So this story had been in the works for a bit, but it is similar to When the Sun Set's Early by YoungArtist77, who knows about it and is actually my beta for this story so shout out! I own nothing you notice. Also this may eventually cross over, but not with Nikita I just really adore the last name Udinov. I will eventually be posting a bunch of info on all the different families, but for now, let's just get the story rolling.
READ THIS PART RIGHT HERE DON'T SKIP IT PEOPLE! Good now that I have your attention a special note. I hate Katniss Everdeen, I'm sorry I tried really hard but after the first book I was constantly screaming "where the hell is the girl on fire and who is this whiny bitch?" That being said Nikita Udinov is Katniss, only with more of the girl on fire that she was in book one, a little less world on her shoulder, a dash of carefree and a name that I like more but still fits. (Nikita is Slavic and means unconquerable, which if you think about Katniss, is true.) Also I'm sure you're all ready to kill me as is, and I actually love Jenifer Lawernce's portrayal but since forever lyndsy fonseca has been my Katniss, so yeah. Also Lita=Foxface and there's a poll up on my page related to this story that I would really love people to vote on.
Hey I heard you were a wild one
Peeta Mellark can't help the smile that slides into place on his face when the first line of the song blares through the house he's entered not even five minutes before. He grabs a beer out of the cooler next to him, pops the top off and takes a long sip out of the neck, continuing to try and not be noticed. It's a horrible task for a boy who's so used to being noticed, so used to being with a group of people that are always seen the second they enter a room. Peeta sticks himself to a wall and slowly makes his way through the house into the living room that has become a makeshift club dance floor.
He heard them before he saw them. Four girlish voices that he would recognize anywhere, screaming along to the lyrics and it made him want to bolt onto the floor and scream along with them. Then hug them, then cry, then scream some more, in that exact order. He hadn't even realized how badly he had missed the four girls that were always butting into his life until he didn't have them every day. He hadn't even told them the real reason why he disappeared off to a different school for a year. Not even his twin, Glimmer had any clue as to why he left, and now that he was back; not even 100 feet from them, his heart ached with longing to hear their endless chatter. Drinking down the rest of his beer and placing the bottle on the floor he walked through the crowd a bit and closer to the circle where sure enough, his four best girlfriends were dancing. He caught sight of his twin first, her long blonde hair rippling as she moved from side to side. Her dress was black sequins with only one strap and her heels were bright pink; typical Glimmer. Clove was next to her wearing an orange corset with a black hi-low skirt and black heels. Her dark black hair was in a braid and her eyes were closed, moving to the music with not a care in the world. The redhead with her back to him could only be Lita, the telltale messy bun and bright red mane of hair giving her away. Her white dress practically the same shade as her skin and the black heels stand out in stark contrast. The last girl in the group was Nikita. She wore a short black vest with pieces hanging down, white short shorts with studs on them and black heels. Her grey eyes were looking right at him, as if trying to figure out who he was and why he was watching them so intensely. He took a breath, thanked god for great timing and walked straight into the group of four girls.
Hey I heard you liked the wild ones
He sang along with the lyric, and was promptly tackled by the four girls at once, who were screaming and he wasn't positive, but crying as well. His sister grabbed onto his wrist and proceeded to lead the group of now five into the corner.
"Peeta! What are you doing here?" his sister yelled at him
"What the hell was with that stupid disappearing act?"Clove screamed at him, not giving him a chance to speak. He looked at Lita and Nikita waiting for the two of them to say something, although neither girl did. Lita just glared and Nikita punched him hard in the arm.
Peeta breathed in and reached for the drink in his sister's hand, taking a deep sip. He couldn't exactly just blurt out "well I decided to go to school for another year because I'm in love with my best friend, that happens to be a guy." No, Peeta decided it was not exactly the type of conversation for his first party back.
"let's have brunch after we move in and we can talk about it there." he told them, hoping for now they would let it go
"You don't get to just disappear without saying anything, come back and say oh I'll tell you over brunch" Clove demanded, getting that look on her face that said if there was a knife hidden on her, he really had better be running.
