The Maze Runner (NEWT LOVE STORY)

Chapter 12

~Narrator's pov~
It's been a few hours since Y/N and Alby have been running the maze, looking at further sections they had started to explore a few days ago. They always had hope when they found some place new. They finally arrived to the infamous section before stopping to catch their breaths.

"There." Y/N said breathing heavily. "This is where we stopped last week. I don't know what comes further."

Alby took a careful look around the place. They were between section 6 and section 7. There were a few narrow corridors leading to different ways in the maze. Some days they were closed but today, they were open. They didn't know if the people who put them in the Glade were just messing with them by giving them fake paths or if it was a real hint to the way out. The runners have been played so many times and have wasted so much time on fake clues. They didn't want to waste their time with this one.

"Let's do this shebean. You ready?" Alby said looking at the girl.
"Let's go!" she answered picking up a jog.

The two made their way into one of the narrow corridors and tired to find something new to look into.

Back in the Glade, things were quiet today. Everybody did their jobs properly and nothing out of the ordinary happened. The weather started to get warmer as the hours went by. The afternoon was always more of a challenge to the Gladers since it was always the hottest time of the day. It's when they would lose the most energy.

Newt was working on some of his new plants when Frypan came up to him;

"Hey there Newt. You alright?" he asked.
Newt looked up to him, squinting his eyes from the bright light of the sun to answer "Everything's fine over here. You'll get some new herbs by the end of-"
"That's not why I'm here Newt." Fry said smiling.
"I heard about you and Y/N. Things are going well?"
"What are you talking about?" Newt asked dropping his tools.
"Well the scene you had with Gally this morning was pretty hard to miss... Then I saw Thomas go up to you and after I asked him what happened. He told me what happened with her and I think-"
"Fry..." Newt cut him off holing his hand up. "Just... I don't want to talk about it right now. Just know nothing is going on... I don't even know what Thomas is talking about. I'm just trying to get this work done. We clear?"
"Yes Sir yes" the boy answered walking away laughing.

They all knew that Newt has always been attracted to Y/N but they also saw that maybe she was growing into liking him that way too. They liked teasing them about it because everybody could see the spark between them, except for them of course.

An hour later, Alby and Y/N ran back into the Glade, looking exhausted like they've never been before. All that running with this heat and without much water must've been really hard-working. Newt looked over his shoulder from time to time to see if they came back and as he saw her run back safe and sound, he felt a weight get off his shoulders. He grabbed his water bottle (which was half full) and made his way to them.

"Welcome back! Glad you're all alright." he said tending his water bottle to Y/N.
"Thanks Newt. Things worked out fine today?" Alby said to the boy.
"I believe so. Everyone worked hard and they're almost all done."
"Good that." Alby answered as he walked away from them. He tapped Newt's shoulder as a sign of reconnaissance and made his way to see some of the builders.

"Thank you for the water. Left you some." the girl said giving Newt his bottle back.
"It's yours love. You've hard a harder day than me. I don't know how you do it, especially in these conditions." Newt answered swinging his arm around her neck to bring her closer to him.

They shared a tight and warm hug. Even though the weather was impossible to breathe in, they stayed glued to each other for a few seconds, which seemed like hours to them. She placed her head into his chest and was moving her fingers on his back while he rested his chin on her head.

They finally released each other and smiled.

"So, um I've been thinking about what you said this morning... about you wanting to talk with me." he said.
"Oh shuck, yes! Sorry my mind is always elsewhere after running, I forgot about it." she apologized.
"No need to be sorry. Let's just talk later if you still want to."
"No let's talk right now. Over there." she pointed at an empty table. "I need to sit down. And I need to get this over with."

He looked at her in a funny way and she realized what she said;

"Oh, I don't mean like I want to get rid of you or anything, I just think it's better for me to talk with you now before anything else happens." she said laughing.
He laughed it off before answering "I understood you love."

They walked over to the mentioned table and sat down next to each other, on the same bench. They turned their bodies to face each other. Y/N sat down bringing her knees against her chest and played with her hands while Newt was slightly arching his body towards her.

"So you know, I'm just a little confused as of what happened yesterday." she started.
"What about yesterday?" he answered pretending he didn't know what she was referring to.

She looked up from her shaky hands to land her focus on his brown eyes. She didn't want their dynamic to be awkward, so she had like goal to stay as vague as possible, as long as she could. She didn't want him to feel attacked.

"Well, obviously I want to thank you again for defending me, for having-"
"You want to thank me again? That's what you've been nervous to talk about all day?" Newt asking cracking a smile.
"Hey I'm not nervous!" Y/N said laughing. "And no, that wasn't the main topic of what I want to say."
"Then what are you waiting for love?"

She took a deep breath in, knowing the words that were about to come out might ruin their friendship.

"Before we went to bed. You did something. You gave me a kiss. On the forehead. And I've been thinking about it for all this day. I can't seem to figure out why you did that. See, recently, I feel
like we are getting closer in our friendship, which really isn't something I'm complaining about! But I need to know why you did that. Because you've never done that before. It took me by surprise."

Newt stared at her for a few seconds. He wanted to find the courage in him to finally let her know how he felt about her. How he gave her that kiss simply because he loved her and wanted to let her know he cared about her and was glad she was fine. But she looked so nervous, so fragile at the moment, he didn't want to say anything yet. Even though that was his chance to go for it, he knew the timing wasn't right.

"Well," he started. "I know yesterday was a hard day for you. I just thought a little affection wouldn't hurt. I'm sorry if it confused you."

Y/N was relieved but also disappointed; relieved because nothing was awkward between them and everything worked out fine. But disappointed because he didn't like her back the way she liked him. God, even maybe love him. Or so she thought.

The two of them sat in silence for a minute, thoughts fighting in their minds. He was in love with her, she was falling for him. The whole world could see it except for them. And now, they were too scared to tell each other the truth. If they only knew it was mutual.

Y/N was about to keep asking him questions, to get to the bottom of this, but she got interrupted.

"Y/N?" Winston hollered running towards her.
"What's happening?" she immediately answered standing up. Newt stood beside her.
"Alby requested you in the map room. Minho and Thomas are already there. They're waiting."
"Thanks Winston. I'll see you for dinner."

Winston nodded and walked away, leaving the two alone.

"Well I need to go... But thank you for listening to me. I know it wasn't a big deal, but it was-"
"It's okay love. I understand. You'll come see me when you're done in there?" he asked.
"You know I will."

She gave him a kiss on the cheek before running towards the map room. As she was running she realized something;

"Shuck! Are you kidding me? You idiot! You just talked with him about how confused you were in your friendship with him and NOW you give him a kiss? Get a brain Y/N!"

Newt on his side was surprised she kissed him. He didn't understand why after the speech she made a few minutes ago, but as usual, he didn't mind it. He just knew his love for her was growing more and more everyday and that he was going to have to tell her soon, before it all becomes so obvious. He watched her run away, observing her slim figure get smaller and smaller as she was approaching the map room.