Those Days [Newtina]

Chapter 38: Tarantallegra

"What did Queenie say?"

Tina turned to face him.

"Oh... nothing important."

Newt knew better than to press her, so he went back to shelling seeds for the Occamies.

"Can I help?"

"Sure. Come in."

Tina moved from her position by the door of the shed and joined him at his messy work bench. Newt crammed piles of papers, vials, boxes and other curious objects into the back of his desk and reached into one of the shelves for another bowl.

They worked in silence for a couple minutes, taking seeds from a large bowl in the middle and discarding the shells in their own respective ones.

It was quite an easy job, but irritating at times, especially with such short fingernails. Tina suspected it was because she kept chewing hers. She sneaked a glance at Newt. He was going through the seeds faster than she was, though his nails were as short as hers. Tina supposed It was just practice that made it look so easy.

She dropped the, now shelled, seed into a small pile by her bowl and reached for another. At the exact same time, Newt did the same.

Their hands brushed near the large bowl, and Newt yanked his back, pink creeping up his neck.

"Sorry," he muttered, but Tina shook her head.

"It's fine. Why are you apologising?" She answered, smiling softly. Newt shifted glances around the shed.

He focussed back on his own work and smiled a little himself.

"No idea," he mumbled to himself, but Tina heard him anyways.

A few more minutes of tedious seed-shelling, and they were done.

"Let's feed the Occamies now, shall we?"

He gave a mocking bow and handed Tina one bowl of seeds before taking the other.

Beaming, she made her way over to the Occamies, Newt on her trail. He tried to strike up some conversation while she divided the seeds among each creature.

What came out of his mouth was not exactly what he'd intended to say.

"Do you like dancing?"

Newt immediately ducked his head in shame. What on earth made him ask that? He sensed Tina turn around, a curious expression on her face.

"I- why do you ask?"

Newt looked up again.

"Queenie told me earlier. She said she taught you to dance."

"When was that?" Asked Tina, frowning.

"A couple months ago..."

"Oh. Well... she lied."

Newt raised an eyebrow.

"I mean- not exactly... she tried to teach me, but I never learnt anything..."

Newt grinned. He'd had similar experiences when Theseus tried to show him how to ice-skate. He got the hang of it eventually, but it took more than a few goes.

"Alright fine. I learnt a little... but I can't use it anywhere!" She admitted, watching his amused expression.

Newt shrugged.

"Maybe the only reason people learn dance is so they can teach others."

Newt paused, and realising what he just meant, turned slightly red.