"We are here, Madam."
The door opens for me, and a pale hand reaches into the car. I notice a rip in the man's uniform, but say nothing. Taking the hand I pull myself out of the car, carefully guiding my dress behind me. Smiling at the young man with the ripped uniform I begin to walk forward, alone but strong.
As I walk I see familiar faces: a woman from my party two weeks ago, an older gentleman who I'd seen recently for work, the young boy who'd nearly ran into me at my victor's coronation. It's strange that I remember these people who seem so minute in my busy life.
Tomorrow's schedule resonates through my head as I walk down the carpet. Wake up, skip breakfast, sneak in a smoke inside the garden shed down the road, meet Pascal for hair and makeup, physical examination, phone Seneca before dinner, eat dinner, work, sleep. Each event has been timed up to the minute- for example; my dinner must be eaten in exactly fifteen minutes, followed by a quick two minute clean up and then work for the rest of the evening.
They keep it this way in order to keep me busy, which then in turn allows me very little freedom. Therefore, I skip breakfast in order to spend some time alone. In a shed.
I don't think they mind, though. After all, the capitol likes me skinny. The men like me skinny.
Seneca says that he doesn't like me skinny. But he also doesn't like me smoking, so there.
Camera flashes circle me and I stop and pose. Right hand on right hip, left leg out, chest out, hold in your stomach. Pascal taught me this pose and they all seem to like it, so I'll keep on doing it. My hair cascades into my face and I push it onto my shoulder. Show skin, but be classy about it. I hear his voice echo as I smile at the spectators. Red on white, my dress is brilliant and sparkling.
After all of the photos and autographs I end up inside a large room with grand chandeliers and large windows that separate the crowd from the outside world of flashing lights and cars. Strange people eat on the sidelines and couples dance in the center of the room. This party resembles every other event in the Capitol and I find myself downing a glass of hard liquor before I even step a foot into the room.
Younger girls run up to me and take photographs with expensive cameras and phones, and without a second word have run away to fuss over the next celebrity to step foot in the room.
Their luck grows tenfold as Finnick Odair steps into the room, his golden hair sparkling and his lips set into a stationary grin. "Hello ladies! Would you care for a photo with yours truly? Oh my, what dazzling eyes! You've probably got boys falling all over you, hm?" I scoff into my drink at his ridiculous comments and he looks straight at me.
"And here we have our newest starlet, the lovely Thalea Gallaway. Laughing at good old Finnick, I might add. Tsk, tsk." He winks and I take a long sip of my drink, my eyes glaring into his. "Ha ha. Always the charmer, Finnick dear." My voice is sharp in contrast to his.
"Ooh, we're at pet names now? I do adore being called dear." Leaving the fans, he walks up and places his hand at the crook of my arm, taking my drink with his other hand. "Get rid of this Lea, let's dance."
He knows I can't say no to his smile.
"Fine, but only for a little while. And only because I need to impress them."
The term 'them' is a vague reference that Finnick understands straight away. 'Them', the customers, the crowd, President Snow himself. When you're a victor you have to work to impress everybody.
Smiling, Finnick hooks my arm into his and walks me to the center of the room, where people stop to watch. We begin slowly, waltzing our way around the floor. Soon we're dancing vividly, our bodies working in unison to create a vision for the onlookers. As the song ends, we return to a simple waltz and Finnick calls the others couples back onto the floor; "Don't be shy, we're all here for a good time! In fact, I'll dance with the next woman on the floor!"
Ladies run onto the floor and Finnick throws me an apologetic glance before smiling and grabbing the arm of an older, richer woman. She grasps at his arm and away he goes to spend his night with the women of the ball. He'll probably end up dancing the rest of the night away, lucky bastard.
I look around from my place in the middle of the floor, hoping for a familiar face, but finding none. As I'm looking an arm grabs me from behind and I rear around, panicked. A very familiar man stands there, a warm smile on his face. Seneca Crane.
I smile wistfully, embarrassed at my antics. "Sorry Seneca, I'm just not used to… you know, people coming up behind me. I think the games are still getting to me. But nevermind that, I'm so glad to see you." He smiles with eyes so incredibly warm and I stare into them, the room around me fading away into ashes. Blue meets blue and we stand as if we're alone in the room, our smiles wide and our bodies close.
Finnick bumps into us, his arms around a large woman with too much makeup. "Oops, don't mind us! Oh, hi Seneca. " He winks, and I blush.
Silently, Seneca grabs my hand in his warm one, his eyes motioning to a door on the left side of the room. I nod slightly, and we manoeuvre through the crowd, our hands tightly entwined. The doors lead to a washroom, and we walk in quickly, locking the door behind us.
Instantly we're melted as one, a force so magnetic pulling our bodies together. My lips land on his and he's got me lifted against the wall, my dress hiking up. We breathe together, move together, almost as one being. I place my hands all over him, feeling his skin against mine. He's gentle, and we begin our lovemaking, slow and loving, much in contrast to our earlier passions.
