Even though she knew full well that the bakery had been closed for over 7 years, ever since the untimely death of Mr. Mellark, it still drew her eyes every time she passed by it. And she passed by it at least 3 times a week, especially in the last year. It was on her route home from work at the high school, where she worked as a music teacher and helped with the after school archery and hiking clubs in the spring and fall.
Most days she just flicked her eyes quickly over to that side of the street and caught a brief glance of the darkened windows and wondered why the building was still empty. It was at the corner of what was probably the town's busiest intersection and should have been snapped up by some merchant just for its prime location. But it had stood empty since the baker's wife had sold the family house and moved herself and her 3 sons out of Panem a mere 6 weeks after the accident that had killed her kind, friendly husband.
Most days the traffic at that time of day was light and that quick glance was all she had time for, but on rare occasions the traffic light would be against her and her progress down Main Street would be briefly halted. On those days she would get a longer look, but not by much. There was a lot less traffic on the cross street and it usually only took less than two minutes for the light to change back. On those days, she would always spend the rest of the drive home with thoughts of cheese buns, blonde hair and a certain pair of blue eyes on her mind.
This particular afternoon, though she was traveling the road a bit later than usual was of the former variety. With the green light in her favor she barely needed to slow down but out of habit had eased up on the gas. As was usual for these days she quickly flit her eyes in that direction and back again. Even with such a brief glance, her keen hunter's sense had managed to note that the windows, though still dark, had seemed to gleam with a cleanliness that had been absent for years and that a broom had been propped up near the front door. She wondered who the new owners where and how they had managed to purchase the property without word of its sale becoming the town's main topic of gossip and speculation. She found to her surprise that even though the bakery had been out of business for so long it saddened her to think of the midnight blue 'Mellark's Bakery' lettering above the display windows being gone soon, whenever the new owner's painted over it and replaced with their business' name.
For the rest of the 10 minute drive home, she let her mind wonder back to the end of her sophomore year in high school and the broad shoulders, blond hair and blue eyes of the youngest Mellark boy, Peeta, who had made the months before her 16th birthday some of the happiest since the death of her father 3 years prior.
She remembered how after Sadie Hawkins Day* (which Madge had convinced her to attend dressed in the appropriate cut off jean shorts, sleeveless midriff baring plaid shirt, cowboy boots and straw hat) in November of that year she had caught Peeta looking at her more and more often, unable to or perhaps no longer willing to hide his longing glances in her direction. Truth was that she had known Peeta had been looking in her direction since they where 14, but where he had previously looked away hurriedly, a flush staining his pale cheeks, he was now meeting her eyes and smiling openly at her when she caught him. (And she caught him a lot because she looked at him a lot too). At 16, Peeta had been a bit shy and it had taken him longer to work up the nerve to approach her than he would have liked even after he noticed her looking back.
It in fact took him until the Spring Fling Dance in March to actually ask her on a date. They had attended the dance separately, each with their own group of friends, but had managed to find themselves on the dance floor together long enough to share a dance, a few looks and for him to awkwardly, but endearingly, ask her out.
Their first date had been the every next weekend to the local community colleges carnival. Despite the awkward moments between booths and her 11 o'clock curfew they managed to have fun and at the end of the night agreed to another outing. Over the next few weeks they spent more and more time together whenever they could. He brought her treats from the bakery, cookies, cupcakes, cheese buns; she took him on walks and hikes through her beloved woods. He watched her practice her archery; she attended wrestling matches. By the end of the 3rd week in April they could be seen holding hands where ever they went, in and out of school and where sharing increasingly passionate kisses at the end of each night. With her 16th birthday rapidly approaching, Peeta was making plans for a special celebration. With Madge's help they had arranged for Katniss to be out all night on the pretext of a double date culminating in Katniss spending the night with the Mayor's daughter. As the Mayor and his wife would be out of town, both girls would be free to return home at whatever time they choose with out anyone but themselves being the wiser. While Peeta was hopeful that the night would end with more than just the kisses they had been sharing so far, he had assured Katniss that he respected her and would be happy with however far she was comfortable going in their physical relationship. Madge offered Katniss her choice from the vast collection of party dress in her closet and steered her towards one that was several shades of orange from brightest red orange at the shoulders to cream at the hem and covered every shade in between.
