KATNISS POV
We'd only been back from the lake for two weeks and already Summer was slowly, but surely, beginning to fade into Autumn. Being home again had taken some adjusting to; I couldn't exactly do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. Here, I had things to do and an un-ending mountain of homework that appeared to be growing, rather than diminishing. Our vacation had been good for so many things but the amount of study I had to complete wasn't one of them.
Prim had returned home from her short Summer Camp a couple of days before I did, and almost instantly she and Mum spotted the effect Peeta had on my attitude. By the time we made it back that night, Prim was fast asleep but mum had waited up for us, slightly worried despite her denial. She'd asked questions but we decided to wait until morning when Prim was awake. So when morning came, we took it in turns asking about what we had gotten up to over the past few weeks.
"Did something happen while you were gone, Katniss?" Prim had questioned almost immediately.
"What kind of something?" I had laugh nervously.
"I'm not too sure, you just seem …. Happier." Prim had looked between me and my mother who was nodding. "Almost like the way girls do in those cliché movies when they find out that the boy who they'd been crushing on had liked them back all this time."
"Yeah, I guess you could say that." I laughed nervously pulling my hair over my shoulder.
"Do we get to find out who he is?" Mum had asked with a smile on her face.
I couldn't have wiped that smile off my face if I had tried "Uhh …. Peeta Mellark."
"The one you were at the park with the day before you left?" Prim asked eagerly.
I had nodded with a smile causing butterflies to fly through my stomach.
In hindsight it was kind of frightening how easily the two of them pick it, almost like the way that Peeta's friends had. It only made me wonder how much of a difference there was in me, if there even was one. There had to be, I mean what are the chances that you go away for three weeks and return with the same perspective you left with?
I had stay up until the early hours of the morning the night before in order to finish the last of my assignments, so I reluctantly began to pull myself out of bed, rubbing the sleep from my eyes as I went. Since being home I'd found it harder than usual to pass the hours on long days and already I could tell that this would be one of those days. After showering and getting dressed I make my way down stairs, tying my hair up in a braid along the way.
"Morning, love." My Mum smiles, looking up from her paper.
"Morning." I reply taking a seat opposite her "I thought you were working this morning?"
"I am; leaving in 10 minutes." She tells me, taking a sip of her coffee. "Do you have much planned for today?"
As if on cue my phone lights up on the table, buzzing for a moment. I pick it up and find a message from Peeta.
"wanna meet for lunch? :)" It reads. I smile as my eyes wander around the room, catching my mums gaze along the way.
"Peeta?" she questions with a smile.
"Yeah, we're gonna meet for lunch." I tell her.
I type a quick reply "Of course, shouldn't you be working?"
"….Maybe. I finish in 20, see you soon?" I laugh a little at the fact that he should be working.
"Sure, now get back to work before you get fired for slacking off, Mellark. Xx"
My mum laughs a little at my sudden change in demeanour, I presume and looks at me the way she did when I was younger.
"So, do you think Prim and I are ever going to get to meet Peeta?" she asks raising an eyebrow as she folder up the paper and collects her things.
"Yeah … I mean, I guess so; I'd like that." I smile. "I'll talk to him about it."
"Ok, sweetie. Have fun today, Prims at her friend's house, so make sure you lock up. Love you." She says, kissing me on the head before she leaves.
"Love you too."
I head back up stairs and make myself a little more presentable, seeing as I had no intentions of leaving the house up until five minutes ago. Not that I can complain about my company for the day. I was excited to see Peeta; the past few days I'd lock myself up in my room in attempt to finish off homework and study as much as possible. It felt like a good way to spend the day considering it was nearing the end of summer. I pull on some jeans rather than the sweatpants I was wearing before, picked a light sweater from my wardrobe and make my way back downstairs, awaiting the knock on the door that came 15 minutes later.
I open the front door to find Peeta leaning against the side wall, his eyes cast downward, making him look incredibly debonair for a brief moment.
"Hey." He smiles, looking up.
"Hi." I smile back as he gently pulls me into his arms. "How was work?"
"Pretty quiet really; managed to get more done than I thought." He shrugs before planting a kiss on my lips. I smile before he has a chance to pull away entirely, and pull him closer to me again, causing him to let out a small chuckle.
"You wanna get going?" He laughs as he wraps an arm around my shoulders. I nod with a smile and let him lead the way out to his car, not forgetting to lock up first. Peeta looks down at me before opening the passenger-side door and smiles sweetly "You look nice."
I can't help but let out a small laugh as he turns and heads to the other side of the car, noticing the small mark of flour on the corner of his forehead. I guess that what you get from working at a bakery. I grab his hand before he's out of reach and pull him back to me.
