Crescendo: A Fantastic Beasts Newtina Fanfiction

Chapter 12

       "Queenie!" Tina called from the living room. "Hurry up!"

       "Almost done!" 

       Tina and Newt were standing by the door, waiting for Queenie to finish getting ready. They were going to meet Jacob at his bakery, then all head to the park. An awkward silence was lingering between her and Newt, and Tina stood further away from him then she usually would. Just for good measure, she took another tiny shuffle away from Newt. 

       She glanced at Newt, hoping he hadn't noticed. His blue-green eyes were fixed on his shoes, but she thought she glimpsed a trace of confusion and hurt in there, as well. Or was it bitterness? 

       She had let herself get too close to him in the shed yesterday. Tina had felt sparks fly, all of them from her end, she was sure, and she did not want to let herself grow any closer to Newt. It wouldn't be good for either of them. But yet, when he'd held her hand for that split second, she had felt hopelessly in love, and happy. Newt was the only person that could make her smile besides Queenie, and sometimes just a glimpse of his unruly hair or scattered freckles was enough to make her feel as light as helium. 

       He doesn't love you, she reminded herself forcefully. Of course he wouldn't, you're just simple, average, Tina. So the sooner you stop this nonsense, the better. 

       It wasn't always so easy for Tina to fall in love. In fact, she'd only been in love once before. It had been at Ilvermorny, when she was a seventh year. There was a boy named Malcolm, who was also a seventh year, but he was a Horned Serpent. She herself had been a Thunderbird. Malcolm had been her partner in Potions class, and he was unlike all the other boys, who disliked even speaking to her, and fawned over Queenie instead. But Malcolm, he had talked to her, treated her like she was just any other girl, instead of being 'the beautiful one's drab older sister'. He talked to her, helped her, complimented her, and even flirted with her once or twice. The important thing was, he made her feel important. So when he asked her out, she was ecstatic, and immediately accepted. Their relationship lasted the whole of one week. While they had been together though, Tina had felt desperately in love whenever Malcolm so much as said hello to her. Or at least, she thought it was love. Throughout their relationship, Malcolm had continued to make her feel good about herself, to make her feel joyful, to make her feel loved. 

       Nothing lasts forever, though. One day, during Transfiguration, the professor had sent her into the hallway to fetch some more supplies from the closet just outside the classroom for the lesson. As she opened it, she found that there were two people inside, arms wrapped around each other and lips glued together. At first, she thought it was just any old couple kissing in a closet. Then, she looked closer, and she stopped breathing as she took in what she was seeing. Malcolm, her supposed boyfriend, was kissing another girl. Tina took a horrified step back, and they finally seemed to notice her. Malcolm's eyes widened to the size of saucers, and he hastily took a step toward her, hands out, mouth open to explain everything. But Tina already knew. It was written all over his face. He'd cheated on her from the very beginning, and she had been foolish enough to believe he truly wanted her. Without waiting for an explanation,  she had whipped around and walked away. She didn't return to class that day. In the end, she had  been just any other girl.

        "Ta-da!" A bright voice separated her from her memories, and she realized that Queenie was done changing. She had her arms open, and turned around in a full circle, displaying her outfit. The blonde witch had donned a light pink sweater, sued gray pants, her pink silk coat, and she had a dark gray scarf wrapped stylishly around her neck. On her head she wore her dark pink beret, set just at the right angle. She was wearing jewelry, too. A pair of silver earrings  with pink jewels dangled from her ears. 

       "Queenie, you know we're just going to the park with Jacob, right?" Tina asked. 

       "Exactly, Teen!" her sister replied, smiling. 

       Tina sighed. She and Jacob had been dating ever since they realized he still had his memory. Not that she had anything against it. In fact, she was beyond happy to see her sister so excited and joyful. It's just that sometimes Queenie could spend a little too much time on her appearance. After all, she was sure Jacob wouldn't mind if Queenie didn't always spend two hours on how she looked. He doesn't love her for her looks. And they were  only going to the park after all. Why bother getting all dressed up for that?

       "Someday you'll understand, Tina, when you've got a boyfriend of your own," Queenie chirped, with a suggestive glance at Newt

       His face flushed, making his freckles more pronounced, and he was staring so hard at the floor she thought he was going to burn a hole in the carpet. Her shuffled uncomfortably, and jerked a bit. Tina groaned inwardly before shooting a death glare at her sister.

       Giggling, the younger Goldstein sighed dramatically. "I've been thinking about something that could affect your life greatly, Teenie. If you'd  just let down the walls around your heart, you could enjoy yourself more, go out for an evening with a guy and have some fun, you know?" she said, with her another meaningful glance at Newt, who made a quiet, muffled voice at the back of his throat.

       Tina frowned disapprovingly, then froze. Wait. Walls around her heart? What was that supposed to mean? What was Queenie trying to suggest? Newt, too, had lifted his gaze up from the carpet was looking at Queenie quizzically. 

       "What I'm saying, is that you're scared of getting hurt again, so now you've barred up your heart to prevent just that," her voice softened. "That's no way to live, Teen, and you and I both know it."

       Tina shook her head. All she wanted right now was to end this conversation right here, right now. She'd be fine if Queenie wanted to strike it up again later, but not with Newt around. 

       Remembering Newt, she flashed a quick glance at him, checking his reaction to all of this. She expected to see embarrassment, or boredom, but a completely different expression was on Newt's face. He was staring hard at the area directly next to her, and his brow was slightly furrowed. He seemed to be deep in thought, mulling something over in his head, and a question was shining in his eyes.

      Tina looked to Queenie to see if she could explain any of this odd behavior, but her sister had her 'I'm reading someone's mind right now,' look on her face. She knew it wasn't hers, she could usually tell when Queenie was poking around in her thoughts. So it must be Newt's. She saw her sister, give a tiny, approving nod to herself, as if Newt's thoughts had pleased her.

       Brushing, this away, Tina said briskly, "Let's end this conversation. Jacob will be waiting."

       Both Newt and Queenie snapped out of their reveries, although she could feel Newt's thoughtful, questioning, gaze burning into her. Well, not her, exactly, but the space next to her. Newt never seems to look directly at her anymore. This observation sent an unpleasant, bitter feeling jabbing into her gut. He hesitated for a moment, opening his mouth slightly as if he wanted to say something to her, but then he closed it.

       Ignoring her unwanted disappointment, she continued, "Are you all ready?"

       "Yes." The quiet reply came from Newt.

       Queenie gave her hair one last pat, and check her reflection in the mirror. "Let's go!"

       As the exited the house and went down the stairs onto the street, Tina reminded herself to walk by Queenie's side, so that her sister formed a wall between her and Newt.

Sorry for the lack of Newtina in this chapter. It was kind of hard to write. I mean, 1.4k words took me over an hour, when my regular 1.3k word chapters take just one hour. Anyways, I'm going to try to drag this out for as long as possible, and this is just a bump I the road of their relationship. As always, thank you for reading and have a nice day! :)