"Ow!" I shout. I open my eyes from a deep sleep and see Jorge walking away from me, after kicking me in the ribs. "What the hell?!"
"No time to waste, hermana," he says after doing the same to Minho, then Aris. "Put your bags on, we're leaving right now."
"Oh god," I groan as I sit up.
~~~
I walk beside Newt as Jorge leads us down a dirt road with ruins of buildings on both sides. No one is talking, so I decide to ask a question that's been on my mind.
"How do you know me, Jorge?"
He sighs. "Oh, Teddy. We go way back."
"You didn't answer my question," I say sternly.
He takes a deep breath and continues. "When you were 7, your parents caught the Flare. They ran off, never came back. Too far past The Gone they were."
The Gone?
"But they took your sister with them."
My heart sinks. I really had a sister? Newt grabs my hand and squeezes.
"I had a sister?" I say sadly.
Jorge nods. "And a brother."
My eyes widen. "Where is he?!"
Jorge shakes his head. "Don't know. He went and worked for WICKED when your parents started showing signs."
After a few seconds he doesn't say anything. "Well...?" I ask.
"Oh— you want me to continue?"
"Yeah that'd be great," I respond in a sarcastic tone.
He rolls his eyes. "When they ran off, you knew they weren't coming back. You were always very smart. Anyway, then you ran off. Brenda and I found you on the streets one day, and we took you in. But 7 year old you had other plans."
"What happened next!?"
"Relax, hermana. I'm getting there. After a month or so of staying with us, you ran away in the night. Said earlier you wanted to "find your brother." Neither of us had the heart to tell you he wanted nothing to do with you. WICKED must've found you, and here we are now."
My mouth is open to talk, but I have no words. It's stuns me so much because it seems like another lifetime ago.
Newt squeezes my hand.
"I— I don't know what to say," I tell him.
"I didn't ask you to say anything, hermana."
I nod. It's all too much to take in.
~~~
The sun has just risen over the horizon, and Jorge says we have less than five minutes to go.
"Listen up," Jorge tells us. "Blend in."
We exchange confused looks, but no one says anything.
We approach a building which is vibrating he ground from the music inside. People crowd the outside. Two women walk brush past us, wearing skeptical pieces of clothing. I have a bad feeling about this place, that's for sure.
"I need some of you to sneak around the back with me," Jorge says quietly. Nobody seems to want to go in there alone, so I might as well volunteer. "Who wants to stay here?"
"I'll stay here," I say after no one answers him.
"Me too," Newt stands beside me.
Jorge nods. "I'll see you inside in a few minutes. Remember— blend in," he says seriously.
I nod nervously and Newt takes my hand.
As we approach the building a women gently brushes her hand over my shoulder, making me uncomfortable. I squeeze Newt's hand.
"Are you here for the party?" She asks with a weird smirk on her face.
"Uh... um yeah," Newt tells her. She pulls a glass flask out of her shirt and I question how that even got there in the first place.
"Drink this to enter..." she states while unscrewing the cap. I look at Newt and hesitate before taking it from her.
I place the glass on my lips and drink a small sip. The women tips it upward, forcing more of the strange liquid down my throat. I flinch at the taste but try to hide my disgust. It's Newt's turn and I feel like I'm gonna vomit.
She brushes the back of her hand on Newt's cheek and says, "have funnnn."
I quickly drag Newt into to the door. And he spits it out.
Wait—
"Shit!" I exclaim nervously. Why didn't I think of not actually swallowing it!?
"Teddy...?" Newt says concerned. "Teddy you swallowed it!?" He whisper yells.
I nod calmly, but inside I'm freaking out. My hands shake nervously.
"Hey, it's gonna be okay. Just stay with me."
I nod again and we walk through the door. Inside is chaos. I bet the whole room is drunk or high. The only light is from the sunlight coming through the cracks in the walls. Dozens of people are making out and dance around. Most of the room is naked, and my eyes are scarred. The music and the people on the other hand is brutally loud. Oh my god I already hate this place so much.
I try to blink back the dizziness, but then it starts spinning...
Newt's POV
"Come on, we need to find Jorge—"
"Let's just.... Stay here.... For awhile..." Teddy says, turning around and putting her arms around my neck. She nearly trips over herself when she pulls me closer to her body. People crowd the whole room and bump into us almost every second it feels like.
Bloody hell... I think. She must be drunk. Or hallucinating. Whatever was in that drink is nothing good.
"Hey! Hey you're sick," I tell her calmly. She pulls me closer to her. "We need to—"
Teddy interrupts me by effortlessly placing her thumb on my lower lip.
Yes I'm in love with her, but not like this. This isn't Teddy. She's drunk and out of her right mind.
"Teddy I can't do this."
Her hands snake around my neck and my heart is racing.
She shakes her head. "...Blend in..." she whispers.
Jorge had made it very clear that he wanted us to blend in. So I hesitantly wrap my arms around her torso. There's no harm in this, right? Just this.
Her hands hold the back of my neck as we sway back and forth. She pulls my head to hers, and our foreheads rest against each other's.
Her warm breath tickles my skin as she whispers, "...I love this..."
