Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games.
This is my first attempt at a Hunger Games fanfiction. Please review, but don't judge too harshly. Thanks to everyone. Every "add to favorite" and review means so much to me.
I knocked nervously on Gale's door. I hadn't talked to him since he told me he loved me two days ago in the cabin. I couldn't say it back, and now I had to explain to him why. I had given him a brief reason why, but it was not entirely true.
"What?" said Gale as he opened the door. He frowned. "Oh, it's you."
"Gale, please, I need to talk to you," I told him. "Please just listen for one second."
"Why?" Gale asked. "So you can crush my heart again?"
"Please, Gale," I begged. "I know that you hate me now, but this is important."
His face softened a little. "I could never hate you, Catnip."
"I could never hate you either, Gale, but I…"
"But you can't love me either," he interrupted. His face hardened into a brick again.
"Please, Gale. I need to tell you why. You deserve an explanation."
"Don't!" he shouted in my face. "I don't want to hear about how there's not enough room in you to love me."
"It's not that!"
"YES! IT IS! You hate everyone know. The Games made you into some kind of monster that..."
"I can't love you because I love Peeta!" I exclaimed cutting him off.
Gale's face went red with anger. "That boy? He's not good enough for you. You deserve so much more than him. You deserve me!"
"Gale!" I screamed. "You don't even know him."
"I know him well enough. I know that he only pretended to love you. It got him sympathy during the Games."
"No, he loves me! I know it! He has to!"
"He doesn't have to anything." Gale sighed. "Just tell me please. Why him?"
"I did love you at one time. Those four years we hunted together, I loved you with my whole being. You never loved me back. I tried so long to get over you. I had to move on, but I couldn't. I needed you. You were the one thing that held me together when I was about to fall apart."
"You loved me?" Gale questioned.
"Yeah," I replied. "I just said that."
"Why? Why'd you move on?"
"Because you didn't love me. You didn't want me. You didn't need me."
"I loved you so much Catnip."
"It's too late now. You had four years to tell me, and now I can't tell you that. I need to tell you the truth. I love Peeta."
"WHY!" he yelled. He ran a hand through his hair. "Why?" he whispered.
"Because he was there. He was with me when you weren't. He helped me when you couldn't."
"Catnip," he said, but I had already started to walk away. "In the end you'll choose me."
I turned. "Why do you think that?"
"You'll choose the one you can't survive without."
"I did. I chose you because without you, I wouldn't make it. Then, suddenly, you weren't there, and Peeta was. He helped me. I choose him because everyone knows that you can't survive with a broken heart."
With that, I walked away from my best friend, and I wondered if he'd ever forgive me.
