A/N: I have been writing this since October of 2013 and it's almost August. It's kinda the only thing that's kept me sane sometimes. I hope you guys like it.
The tree house high in the branches of the tree growing in between her new house and the one next door had fascinated Clove since the first moment she saw it. She picked the room looking right into it, she felt it was so close she could touch it. The five year old girl longed to climb into it every day, but her parents didn't want her anywhere near it and wouldn't let her climb the rope ladder hanging down from the wooden structure.
She sat in her window sill, watching the green-red oak leaves blowing in the autumn wind when a small pebble hit her second story window. She jumped but relaxed when she saw a small blond haired boy sitting on a branch the house was sitting on. She opened the window. "Who are you?" She asked, a few strands of her midnight black hair getting caught in the wind and hitting her pale face.
"I'm Cato. I live right there" he said, pointing to the white house on the other side of the large tree. "Who are you?"
"I'm Clove" she responded. "How old are you? I'm five."
"I'm six" Cato boasted, a grin on his face, proud to be older than another child. He was the youngest of three, counting his twin, and the treehouse was the only place he could escape the torment of his three older brothers.
"Woah" Clove breathed. "I've never knew someone who was six."
Cato grinned. "You wanna come in my tree house?" The boy asked and Clove's bright, curious green eyes grew wide, but then her heart sunk.
"My mommy says I can't. She says the ladder might brake and I'll die" Clove said, disappointment wrapping around her like a blanket.
The boy's eyebrows furrowed together as he thought how to get his new friend into the tree. His blue eyes lit up and he crawled onto the boards that stuck out of the bottom of the house and made a deck the six-year-old could easily walk around. He ripped an already falling out board from the wall. "Can you climb across on this?" He asked, sliding it into her window.
The board was pretty wide and was even between her window and the edge of the tree house. "I think" Clove said quietly. She was scarred but she wasn't about to tell him that. She couldn't look like a baby in front of the boy. Clove crawled onto the board and and across it slowly. She didn't breath again until she was safe on the floor of the tree house.
"I can't believe you did that!" Cato exclaimed and Clove grinned. "I like you. We should be friends."
"Best friends?" Clove asked and they both grinned as their pinkies locked together, binding them together forever.
=3
Clove's sniffles filled the silence of the cold, winter night. She usually loved winter because it meant her and Cato could make snowmen, snow angles and even have snowball fights, but right now she hatted the cold. It made her want to go inside but her home wasn't somewhere she could go.
"Clover?" Cato's voice came up the rope ladder and his head popped through the trap door. "Clover, what's wrong?" The ten-year-old asked as he scrambled over to her.
Clove sniffles once again and wrapped her blanket tighter around herself. "Did you know my mommy had cancer?" She answered with her own question. Cato's eyebrows furrowed in confusion and Clove went on, "that's why we moved here. Because she was sick and now she's dead."
"I'm sorry" was all Cato could say. That's what his own mother told him to say at funerals to the grieving family of the deceased. He wrapped his friend in a hug and her body racked with sobs. "It'll be ok."
"It won't be ok, Cato. How can you tell me it'll be ok? My mommy is dead!" She yelled, pushing away from him and breaking free from the small boy.
"You got me, Clover" he said after her bottom lip stopped trembling. He hugged her again and told her, "and best friends can get through anything."
=3
"I can't believe you" Clove seethed as she crawled across the plank from her window into the tree house.
Cato gave her a look of confusion from the window. "What did I do now?" He asked. He grabbed Clove's hand to help her through the window. Clove only retched her hand away, glaring at him. Cato's heart sunk a bit after she rejected his affection. He was in love with her, had been for a long time, and she had no clue.
"What do you mean "what did I do now?" I saw you sucking her face off behind the gym, Cato! What did you think I wouldn't find out? I'm your best friend-" Clove went on but Cato cut her off.
"That was Dylan" Cato said and the fourteen-year-old girl scowled at him. Dylan was Cato's identical twin brother. Clove wasn't the biggest fan of him because his stasis as a lady's man (rumour has it he lost his virginity in the sixth grade) and he was always hitting on her. He wasn't the twin she wanted though.
"Bull shit!" She said. "I know it was you! He was wearing your favorite Beatles teeshirt. I know there's no way in hell you would let Dylan even look at that shirt." Cato laughed and Clove's eyes flared. "Why are you laughing at me!"
Cato shook his head with a grin on his face. "I let him borrow that shirt to impress that girl." Clove looked sheepishly at the ground, running her foot along the chalk lines drawn on the floor of the tree house. "She's not the girl I like anyway" Cato shrugged.
Clove scoffed. "And who is this girl?" Clove asked, stiffly, obviously jealous.
Cato placed his hand on his chin and thought for a second. "She's short with dark hair and stunning green eyes. She has a kick-ass sense of humour and a temper to match. The cutest freckles and can scale a tree in thirty seconds flat."
Clove breathed in sharply. "Katniss Everdeen? I thought you'd have more class than Katniss, Cato" Clove said, her green eyes flaring with anger.
Cato chuckled and grinned. "I don't like Katniss."
