Haymitch slammed a door after himself. He breathed heavily. Something in the house broke, probably a plate or a vase.
He turned on his heel and went straight to the bar. In three years of dating he didn't remember having such a terrible fight with Effie. Haymitch knew that he is responsible. Effie met a guy in her job and they became pretty close. He was blond, blue-eyed sex god. So obviously, Haymitch was extremely jealous.
So today, then Effie told him that she will go with Eliot to the theatre, Haymitch got extremely mad.
He walked into the bar, asked for double whiskey and some vodka shots. In about two hours he was so drunk that he barely could understand how many hands he has.
"Need any help, honey?" he heard a silky voice near his ear. It was a woman, clearly from the Capitol. Haymitch waved his hand underneath her noise so that she would walk away but the woman only came closer. "Come now, you clearly need some attention."
"Listen, sweetheart, I am nor in the mood to bang you, nor in possession of doing so. Engaged."
"According to the drinks you drank, I think your fiancée isn't very nice." The woman sat next to him, still making googly eyes.
Haymitch took his phone out and dilated Effie's number.
"Yes?" he heard calm, so precious to him voice.
"Where are you?" Haymitch heard some kind of music coming from the other end of the phone.
"At a club. With Katniss. And…"
"Eliot." He finished, because he clearly heard his voice. Before Effie could say anything, Haymitch hung up. He turned to the woman who was desperate for his attention. "Name?"
"Maggie." She answered, smiling like an idiot.
"Good." Something in Haymitch's head turned on the red light. He can't do this even if he is pissed. But Maggie ordered some pretty strong drinks and completely finished Haymitch.
"Shit. My head." Haymitch woke up in some kind of hotel. His head was splitting apart and yet he didn't remember anything that happened yesterday.
Suddenly, he froze. His heart started beating more and more quickly. Haymitch was to afraid to look at the other said of the bed. Because whoever lay there, it wasn't Effie. It was Maggie.
He heard a knock on the door. Still in shock, he slowly walked up to the door and opened them, without even asking who it was. He never thought that it could be…
"Effie." He whispered as his eyes met with his fiancée.
"So you were so pissed that you spent a night in the hotel? Seriously, Haymitch, it's not like we… Wait, why are those heels there?" Effie looked at the floor of the living room. A pair of Maggie's shoes, her skirt and blouse was lying on the couch.
"Princess, wait…" Haymitch began but he felt a strong clap on his cheek. Seconds later he could only feel the smell of her perfume in the air, because Effie ran away. And Haymitch didn't chase her. He wouldn't know what he could say. He didn't know if there are words that can describe how sorry he is or how he hates himself now.
A week passed and Effie was still like a mummy. Katniss and Peeta tried everything to cheer her up: talked to her, baked with her, went to different kind of shows with her, but she seemed to be neutral to everything.
She only twitched her lip then Katniss told her that Peeta beat the crap out of his ex-mentor.
"He shouldn't have done that, it's rude, you know." She said but Katniss could swear she saw a little smile in her face.
"Oh come on, Effie! In what age do you live, huh? Woman should not throw her life away because of shit man do!" Johanna said.
"I am not throwing my life away; I just want to think about my life choices."
"You're been thinking about them for over a week now. Come on, let's go somewhere." Johanna took her hand, lifted her of the sofa and pushed towards her room. "Go change and we will have a girls night. I'll call Katniss."
Couple hours later all three of them walked into the pub. They ordered some drinks at started talking about stuff girls talk.
"Oh no." Effie yelped a while later.
"What?"
"Look!" the girls turned around and saw Haymitch looking at them from the other side of the bar. His eye was black as death itself, Peeta must have been pretty pissed. And Haymitch himself looked like he was spending his week in Arena, running form mutants all the time: he was skinnier than usual, pale, and probably didn't take a shower since the fight.
"You want to go?" Katniss asked Effie.
"No. It would be rude, you both wanted to come here. Besides, I don't want him to think that I will not have a great night because of him." Effie claimed and took a sip of her vine.
The night went on and both Katniss and Johanna went to the bathroom, leaving Effie alone. Haymitch saw that and took his chance: he chopped his way through the bar and sat next to Effie.
"Hi."
"Hi yourself." Haymitch sighted, because Effie's voice was cooler than ice.
"I know that I have no right at all to be talking to you…"
"You don't. So please continue to follow this rule." Effie stood up and went outside. Johanna noticed her and followed her, after giving a death stare to Haymitch. Katniss sighted end went to gather her things.
"Why do you bother her?" she asked Haymitch.
"I wanted to talk to her to say how sorry-"
"It will be better if you will stay out of her life for now. For her own safety." Katniss said goodbyes to Haymitch and left.
Haymitch walked into his house. After what he did, he didn't come here for a while, because Effie lived here. But now, after two weeks he needed to take his things back.
He knew that it would be cruel to ask Effie out of this house. After all, she bought all the furniture, she cleaned it and… Well, made this house better. So ex-mentor only came to pick his clothes, books and other stuff.
It was about 8pm when he heard a scream, coming out of Effie's bedroom. She must have gone to bed early; Peeta said she was very tired these days. Haymitch rushed towards the sound and opened her bedroom's door.
Effie was shivering, moaning "Don't touch him, his innocent" all the time. She must have dreamed about Peeta's imprisoning. Haymitch sat next to her, picked up and hugged her.
"Shh, it's just a nightmare, princess." Effie was still shaking, so he pressed her tighter and kept calming her.
After a while, she snatched out of her dream. She looked confused at Haymitch. Effie understood that he calmed her but still didn't want him near her.
Effie pushed his hands away.
"Thank you." She whispered.
"My pleasure. I thought you stopped having them."
"I thought so too." Effie lifted her eyes and focused them on him. "Can I ask you something?"
"Always." Haymitch smiled.
"If you wanted to end all this… Our relationship. Why did you have to do this in such a terrible way?" Effie pulled her blankets, because she started shaking again.
"I didn't want to end them." Haymitch answered quietly.
"Then why, why on earth did you-" Effie started, but Haymitch shook his head.
"I don't know why I did that. I know that there are no possible words to express how sorry I am. There are no words to describe what an asshole I am. That I fuck up everything that is important to me. That day then you came into the room and saw… What had happened… The look in your eyes… You have no idea what it done to me. Living in arena wouldn't hurt so much as your eyes did. I am so sorry, princess. I am sorry for everything that I ever done. I am sorry for… I am sorry for making you be my girlfriend in the first place. You always there too good for me. I knew that. I never thought I will hurt you in this way." Haymitch kneeled in front of her, took her hands into his. "You know, the day I met you at the pub… You were so cold. That day I almost killed myself. Then, of course, I understood through what shit you would have to go again. So I dint do that. I just wish you could erase all the memories that are related to me." Haymitch kissed her hand and wanted to leave, but Effie tightened her hand on his.
"Would you want to forget all the memories that are related to me?" She asked.
"No. Never, you were the best thing that happened to me."
Effie stood up; put her hands around his neck.
"You are wrong. I am the best thing that ever happened to you." She wanted to kiss him but he leaned to her first and kissed her.
"I am sorry." He whispered.
"I know." Effie smiled and hugged him.