But all their preparations where for naught, because three days after Katniss' actual birthday, two days before the big date, a delivery truck had blown a tire, swerved into the oncoming lane causing the car that Mr. & Mrs. Mellark where in to go off the road and into a telephone pole. The impact had left Mr. Mellark with severe internal injures, the most serious being broken ribs and a punctured lung and trauma to the head from hitting the windshield. Mrs. Mellark had gotten off with only a concussion, a fractured wrist and a 3 day stay in the hospital. The truck driver had suffered only minor cuts, bumps and bruises, none of which had required a stay in the hospital. Mr. Mellark had survived less than two days after the impact, just long enough for his oldest son and namesake to make the journey home from the University he was attending, after hearing the news. Consequently, the three Mellark brothers where standing vigil at their father's bedside when the baker had gone into cardiac arrest. The medical staff had been unable to successfully restart his heart and the baker had passed way with his family only a few feet away; Peeta and his brothers pacing the waiting room; Mrs. Mellark down the hall in her own room.
Katniss had tried to be there for Peeta has much as she could. She wasn't good with words and knew from her own father's death that at times like these words of sympathy weren't always what was needed. Mostly she just took every opportunity to put her arms around Peeta; She let him cry on her shoulder when ever he needed to, listened to his stories about his father when he wanted to talk, held his hand and made her lips available if he wanted to kiss her.
The bakery had never reopened after closing on the Thursday of the accident despite all three Mellark boys willing to work whatever hours necessary to keep it open, even if only part time. Mrs. Mellark had refused stating that their educations where far more important than the bakery.
Peeta and Katniss had never gotten the chance to reschedule her birthday celebration for a mere month later Mrs. Mellark announced plans to move to a neighboring state, put the house her boys had grown up in up for sale. Less than two weeks after the end of their sophomore school year, she had packed up her house and her two youngest sons and left Panem without a backward glance.
Like most teenagers who where in the clutches of first love, Katniss and Peeta had promised to stay in touch. And they did, at first. They called and text, they wrote letters and emails to each other several times a week. They stayed in constant touch though out the summer. The beginning of their junior year put a damper on their communications and they soon found themselves talking only on the weekends; that lapsed to only texts by Christmas. By the time that their senior year was drawing to a close the only communication between them was when one forwarded a funny email to the other as part of a larger group and the occasional pictures or posts that appeared on their respective face book pages. And even those stopped, at least on Peeta's end, around the time that their freshman year of college was due to start. Katniss wasn't really surprised, if his schedule was anywhere near as hectic as hers, it was not surprising that he didn't have time for trivial things such as social media.
She arrived home and let go of the bittersweet memories the sight of the bakery had evoked. She got busy preparing her solitary dinner and was again thankful that she rarely had papers to grade. She planned on a quiet night at home catching up on the recorded shows she had queued up on her DVR. She was half way through the first of three How I Met Your Mother episodes when the phone by the side of the couch rang. She reached over but checked the caller ID before pressing the button to answer. She hated not being prepared for whoever was on the other end. The phone identified her caller as Delly Cartwright and Katniss cringed, she really had no wish to speak to the other girl at the moment but knew that her friend would keep calling until Katniss answered. She drew a breath and tried to sound more enthusiastic than she felt.
"Hey Delly, What's up?"
The shriek that greeted her in return was not completely unexpected, Delly tended to get overly excited about things that didn't warrant it. But the words that tumbled out of Delly mouth in the next few seconds did warrant it. At least in Katniss' opinion it was.
"Oh my god, oh my god Kat. You're not going to believe what I found out today. They came back. Levvy saw them leaving the store. They're back! They're back!"
"Slow down Delly, I can't understand you. Take a deep breath, start over, and tell me again. Who's back?" Katniss asked.
"It's the Mellark's Katniss. THE MELLARKS! Levvy said she saw two of them leaving the discount store across from her office this morning. Katniss, the Mellark Boys are back in town!"
*Sadie Hawkins Day[From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia]
An American folk event, Sadie Hawkins Day is a pseudo-holiday that originated in Al Capp's classic hillbilly comic strip, Li'l Abner (1934–1978). This inspired real-world Sadie Hawkins dances, where girls ask boys out.
Original storyIn the strip Sadie was the daughter of one of Dogpatch's earliest settlers, Hekzebiah Hawkins. The "homeliest gal in all them hills", she grew frantic waiting for suitors to come a-courtin'. When she reached the age of 35, still unmarried, her father was even more frantic—about Sadie living at home for the rest of her life. In desperation, he called together all the unmarried men of Dogpatch and declared it "Sadie Hawkins Day". Specifically, a foot race was decreed, with Sadie in hot pursuit of the town's eligible bachelors—and matrimony as the consequence. The town spinsters decided that this was such a good idea and made Sadie Hawkins Day a mandatory yearly event, much to the chagrin of Dogpatch bachelors. In the satirical spirit that drove the strip, many sequences revolved around the dreaded Sadie Hawkins Day race. If a woman caught a bachelor and dragged him, kicking and screaming, across the finish line before sundown—by law he had to marry her.