The woods were beautiful today covered in a thick blanket of snow, and I couldn't help but idolize it. They trees blanketed by thick white flakes. The root littered ground sparkling. How could I not admire it.
I pace, awaiting Katniss's arrival. When we will get to run through the trees and mock the Capitol. When we can joke, and laugh genuinly. When I will get to see her dark hair, sprinkled with frost, pulled into a braid, ready for hunting, or gathering or checking snares. When I will get to stare at those pink lips that call my name, and make me want to kiss her so badly.
Yeah, I guess you could say that I like Katniss Everdeen. Rephrase that; I love Katniss Everdeen. She is the only girl that I ever cared about. I mean, yeah I've had my share of kisses, but the only one that I want to kiss is her.
I stop pacing, as a bucketfull of snow falls on my head. I look up after recovering from the attack, and see that Katniss is in the tree, shaking the branch. She smiles at me, and holds up her hands.
"Guilty," she says, and starts to climb back to the forest floor.
"Uh huh. Very guilty. Poaching off the Capitol's land, blah, blah,blah," I go off on the multiple 'crimes' that we commit everyday. She laughs.
"So, what are we doing today?" I ask. She nudges her game bag, and I notice that her bow is slung on her back.
"We can go hunting, or we can go check on the snares," she says. I shrug.
"Whatever is best," I answer back. The snow would quiet down our already silent hunter treads, or we could just run around getting warm on our snare path. It's too cold for gathering, so those are the choices.
"Okay Gale. We'll check the snares, since it's really cold," she says, and turns from me. Her hunting jacket is on, but she is shivering. I walk over, and pull her into a hug, so that I may warm her up. She shudders in delight, and allows me to open her jacket, so that I may warm her up more thoroughly. Shock waves shoot through me, and I want to get closer to her, but I don't. I warm her up in no time, and we make our way to our snare route.
We walk in silence, and reach the first snare. Nothing. We still have plenty to go, so I don't worry, but soon I will have a reason to.
The snow begins to fall when we are halfway through the route, and it doesn't look good. The white sky is now darkening quickly, and I doubt it will be long before it turns into a full out blizzard.
"We have to hurry," I say. "It's going to blow into a full out storm." She nods, and quickens the pace. We run to finish the route before the wind comes too. In all we are rewarded with four rabbits, three squirrels, and a plump wild turkey.
We try and make it back to the fence before the storm, and we do. Katniss is about to slide under, when I finally hear the humming.
"Katniss! The fence is on!" I whisper to her. She listens and finds that it is the truth. With an oncoming storm, and the fence electrified, we have no where to go but back to the trees.
"Where do we go?" Katniss asks me, coming to where I stand. She glances at the sky, and the clouds are darker that her stormy eyes, that match my gray ones. They are filled with worry, so I try to come up with a place we can go.
"Let's try and find a cave or something to wait in until the storm subsides," I say. She nods, and we head back into the forest.
We have been trapped in the forest before, but never when the weather was so terrible. Now, will be a challenge.
We search frantically for cover, but nothing is efficient for the job. No caves, just trees, trees, and more trees. We have no choice but to make do with a clump of evergreens that all stand too closely together.
I kick away some snow, and lay down an old blanket I brough along so we could have a picnic in the snow. I then try and make a little shelter over the blanket with branches covered in needles, with mild success. Katniss roams around the area trying to find a better shelter, but with no evidence of any. She finally comes to help me build the little cover. It is big enough to fit us both under it, and it keeps out the weather so we settle in, just as the snow begins to come down harder.
We settle into the tiny space of protection, and we are touching full on. My body takes up most of the space, so Katniss has no choice, but to get as close as she can to me. She doesn't move when I put my arms around her so I take that as a good sign.
"Well Catnip, it seems like we'll be here for a while," I say. She turns her head to towards me, and looks worried.
"Yeah. I hope that Prim- and my mother don't worry," she says referring to her little sister for the most part. The little girl would certainly know that she was still in the woods during the storm. This phrase made me think of my mother, as well as my siblings.
