Desirable. She grimaced at her reflection in the mirror. The only thing she considered as desirable was the paint on her face and the padding at the bust of her dress. They were only things to bring emphasis to her body and features. Another word sprung up in her mind as she swiped a stray hair from her forehead. Fake. If being painted like a clown and having enlarged breasts was what the Capitol defined as 'desirable' then Katniss wanted no part of it. They wouldn't know the first thing about desire if it smacked them in the face.
Katniss halted at this thought. Then again, she wouldn't know either. Her face crumbled in distaste as she recalled the outfit the tribute from District 1 was sporting. Glimmer had nothing on but a sheer translucent dress. Pert breasts bouncing and hips undulating as she sauntered to the stage. She remembered feeling the heat of embarrassment on her checks when she faintly noticed that the naked girl's nether regions was absent of hair. It was such an intimate matter to Katniss and she couldn't believe the blonde had advertised it to the entire Capitol.
Katniss had to argue with her prep team to keep the hair of her nether regions intact. It was enough to have her leg hair ripped off and she did not want to face the stinging pain that would take place in that area. "All girls must be completely free of body hair," Octavia had chimed to her and Katniss felt her stomach drop when she realized the Capitolite's expression was nothing but serious. A few minutes and screaming obscenities later, Katniss was convinced her team made sure she'd never see hair there again.
People from all over will be falling over themselves to sponsor you! The words trilled annoyingly in her head as she recalled Effie's words. What exactly did these tributes have to do to get sponsors? It seemed like the boys had to appear blood thirsty and menacing and the girls had to be sex on legs. Katniss might as well have walked up to the stage, bent over, and showed her lace-clad ass to the audience. The thought caused her to quirk a smile.
Bits and pieces of the interview flashed through her head and she couldn't help but feel stupid. All she did was twirl around like an idiot. Besides the enamoring affect her dress had as she spun, she was completely forgettable. The only person that would be memorable from her interview is Cinna.
Peeta's interview outshined hers completely and Katniss couldn't help but feel her competiveness swell angrily as Caesar and him bantered effortlessly on the stage. And that stunt he pulled of confessing his love for her. Katniss could feel her teeth clench as she remembered the crestfallen expression he plastered so easily when the crowd voiced their remorse. Poor Peeta. Poor Katniss. Under the conditions of the Games, the star -crossed lovers will never be able to unite. All of Panem was eating out of the palm of his hand.
'You were about as romantic as dirt until he said he wanted you.' Haymitch's words stung her and she caught her reflection wincing. A feeling of insecurity suddenly came over her. Am I really just a nobody, she thought as she examined herself in the mirror. Did she need someone like Peeta, charismatic and charming, to point her out and be noticed? Katniss huffed in irritation.
"I can be desirable if I want to be," she said obstinately and suddenly was filled with hatred. A hatred for the Capitol. A hatred for the sponsors. For Haymitch. Even for Peeta. "I'll show him desirable," she grated out through clenched teeth. She had a stunt up her sleeve, but she would need encouragement to do it. Turning on her heels, Katniss exited her room and headed towards the bar, hoping her drunken mentor wouldn't be found nursing a drink on a barstool.
The noise startled him, snapping him out of his restless sleep. Just when he was finally starting to nod off. It was amazing that his body took the victory of conquering his nerves and finally shut down. Peeta sat alert in his bed, his senses heightened in the piercing silence. He was trying to identify the sound when it came again. Clinking.
It didn't take him long to guess what that sound was and where the source of it came from. No doubt it was Haymitch having a late night drink at the bar. Peeta groaned and pulled the blankets over his head, hoping its plush density would block out the sounds from the alcoholic.
Then came another noise that had Peeta upright in his bed again. Glass shattering. For a moment he remained there waiting for the sound of a human body hitting the floor, but there was none. Haymitch was probably slumped over the bar counter snoring away. But there was no snoring. This concerned Peeta. Debating whether he should stay here in his room or help his mentor, he began to climb out of bed but immediately froze when the double doors to his room burst open.