"I've missed you." He utters out those words, and so much remains unspoken between us, as our bodies move as one. I moan in response and that pushes him onwards, his movements faster and his kisses deeper. "God, I love you Lea."
At this I stop.
"What?" My breath comes out fast, as I try to regain speech. He also stops, and closes his eyes. "I'm sorry Lea, I didn't mean t-"
I've placed my lips on his, putting all of my requited loves and passions into the kiss. "I love you too, so much. God, I've waited so long to hear that." I feel wetness on my cheeks—tears— and I laugh softly. "We're a mess."
He kisses away a tear, and laughs as well. "You're beautiful to me, don't worry." I kiss him once more, before returning to our original task at hand.
After we finish, I lay in his arms on the bathroom floor.
"We sure know a thing about romance, Seneca. Sex on a bathroom floor. Maybe we should learn to contain ourselves at events such as these." He laughs and runs his arms in circles around my arm. "I don't mind. It's kind of hot, to be honest."
I look at him incredulously. "Seneca, must I repeat? A bathroom floor." Suddenly, something changes in him. He growls and sits up, his arms going to cover his face. I sit up behind him, placing my bare arms around his torso. "Hey, hey. It's just a joke." He sighs, "It's not that, Lea. How in the world did we get to this point? I'm supposed to be taking you out on dates, marrying you. Not sneaking around like school kids in a bathroom. I'd kill to just take you to a restaurant, like a normal couple."
I rest my forehead on his back, rubbing my fingers along his arms quietly. "It'll work out, Seneca. I promise." I don't know why I promise, when I know that there's nothing I can do about our current predicament. President Snow wants me to make money for the Capitol, and marrying Seneca doesn't exactly do that.
"That's it, I'm talking to him. He has to see reason, Lea." There goes Seneca, saying that he'll talk to Snow, when we both know that talking won't fix anything. President Snow is a selfish man, a man who doesn't have time for silly couples.
"If you think that it will help then I'll support you. I always will." I continue to rub his arms for a little while, until he turns to me and kisses me deeply. "I meant it, Lea. I love you." I smile gratefully and kiss him back. "And I you."
We recover our clothing and Seneca helps me to comb through my curls. Any smudged makeup is wiped off with toilet paper and cheap perfume covers the scent of sweat and love. With a few last kisses and a promise for a phone call I step out of the room first, losing myself in the crowd. Several minutes later Seneca exits, and leaves the event altogether.
I speak to a few men, flirting mindlessly, and a few pull me away to steal a kiss or two, each in return for a few dollars. I'm a common day prostitute, for goodness sakes.
As the night comes to a slow close I find myself at the liquor table, drowning away the kisses of old and married men with alcohol. A little bit lightheaded, I make the decision to find Finnick Odair. I run onto the dance floor and begin to alternate partners, looking for the handsome face of my friend. After about half-an-hour I find him and pull him away from his partner, who throws me quite a rude salute.
"Have fun in the bathroom, darling?" Finnick winks at me, making me blush. "Can we please go outside, it's too damn hot in here." I pull at his arm and he follows me out to the balcony. "I could tell you a reason as to why you're so hot, Lea. But I don't think you'd appreciate that joke very much." His grin is wide and I slap his arm lightly.
"Shut up, Finnick. You know how it is with Seneca and I." He nods and downs his drink, suddenly sober. "I don't know how to handle this anymore, Finnick. It's been a year of this! This fooling around, barely seeing eachother. I'm sick of only being able to speak on the phone! I just want to marry him." I blink away frustrated tears and take a seat at the staircase, breathing deeply.
"I understand, Thalea. Trust me, I do. I'd like nothing less than to marry Annie right here and now." He looks down at the rope on his right wrist, a simple reminder of Annie. A bitter smile comes to my face. "As if they didn't ruin my life with the games, but they don't stop there. Nobody told me that the games kept on going once you'd won. " Sitting beside me, Finnick places his arm around my shoulders, pulling me to him. "It'll get better, Lea."
Tears cascade down my face. "How can you be so calm? I just feel like… exploding! I'm so angry at it all, Finnick." He laughs, "Of course I'm not calm, Lea. I'm just good at hiding it. Just keep on trying. Always try. You have nothing left to lose, keep on fighting."
Placing my head on his arm, I nod. "Keep on fighting."
Yup, so this was written completely on a whim. I've lost a lot of heart for my other THG story. It feels weird and unrealistic. But, I suppose they all seem unrealistic in a sense. Also, I felt like I didn't explain much. I'm hoping to explain a bit more within the next few chapters. Hopefully you get the idea of it all!
Either way, please enjoy! Sorry if you get uncomfortable in any of the sex scenes, but I can't promise that there won't be more! After all, it is rated M for a reason. :\
Side note: I don't own anything or anyone but Thalea!
Anyways, thanks for reading! :D Please review if you have the time!
-Esme