Party rocker, foot-show stopper
More Chambord
Number one, club popper
Got a hangover like too much vodka
Can't see me with ten binoculars
So cool
No doubt by the end of the night
Got the clothes coming off
Peeta had never been more thankful for their guy friend's obnoxiousness then at that moment. The girls moved to the side so that we could see the boys walking over and signing loudly, dancing over the top. The first of them was Gale, Nikita's boyfriend, who had his arm strung over Marvel, my sister's boyfriend. Behind them shaking his head was Thresh, and behind Thresh was the whole reason I left. Cato Ivanov looked like he had stepped out of the pages of a magazine. His blonde hair was everywhere, a few piece's dropping into his crystal blue eyes. He wore a plain black t-shirt that clung to him like a second skin, showing off every single dam muscle and putting his tree trunk like arms on display. His jeans only enhanced the look, tight enough to show off his ass. Seeing him again only reminded him of why he left, why it was so hard for him to pretend to not be in love with his best friend. He ripped his eyes away from the Adonis and noticed the girls all looking at him
"we get it now Peeta." Nikita told him, noticing the other girls nodding at him, grinning like the devils they were.
"Come on let's get going before they spot Peeta." Lita says the mischief clear in her eyes.
Suddenly Peeta feels himself being pulled by the wrist through the crowd and in less than a minute the five are out into the cool summer night air.
"The beach house in 20?" Lita yells out getting into her car with Nikita and his sister, Clove staying by Peeta's side.
"We'll meet you guys there." Clove answers back looking at the blonde pointedly. Peeta shakes his head before leading Clove over to where his white BMW 650i Convertible is parked
"We need to stop at your house?" He asked the girl
"Yes." She answered shortly
Peeta sighed, knowing she was furious with him. He couldn't exactly blame her, but Niki had said they got it, so didn't that mean they could let it go? They pulled up in front of Clove's house not even five minutes later and the girl ran inside, coming back out in less than ten minutes. Gone were the sexy clothes, replaced with a pair of plain jean shorts, flip flops, a Panem Academy hoodie and a backpack slung over her shoulder. They silently drove two streets over to Peeta's house, the boy shedding his hat, jeans and button down for comfy shorts, a t-shirt and a sweatshirt. He stuffed a few essentials into the bag and was back in the driver seat of the car before five minutes were up ready to begin the half hour drive to the beach house. The pair lasted about five before Peeta had enough of the silence.
"why are you still mad at me Clove?" he asked the smaller girl
"Because I'm not Niki, or Leets or your sister okay Peeta! I'm not just going to notice you staring at Cato and get it, or accept it! I'm not just going to let it slide without so much as even a sorry. You just left, moved everything out of your room while we were all in class and left a note saying you needed to take some time! You changed your phone number, ignored your facebook and twitter! You didn't even tell Glimmer, god we had to call your parents to make sure you hadn't been kidnapped! We were terrified Peeta, and then you're gone for a whole year without so much as a "I'm doing fine guys"! You've been my best friend since we were little kids Peeta, we tell each other everything and you just left!" Clove was screaming and crying by the end of her rant and the guilt racked Peeta as he heard the hurt in the girls voice, all of that was very true.
He hadn't thought about the others when he left, he had just done it. He had decided telling them was a bad idea, because they would try and make him explain, and well that would just defeat the whole point of leaving. So he moved out while everyone was in class and left a note telling his friends that he needed to take some time to himself, get his head back on and that he would see them soon. It had only been half a lie, he knew he would be gone at least a year. Everything she said was true, and god did he feel like an ass. He hadn't meant to worry them, really he hadn't but Peeta Caleb Mellark upon realizing he was in love with his best friend Cato, for the first time in his life hadn't known what to do. So he turned tail and ran.
"I'm sorry." Peeta offers the girl feebly
"Why?" is all she gives him in return
"I was terrified of what I felt for him Clove, even then. I thought that if I left for a little while it would go away, but after a year the only thing I realized was that I'm in love with him. I'm so in love with him that it physically hurts sometimes. I find myself waking from nightmares, trembling and begging for him to appear beside me, to hold me and tell me he loves me." Peeta finally admits it out loud, finally tells how desperately in love with Cato Ivanov he is.
Clove just nods and flashes Peeta the first real smile he's seen from her all night, and he knows that they're good. That now she can accept him leaving. She shakes her head and turns the radio up a little bit and the song playing makes him feel like maybe things won't be so bad.
