Peeta Mellark surveyed himself again. After brushing his hair for the umpteenth time, he finally was contented with how he looked. Somewhat. Scowling, he continued brushing his hair again.
"You know, you're never going to look perfect for her, so I suggest you quit worrying."
Turning around, he smiled. Of course, he would know Haymitch's voice anywhere. He hated to admit it, but sometimes the old drunk came in handy.
"So what am I supposed to do from here? I've had dates before, but…"
"Never Katniss."
"Never Katniss." Peeta confirmed, taking a tired sigh. He never thought this day would come, the day he finally stepped up and asked his childhood crush out to dinner. Being afraid of many things, including rejection, humiliation, and worse, Katniss telling him she loved Gale (which he surely hoped wasn't true) he blurted it out casually one day before he could stop himself. Surprisingly, she agreed to go to his place. Why, he still would have to know when she came.
The doorbell came like a shock to him, setting Haymitch into a fit of laughter. Laughing nervously himself, Peeta knew how pathetic he looked. Inviting a girl to dinner only to be shocked when she finally came was the opposite of being smooth, something Katniss expected him to be.
"What should I do now?" Peeta whispered, clearly nervous.
"Answer the effing doorbell!" came Haymitch as he bluntly shoved Peeta to the door. "Just don't get drunk and act foolish, you'll be fine."
Peeta frowned as Haymitch fled through the back door. He could already imagine Haymitch's thoughts along the lines of, "It's best to leave him alone to deal with his hormones. I'm low on scotch." Taking a deep breath, he proceeded to open the door.
She looked stunning as always, although he noticed she chose to leave Cinna and his team out of styling her for the night, at least only in terms of her clothing,. Her hair was cut differently now, it being a little bit shorter than when he last saw her, cascading in layers. She decided to wear a simple striped hoodie dress, its gray stripes matching her eyes. Her eyebrows rose up in mock surprise as she smirked when she noticed a corner of his lips rising.
"Glad I could come huh?" she said, letting out a breezy laugh and planting a kiss on his cheek. "The thought of leaving you with no one but Haymitch to talk to is tempting though."
"Don't even think about it." Peeta replied, as he took her hand and led her inside. He was happy to see her mouth slightly agape as she took in her surroundings. Being the creative chef that he was, he only prepared Katniss' favorite foods for the evening complete with a candlelit table, and desserts he made and frosted himself for later. He was glad to have listened to Haymitch's advice to make the dishes and arrangements himself.
"Nothing beats a man who can cook, bake, frost, and be funny enough to entertain women. You have it in for ya, kid." Haymitch said hours ago, slapping Peeta a high five.
"So you honestly want to stuff me for slaughter or something? The food looks amazing!" Katniss remarked in awe, as Peeta politely seated her opposite from him.
"Glad you think so. Although I must admit, I probably wouldn't be able to get all the necessary ingredients if we didn't win that sadistic thing." He said, as he sat himself as well. Like Katniss, he despised the Hunger Games as well, but they both agreed to leave thoughts of rebellion and overthrowing the Capitol aside for this dinner.
"Tell me about it." Katniss replied, taking a bite out of some shrimp. "I can't stand the stress of the games. Before and after the actual games. I mean, I heard we now have some fan club or something."
"Really? What do they call themselves?"
"I'm not exactly sure. Although I've heard they've combined our first names to form some sort of love team name or something."
"What is it?"
Katniss paused to recall. "So far, I've learned it's TaNiss or something. Weird huh?"
"TaNiss sounds like a Martian princess. I expected them to be more creative." Peeta answered, laughing. Katniss tried to stifle her laughter as her mouth was full. Eventually, she choke the food down with orange juice before continuing.
"I can't think of you thinking of anything better." She replied, her eyes teasingly testing him to give another witty reply.
"I did come up with something just now actually. It's wholly organic too."
"Really? And it's…?" Katniss replied, curious now.
"The new sensational duo from Disctrict Twelve!" Peeta announced moving his hands as if imagining a headline while doing a strong impersonation of Caesar Flickerman. "Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark! From now on, they shall be known as KatPee! Now, that's hot."
Both of them exploded from laughter, in two separate ways. Katniss laughed at Peeta's joke while orange juice burst from her nose. Peeta was laughing at both Katniss and her nose.
"You're so evil! You did that on purpose dammit!" Katniss replied, laughing again, and wiping the residue of orange juice from her nose. Ironically, she thought that it was no coincidence orange juice was what Peeta prepared. Orange was his favorite color after all. He must be glad his favorite color is now humiliating me, she thought, smiling to herself.
"Seriously! Do you do this to all your dates?" she asked, as he volunteered to wipe her face.
"Nah, I only do this to the clumsy ones." Peeta replied, smiling as Katniss stuck her tongue out at him. "Besides, you're someone special."
Katniss felt a weird feeling in her stomach as he said that. She secretly like it when Peeta said things to confuse her feelings for him. Sometimes, her mind would tell her she would be a lot better off with Gale, but she was seriously doubting that now. Deciding not to think about that at that moment, she decided to revert her attention.
"When we were kids, I mean, did you really try to talk to me at all? Besides when you gave me bread of course. I'm kind of… just curious." Katniss mused, as she met his eyes again. He put both his hands on the table, and stared upwards, thinking.
"Well, there was this one time."
AN: Cliffhanger. LOL, don't worry. I promise to finish this story when the second chapter is posted. In the meantime, I'll leave you guys in suspense for a while. If you have any thoughts/suggestions, please review. Thanks!