There she was, body wavering at the entrance of his room with a bottle of wine in her hand. All Peeta could do was stare. At first Katniss looked ridiculous. She was wearing an enormous fur coat doubling the size of her frame. He noted that she still wore the dangerously high stilettos from the interview and wobbled precariously in them. Katniss had a sloshed yet disturbingly determined expression as she stared down Peeta sitting vulnerably in his bed. It took him a while to put two and two together from the bizarre scene displayed before him. Shortly he realized as she took an unsteady step and watched her heel give way. She was drunk.
The first thought that came across him was that she had absolutely lost it. He watched her steady herself before she could fall. Katniss slinked forward in attempts to be seductive, but Peeta watched her with wide eyes as she zigzagged towards him. She stumbled here and there and Peeta didn't know why he wasn't there to help steady her. He was too shocked at the current situation and was at a loss of what to do.
"He's wrong," Katniss slurred, a hiccup punctuating the end of her sentence. "I can be if I really wanted to!" she hollered across the room. Peeta had no idea what she was talking about. He found this was the right moment to approach her. Carefully he would pry the bottle from her hands and escort her back to her room. And then he would tell her that it's okay to be scared. Hell he was even scared. He just didn't peg Katniss for a drinker. The previous dinner when she had sampled the red wine didn't seem to take a liking to her. Now she was bringing the bottle sloppily to her lips and taking surprisingly huge gulps.
Peeta was across the room in a flash, taking the bottle from her hands as she chugged the wine. But she was quicker. Katniss violently recoiled from him causing her to stumble backward. Thankfully the wall caught her and she began to laugh. "No sharing," she guffawed as she waggled a teasing finger at Peeta. "Katniss, you're drunk," he told her. She snorted in response, "No shit." And with that took another swig from the bottle. Peeta lunged for the bottle but missed when Katniss reacted reflexively; outstretching her arm above her head holding it out of his reach.
She erupted in a drunken cackle that made his hackles rise. Then she shoved him with surprising strength. He flung backward, shocked by her drunken animosity, and collided with the edge of the bed. Katniss advanced on him, all the mirth wiped from her features. "He's wrong you know," she said once more and her voice cracked. "Who?" Peeta asked. If he couldn't force her back to her room then maybe he could gently guide her.
"Haymitch," she spat. Her eyes glowed wildly at him for a moment and Peeta was convinced that she had gone from drunk to derange. This wouldn't do. He couldn't have the victor of the 74th Hunger Games break down before it even started. "I can be if I really wanted to!" Her voice rang out, more delirious than before. "Be what?" he asked soothingly, hoping his attempt to be comforting would ease her. He saw her lips move but for some reason the word failed to reach his ears. It was as if time around him slowed as he processed the moment and finally grasped the scene before him.
"Desirable."
Peeta did not like where this conversation could go. What made it even more apprehending was that he had no idea where it would end up. "D-Desirable?" he sputtered out as Katniss attempted to give him a smoldering gaze and succeeded. "You want desirable? I'll show you desirable."
With that Katniss roughly pushed Peeta onto the bed and in a swift motion discarded the large fur overcoat.
The coat pooled around her feet. Peeta's eyes widened and felt his heart stop beating. Katniss was adorned in a scarlet satin gown. There was a split in the side of the dress, revealing a long leg, stopping right at her hip. A gaping spilt at the front of her dress with an elegantly tied lace fastened the open material together, bringing her breasts together in the most provocative fashion. Katniss jutted out her hip and reached to disassemble her updo. Her brown locks spilled around her shoulders and Peeta's mouth fell open.
Desirable was an understatement, Peeta faintly thought to himself as he stared at the sensuous woman before him. Katniss was the embodiment of sex on fire. He watched in a trance as her fingers pulled the tied lace at her front. To Peeta's fascination and horror, he watched the gown slip off her body only to reveal something else. A fiery red sheer bra and thong.
