Author's Note: This is a one-shot that was written for Day 7 (Choose Your Own Adventure) of PromptsinPanem challenge on Tumblr. The visual prompt I choose was a puppy from a shelter, which is featured as the cover image for this story. My name over on Tumblr is also Pookieh, so feel free to stop in!
Prompt Quote: Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love. - Charles M. Schulz
The Girl
The way Katniss saw it, when her mother said, "no", she meant it. But according to her younger sister, Prim, there was always room for negotiation.
So Katniss was surprised when her parents finally gave in to Prim's endless pestering about getting a puppy. She had endured endless discussions at the dinner table for weeks until they had decided to vote as a family as to whether a new addition was a good idea. The first time they voted, it had resulted in a draw: Prim and her father against Katniss and her mother.
"But why not?" Prim whined when Katniss raised her hand to vote, "no."
"Because it'll just be a repeat of all your other pets that started out as great ideas. You do remember what happened to them? Don't you?"
Prim glared back at her sister, challenging her to bring up the sensitive topic. "You wouldn't," she huffed as she crossed her arms across her chest defensively.
"Oh well, let's see," Katniss huffed as she tapped a finger to her lips. "There was Mr. Bubbles, who lasted a month until he went to his watery grave in the toilet bowl when you overfed him. Then there was Chirpy, who lasted what? Two weeks? How many times did we tell you not to play with him out of his cage?"
"I was only six, Katniss, I think it's about time we overlooked those incidents already."
Katniss thought back to when she was six-years-old and if she remembered correctly, she would have been more than capable of keeping a pet fish or bird alive until it died of natural causes. But when Katniss was six, she was the one who was forced to grow up way too early, foregoing the chance of a typical and carefree childhood. But as much as she didn't want to admit it, Katniss did recognize that Prim had become more responsible over the past few years.
She wasn't sure what had caused her to have a change of heart the next night at dinner when Prim had brought up the subject of the puppy again. Maybe it was the fact that it would put a stop to her sister's constant whining or maybe it was the thought of having a companion to tag along when she ventured out into the woods to hunt. But whatever the reason was, she had demands that needed to be met in order for her to change her vote.
"You promise to feed him every single day and make sure he has fresh water all the time? Do you promise to make sure you bathe him at least one a month and above all, you promise to walk him everyday?"
"I promise," Prim squealed. "Cross my heart and hope to die!"
"Yeah, yeah, fine then," Katniss groaned. "I change my vote, but only on one final condition though. I get to pick it out."
"What? That's not fair!" Prim whined. "It's supposed to be my dog!"
"Fine, no deal then."
"Okay! Okay! Fine, you get to pick her then. But you have to take Peeta with you because I know you're just going to come home with a big ugly dog just to spite me."
Katniss frowned but eventually nodded. Besides, she'd need him to drive her to the shelter on the outskirts of town since her car had decided to overheat and call it quits a week ago.
Peeta. The boy from across the street. The boy who had somehow managed to wriggle his way into her so-called 'stony heart'.
Since the start of the summer, she hadn't seen him as often as she was accustomed to. He had offered to help his dad out at the bakery that this family owned instead of looking for a part-time job like all the other high school seniors around town. Thankfully though, Peeta's job resulted in an excess of tasty treats for Katniss when one didn't quite make the high standards of the bakery.
As she cleared away the dinner plates from the table, her mind wandered back to the first time that she had met Peeta. Back to the start of their unexpected friendship...
It was a sunny summer afternoon the day she spotted the moving truck parked in the driveway across the street. She hadn't moved for over an hour from her perch at the front bay window of their modest bungalow. There was no point. There was nothing for her to do.
The other neighborhood children whizzed by on their bikes while others drew oversized masterpieces using chalk on their driveways. Others laughed as they dashed around their front lawns through the sprinklers to keep the heat at bay. Katniss could only sigh with envy. She couldn't join in on the fun. She didn't have a bike. Or chalk. Or extra water to run their sprinkler.