"You have flour on your head." I laugh, wiping it off with my thumb and leaning up to kiss him. "And thank you."
Fifteen minutes later we find ourselves sitting in a booth at the café in town, sipping on milkshakes as we wait for our lunch. We sit together trying to deny the fact that school was starting again in a mere few days; neither of us were really looking forward to it.
"I feel like it's gonna be different for some reason." I sigh with a shrug. I didn't know what to expect from the last term of school and it was a really scary thought. Trying to make it through piles of exams and assignments was daunting enough, not to mention the Senior Year Formal; dancing wasn't exactly my thing. None the less, I still had this weird feeling that it would all be different somehow.
"I know what you mean; it's a big few weeks, I feel this it's bound to have some strings attached." He agrees. With that, a small blonde waitress strides up to our table with our food in her hands.
"Here we go." She smiles at Peeta while setting the plates on the table on front of us. She keeps her back to me, but on enough of an angel that I can see her battering her lashes at him, a flirtatious smile spreading across her face as he thanks her for the food.
"Is there anything else I can get you?" She asks, continuing to ignore me.
"No, thank you." Peeta smiles politely, apparently oblivious to her current manner.
She tosses her blonde hair behind her shoulder, smiles and strides confidently off toward the kitchen. The way she was looking at Peeta made me feel slightly jealous, territorial even. It was such a foreign feeling, I almost felt guilty for even thinking that way, but I couldn't deny that's how it made me feel. After all, Peeta was my boyfriend. I couldn't help but crack a smile at the fact that he didn't notice her over-friendly efforts.
Peeta shoots me a questioning look as I let out a small laugh. "What?"
"You didn't notice that?" I refine myself enough to stop laughing, but it was a futile effort at best. Peeta shakes his head, indicating that he was unaware of what just happened.
"She was flirting with you." I laugh. He raises an eyebrow.
"Really?"
I nod.
"Oh, well I'm already with the prettiest girl here, so there's couldn't be any comparison." He shrugs matter-of-factly with a cheeky grin on his face.
I feel a slight blush rising on my cheeks as I reach across the table and take his hand in my own, smiling gently at him whilst trying to avoid getting lost in his blue eyes. I remember the conversation I had this morning with my Mum and decide I may as well ask Peeta now. I take a in a deep breath; I didn't know why I was slightly worried, but I was nervous about how my Mom would react when meeting Peeta for the first time.
"My Mom wants to meet you. Prim, too." I say slowly with a timid smile.
"Really? That'd be great, I'd love to meet them! Whenever you guys want." He smiles enthusiastically before his smile fades into more of a frown. I raise an eyebrow at his sudden change of attitude.
"Speaking of which, my Dad's said the same thing really. Mum … well, you know how she is, but they both wanna meet you. My brother Alex is coming home for a couple of weeks, so I thought if you have to go through meeting my family we may as well get it over and done with at once, right?" he raises an uncertain eyebrow.
"Yeah, that makes sense." I smile, hoping to appear calmer than I really felt. "When does he get home?"
"Next Tuesday, and he doesn't leave for another two weeks." He sound really uncertain about even bringing up the subject. "I get it you don't want to; I guess I haven't really made my family all that appealing." He frowns slightly.
I squeeze his hand gently and smile. "I would love to meet them, Peeta. What are you so worried about?"
"I just know how my Mum's going to react; she's done it every time Alex or Ryan bring home a new girlfriend or whatever. I just don't want you to have to put up with that." He admits quietly.
"It's ok, I understand that. It'll be fine." I assure him. He smiles in appreciation before we finish our meals.
Another hour passes before we leave. Peeta offers me a hand up when were ready to go. Together we walk past the blonde waitress; Peeta gives me a cheeky grin, taking my hand in his own and planting a quick kiss on my cheek. We each let out a laugh when we're out of earshot. He leads the way back to his car and kisses me again, longer this time. His hand winds around my waist as I reach up and run mine through his hair. When we pull away from each other he smirks.
"Consider that my apology in advance for how my family is gonna act when they meet you." He shakes his head slightly.
I can't help but laugh as I climb into his car. To be honest the thought of meeting Peeta's family would be at the back of my mind until it actually happened. I was nervous to meet them, I could admit that much to myself but I wasn't sure how they would react to meeting me, and that scared me. I knew Peeta would be there the whole time so that made it a little better, but until then, I knew it wouldn't be easy to ignore the growing anticipation and the way that I would, no doubt, make up scenarios in my head with the hope that the actual day would be similar.
Here it is! Chapter One, I really hope you guys like it and I would really appreciate it if you would let me know what you thought? For anyone who hasn't read Unforgettable Summer, it might help it you did, though as this point, i don't think it's overly necessary. Please R&R! Hopefully Chapter Two will be up soon. :)