They pulled up to the beach house, noticing that the girls switched Lita's sleek Mercedes-Benz CL63 for Kelly's Escalade. Like before he hears music way before they're even up the stairs of the front of the house. They open the door, drop their bags in the front hall and walk into the kitchen where the three girls are blaring music, singing and drinking wine.
"You know you haven't changed a bit." Peeta tells the girls
"You know if you weren't standing in front of me right now, I really would have blown it off as another drunk figment of my imagination." His twin told him, a note of sadness in her voice. He brought his eyes up to those of his twin and saw everything in them. saw that it wasn't the first time she had imagined him standing in front of her, wasn't the first time she drank just to see his face. Peeta crosses to where she's standing and envelopes her in a bear hug. It's as if the contact breaks a dam, because Glimmer is crying into his chest.
"I'm sorry Glim. I'm so sorry. I didn't think about you guys when I took off. I should have at least told you that I was leaving." He told his sister kissing the top of her head
"Okay so can we get like a concrete reason for why you left?" Lita asked from the counter
"He's head over heels in love with Cato." Clove offered
The girls nodded a hush falling over the group as they took sips out of their wine.
"Are the guys eventually going to show up?" Peeta asked apprehensively
"No we told them we were having a girls night." Lita told him
"Okay that's it no more depressing shit. To the range!" Nikita yelled out leading the way down into the basement. The stairs led into a lighted room where a bunch of targets were lined up on one side and a rack of weapons were on the other side. Nikita walked directly to the wall, lifted her bow and a quiver of arrows off it and walked over to the line she always shot from, notching an arrow and letting it fly, hitting the eye in the dead center.
Author's Note; This little line above, this is me nodding at continuity. That is all, please continue.
Peeta just nodded before walking over to the wall looking over the guns, picking up Nikita's favorite H&K USP Match, and tossing the matching one at Glimmer. Their normal weapons weren't long range like Niki's bow, Lita's chakram or Clove's knives, so when they came down to the range the twins normally shot guns.
"You slow pokes ready?" Clove yelled flipping a knife through her fingers
"Yeah, Yeah we're coming." Glimmer said rolling her eyes
The two twins walked up to their lines, facing clean targets. The challenge was always the same; the one who hit the most targets accurately won. Rolling his eyes, squaring his shoulders and waiting for the buzzer to go off. The second it did Peeta was pulling the trigger and letting all of the pent up frustration, guilt and emotion go straight through into the gun.
The next morning Peeta woke up to an obnoxious blaring noise and the sun filtering into the room.
"Make it stop." Glimmer groaned from somewhere near his right
"Get up guys, we have to move into school today. Coffee and Pancake's are almost done." He vaguely recognized Nikita's sunny voice, dear lord he hated how much she was a morning person.
"You better not make a habit of this this year." Clove groaned rolling off the couch she was on. Peeta pulled himself up with another groan. He wandered over to the kitchen where Nikita pressed a cup of coffee into his hand.
"You and Clove rooming together?" He asked
"Yeah we asked for each other, your sister is with Lita." She responded placing some pancakes on a plate and putting it in his hand.
"What time is it?" Lita asked coming out from the bathroom, her hair wet
"6:30, which means we need to leave in a half hour so everyone has time to go get their stuff and all that" Nikita told the girl, placing pancakes in front of her.
Glimmer and Clove eventually rolled off their couches and the group ate in silence before grabbing their bags, and heading to their homes. Peeta and Glimmer used their fathers Range Rover, while the other three girls stuffed all of their things into Nikita's Escalade.
Peeta's almost done unpacking his room by 10. The girls are making a ruckus in one of their rooms, and as much as he wants to join them, he needs to wait and see who his roommate is going to be first. He hopes to god it's someone he knows, because really he was sure anyone that didn't know his father was the head of the German Mafia would have a problem with the gun and knives in the box under his bed. Peeta was sitting at his desk, just playing around on his computer when he heard the first box drop onto the floor of his room. He turned his head to get a look at his roommate, and saw the pure shock that was coloring his face mirrored on the other boys face. Only there was something else tinting his roommate's face, something that looked strangely like relief.
"Peeta" Cato breathed out, his name coming out like a prayer from the boys mouth.
Well fuck.