"Then who is it?" She asked, rolling her eyes.
"Think about it. She's short and beautiful and..." He paused for a second, knowing there was no turning back now, "she lives right next door."
All the air escaped Clove's lungs and she pointed a shaky finger at herself. "M-m-me?" She asked.
"Ever since I was six and I saw your cute face in that window" he said and a silence fell over them. Clove looked at him in shock for a few seconds. "Are you going to say something?" Cato asked her after a painfully long silence and that's when the realisation sunk in.
A grin spread across Clove's face and she said, "I like you back." Cato's mouth fell open and he lunged at Clove, capturing her in a hug and spinning her around. After a while he placed her back on her feet and they just looked at each other for a few moments. "Are you just going to stare at me or are you going to kiss me?"
Cato grinned and placed his hand on her soft, freckled covered cheek before connecting his lips with hers.
=3
Cato was awoken in the middle of the night when his phone vibrated on his bedside table from a phone call. Usually he just rejected the call and stuffed his phone under his pillow and fell back asleep, but he saw the picture of Clove at the beach and the words "beautiful luva" lit up the screen.
He answered it quickly and tried to keep the tired lull out of his voice when he said, "Hey, Clove, what's up?"
"Can you meet me in the tree house?" She sniffled and he sat upright in alarm, now completely awake.
"Yeah, yeah. I'll be there in a minuet," he replied and he hung up and basically ran out of bed and threw on some warm clothes before he snuck quietly out of his first story window and climbed up the rope ladder. Only one of the batter powered lights were on so he could barely see Clove's features in the dark night. "Clove, what's wrong?"
"Do you know what today is?" Clove asked.
Cato sighed. "The, uh, eighteenth of December- oh, Clover," he whispered and took her into his arms. "I'm so sorry, baby." Clove nodded into his chest and she sat them both down in a bean bag chair, with her on his lap.
"I miss her so much," Clove whispered into his neck. It was eight years today that Clove's mother passed away from cancer.
"I know, I know. I miss her too." Cato kissed the top of her head and she pulled her face out of the crook of his neck. "God, Clove, what happened to your face? And don't you dare say its nothing." His thumb traveled over the purple bruise on her cheek and she flinched slightly.
Clove knew it was useless to lie to him. Well, she usually did it anyway, but tonight she was just to tired to put in the energy. "My dad. He came home drunk and he threw a beer bottle and it hit me. Cato, it was an accident and today is the only day he ever drinks so please don't look at me like that."
"This is the only time it's happened?" Cato asked. It was taking all his will power not to go over there and beat up Clove's father. Clove nodded. "If this ever happens again your father will not get off this easy."
Clove wrapped her arms around his neck, placing a kiss on his cheek before murmuring, "Thank you."
"I love you, Clove," he said. It was the first time he he told her and once he did he felt like the happiest guy in the world.
"You do?"
"Of coarse I do."
"I love you too," she replied and pulled away to look at him. There were still tears glistening on her cheeks, but there was a smile on her beautiful face.
"Good," he smiled in response. "Now, let's go inside before you freeze your toes off. Have you ever heard of socks and shoes?"
=3
"Babe, are you ok?" Cato asked. A collage catalogue was open on his lap as Clove starred angrily at the wall.
"I'm fine."
Cato sighed and smacked his forehead with the catalogue. "Clove, I have been your boyfriend for over three years. I know when your angry about something and I know when you lie to me so tell me the truth."
"I'm not mad, C. I am fine" Clove said, she leaned over in her bean bag and kissed his cheek, trying to give him reassurance. It did the opposite.
Cato rolled his eyes. "Then why are you trying to burn a hole in the walls with your eyes?"
"I wasn't" Clove said.
Cato threw the books sitting in his lap onto the floor. He moved from his seat and crouched in front of his seething girlfriend. "Stop. Lying." Clove's lips pressed together in a tight line. She didn't say anything, in her definition, it wasn't lying. Cato's head fell into her lap. "Please tell me, Clovie."
Clove wrapped her arms around Cato's neck, pulling him close to her she leaned her head agains his and traced circles on his shoulder blades with her finger. "I don't want you to leave me."
"What are you talking about?" Clove sighed, moving her head into the crook of his neck and placing a kiss on his collarbone, trying to distract him. "Clove?"
"You're going to some collage, far, far away and meet some other girl and forget about me. The only thing I'll look forward to is the awkward eye contact well make when your home for holidays."
He looked at her like she grew ascend head. "Forget about... What?"
Clove shook her head and made her way to the window. "Forget it, just forget it, Cato."
"No, Clove," he said, grabbing her arm and turning her around. "Talk to me."
"I don't want you to leave for collage because you are just going to meet some other girl that will give you more then I ever could and you'll forget about me," Clove said.
Cato was obviously still confused. No matter how sweet he could be such a boy. "Is this about sex? Because I'm ok with waiting, Clove. I don't want to pressure-"
"No, Cato, this isn't about sex!" She exclaimed. "I don't want you to leave me. I don't want you to go to some far away school and break up with me because you met someone else."