"Is this desirable enough for you?" Katniss said in a tone that made his manhood quiver. She began to grope herself in such a manner that even Peeta's fantasies could not compete with. "I-" was all he could get out, throat suddenly dry. She arched an eyebrow at his pathetic response. "What's the matter? You're usually a man of words" she taunted. Katniss then approached him. The proximity between them was growing smaller and smaller. Peeta had to bite his lip to stifle a moan as she straddled him, seating her feminine part right on his throbbing erection. She made a high pitched noise of exclamation that left Peeta wanting to hear that noise again. Only with more volume and pleasure dripping from its tenor.
"I think it's working," Katniss said to him as she cocked her head to the side. "You're a naughty boy, aren't you?" she said and Peeta suddenly became completely petrified. With a ferocity that left him breathless, she pinned him to the bed. He could feel her breasts pressed against his chest, her hips gyrating against his groin.
As if she read the look of terror on his face she replied, "It's okay. I'm a bad girl, and bad girls like naughty boys." Her words were thick and heavy like honey dripping from her lips. Katniss then came up on her knees, hovering over Peeta's paralyzed form. She raised her hand and he watched it land on her bottom, slapping her fleshy rear. She did it again and it took everything in him not to groan out from the sight. Katniss spanking herself. This was a dream gone wrong, or a nightmare gone right. He couldn't decipher between the two at the moment.
"You want me, don't you Peeta? You said so yourself," Katniss purred in his ear. This girl has become completely unhinged. "Katniss, you don't know what you're doing," Peeta managed to peep out. All her response was a sultry laugh and he gulped. Finally deciding to take matter into his own hands, Peeta flipped her over, pinning her to the mattress. Her laughing increased and although Peeta had the upper hand his action certainly didn't put a halt to the situation.
She began to writhe beneath him, his grip slackening as he took in the sight. Again she was atop him. That was a fail, he thought to himself as the lingerie clad woman enveloped herself around him. "Oh Peeta," she mewled in his ear and started to nibble at his lobe. Peeta could feel himself slowly unhinge as well. All he wanted to do was succumb to this seductress grinding in his lap. Hot lips grazed the crook of his neck. To bury himself into her inviting depths. Hands smoothed across his chest. But what would happen the morning after? Peeta would never be able to forgive himself for taking advantage of her in this state. Her lips were making its way up the column of his neck, teeth nipping his chin. The consequences swirled in his mind as his judgment slowly went down the drain. He wanted to stop this, but something was telling him she wouldn't let him.
He crumbled, his once tense body forming into hers, molding around her curves. His hands found her hair and he nuzzled her neck, smelling her. He felt her hands comb through his hair and raised his eyes to meet her gaze. This was it. There was no going back now. Peeta leaned in, preparing to capture her lips in the most passionate kiss he could ever muster.
Suddenly Katniss slumped over him, her body lifeless. "Katniss?" Peeta grabbed her shoulders, straightening her. Katniss's head lolled back at the slight motion. She was passed out drunk.
He sighed, gathering her into his arms. It probably was for the better. What would Katniss think once she woke up in the same bed as Peeta stark naked hours before the launch of the Games? As he carried Katniss to her room, he suddenly started to doubt his reasoning. Laying her gently onto her bed and pulling the blankets over her body, Peeta realized his reasoning had been entirely wrong.
He should have wracked her body with shock wave after shock wave of pleasure. He should have reacted sooner to her advances. Because now he would never know what it would have been like to ravish the woman that he loved. To worship her like the goddess that she is. After tomorrow he would have to maintain all his focus and strategy in keeping her alive. Then she could return to her family and live the life she deserves. She can meet another man and he could show her the love that he will never be able to. He could do all those things to her body that Peeta so desperately wanted to do a moment ago.
As he ambled back to his room he felt an emptiness consuming his soul. Leaving him hollow inside. Suddenly he wasn't nervous anymore. Tomorrow's events didn't frighten him any longer. It wouldn't matter if he made it out alive or dead from the Games. All that he knew to this point was this: he was already dead.