Katniss thought she was ready to face any challenges her college threw at her, but unexpected competition from someone across her apartment wasn't what she'd expected.
.
Katniss's milkshake.
.
.
Katniss huffed in exhaustion. She'd finally managed to bring up the last of the boxes from Gale's car to the inside of the dingy apartment she was supposed to call home. She sat down cross-legged on the freshly mopped floor and took her surroundings in. Dirty-white walls, with small, congested widows, ceilings with oddly shaped stains which could not be explained and the permanent smell of dead skunks. The view from the outside wasn't pleasant either. The buildings seemed to lean into each other, with little or no space between two opposite structures. In here, Katniss felt suffocated. she was used to the outdoors, the large meadows and crisp smell of dewey Pine leaves. Her eyes grew misty with unspilled tears and she quickly pulled herself together. With a sigh, she stood and picked up a srubber. Katniss might have been a lot of things, but she was NOT a quitter- also, this was the only apartment she could afford.
It was right next to Panem University, where she'd been offered a scholarship for a Graduates Degree in Environmental Engineering, and even though the college had waivered her fee by almost fifty percent, Katniss's expenses left little room for luxury. The scholarship had come as a surprise for her, because ever since her dad had died in a car crash returning home from work, and her mother had turned into a waking zombie - leaving her and her baby sister Prim to fend for themselves- Katniss had struggled to make ends meet. If it were not for her uncle Haymitch's support, Katniss doubted she would've made it- Working double shifts all through high school, while devoting herself to getting good grades throughout, going away to college was something she hardly thought about. Initially, she was reluctant to go, worrying about Prim, but after Gale begged and Haymitch threatened her to reconsider, she relented. Now here she was, homesick, teary-eyed and scrubbing bird poop off her window panes.
Engrossed in her task, Katniss absently began humming. First it was just a series of "hmmms" followed by ragged breathing, but slowly it changed into words. Soon, she was busily crooning the Valley song, every stanza of which painted pictures of open grasslands, chirping birds, unicorns riding on rainbows and sunshine after rain- everything this place was lacked.
Suddenly, Katniss's eyes caught a flicker of movement and she stopped humming, straining her eyes for the disturbance, but all was still once more. She on the other hand grew restless. She'd seen enough B-grade slasher flicks to know where this was going. Some creep was probably oogling at her through his window or something, and when night fell, he would crawl through his window, into hers and...and.. With a shudder, Katniss closed and bolted her window. Then she took out her phone, impatiently tapping her foot as she waited for him to pick up. "Hey Gale" she said, relieved to hear his voice. "Could you come over? And bring some blackout paper with you."
….
The clock showed it was 2 AM, and Katniss Everdeen was wide awake. After she and Gale had put black chart paper all over her window panes, and Gale – being the over protective Best friend\ self appointed elder brother – had lectured her on the merits of using the peep hole before opening the door, she had half-crawled, half dragged herself to the unmade bed and fallen hastily to sleep. But now, her empty stomach had rudely woken her up. Katniss raided her barren fridge, contemplating the pros and cons of ordering a pizza at this unearthly hour. The only things she could find were milk, bananas, half melted ice cream and a bottle of Hershey's chocolate syrup. Disappointed, she cursed herself for not going grocery shopping earlier. Looking around, she picked up her ancient second-hand mixer-blender and put the assorted ingredients into the jar. Capping the lid shut, she turned on the rickety contraption, and it roared to life. Literally. Her empty kitchen was abuzz with the sound of the blender, noisily converting her weird food combo into an appetizing-looking smoothie. Katniss suddenly remembered the warning the store keeper- an equally ancient woman called Greasy Sae- had given her, that she shouldn't over-exert the blender, otherwise it might short circuit, instead, she was advised to use it in small bursts, with about five second intervals. So that's what she was doing right now, ten seconds of noise followed by five seconds of blessed silence. Soon though, she got carried away, pretending she was a motorcyclist revving her bike, or a Grand Prix racer about to speed off to victory. It was in one such moment of silence that she heard it, another blender; at least she thought it was a blender.
It followed her 'symphony', repeating the tune, precisely pausing where she was, and humming where she did. Katniss scowled and moved to the window, opening it an inch and peeking out. The curtains of the house in front of her were drawn, but a light burned in the kitchen. With a huff, she left her window slightly drawn and sprinted to the blender. If He (or a She, but instinctively, she presumed, a He) wanted a match, then she would give it to him. The stranger had brought out Katniss's competitive streak, and now she was ready to meet him head-on. "Let the Games Begin" she whispered, and let her blender rip.
Across the building, the stranger turned his contraption on as well. Together they battled for dominance, tearing the stale midnight air with the harsh sound of grinding gears. Then suddenly, the stranger's lights flickered, then with a muffled boom, his kitchen was engulfed in darkness. Katniss whooped in joy and gave a last celebratory spin to her smoothie, letting the world know who'd won, then she bolted her window, but not before smirking into the darkness with deep satisfaction. She poured the smoothie into a large cup and took a sip.
It tasted like victory.
….
She woke up in the morning- and after recollecting the little interaction she had with her neighbor- buried her face into the pillow in embarrassment. However, she was broken out of her stupor by the alarm going off, reminding her of the first class, which would be taking place in about two hours. She hurriedly showered and dressed, then ran around looking for her textbooks while jamming her bag with extra pens, pencils, staplers and thumbtacks ('seriously?' she could hear Prim scoff 'what the hell are you going to use thumbtacks for!?') she then quickly drained a cup of watery coffee and ran out the door. She still had an hour to go, but the perfectionist in her was jumping in anxiety, pushing her to go faster.
