It had been a rough week.
It was the exam period again, and all of Katniss's classes had decided to schedule their finals within the same three-day period. Sleep had been neglected in favour of studying, which had left her completely exhausted and mentally drained to boot.
She'd also been taking on extra shifts at the restaurant she worked at in order to pay the bills. Even with her scholarship from the Mockingjay Foundation – which she had to admit had been more than generous – money was tight.
To make things worse, her asshole supervisor was becoming more and more overt in his lecherous behaviour. Katniss often found herself on the receiving end of his leers, watching him salivate over her body like she was a piece of meat. Cato had made it perfectly clear that he had his sights set on Katniss; no male at work was allowed to get to close to her without him getting twitchy, despite Katniss's adamant protestations that she wouldn't go out with him a million years. He kept on inviting her into his office at the end of the work day 'for coffee and a chat', but everyone knew that what Cato really had in mind was taking Katniss on the desk. Just the thought of it made her skin crawl.
So when Gale had called and offered her the chance to spend her Friday night getting 'absolutely shitfaced' at his work Christmas party, she'd jumped at the chance. He worked at a prestigious law firm as a paralegal whilst he worked his way through law school, and after a successful year the partners had decided to splash out on an open bar for everyone. There was no way Katniss was passing that up. No way in hell. She'd been depressingly sober for the past few weeks because of exams, but now that they'd finished it seemed like as a good a time as any to drink copious amounts of alcohol. She just wanted to let loose - to not have to worry about the other crap in her life and just enjoy herself for one night.
She'd even made an effort tonight, for once. She was wearing a short green dress that Prim had bought her one year, and sparkly reindeer antlers in an attempt to appear festive. Not that there was anyone there to appreciate it apart from the drunken lawyers stumbling around as they let loose. She'd been waiting at this goddamned bar for an hour, waiting for Gale to show up. When she'd texted him 45 minutes ago, he'd promised her that whatever he was doing wouldn't take long, yet here she was, still alone at the bar.
In her solitude Katniss had been taking full advantage of the open bar. She was slowly working her way through all the cocktails on the menu, enjoying the luxuries of expensive drinks that she didn't usually get to enjoy. Her cheeks were warm and flushed from the alcohol, and her head was fuzzy. She was definitely tipsy, if not well on the way to being drunk.
She stiffened as she felt the wet warmth of a sloppy kiss on the back of her neck. Turning her head so sharply her neck clicked, she found a clearly drunk blonde man standing before her, someone that she was certain she'd never seen before in her life. Her eyes darted nervously to the empty bar stool next to her, the one she'd been saving for when – if – Gale decided to show up. Almost as if he'd read her mind, the man stumbled into the chair, sitting down heavily as he appeared to lose his balance.
"I'ma so glad I found you, Annie!" he slurred as he planted his head on the table, his hand clutching at a glass of what looked to be whiskey. "I've been looking for you an' Finnick for aaaaaages! I've just been talking to some lawyer about the legal implications of something or other and I didn't understand shit. But then I thought to myself that Finnick an'Annie would know all about this because they're cleverer than I am, and it's true, you are! You and Finnick are my best friends, you two are so awesome! I wish I was smart enough to be a lawyer but I guess knowing about bread isn't useful for law. No one wanted to talk about bread tonight." He finished off his ramblings with a shrug, reaching for his glass.
Wow, this guy really knew how to blather on. Katniss blinked a few times as she continued to stare at him. The man seemed clueless as to her gaze – and to anything else apart from his drink. Sitting up clumsily, he brought the glass to his lips again, taking a long swig. "Wow, I can't even taste the alcohol anymore!" he laughed, and Katniss raised an eyebrow. He must have really been knocking them back if he couldn't taste straight liquor anymore.
He took another long sip of his drink, seemingly unaware of the liquid that was spilling onto his shirt as he drank. "So where is Finnick, anyways?" he asked Katniss, turning to look at her for the first time since his arrival.
Katniss giggled slightly at the look of confusion that spread over his face – something she attributed to the alcohol she'd been drinking, definitely not the cute frown on his face. Definitely not that.
"Y-you're not Annie…." The man sounded uncertain, squinting and leaning in closer to Katniss as if by doing so she would turn into whoever Annie was. "Nooo, definitely not Annie."
