Haymitch opened his eyes gradually and waited for the world to stop spinning around him as he lay sprawled on a bed of crumpled sheets. He'd been drinking of course and clutched his head as the hangover began to set in, carefully sitting up in the bed, the light illuminating the mess of clothes on his floor. Light. Morning? He crawled off the bed and stood up, noticing an apparent absence of clothing he gathered the sheets at his waist and shuffled to the window. It was. The soft morning sunshine that he usually went to sleep with, he had slept through the night for the first time in years. Even after so long he was still afraid to sleep in the dark.
The house was still and quiet as he stood at the window staring out, then the quick pad of feet running down the hall alerted him and he whipped round clutching the sheets around him tighter. Effie stumbled through the door and froze in a mixture of shock and embarrassment, wearing only a large netted underskirt and corset, with of course her usual colourful make up and wig. They stood there awkwardly in silence for a moment or to, then Effie squeaked under her breath and swiftly bent down to pick up her eccentric heels and dress that lay around Haymitch's bed, and darted away with scarlet blush in her cheeks. Haymitch stood –still firmly grasping his sheet- mystified. Blinking fast as if it would conjure the events of last night, Effie had possibly had a bit to drink if she'd ended up in his bed he thought, then he smirked; 'possibly'.
He then decided it was probably a good idea to put on some pants.
Rummaging through the clothes strewn across the floor he eventually found his pants and set about hunting for his shirt. After some time he decided the damn thing must have got up and left on its own. Then a polite cough came from the door, he turned to see Effie standing there again with a little more clothing this time. Shame. But holding his shirt out to him "It must have…" she coughed again "…been rolled up in my dress" which was folded over her other arm. He took the shirt from her and slipped it on "Thanks, sweetheart" he mumbled. They stood their awkwardly in silence again until Effie jumped a little and started off down the hall again. He buttoned his shirt as he headed down the hall, taking a quick glance behind him to check if Effie was gone, then proceeded down the stairs with as wide a grin as his hangover would allow.
Downstairs Haymitch went through to his kitchen, in a somewhat unhygienic state, and took a bottle of white liquor from a cupboard, after tasting his own he went for another bottle, but stopped; Somehow I don't think she'll want liquor for breakfast, he thought to himself and opted instead for tea, pity he wasn't too sure on how to make it. After he had brewed the tea to the best of his abilities he took the warm fragrant mug back upstairs, still recovering from the shock that he actually had tea in the first place. He went down the hall, tapping on each door until he heard Effie's alarmed gasp. She slipped out of the room fully dressed and quietly closed the door behind her, somewhat astounded to see Haymitch standing before her bearing tea. "Thank you, Haymitch" she said in her still thick twee capitol accent, taking the mug, she took a sip. Awful. He'd clearly never made tea in his life, but not wanting to be rude, she drank it with small mouthfuls and smiled "Going somewhere nice?" he said indicating her outlandish purple dress she'd been wearing the day before for the wedding. "Well back to the Capitol ideally" she said with a smile; she had grown used to Haymitch's sarcastic remarks and had learned to dismiss them with the positivity and optimism that she knew so irritated him. "And how are you going to do that" he chuckled taking another swig from the bottle. "Just us, princess" he always found it fun to joke with Effie, to be sarcastic and insulting. He knew she hated it, not being able to abide rudeness and all that, but it was like his own personal form of flirting, especially for Effie, just to watch her squirm. And squirm she did; her head twitched up and her eyes darted about the hall and through the windows. He was right. Oh no. Everyone else had left last night. Haymitch laughed roughly and wandered off down the hall, Effie trailing behind a little flustered "How am I going to get back?" Effie never could stand her schedules being messed up, which made Haymitch laugh even more. "Seriously, Haymitch. What am I going to do?!" She had probably missed the last train and would either have to hitch-hike back to the Capitol or "Could always stay here!" Haymitch called holding his arms in the air and gesturing to his pig sty of a house. Effie sighed painfully. "If you've ripped out that phone again Haymitch Abernathy I swear" she pointed a matronly finger at him and went in search of the phone leaving him stood in the kitchen with his bottle.
Some uncomfortable hours later a car arrived to pick her up and take her to the station, he hadn't destroyed the phone after all, yet. She trotted to the door, taking a long look back at Haymitch who sat enveloped in a leather armchair. "Goodbye, Haymitch" she called with a formal nod. He tilted his head and raised his bottle to her "Until next time, sweetheart" Effie scowled but couldn't conceal the blush in her cheeks again. We'll see. She thought as she flew down the porch steps and into the car.
Haymitch stood at the window and watched as her car pulled away, and until it disappeared over the horizon. "Until next time, sweetheart" he muttered to himself, and took another swig. Maybe he and Effie didn't get on tremendously well as friends, but with her in his bed he slept through the harrowing darkness. Her shrill voice, bright colours, awful Capitol accent, irritating optimism. And her sweet slight form lying in his arms warding off the nightmares.