A/N: This is a story originally posted from my tumblr, and I decided to post it on here as well. Enjoy!

Part 1: Madge's POV

When I was seven, a new family moved next door.

I have always been an only child and I lived in a neighborhood full of children who were either too old or too young to play with me. This made me a pretty lonely little girl.

As I peeked out of the window, I watched the new family hop out of their red minivan.

"Please be a girl, please be a girl," I whispered to myself.

I frowned as I saw a boy around my age jumping out of the car, followed by two smaller boys.

So no girls, I thought to myself, slightly disappointed.

The mom was heavily pregnant and the dad was helping her out of the car.

My mother was baking cookies in the kitchen for the new neighbors. The sweet aroma was filling up the whole house and I felt my mouth drool.

"Just hand these to them and introduce yourself," she had told me.

I reluctantly walked over, the summer heat blazing down on me. The cicadas buzzed in the muggy air and I heard some shouts coming from the house next door.

"Hey! Who are you?" one boy asked.

I blushed with embarrassment and looked down at the Tupperware of cookies. "I have cookies…my mom wanted me to give them to you."

"Cookies!" the smallest boy yelled, running towards me. "Gimme!"

The boy looked up at me expectedly. He was probably around three or four.

"Be nice, Vick."

I looked up to see the boy around my age making his way towards me. He had messy brown hair and a stern look towards his youngest brother. The little boy, Vick, slowly stepped away from me with a pout on his face.

"Hi, I'm Gale."

"So you'll still talk to me, right? Not ditch me for the cool high schoolers?"

We were sitting at the edge of the dock, both sunburnt from the long day at my family's lake house. I rubbed a finger on the wood, avoiding his eyes. He was silent for a moment before nudging me on the shoulder. Before I fell into the lake, I quickly regained my balance.

"Hey!" I yelled, nudging him back even harder.

"Madge, we've been best friends since I was eight. Why would I stop now?" he said. He laughed lightly before adding, "Despite how annoying you may be at times."

I smiled a little and tucked a strand of hair behind my ears. I was suddenly embarrassed that I even asked him the question in the first place, but it had been bugging me all summer. School was starting next week and I was dreading it.

He wrapped his arm around me, despite my slight protest.

"I know you'll miss me, Madge. I mean, it's me." I rolled my eyes but he continued. "But I'll still be next door. Posy is still crazy about you and you know my mom still expects you for dinner every Tuesday."

"Yeah yeah," I muttered, pulling myself away from him and standing up. Gale remained where he was so I reached out a hand to help him up. He stared at it before a wide grin slowly spread across his face. I realized what he was thinking but before I could pull it away, he grabbed my hand and pulled me into the water.

As I broke out of the surface, spitting out the water that had forced its way into my mouth, I lunged after him as he was wiping the water away from his face and laughing.

I was sitting on Gale's porch, Posy by my side as usual.

I let out a sigh and fell back onto the porch, staring up at the wooden ceiling. Posy did the same.

"Are you mad, Madge?" her little voice asked.

I shook my head and looked at her. "No, but I will be if your brother doesn't show his face in five minutes."

The little girl giggled as she snuggled up to my side. After a few minutes, I heard a car pull over and saw Gale step out and turn around to talk to the driver. He had his hand resting on the roof of the small car and his duffel bag hanging over his shoulder. He patted the car a few times before closing the door and waving goodbye. His grin faltered once he spotted me and his grip on the bag loosened, causing it to fall onto the floor. The sound seemed to have snapped him out of the daze and he quickly picked it back up, breaking out into a small jog as he made his way towards us.

"Gale!" Posy yelled, "You're late and Madge is mad and it's your fault!"

The little girl placed her hand on her small hips and glared at her older brother.

"Aw, Pose, aren't you suppose to be on my side?" Gale joked, warily glancing at me. "Look Madge, I know I forgot. I'm sorry! I was just hanging out with Katniss after practice and lost track of time."

I huffed and rolled my eyes before telling Posy to go inside for a second. She looked up at me dejectedly but ran back in.

"I wouldn't be this upset if this was your first time blowing me off, but this is your fifth time! You know how much I wanted you to come to my art show."

I sat back down on the porch and focused on the ground. I felt Gale taking a seat beside me, dropping his bag on the steps and placing an arm around my shoulders.

He looked at me with those eyes he knew I could never be angry at and a small pout. "I'm sorry, Madgey."

He knew how much I hated that little nickname and I tried to shove him away but his grip on me only tightened. His gaze turned serious and he gently took a hold of my chin and made me face him.

"I really am sorry. You have every right to be mad at me."

I stared at him for a moment, knowing full well that he meant it. I let out a defeated sigh and rested my head on his shoulder. The contact made him relax and he ruffled his hair with his other hand.

"So…where's the winning piece anyway?" he asked, staring down at me.

"How do you know I even won?"

He continued to look at me with a smug smile and I let out a small laugh.

"It's inside."

When I was sixteen, Peeta's older brother asked me out on a date. It was the first time a boy had ever taken interest to me and I was a bit nervous when I told him yes.

"You're going out with Griffith Mellark?" Gale turned from his computer and stared at me. We were both in his room and I was sitting on his bed. I knew that the two of them didn't have the best relationship. "You know how I feel about him, Madge."

I grabbed a pillow and hugged it to my chest. "I know…but he was sweet Gale. I mean, really. He was all nervous when he was asking me out…it was…cute."

Gale continued to look at me with a blank face. "Cute?"