Despite the fact that his eyes were having trouble focusing on her, Katniss couldn't help but smile at his pout of disappointment. "No, I'm Katniss." She told him with a small smile, before inwardly cursing herself. Why had she told him that? It was like her tongue had blurted out the introduction before her brain had had a chance to process the situation. It certainly was true that alcohol lowered your inhibitions, as normally she'd avoid drunken men in bars like the plague.
"Katnissss?" he asked, testing out the letters in her name, his drunken tongue struggling with the sibilant sounds. For the first time, his eyes were able to make contact with hers, and she was momentarily stunned by the depth there appeared to be in those blue eyes.
"Uh huh…" Katniss nodded weakly, taking another sip of her drink to avoid staring directly into his eyes. He furrowed his eyebrows momentarily, before a smile that could only be described as radiant spread across his face.
"I'm Peeta!" he exclaimed with a bright smile. Clearly this man didn't mind that she wasn't Annie, whoever she was. "Nice to meet you!" he thrust his hand towards her enthusiastically, accidently jabbing her in the chest. "Ooops!" he exclaimed dramatically, pulling his hand back from her as if he'd been burned. "Sorry!"
Surprising herself, Katniss burst out laughing. She couldn't help it – he looked adorably cute with his contrite expression. Sober Katniss would probably have shoved him for him that, but the alcohol had mellowed her and tonight she didn't feel threatened or insulted, or inclined to violence. Tonight she felt like laughing it off.
As she continued to laugh, a small grin worked its way onto his face. "Man, I'm so drunk!" Peeta told his now empty glass with a giggle. He turned back to Katniss. "Want another drink?" he asked, already wildly flailing his arm in the direction of the bartender to get his attention.
Katniss let out another chuckle. She was nowhere near as far gone as Peeta – truthfully, she was surprised that he was still rambling away to her at the bar, rather than vomiting in the bathroom – but the alcohol she'd been steadily sipping back all evening had left her feeling pleasantly drunk, and far more confident – and flirtatious- than she normally would be. "Get me one of whatever you're having." She smirked warmly at him, moving her chair closer to him surreptitiously.
God, he was attractive. He didn't seem to notice that she was blatantly ogling him, and she didn't care whether he saw or not. It should have been illegal to look that hot in a novelty Christmas t-shirt, yet somehow he pulled off wearing a reindeer and snowmen extremely well. His well-defined muscles were clearly visible underneath the formfitting t-shirt, and suddenly her mind was fixated by the image of running her tongue over those muscles.
Stupid overactive imagination.
It had been clearly far too long since she'd been with a man. Katniss was a serial monogamist at heart, and hadn't been with anyone since she'd dumped her long-distance boyfriend Thom from back home over the summer. No wonder she was currently salivating over the man in front of her. Definitely no were beer goggles necessary for anyone to happily sleep with him.
Bizarrely, he reminded her of an excitable curly-haired golden retriever, what with his mess of unruly curls that were catching the pulsating lights of the room. His drunken enthusiasm was hard to fault, and his beaming grin was so contagious, Katniss couldn't help but mirror it.
And damn if his ass didn't look irresistible in those tight jeans.
Katniss squirmed in her chair, crossing her legs tightly to try and alleviate the tension between her legs. Luckily Peeta was too preoccupied with talking to the bartender and getting their drinks to notice anything amiss – not that his drunken mind was likely to be capable of processing what she was doing anyway.
"Here you go!" Peeta slid a drink across the bar top towards Katniss' outstretched hand.
"What is it?"
"A Long Slow Comfortable Screw Against the Wall!" Peeta attempted to say with a straight face, before chuckling loudly.
Katniss laughed wildly. "Seriously? That's a drink?"
"I swear that's what it's called!" he insisted with a wide-eyed grin. "Can't remember what's in it, vodka and southern comfort and whatever, but it's really really good!"
She took a long look at the drink in front of her, before shrugging and grabbing it. Whatever it was, it couldn't hurt. "Cheers!" she nodded towards him, and tipping the entire contents of the glass into her mouth in one gulp. The alcohol burned as it made its way down her throat, and she'd stopped being able to distinguish between different alcohols several drinks ago, but it seemed nice enough to her. Maybe she'd have another one. Or two. Or five.
Slamming her glass down on the bar surface, she looked out to see Peeta doing the same thing with his empty glass.
"Yeah!" he grinned, high fiving her. "Another!" He gestured wildly towards the bartender again, and she settled back in her chair, relaxing in his presence.