That was the summer that her father had lost his job at the mines, just before school had let out for the year. She tried to be mature when her parents sat her down to tell her that they could no longer send her to summer camp where she had been looking forward to taking archery lessons. She tried to be mature when the chain on her bike broke just days before summer vacation started and was told there just wasn't enough extra money to fix it. She tried to be mature when they walked through the aisles of the big department store and she was asked to return the bottle of bubbles and pail of chalk that she had snuck into the cart. But it was no use. That was the summer when she was forced to stop acting like a typical six-year-old.
She watched from her window for hours as the men walked back and forth from the house with various boxes in hand and bags slung across their backs. It was only when the moving truck finally backed out of the driveway and vanished down the street that she noticed the boy. He was standing in the middle of the lush manicured yard, his curly blond hair a mess atop his head. He stared back at her curiously, but what had caught her eye was the sandwich in his hand.
When she looked closer, she could see the gobs of sticky peanut butter that stained the front of his striped shirt. Peanut butter. It was her favorite kind of sandwich.
One of the consequences of her family's tight budget, in addition to the arrival of her new baby sister, was that her mother no longer came home from the grocery store with the little luxuries, like peanut butter, that Katniss had grown accustomed too. Instead, those little luxuries had been replaced by cans of formula and diapers.
As she continued to stare at the boy, her mouth began to water as she watched him sink his teeth into the soft, fluffy bread and slowly chew. She was envious of every bite.
It was then that the boy lifted his other hand and motioned to her. She furrowed her brow in confusion, but soon realized that he wanted her to come outside. She hesitated at first, but when he held out the other half of his sandwich, as if he was offering it to her, she couldn't ignore the loud rumble from her stomach.
When she walked out the front door and marched across the street, she made a point to keep her back straight, her shoulders square, and her chin held high. Even if she was hungry and only six, she knew what pity was, and it didn't sit well with her. She stopped when she was less than a foot away from him, the tips of their shoes only inches apart.
"Hello." He smiled as the spots of peanut butter around his mouth glistened in the sun. "My name is Peeta. What's yours?"
She didn't answer. She was too mesmerized by the sweet, sticky smudges on his face. The urge to reach out and swipe at his mouth so she could lick the gooey goodness off her fingers was almost too unbearable, too tempting. She had to stop herself from leaning in too closely.
When the boy let out a frustrated huff, she looked up to meet his eyes. They were the bluest eyes she had ever seen. Unnatural almost. Bluer than the ocean she had seen on television, even bluer than the sky. The laughter of the kids down the street brought her back to her senses and she swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat.
"My name…my name is Katniss," she finally whispered.
"Katniss," the boy echoed to himself as if he was trying to commit her name to memory.
Katniss' eyes were drawn back to the uneaten half of his peanut butter sandwich when her stomach grumbled loudly again. She clutched her stomach as her face began to flush with embarrassment. She was about to turn to retreat back to her house when he caught her arm.
"Wait, would you like the rest of my sandwich?" he asked.
She looked down to his outstretched hand once more before she nodded her head and gingerly took it from his hand. Unable to stop herself, she greedily lifted the sandwich to her mouth to take a bite. A small moan escaped her mouth as her teeth sunk into the soft bread and the familiar sticky sweetness flooded her taste buds. It tasted like heaven.
Her indulgence was short-lived however when the door behind the boy swung open, and she spied a tall, thin, tight-lipped woman hovering in the doorway. Her icy blue eyes were nothing like those of the boy who stood before her. They were cold.
"You better get back in here, Peeta!" she yelled. The boy startled at the sound of her voice before he turned back to the woman solemnly. "Leave that girl alone, and don't you dare let me catch you giving your food away again!"