Cato smiled at her. "You're it for me, Clove. No matter how matter how many girls I meet, none of them will compare to you."
"You say that now, but will you still be saying that when you meet some other girl that's prettier and nicer then me?"
"Clove, if this is such a huge problem for you I just won't go to school. I'll go to community collage or somewhere close so I can see you everyday."
"No. You can't do that buoy have to go to collage," Clove said, shaking her head and Cato let out a sigh.
"Than what do you want me to do to show you I'll always love you? Purpose?"
"Of coarse not! Were in high school!"
Cato sighed and ran his hand threw his hair. Who knows how many times he had done that over the years when having an argument with her. He fiddled with the loose string on the end of his shirt when an idea formed. He jerked his hand, the string breaking with a snap before he grabbed Clove's hand. "What are you doings?"
"It's a promise string," Cato said, trying the blue string around her ring finger.
"A promise string? Are you high?" Clove asked.
"No! It's like a promise ring. I'll have one and you'll have one and we,ll remain loyal to each other because I love you," Cato smiled.
Clove gave him a sheepish grin. "Well, when you use that logic I really can't argue."
=3
Clove didn't think she'd be to upset the night before Cato went off to collage. She thought the fair well at the train station would be the hardest thing, but as she lay in their tree house in the middle of the night, she realized she was so wrong.
She didn't jump when the door opened and Cato stuck his head in. "Oh, hey," Cato said and climbed in. She gave him a smile. "Mind if I lay with you?" He asked. She didn't reply and he took the spot next to her on the floor. Her head somehow found its way onto his arms. They just lay on the floor of their tree house, looking up at the branches making their way threw the boards.
"Why'd you come up here?" She asked, suddenly breaking the comfortable silence.
She felt him shrug slightly. "Didn't think I'd be able to say goodbye tomorrow."
"You would, Mr. Sentimental," Clove said sarcastically.
"I'm going to miss you," Cato said, his other arm embracing her.
"I'm going to miss you more," Clove said.
"Were going to make Dylan barf tomorrow when saying goodbye," Cato said and she laughed.
"Forgot about him. Maybe I won't miss you to much if I can just hook up with him when I miss you." Cato scoffed at Clove's comment.
His voice was a octave lower and sounded a bit like a surfers as he tried to mock his brother. "Wow, Clove. Your ass is like so fine and damn those lips. This has just been my dream since I was eleven, bruh. Where's Hannah Montana with the three some."
Clove erupted in a fit of giggles after hearing Cato's poor imitation of his brother. "Seriously, though. I'm going to miss you."
"Don't worry. We'll see each other every weekend and video chat every night and text all the time. It'll be like I'm not even gone. Except we can't do this," Cato said before capturing her lips with his own.
When he pulled away, Clove could only see his bright blue eyes. They were the same bright blue eyes that lightened with interest the first time he saw her in her window when she was only five and he six. She kissed him once more before pulling her shirt over her head. "Clove...?" Cato asked but she interrupted them.
"I'm ready, Cato. I love you," she responded.
"I love you too."
=3
It had been fifteen years since that faithful day that Cato had told her best friends can get threw anything. Fifteen years since she fell in love with him. Fifteen years since cancer won.
She drove from her and Cato's apartment in the city to see her dad, but that wasn't her best choice. She came because of the day and to tell him some news, but only found he was drunk beyond belief. It shouldn't of surprised her. He always spent a lot of time drunk since she left home.
She tried to hang around her childhood home, but found herself in the tree house. If anything, that tree house was her home. She sat in the same spot she had years ago, thinking about her mom. She would be happy with the news she was going to tell her dad. Clove had gone to the cometary earlier to tell her, but it wasn't the same.
She jumped when the door opened and a man crawled into the small house. "First place you looked?" Clove asked, a smile settling on her face when he sat down next to her.
"Third actually," he smiled. "I said hi to your mom, gave your dad some Advil and then came up here. He doesn't know does he?"
"He was drunk when I showed up. I wasn't about to tell him when I'm just going to have to do it again. And he'd probably ask who the father is," Clove said.
Cato kissed the top of her head and threw his arm around her shoulders. "Sorry, babe, I know today is hard, but look on the bright side."
"What's the bright side, Cato?"
"There are so many memories here. When we first met. Our friendship. Our first kiss. Where our relationship started. Our first time. Where our son or daughter was conceived. Where I purposed..." He trailed off.
Clove pulled away from him. "Purposed? What?"
Cato pulled a diamond ring out of his pocket and held it out to her. "Will you marry me?" He asked her.
"Yes," Clove grinned and slipped the ring on her finger before leaning down and kissing his beautiful bride to be.
=3
Cato and Clove sat on the back porch of their newly purchased home, the backyard stretched out in front of them. They watched their two oldest children run in the yard, playing at the base of a huge oak tree. Their youngest child sat in Clove's lap, sleeping in the warm June air.
Cato took Clove's hand in his own and kissed the back of her hand. "What do you want now, Cato?" She asked, her tone trying to be scolding but she couldn't hide her smile.
Cato grinned at her. "I think I'm going to build a tree house."