The time passed quickly as she chatted comfortably with Peeta at the bar, ignoring the other people present at the party, never without a drink in their hands. He was so easy to talk to, and although she normally wasn't comfortable talking to people she didn't know (and even some she did know), somehow this drunken man had wormed his way past her barriers and got under her skin.
He was just telling her a joke now. She had no idea what it was about, having given up listening a while ago, and she was now just staring at Peeta as he laughed his way through it, stopping to giggle ever so often. As he reached the punch line of the joke, he dissolved into a fit of laughter, his body shaking.
She laughed - far too loud! a small voice in her head protested – without having even understood the joke, his cackles enough to set her off. She was starting to feel full after all the alcohol she had ingested that night, but being with Peeta was so fun she didn't want to have to leave him and find the bathroom. It was unlikely that her legs were even up to supporting her, so staying put in the chair was a much better option all around. She patted him on the leg as she continued to laugh, almost losing her balance as she leaned towards him.
"You're funny. And hot!" She blurted out.
"I am, am I?" He looked pleased with this statement.
"Yes." She said simply, gathering the courage to make a move on him. The ache between her legs was getting progressively more intense, and her mind was on overdrive imagining what he'd feel like down there.
A sudden burst of confidence came over her. "Do you live anywhere near here?" she asked, moving her hand higher up Peeta's leg. His eyes widened, before narrowing into a knowing look as he placed his hand on hers.
"10 minutes away."
They both moved forward at the same time, clumsily bumping noses as they sought each other's mouth. His lips felt warm and welcoming, his tongue seeking out hers. They moaned simultaneously as he pulled her closer onto his lap, his arms moving down her back as her fingers weaved their way into his curls.
"Owww!" he mumbled as she accidentally tugged at a strand of his hair too hard, before leaning forward to kiss her again. She pushed him away with a suggestive grin.
"Call a cab."
He didn't hesitate to grab his phone.
The taxi ride back to Peeta's place went quickly as they sang along drunkenly to the Christmas tunes on the radio and sloppily kissed each other. When they finally arrived at his apartment complex, he didn't wait to get his change from the driver as he pulled Katniss out the door, laughing all the way. They were both eager to touch each other, their bodies never losing contact as stumbled their way through the doors into Peeta's apartment.
As soon as the door closed Katniss was pushed against it as Peeta's lips grazed her neck. "So this is my apartment." he groaned as he ground his pelvis against her, his fingers dancing round her lower back in a tantalising movement.
Pushing him away, they walked through the room as one, hands roaming.
"My room's through there" he gestured his head, pulling her closer for another kiss.
"Here's good" she mumbled against his mouth, pushing him down on the sofa and stripping off her dress in one surprisingly co-ordinated movement.
"Oh, fuck me…" he groaned, pulling her now bare skin closer to him.
The sound of buzzing roused Katniss from a deep slumber the next morning. She groaned as she blindly reached out to find her phone and turn off her alarm, but froze as her arm smacked into something warm and solid next to her. Instead of the hard single bed she normally slept on, this bed was a larger one, and felt much softer under her back.
Traces of alcohol and sweat lingered in the air, along with – she winced – the unmistakeable smell of sex. Memories of last night came flooding back to her – the sofa, against the wall, and in this bed. She jolted away from Peeta, suddenly far more awake than she had been previously. By the taste of things, something had crawled into her mouth and died, and the ominous churning of her stomach promised a long morning ahead with her head in the toilet.
Quickly grabbing her phone off the side table, she rolled out of the bed and made a run for the bathroom.
Locking the door, she rested her head against its cool wood. What the hell had she done last night? Picking up guys at a bar was a Johanna thing, not something that Katniss did. Whilst her roommate never slept alone if she could help it, Katniss preferred going home on her own, not with random guys she'd just met.
At least Peeta hadn't seemed like a total douche, though who knew what he'd be like this morning after the alcohol had worn off. Maybe he'd be just as embarrassed as she was. Or maybe she'd stay and they'd have breakfast. Oh god, that would be far too awkward. Probably the best thing to do was to make a run for it.
Sighing, Katniss looked down at her phone. 5 new messages and 2 missed calls.
Missed Call from Gale
Jo: Where r u?!
Gale: I'm sorry I couldn't make it last night, Catnip. I'll make it up to you another time, I swear. Come round for dinner this week?
Missed Call from Jo
Jo: U getting laid everdeen?