Even though it churns my stomach and makes me blush, I don't respond. It just doesn't feel right. This isn't Teddy. She's hallucinating.
"Just... relax..." she strokes my cheek.
But I can't help but notice how beautiful she is. The way her hair falls behind her ears and the way her eyes sparkle when she looks at me.
She lifts her head off my forehead and stares deep into my eyes. Leaning in, she holds her nose against mine. There's almost no space between our lips. I question every move she makes.
Her mouth brushes right against my ear when she whispers, "...I love you..."
I feel myself sweating. "I know you do, you're my best friend," I whisper back nervously.
She pulls away. "No. No not like that." Then leans back in.
The entire room around us tunes out from my ears and Teddy sends shivers down the back of my neck when her lips sweep across mine. Her soft breath lands on my face, and her heartbeat beats against my own.
"...Please..." she whispers.
I feel her fingers comb through my hair as our lips make contact by brushing against each other once again. I begin to notice how shaky my breath is. One move could seal the gap. One move could mean everything or nothing. I think to myself, bloody hell she's hallucinating! But then again, what if she really means it...?
"...I love you..." she whispers on my lips. "More than you'll ever know..."
Then she does it. She closes the gap. I immediately feel a jolt in the pit of my stomach. Our soft lips gently collide and the thousands of thoughts and emotions once swarming in my head disappear.
But the only one that remains is, she doesn't mean it. She's drunk.
And it makes my heart ache.
I want her to love me like I love her.
Though this isn't how I would've wanted it to go, and I know she's just drunk, I don't pull away. Neither does Teddy. In fact I find my hand behind her neck pulling her closer to myself if that's even possible.
I pull away after what feels like awhile. Doing this is just going to make me fall for her even more than I already have in the past months.
She tries to kiss me again, but this time I move her arms away from me.
"Newt..." she says breathlessly. Her face looks pale and sweaty, but I don't focus too much on it.
I step away from her and look around the crowded room for Jorge or any of our friends. When I can't see anyone, I turn back to Teddy. I notice her eyes bulging with panic.
"Newt!" She croaks out.
Before I can even do anything her eyes close, and her feet collapse underneath her.
"Bloody hell!" I quickly catch her in my arms, picking her up bridal style. "It's okay," I whisper as I brush her hair behind her ears.
I need to get to Jorge immediately. I frantically look around the over populated room and see Teresa in a corner about to walk upstairs.
I sigh in relief and shout over the music, "TERESA!"
Her head whips around looking for the voice who called her name. When her eyes lay on mine they grow wide and she rushes over.
"What happened?!" She asks.
I shake my head. "I'll tell you later, we need to get to Jorge."
She nods. "He's upstairs. The others just carried Thomas and Brenda upstairs, I guess they're passed out too. Do you need help?" She gestures to Teddy in my arms.
"I'll be alright, let's go."
Teresa quickly leads me up the stairs, looking back every few seconds seeing if I need help.
"Come on," she whispers. I follow her into a large room, and all our friends sitting on couches and chairs. Jorge is on the other side of the room yelling at someone tied in a chair, who I assume is Marcus. I notice Thomas and Brenda fast asleep on couches, so I carry Teddy to an empty sofa and gently set her down before finding an empty seat next to Minho.
"You son of a BITCH!" I flinch when Jorge slaps the odd looking man across the face.
"That was something else," Minho says to me quietly.
"I know right it bloody scared me," I reply.
He scoffs. "Not that, shank. I saw you and Teddy."
My heart literally stops and I feel my face turn red. "You— you um— the whole thing...?"
I look at him smirking at me, but quickly look away.
"The whole thing."
I don't respond, I just run my hand through my hair and inhale a breath.
"And who would've thought you would get a girlfriend before me!"
"Minho she's not my girlfriend! She was drunk or whatever. It meant nothing."
He chuckles. "That kiss would say otherwise."
I sink in the sofa. "Bloody hell, Minho."
"It was very entertaining I must say, right guys?"
My eyes widen. "You slintheads!" Chuckles send throughout the group. "You all watched...?"
They all smirk and nod.
"I wish you could've seen it— oh wait hey Brenda, maybe you could help me give him an example?" He smirks.
I was so distracted I didn't even notice that Brenda was awake. She shakes her head. "You should really come with a warning label."
Minho frowns and I laugh, though I'm still shaken up and embarrassed by the fact all my friends watched Teddy and I kiss.
In the meantime while we're all having a conversation, Jorge is across the room beating the shit out of this man.
"...Newt..."
~~~
Heyyy! Please read lol
Sorry this wasn't posted sooner! I wanted to make Newt's POV the best I could, so I kept re-writing, editing, revising it and blah blah etc, etc. I still don't know how much I like it, so lemme know how you like it. Maybe I'll edit it again, idk.
Anyway, my twin sister Ava knows I'm writing this (but I won't let her read it lol) and yesterday I asked her this question for some help on the kissing scene: "Okay so imagine you're Newt and your best friend (who you're in love with) is hallucinating and drunk. How would you react to her kissing you and how would you describe it?"
So this is how our conversation lmao:
I can't with her omfg hahaha.
Also if you're bored try and guess who's older (me or Ava) and by how much😜
Okay thanks for reading see ya in the next chapter :)