"Yeah, and my family," I say. A gale of wind ripples against our canopy, and Katniss snuggles in closer to me. I don't object.
"Gale, how long do you think we'll be here?" she asks. I let out a sigh.
"Don't know. As long as I'm with you it doesn't matter," I reply. She smiles a bit, and rests her head on me. Here in this close space, together, I can't help but have chills. I shiver involuntarily when her hair brushes my face. Katniss looks up, and shows confusion.
"Are you cold?" she asks. She must know that I am not, because I am always warm, but she says it anyway.
"Um, a little," I lie. She snuggles up closer to me, but then has a different thought.
"Take off your jacket," she says, as she sits up to take off her own. I do as I am told, and let her come closer. Once she has gotten extremely close to me, I pull our jackets over us. Way warmer. She sighs, and I know that taking off our jackets was more for her than me. Either way, I roll with it.
"So, Katniss. After Four years, what do you think of our relationship?" I ask. I say this, because I can't take it anymore. What does she feel for me?
"Well," she starts. "You are my best friend in the whole world, and you are like family to me." I feel a bit disappointed. I mean, I want her to love me, not like family but like a boyfriend... or a husband.
"Oh," I say, disappointment etched deeply between the lines. She moves away, taking away warmth; not what I wanted, and I regret saying anything.
"What?" she asks. Her face is really confused. She really has no clue. She stares intently at me, and I have to tell her.
"Katniss, I don't want you to think of me as family," I say. She looks surprised. I don't want to go on, but I know that I can't turn back now. "I really like you," I say, but I know that is not what I want to say. "I love you."
Her stormy eyes look shocked, and she pulls away further. I grab her hand, and she looks at me with apologetic eyes.
"Gale," she begins, but I cut her off. I don't want to know about how much she loves me but is not in love with me. I want to at least make her understand. I don't want her to jump to conclusions.
"Katniss, I love you. I didn't realize it until a while back, but I do. And I'm sorry if you didn't want this, but I do. You don't need to tell me how sorry you are, or how you don't love me like that. I just want you to know how I feel," I finish in a rush. She stares at me. My face is red, and her's is worse.
"Gale, I-" she falters. She is lost for words.
"Katniss, you don't have to love me," I say, and she looks at me. "But can you let me do one thing?" I ask. Her gray eyes stare at me, silently waiting. They widen a bit as I get closer to her than I already was. She leans in a bit too, to make it easier for me, and we are as close as we can get for now.
When my lips finally answer her's it is amazing. At first, I start off slow, and find that her lips are unresponsive. She really doesn't love me. I am about to let go, when, her lips finally move. Our lips finally form a rhythm, and we speed it up. The tiny space is very warm now, and I am sweating. I pull the girl I have known for Four years closer. I wrap my arms around her waist, and she has hers around my neck.
Finally we have to let go for air. Katniss's eyes are shocked at what she has done. I stare at her, and she looks at me. 'Oh no, I made a mistake; she thinks I've gone too far,' I think to myself. But she makes no attempt of moving away from me, but instead closer.
She rests her head on me again, and says nothing. I burry my face in her hair, and try to go back to being her friend, and 'normal' to her. We stay like that, until I can no longer hear the wind outside.
We come out of our shelter, and the storm is gone. The ground is piled with snow, and our canopy is covered with it too. We will have to go to the Hob later then. We walk silently, after gathering all of our things to the fence. I watch Katniss out of the corner of my eye the whole way, and I find that her features are scrunched up. Thinking. When we reach the fence, it is silent, and we both stand there awkwardly.
"We should-" I begin, but I am cut off. Katniss leaps forward, and presses her lips to mine softly. She lets go, and heads towards the fence. She crawls under and I follow, still shocked.
We walk to her house, silent… again. She walks up to her door, and is about to go in when she finally turns around, and flashes me a smile.
"See you later, Gale," she says, and I know what she means. She means, that she is not sorry that I love her. She likes the idea.
"Bye Catnip," I say, and wave. She smiles, blows me a kiss, (very unlike her) and goes inside.
As I walk to my house I just have to think. Maybe getting trapped in the woods isn't such a bad thing.