A Wedding Dance

I guess I didn't realize

Even at that moment we lost so much

KATNISS watches as a few men and women sway to a dulcet song that only District Twelve knows. Most of them are young, naïve couples who are just beginning to sip from love's cup, gullible and sweet.

This is after all a fete of love. Their district's traditional wedding song has been sung as the freshly married couple entered their new house. The toasting has been done, too.

The moon shines brightly tonight. It showers iridescent moonbeams on everyone as though the heavens favor this affair. The groom looks at his bride with love in his eyes. No one can want a better wedding.

Her eyes fasten to a pair dancing just under the lucent moon. Not a single person regards them with interest but the lovers do not seem to care. The boy twirls the girl but is faithful with her hands. So she dances unrestrained, with ease as she slides into his arms. He teases her; she laughs. Both look surprisingly from the Seam. And they are both happy.

Katniss forces herself to stare at the playing band.

Fate must be running low on jokes tonight, she thinks bitterly.

It feels a lifetime ago when she last saw Gale. She does not want to think about him, either. Only makes it more painful. Besides, it has been almost a decade. He must be happy with his life now. She tries to convince herself that she is happy, too. Solaced, because there is nothing more to blame.

Now there is only yearning.

In the distant past, Katniss once believed that Gale would be her first dance. The details were unspecific, just another wedding in the Seam. She only thought about it once because back then the idea was absurd. It was hard to be happy. But she did wish for it one lonely place in time. The girl that she was, she dreamed of wearing a simple dress, one that would not get in the way when Gale twirled her. And Gale would walk her home.

Deep down Katniss will always ache for the life she never got to share with him. Everything that was, all that should have been.

Is he still in Two? Three? Or is he in the Capitol? She does not know; people do not seem eager to tell her. And it stings because she is never brave enough to ask. Does he even miss her? He must. Because it has been that way for her, for eight years. And does he look older? He has to, even though she will always remember the beautiful, eighteen‒year‒old boy who first stole her heart.

Katniss smiles to herself. Here she is again, hopelessly thinking about the boy she lost. Will she ever stop?

A different song begins to play. Katniss goes back to the present and tries to find the solitary couple but they seem to have gone.

Good for them, she thinks. They are wise enough to run away.

The party is coming to an end as the throng of guests is thinning quickly. People leave in groups but Katniss will go home alone. It does not bother her because there is no one left to worry about her anymore. She pushed away the last person who stayed for her.

She starts to walk toward the newlyweds, Thom and Delly. Nobody has thought that those two will end up one day. Good for them, too.

But before she can approach the bride and groom, someone from a different direction arrives since he appears to come from the opened gate. He strides toward the couple, perhaps to apologize for almost, almost not making it.

Katniss freezes.

For someone working in the government, he is too damn rugged. His black hair is ruffled. A few buttons in his dark green shirt are left undone. His jeans are faded. His dark skin and silver eyes untouched, despite everything.

Gale Hawthorne has not changed at all. He is still the essence of the forest.

Frozen at first, now her whole body is melting. She decides to turn back and grasp the nearest table. Fate sure is playing tricks at her. She has not planned this. For the first time in years, Katniss has no idea what to do next.

Maybe she can run before he notices her. Hide behind the bushes and stay there forever. Christ, what is she thinking? Right now, she is unwittingly wearing her heart on her sleeve.

She checks herself if she still breathes.

"Pretty dress," someone says softly, an uneasy whisper behind her back.

She knows that voice — will always commit it to memory. Somewhere in time, he said those words, too.

Gently, Katniss faces Gale. Their eyes meet, spheres of ashes that long for each other. Both are looking for the people they were before her Games, searching for the connection that refuses to die. Her voice must be somewhere else because she cannot bring herself to speak.

They listen to the beginning of another song. Gale clears his throat.

"Dance with me?" His eyes are pleading.

Katniss still has not found her voice so she just nods. Quite eager, actually. He takes her hand and leads her strangely to the same spot where the other pair danced a while ago. They stand awkwardly still for some seconds. Finally Katniss mumbles. "I don't know how to dance, Gale."

His voice drops to a whisper. "I'm here, Catnip."

Catnip.

Katniss looks away to hold off the tears that frighten her. Gale takes her one hand as he places his other hand on her waist. Delicately entrapping her, yet effortlessly so. Until now, they still fit together as right as they once were. They start to sway.

I finally asked you to dance on the last slow song

Beneath that moon that was really a disco ball

I can still feel my head on your shoulder

And hoping that song would never be over

"How are you?" Gale asks hesitantly.

"Good, I guess. How about you?" Katniss chokes. Her throat is constricting. She breathes in.

"Really? You don't sound like you do," he teases. Even after everything, Gale still reads her like an open book. Something like warmth radiates in her heart.

What Katniss does the next moment surprises her more than him. She laughs. It's the kind of laugh that is soft, beautiful — and unimpaired.

Gale smiles. He twirls her.

I brushed your curls back so I could see your eyes

And the way you moved me was like you were reading my mind

I can still feel you lean in to kiss me

I can't help but wonder if you ever miss me

When she slides back into his arms, Gale brushes the stray curl that is weary from all the braids. He tucks it behind her ear, sending shivers down her spine.

Katniss gazes up at Gale. "You haven't answered me yet. How are you?"

"Good, I guess." Gale smirks. She punches his arm. He pretends to be hurt. And that is fine.

They sway silently for a few faultless moments. Katniss finds herself laying her head on Gale's shoulder. They inch closer to each other.

"Gale?" Katniss murmurs. She lifts her head.

"Hmm…" Gale hums faintly.

I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for being so weak, she needs to say. These words console her, permit her to mourn the love that once was hers.

"What are you gonna do?" Katniss whispers instead.

The moon shines brightly tonight. It showers iridescent moonbeams on everyone. Gale looks down to see that the sky decks Katniss' eyes with stars.

"I don't know yet," Gale answers. "But I wanna stay."

He holds her close, too afraid of what she might say. But tighter she clings to him, weakened by the crushing relief.

"Why?" Katniss asks.

"I left my heart here," Gale says, quiet as the days they spent apart.

Katniss stammers as she tries to learn the sense behind his words. "Y — you did?"

Gale's laugh is fresh, a music so lost in her memory that it hurt to hear again. He lifts her chin so they are a few inches closer. "Last I checked, someone's still dancing away with it."

Then he kisses her forehead, shy and unfaltering and willing to wait for her answer.

They break apart. Gale's teasing smile is back along with that endearingly raised eyebrow. "I can see she's doing it terribly. She's been stepping on my feet for a few times already."

This time Katniss truly punches him hard on his arm. Their laughter is heard by the few people that stayed.

ooOoo

THE bride wipes a tear as she watches the two lovebirds sway to a dulcet song that only District Twelve knows. She has watched them the moment the boy laid eyes on the girl again. Gullible and sweet, they are picking up where they left off. They dance just under the lucent moon, uncaring for everyone around. Both are from the Seam.

And they are both happy.

For me you'll always be eighteen

And beautiful

And dancing away with my heart