He almost tripped as his little legs carried him back to the house. Katniss stood, unmoving from her spot on the lawn, and watched as the woman smacked the back of his head as he hurried past her. When the woman turned back and shouted at her to get off the lawn, Katniss was finally able to will herself to move. She ran back into her house, back to her window, and stared out at the house across the street.
Her fingers were still sticky from the sandwich, and as she licked off the remnants of the peanut butter, she spied a head peeking out from behind the curtain of one of the windows from across the street. There, she met his blue eyes again. They stared back at each other for a while before she finally smiled at him. He grinned back widely, and something tugged at her chest. Something she could not ignore. It was then that she knew. They would be friends. Good friends.
When Peeta picked her up the following Saturday morning after working the early morning shift at the bakery, she jumped into the passenger seat with a wide grin spread across her face.
"What's up with you?" he asked as he pulled the truck into reverse and backed out of the driveway.
She laughed. "Just excited to pick out my dog."
"Your dog? I thought it was Prim's?"
She quirked an eyebrow in his direction. "Come on, you and I both know that this will end up being my dog in the end. Once she gets over the initial excitement of a puppy, and when that puppy eventually grows into a dog, Prim will lose interest and he'll be mine."
"He? I thought Prim wanted a girl?"
Katniss shot him another pointed stare.
"Right…your dog. I get it."
She noticed the brown paper bag on the dash and wondered if it held more treats from the bakery. "That for me?" she asked as she nudged it with the tip of her shoe.
"Hey! Don't do that, I don't know where your feet have been!" he griped as he shoved her foot away from the dash. "Besides, that's our lunch for later."
Lunch. The thought hadn't even crossed her mind as she was getting ready that morning. They would be gone the better part of day and skipping lunch was a sure-fire way to sour her mood for the rest of the day.
"Always looking out for me, aren't you?" She sighed contently as she settled back into her seat and stared out the window.
Every so often though, she caught herself watching Peeta out of the corner of her eye. She couldn't help it. The summer sun and the extra lifting he must have been doing at the bakery had slowly transformed his body. There was definition in the muscles of his arms that she had never noticed before, and the way his shirts had started to fit a little tighter across his chest hadn't gone unnoticed either.
The scars his mother had left on his body were almost unnoticeable now. He would shy away from her when she saw them, but she told him time and time again that they didn't bother her. She didn't find them ugly or repulsive like some people did, but what she worried about most was the scars she couldn't see. The ones that she knew would always be present in his mind when he went to sleep. That was when she wanted to comfort him the most, while he slept.
She shook her head. She had to stop. Friends didn't look at each other like that. Friends shouldn't look at each other like that.
"So where exactly is this place?" Peeta asked as he fidgeted with the radio dial.
"In the country, just past the outskirts of town," she answered vaguely. She caught his unimpressed frown as she glanced at him from the corner of her eye. "Just keep driving down the highway and we can't miss it."
It had been Peeta's idea to check out the shelters first before scouring the newspapers for breeders. It didn't take him much effort to convince her. How could she resist the chance to rescue an innocent life who hadn't asked for the hand it was dealt? The opportunity to provide a better future to a sweet animal in need? How could she when he saw the look in his eye.
That look. She knew the look. She had seen it once before many years ago…
Not long after the new family moved in across the street, interesting things had begun to happen. She had woken up in the middle of the night on more than one occasion to the screams. Some nights, it was a woman's voice she heard while other nights, it sounded like that of a young boy. The longer she studied him from her window, the more she began to notice the black and blue spots and the cuts on his arms and legs when he bent over to grab a ball or jumped up to climb the tree in their yard as he played with his brothers.
One day though, as she sat at the front bay window as she rested her chin in her hands, she watched as the men in blue arrived on the doorstep across the street. When the door opened, she could see the silhouette of the boy as he held fast to his father's sturdy forearm. She watched him standing quietly as the men (who she had by now figured out were police officers) led his mother away in handcuffs. What she didn't understand at the time was why he stood, unmoving, his face blank and is mouth slack. But his eyes. There was something about his eyes. There wasn't fear, or anger, or regret.