He then let out a barking laugh and was wiping away the tears in his eyes.

"That was a good one," he said once he managed to calm down. "Griffith Mellark is not cute. He is an asshole."

I tried control the bubbling anger rising inside of me. I never once said anything about any of the girls Gale had hooked up with, and the one time I tell him about a boy, he gets mad and sarcastic. Two of the traits I despise the most about him.

I threw the pillow down and stood up.

"Well, I'm sorry to tell you but I don't really care what you think. I'm going on a date with Griffith whether you like it or not."

I began to walk out his room but his hand grabbed my wrist.

"Look, I'm just worried okay? I don't want him to hurt you," he said before muttering under his breath, "And besides, we both know you're not too experienced with the whole dating thing."

Gale knew how insecure I felt about dating guys and the fact that he mentioned it caused the anger inside of me to finally bubble over and I shoved him away.

"You know what? Griffith is not the one who's an asshole. You are."

I left his room and he didn't stop me this time.

"This was really fun," I said, taking off my seatbelt. I glanced out the window and noticed that Gale's room light was on. I looked away and instead stared at the boy sitting in the driver's seat.

He turned off the ignition and smiled at me. "I'm glad you had fun. I was hoping we could do it again."

I blushed and nodded my head. I saw that he was playing with his keys and a slight blush was also on his face. He slowly leaned in towards me and I didn't move away. Before I knew it, his soft lips were on mine and my eyes were still open in shock. As he began to move his mouth, I slowly closed my eyes and leaned into him.

He pulled back, his lips a bit swollen and he was breathing heavily. My heart was beating rapidly in my chest and I realized I felt a bit lightheaded.

Who knew kissing could make you so dizzy.

He smiled and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. "It's almost ten."

I glanced at the clock and widened my eyes. My parents were a bit lenient about many things, but my curfew was not one of them. "Oh, right. I should go."

He continued to look at me and nodded slowly in agreement.

I had seven minutes left and I knew that one more minute wouldn't hurt so before I even realized what I was doing, I leaned back in and kissed Griffith one last time. He grabbed the side of my head and pulled me in closer and I smiled into the kiss.

It was 9:56 when I finally got out of the car and waved goodbye. I glanced back at Gale's room and saw that the room was dark.

I didn't have many girl friends, and after my first date with Griffith, I wanted to tell someone about it. I went over to Gale's the next day and Hazel opened up the door.

"Hi Mrs. Hawthorne! Is Gale here?"

She nodded and pointed up stairs. "He might still be sleeping though, but I'm sure you could wake him up."

I took the stairs two at a time and opened the door. As expected, he had a pillow over his head and I could hear a light snore coming from under it. I rolled my eyes and jumped onto the bed, laying beside him.

He groaned and pulled the pillow off his head. I took it and placed it under my own head and stared at the ceiling.

"Why are you here?" he asked, his voice still groggy from sleep.

I grinned and turned so that I was facing him. "My date yesterday…was perfect."

He looked at me and sighed before rubbing a hand over his face.

"I thought you were mad at me," he said, refusing to look at me now. "If I remember correctly, you called me an asshole. Which by the way, I never realized you had such an extensive vocabulary Madgey."

I could tell he was still upset about our little argument, but I was in too good of a mood for him to ruin it.

"I'm not mad at you," I sighed before adding, "and I'm sorry I called you…you know. But I was upset that you wouldn't give Griffith a chance, and I was right, He isn't what you think he is. He's charming and sweet and a great kisser."

The last part of my sentence caught his attention and he bolted up.

"So you did kiss him?" he asked in disbelief. "You…you…you can't just go around kissing people Madge!"

I grew hot with anger and sat up. "Last time I checked, you're not my mom and I was not going around kissing people. I kissed my date, whom I like very much, and you have no right to say anything. I don't go yelling at you every time you have sex with a brainless tramp!"

He looked at me, shock and disbelief still plastered onto his face. I was breathless from my outburst and I tried to control my breathing. Awkward silence filled the room, but we were both too stubborn to look away.

It was Gale who finally broke the silence.

"Was he really a great kisser, Madge?"

I raised an eyebrow, confused by his question, but nodded.

He looked away from me and muttered, "he's not."

"How do you know? Have you kissed him?" I asked, "Oh, maybe that's why you're so mad I went on a date with him! Okay, well now everything makes sense!"

I made a move to get off the bed but Gale forcefully grabbed my wrist and pulled me against his bare chest.

"He's not a great kisser."

And before I could stop him, he kissed me.

Gale's kiss was different from Griffith's.

Kissing Gale was more forceful as his rough lips were moving on top of mine. I remained motionless as he continued to lean towards me, and I gasped as I felt him nibbling on my bottom lips. I found myself falling back onto the bed and Gale rested an arm on the side of my head while his other hand tangled into my hair.

He was urging my mouth open with his tongue and I didn't know if it was the blinding sun shining through the window or his shallow breaths I could feel on my cheek, but I began to close my eyes as well and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer to me.

I finally opened my mouth and he slipped his tongue in.

I began to think about my kiss with Griffith, and thinking about him was what finally snapped me out of my thoughts and I placed my hands onto Gale's chest and forcefully pushed him back.

"What are we doing?" I asked, panting. I could still taste him in my mouth.

I had trouble breathing and I saw that Gale was too. His lips were wet, and his hair was wild and I remember running my fingers through them while we kissed just moments before.

He opened his mouth to say something, but no words seemed to make its way out. I brushed my fingers through my hair, quickly got off his bed, and ran out of the room.