Her dream was about to become reality, and Katniss couldn't be happier.
..
The rest of the day was a blur, as Katniss went through her class, soaking up everything around her, not believing that it was finally happening. In her free time, she went through the library, brushing her fingers against the leather bound spines of books on all topics imaginable, giddy with joy. When she finally came back to her apartment that evening, Katniss was the happiest she'd been in days. She threw open the door, lugging in packets of groceries and a bag filled with books she had issued on Botany. She went about cooking a light dinner- since she'd already eaten a heavenly lunch with two girls who she shared classes with- Annie and Madge. With Prim on speaker, Katniss rattled off about how great her first day had been, while Prim laughed about how wonderstruck her sister sounded, and as the kitchen filled up with the smell of fried bacon , Katniss knew this one room apartment was now Home.
….
She woke up to the sound of a blender and sat bolt upright in bed. A smile of bewilderment crept onto her face. Seriously!? She thought. She padded to the kitchen window and threw it open. Sure enough, the kitchen of her neighbor as awash in golden light and a blender could be heard…well, blending.
Katniss couldn't stop the bark of laughter she emitted as she turned and brought out her own champion-blender. Into a jar, she put in some milk, a huge amount of coffee and a shitload of ice, which she topped off with a generous helping of sugar and chocolate syrup. then she joined him, whipping herself into a frenzy as she pressed buttons and laughed like a mad man. Then she heard it, a deep male voice, laughing with her (AHAA! Her subconscious went, I knew it was a guy) the lights on the ceiling flickered in warning, and reluctantly, Katniss had to hand this round to the dude with the melodious laughter. She heard him give his blender a final spin- not unlike the one she had after her win- and a hoot of joy. She rolled her eyes and poured herself the milkshake, tasting the bittersweet drink. Suddenly, out of nowhere, she heard herself say in a sing-song voice "yeahhh… my milkshake bring all the boys to the yard." There was a terrible pause as neither party knew what to do, and Katniss horrifically turned off her lights and rushed to her room, but not before she heard his voice through the window "and they're like, it's better than yours…."
That piqued her interest, and she found herself walking towards it. Slowly, she drew it open and laid her eyes on the stranger at last. His figure was bathed in moonlight, making it look like he was crafted from spotless marble when God was feeling creative. Hair so blonde, they looked silver, a delicious jaw-line, strong, broad shoulders and piercing blue eye the colour of the afternoon sky. Katniss froze, this guy was GORGEOUS. They both stared at each other, immobile. Then, a gentle smile tugged at his lips and she felt herself melt. He gave her a tiny wave and Katniss was so overwhelmed by his cuteness that she did what came to naturally. She scowled. His smile dropped and he looked at her skeptically. "Did I bother you or…" he trailed off, "NO!" Katniss almost screamed at him, beseeching him not to go "-it's just something I keep doing, comes naturally….yeah, it's got nothing to do with you, I mean, you're hot! And-" as soon as the words left her stupid mouth, she clapped it shut. The terror and embarrassment returned to her tenfold. The man too looked stunned. " oh..um okay.." he said awkwardly. "-I AM SO SORRY IT'S JUST I'M REALLY AWKWARD WHEN I TALK TO STARNGERS AND YOU'RE A GOOD LOOKI- SHIT I'M SO SORRY LET ME START OVER-" The man frantically motioned with his arms, asking her to stop "look it alright, IT'S ALRIGHT!" he said, as Katniss kept apologizing. "If it counts as anything, I think your hot too." He said, pairing the confident sounding statement with a smile mixed with just the right amount of shyness that Katniss felt warmth rush through her. "–and I'm Peeta. Er… Peeta Mellark. I too study at Panem Uni… in the department of Arts, that's about two buildings removed from yours." Katniss looked at him, speechless. "Crap! I probably sound like a stalker right now, b-but in my defense, I don't really know who you are…your name, I mean." He said, looking at her expectantly. "I don't think I should tell you that right now, I mean, you could be a serial killer for all I know" she said, but then she saw his shoulders drop… his broad, muscular shoul- she snapped out of it and continued "but I'll take my chances." He beamed at her in response. "Katniss, Katniss Everdeen" she said.
Peeta nodded, "well, Kat-niss-" her name rolled off his tongue like honey "- I believe I won today's bout of blender-war. And as victor, I wish to ask you if you'd like to share My milkshake with me, as even though yours might be nice, mine's wayyyyy better." And then he dropped her a cocky grin, which tugged at her innards. "Puh-lease" she said. "My milkshake is much much better than yours." "Well, it was good enough for bringing me to your yard." Peeta replied, his smirk growing wider. Katniss felt her ears flare red. She was flabbergasted. He continued, "I'm serious. Try it. You know what, let's exchange. Come up on the roof. Lets settle this right now." He finished. "umm…. It's really quiet late, and I've got class tomorrow, plus, you stalked me…so.." "please? Pwetty pwease..?" he said, making puppy dog eyes at her, which was the most compelling pup-eye anyone had ever given her, including Prim. "alright!" Katniss said, smiling. "lets get this settled.
…
Years later, the Mellarks would be known for following the weirdest anniversary-tradition EVER. On that one day, they would bring out from neatly packed boxes two supremely ancient blenders and pretend to be racecar drivers, competing for the Cup. Their children hid their faces in embarrassment, their friends humored them and their neighbors tolerated their joyful noise-making, but Peeta and Katniss Mellark carried on, happiness etched into their faces.