Instead, there was relief…hope…and the promise of something new.
When they finally pulled up to the shelter, the air filled with the sound of barks and yips. The parking lot wasn't too full, which caused Katniss's heart to sink. She knew the shelter's policy, and she couldn't bring herself to think of the fate of the poor souls who wouldn't get adopted by the end of the two-week waiting period.
She pushed the thought away from her mind as they greeted a friendly lady at the reception counter. She ushered them down to the kennels. They decided to split up as they walked up and down the rows of kennels, peering into each cage expectantly.
"What about her?" Peeta said as he pointed to the little white Maltese, who sat quietly in the back corner of the cage. "She seems gentle enough, don't you think?"
Katniss bent over to inspect the little fluff ball and as cute as she was, there just wasn't a connection. She wanted to feel a connection…something that said…this is the one. Something similar to what she had felt only once before, a long time ago. She shook her head at him.
"Oh yeah, right, not Prim's dog," he said as he rolled his eyes at her.
"And she's a girl," she added, "I want a boy, remember?" She smiled back at Peeta playfully but when their eyes met, she found it hard to look away. When she felt her cheeks begin to flush from their heated stare, she turned from him quickly to inspect the next row.
Katniss moved from cage to cage, the weary eyes following her as she passed. If there was a way she could save them all, she would. But the best she could do was one. Just save one.
"What about him?" she asked, pointing to a larger cage on the bottom where a skinny black-and-tan puppy with pointed ears sat timidly. Katniss bent down to get a better look as Peeta joined her. When she greeted the dog, something tugged at her chest. The feeling she had only felt once before. The puppy's eyes were bright blue, an odd combination for a dog of his coloring she thought. But the more she stared into his eyes, the more she realized what they reminded her of. Who they reminded her of. She could feel the heat spreading across her cheeks again as she glanced back up to Peeta, who was had busied himself by studying the information card attached to the outside of the cage.
"You sure?" he asked, his voice full of doubt. "It says he's a mutt."
"So? Why does that matter? So am I," she scoffed.
Peeta looked back to her with an unimpressed frown. "Are you ever going to let me live that down? How many times do I have to tell you? It was a joke."
Growing up in a small town that was inhabited by predominantly blond and fair-skinned people had made Katniss stick out like a sore thumb. The olive undertone of her complexion hinted to a Mediterranean presence somewhere up the bloodline, but her silvery-grey eyes had most definitely hailed from eastern-European heritage.
Shortly after Peeta's mother had been taken away, they had started to become close friends. Peeta had asked her one day about her ancestry, to which she replied, "I'm just all jumbled up…like fruit salad."
"Kind of like a mutt?" he teased. But Katniss thought otherwise of the joke and refused to talk to Peeta for over a week. She liked to hold it over his head at times to mess with him, but she knew full well he never meant any harm by it.
"Yeah, whatever," she mumbled, "well, I think he's just perfect." She turned to the woman next to her as she gestured to the cage. "This is the one. I'll take him."
As the volunteer opened the cage, the puppy took a tentative step out. It hesitated momentarily before it bolted straight into Katniss' open arms. The way the two fell to the floor together in one big ball of fur and limbs, it was obvious that the feeling of love at first sight was mutual.
"That's interesting," the lady stated as she watched Katniss and the puppy over the rim of her glasses. "He hasn't really taken a liking to very many people since he arrived. He apparently came from an abusive home, which left him a little jumpy and sometimes downright nasty."
Katniss could see Peeta's jaw tense at the word "abusive," and for a second she was unsure if it had triggered a flashback of a memory from his own battered past. It happened on occasion, but he was always able to manage it. His eyes met hers briefly before she understood. No, it wasn't a flashback. He was worried about her, worried about her safety and well-being if the dog had history of being violent.
