.

"Yeah, she's nice. And I bet she's a great kisser" Newt said it nonchalantly, like if our parents and younger siblings weren't sitting there with us.

Newt's dad laughed, to my surprise. And my mom was smiling hugely. However, my dad stared at the blond in disbelief.

"Newt!" His mom exclaimed, shocked.

That cheeky shank.

"I think they make a cute couple!" Newt's dad laughed and patted his son's upper arm.

The both of us looked at each other, big smiles on our faces. I was surprised that our parents hadn't noticed that we knew each other yet. Just the familiarity that we treated each other with said enough.

Newt chuckled and reached out to kiss me in the cheek.

I stared at him fondly as he pulled away. He was so perfect, so... so... Newt.

*

After that, and a lot of embarrassing each other and laughing, we all took a walk.

Our parents seemed to be getting along really well, because they were talking a lot. And Sonya seemed to like Chuck as well.

So Newt and I walked side by side.

Surprisingly, his hand found its way over to mine and he slid his fingers between the gaps of mine.

"What are you doing?!" I whispered yelled, snatching his hand away as quick as I could.

"Holding my girlfriend's hand" He simply said in the same offended and alarmed tone I had used.

"Our parents are right there" I said, pointing at them before us, even if they were too busy talking and were facing their backs to us anyway. "Are you crazy?"

"Yeah, I'm crazy for you"

I chuckled and rolled my eyes at him.

"Shut it, Newtie"

"You want to be alone?" When I shrugged and nodded, liking the idea, he grinned. "Done"

Newt walked to join the rest and talk to them. He was a surprisingly good actor. I shouldn't be surprised, watching how cheeky he was.

Anyway, in order for us to be alone for a while, he told everyone he really liked me and asked them to let us go on our own. He promised to walk me back home later.

So we took a long walk, managing to hold hands and be our usual selves since we were alone.

We were walking through a park, in silence as we recalled that crazy day we had.

And of a sudden, Newt yanked me towards him.

At first I got frightened because I thought there was some short of danger that he was trying to protect me from with that impulsive move. But when I saw his grin, I knew everything was okay.

Because of the little scare, my heart was beating really fast. And Newt being so close to me didn't help much.

"You scared me, Newt" I sighed softly, biting my lip as I felt every inch of him intimately close to me.

"Sorry, love" He whispered. "Didn't mean to"

Very slowly, our faces grew closer to each other. I smiled in anticipation just with the thought of feeling his lips against mine.

Newt chuckled because of my grin, and I felt his breath against the skin of my neck. That sent chills all over.

When our lips were gracing each other, we stopped to enjoy the closeness and intimacy of the moment. My heart was pounding so hard against my chest that I could feel the beats on my throat.

Then Newt's hand settled in my hair, his warms fingers sinking on it as he firmly grasped my hip with his other hand and attracted me towards him.

I closed my eyes when our lips finally collided.

That familiar spark took all over my body, sending chills up my spine.

My arms flew around his neck and I squeezed, trying to bring him closer to me. I craved to feel his touch even though we were already kissing. My hands playing with his hair and sweetly caressing his neck as I did.

Newt got more passionate and squeezed my hip, adding a little tongue to the kiss. And I kissed back, pulling at the ends of his hair.

Then we parted away, desperatedly needing air to breathe. His dark brown eyes showed a beautiful tingle as he looked at me directly in the eyes.

And that smile. It was the smile he had showed me during our first date, the smile that fazed me every time I saw it plastered on his mouth.

Feeling happy as ever, I grinned and I couldn't keep myself from giving him a quick and sneaky peck on the lips.

He chuckled again and smirked, rising an eyebrow just enough to make me realize he did.

Just as he was still staring at me with that expression, I felt lucky. Because Newt was something else, and he was mine.

Newt's phone then rang, and we distanced from each other in spite of ourselves. It was probably our parents being their apprehensive selves.

Before he did, however, he left a last kiss on my lips.

Newt looked over his shoulder at me as he went to join our families again. And he showed me that smile that had my insides melting of pure affection.

The words Minho had said earlier that day echoed in my head.

Even if he was being silly and sarcastic. Even if I was too much of a dreamer. Even if I was a fool for believing so. But I believed it.

It was meant to be.

When he walked away, staring at me with his gorgeous brown eyes and his stunning smile, that was the moment I realized. I had fallen in love with Newt.