Jo: Lol that was a joke ur probably the library
Jo: I checked & the library is closed now. If u r getting laid ud better tell me everything bitch!
Crap.
As she decided what to text back to her best friend and her roommate, she felt the unmistakeable feeling of sick rising in her throat.
Rushing over to the toilet, she only just made it as vomit made its first – and surely not last – appearance of the morning. Retching into the bowl, she almost missed the sound of heavy footsteps outside the door. She winced at the knock on the door that was too damn loud when she was feeling so delicate, and looked around to see if there was any way she could escape without having to face Peeta at the door. She could probably just about fit through the tiny bathroom window in the corner, but she couldn't remember what floor Peeta's apartment was on, and in any case, her clothes were scattered in various places in various rooms.
Sighing, she got to her feet and briefly rinsed away the taste of sick with the Listerine on the bathroom sink, and grabbed a towel to wrap round her naked body. Unlocking the door, she opened it and peered out at the man she'd drunkenly seduced last night.
He looked just as bad as she felt, if not worse, and faintly green. "Katniss?" he rasped, holding out a glass of water, a pack of ibuprofen and her clothes towards her. "Thought you might want these."
"Thank you," she looked down at the ground rather than in his eyes, holding onto the doorframe for support.
"If you need me, I'll be throwing up in the sink."
She watched as he stumbled towards the kitchen, wondering why such a small gesture touched her so much, before closing the door and falling back towards the toilet as the urge to vomit reappeared.
After throwing up the entire contents of her stomach and what felt like her spleen, Katniss felt able to take a shower and rinse the smell of liquor and sick from her body. Luckily, she had had the foresight to tie her hair up before she started being sick, but even so, she felt disgusting. So much for being able to make a run for it. She'd have to go out and face him, at least this time clean and fully clothed.
When she finally left the bathroom she found him lying on the sofa they'd been on last night, looking sorry for himself with a flannel on his forehead and clutching a bottle of water. She noticed the bucket sitting by his feet was pretty full, so obviously he was paying heavily for his excessive alcohol consumption like she was. His eyes opened as she walked towards him, wincing as the light hit his eyes.
"Are you alright?" he asked her, sitting up gingerly.
"Ummm, just about. Are you?"
"I'm alive….I think…"
She hadn't appreciated it last night in the moment, but Peeta's apartment was pretty neat. Although it was quite small – but still significantly larger than her shoebox apartment – it was immaculately decorated for the holiday. Tinsel decked the walls along with different paintings on the wall, and the Christmas tree in the corner was tastefully decorated with gold, orange and green decorations. It was a far cry from her decorations, which consisted of some broken fairy lights she'd never bothered to take down from last year.
It would be easy to make herself at home here, but staying around to make awkward conversation with a guy she had slept only hours after they'd met was the last thing she wanted to do.
Looking down at her phone, she gave a fake gasp. "Oh, look at the time!" she exclaimed dramatically. "I have a….a doctor's appointment in an hour!" she lied.
He looked dismayed. "Don't you, errr, don't you want to stay and have some food or something? I can make some pancakes, or waffles, or anything you want really…"
"No no no, I'm not hungry, it's fine!" she insisted, pulling on her coat and walking quickly towards the door in an attempt to stop this awkward goodbye.
"C-can I at least have your number?" he asked, scrambling for his phone from the pocket of his jeans. Thrusting it towards her, he smiled weakly at her, obviously perturbed that she was running away so soon.
Shit. "Sure!" she faked a smile, taking it from his hands. Selecting his contacts, she put in the number of her and Jo's favourite takeaway before handing it back to him. "That's my number" she lied. "Text me yours later, yeah?"
In her haste she almost ran out the door, sidestepping Peeta as he went in for a hug. "Bye!" she called without turning round as she stepped into the lift in the corridor.
She turned back to take a last look at him before the lift doors closed. He was still standing in his doorway, his blonde hair falling over his eyes as he looked down at the ground sadly. He looked like a lost puppy, she thought as the doors closed in front of her, and the feeling that spread through her body felt a little bit like guilt.
Author Note:
So I started writing this last year, and it took PiP to give me a kick up the arse and write a bit more. Apologies for this being less holiday themed, and more centered around drunkenness and vomit – I guess you could say that overindulgence is a key part of the holiday season? We all know we've been there.
I'm planning on continuing this should anyone be interested - not sure when, but I have a vague outline and just need to start writing.
Title comes from the Hinder song.
Thanks for reading!