"It's fine, Peeta," she said as she gently scratched behind the puppy's ears, causing him to lean into her and flop over onto his side as he panted away happily. "See? He's showing me his belly. He's not going to hurt me."
Peeta's face softened as he let out a small sigh of relief.
"Do you have a collar or leash for him?" the woman asked as she flipped through a stack of files before pulling one out.
"Oh…uh, no…I guess I forgot to bring one." Katniss frowned. First she forgot about lunch, and now this.
"Don't worry, I brought one." Peeta smiled as he pulled an orange collar from his back pocket. Katniss smiled as he placed it in her hand. Orange. His favorite color. It was perfect.
As she fastened the collar around the puppy's neck, she looked into his bright blue eyes and was surprised at what she saw. There was something else about his eyes. A depth to them that she recognized and had seen once before, a long time ago. There wasn't fear, or anger, or regret.
Instead, there was relief…hope…and the promise of something new.
The Boy
"Hey!" Katniss shouted as she wrestled to get the little ball of fur and energy into the front seat of the car with her.
"Now, are you sure he peed already? The last thing we need is him pissing all over my truck."
"He's fine, besides, how could you resist a face like this?" she cooed as she scrunched the puppy's face between her palms and kissed him square between the eyes.
Peeta's heart ached as he watched at how openly affectionate Katniss was with the puppy in her lap, its tail wagging back and forth excitedly. He had to admit though, the dog was pretty cute and he was thankful that she had chosen a larger breed who he knew would one day accompany her into the woods when she went on her hunting trips. That was a part of Katniss' world that he had never been allowed to see, and he worried every minute she was gone. At least now she had a companion, even if he walked on four legs; it was better than nothing.
Peeta could vividly recall the memory of the first time he saw Katniss because he had dreamt of that day almost every night when he was a young boy. Before his mother had been taken away, he had longed to see the girl from across the street again, to talk to her, to be her friend. But his mother wouldn't allow it.
His mother had said it was "puppy love." Just a simple infatuation that he'd get over in a month or two. What he didn't expect was how the longer he admired her from afar as the girl watched him curiously from her front window, the harder and harder it was for him to stay away from her.
The puppy groaned in appreciation, breaking Peeta from his thoughts as he watched Katniss scratch behind one of the dog's ears which caused its little hind leg to beat rapidly against her thigh. Peeta couldn't help but feel a little bit jealous of the dog and how it showed no fear in expressing love and gratitude towards Katniss. If only he could bring himself to do the same. He chided himself quickly though once he realized that he was acting childish. As much as his heart urged him to tell her his true feelings, Katniss had seemed content with how their friendship was and always had been. That was enough for him. It should have been enough for him.
Peeta cleared his throat. "So, do you have a name picked out for him?" he finally asked, stealing Katniss' attention away from her new best friend for a brief second.
"Nah, I'll let Prim do that part. You know, let her feel useful."
As they pulled away from the shelter, Peeta could sense that the puppy was anxious. It wasn't too soon before the dog had discovered the brown paper bag on the dash that was filled with their lunch.
"I think he's hungry." She grinned as she reached for the bag and pulled out one of the parchment-wrapped bundles. As she unwrapped the sandwich, he noticed that she had fallen silent as she stared down at it. "Peanut butter," she whispered.
"Of course," he laughed, "what else would it be?"
The puppy grew excited as he nudged at Katniss' hand, eager to fill his belly. She didn't hesitate as she offered him the entire sandwich. Peeta could only laugh as he watched the unlikely pair in the seat next to him. "Are you sure you're supposed to give dogs peanut butter?"
"Oh, a little treat once in awhile isn't going to hurt anyone. Besides, you know what they say, peanut butter always tastes better when you share it with someone you love." She laughed as the puppy licked at her fingers.
His chest tightened as he inhaled a sharp breath. He knew she didn't mean it when she said things like that. She always said things like that, which he would then spend days and nights after trying to dissect, in hopes of finding a deeper meaning or a hint even. But what she said and how she said it were always completely different. Always with a hint of playfulness but never seriousness. If only she knew the effect it had on him. The effect she had on him.
After their first encounter years ago, Peeta would go to bed each night with the vision of how she looked that day that he had shared his sandwich with her. He had never been a fan of peanut butter, but that was the day the taste would never again be the same to him. It was a simple gesture, but the way she looked at him afterwards, as if he had somehow given her the world was something he would never forget.
"Uh, Peeta?" Katniss gulped as she reeled him back from his thoughts. "I think you should pull over, I think he's gonna pee!"
He cursed under his breath and shook his head as he pulled off to the side of the road near an open field. Katniss opened the door and jumped out of her seat with the puppy in her arms, and he chuckled to himself as she sprinted to the field with the little bundle of fur nipping at her heels. He grabbed the brown paper bag from the dashboard before he closed the door behind him and locked the doors.
By the time he caught up to them, they were seated in the shade of a large oak tree. Katniss sat with her back and head rested up against the trunk, her eyes closed and her face relaxed as the loose strands of hair that framed her face fluttered against her cheeks in the breeze. The puppy was at her feet, happily chewing away at her shoe laces. Peeta stood and watched her for a moment. She was beautiful. Her eyes opened lazily when he let out a content sigh.
"I'd say I told you so, but I know better," he teased as he lowered himself next to Katniss and pulled out the remaining peanut butter sandwich from the bag.
"Looks yummy," She smiled as she eyed it greedily.
"I'm sure it does," he said as he pulled the sandwich up to his nose and inhaled deeply. Her eyes followed him and settled on his mouth as he took a large bite and chewed slowly. He didn't bother to wipe the peanut butter that had smudged the corner of mouth. "Well, if someone hadn't surrendered their own to that bucket of fleas over there, you wouldn't be staring at me like you want to devour me," he teased.
But she didn't laugh. She didn't look away either when their eyes met. He froze in place when she leaned in closer to him, close enough that the tips of their noses could almost touch. They had never been this close before. It was only in his dreams that she looked at him like this, with that hunger in her eyes.
He watched her eyes as they lowered to the corner of his mouth. Not wanting her to shy away, he slowly sucked in a deep breath in an attempt to steady his racing heart. It was too much for him to take. Just the thought of their proximity was enough to fill his fantasies for the rest of his life. He closed his eyes, in hopes of clearing the fog that had settled over his mind.
It was then that the unexpected happened. Something he never thought possible. He felt something warm and wet on his skin. His eyes shot open when he realized what she was doing. He watched her, unbelievingly, as she licked the excess peanut butter from the corner of his mouth, releasing a small moan when she drew back her tongue.
Before he could release the breath he had been unconsciously holding, she leaned in again, but this time her mouth found his. The feel of her soft lips as they glided across his was more than he could handle, and he couldn't resist the urge anymore. He dropped the forgotten sandwich to the ground and closed his eyes again as he brought his hands to her face, caressing her cheeks gently in his palms.
Not wanting to miss the chance that this was a once in a lifetime occurrence spurred on by the heat of the moment, he collected what little confidence he had and deepened the kiss. She tasted sweet, the hint of peanut butter still present on her lips. He would commit the feeling of her lips and the way she tasted to memory, for he was sure that once their lips parted, she would realize the mistake she had made. She would regret her decision and pretend that none of it was real.
So when she finally pulled away as the puppy barked and nipped at her feet, he was hesitant to open his eyes. Hesitant to be brought back to reality. But as he stared into the deep silver pools of her eyes, he was surprised at what he saw. He was expecting for her to be upset, for finally crossing the delicate line that they had drawn over the course of their friendship. There wasn't fear, or anger, or regret.
Instead, there was relief…hope…and the promise of something new.