Annie put her ear buds in her ears, putting on a sports bra and running pants. She was getting ready for her morning jog, which she did daily. It became methodical, to the point where complaining or thinking about it became obsolete. The jog gave her a fresher-upper, allowing her to wake up before a very long and tedious day at work began.
She pushed her hair into a ponytail, blasting Adele in her ears and grabbed a small water bottle that had a holder on her special belt. She walked out of her house, giving her Kudo, her pet cat, a single pet on the head. The cat meowed, wanting to be scratched, but she ignored him and strapped on her shoes quickly. And then she left, mouthing the words to Someone Like You. A grin spread over her lips as she locked the door, put her keys in a pocket and started to jog.
She breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth. Her eyes were focused on the route she always took; it was a trail through the forest and it went through the city, where she would stop at her favorite café and have a coffee along with breakfast before she went back to running. She took a vicious bite out of an energy bar she had snagged on her way out of the house. It was all natural, as was everything she ate. Only the best for Annie Cresta.
She jogged through the forest and finally reached the café. She walked inside, grabbing a napkin quickly and wiping off her forehead. "The usual?" Lori asked, the usual cashier and worker in the morning. Annie smiled and nodded before she gave her cash from a wallet she pulled out of her pocket, next to her keys. She pulled out a twenty and handed it to her before putting the change back into the wallet and put all of it back into her pocket. She waited while leaning on a counter and looking at the watch and heart monitor on her wrist. When she glanced up, she saw a man talking to a woman, both of them wearing flirting smiles and lovey-dovey eyes. She rolled her eyes and turned to grab her coffee and asiago bagel before she sat down at a nearby table, which so conveniently was the only open table.
As she walked towards it, as if in slow motion, the man's head turned. His flirty, bright sea green eyes turned to her and lost all of that childish emotion. His eyebrows knitted and his perfectly formed lips parted, staring at Annie as if she were this Goddess. She could feel the gaze, but ignored it. She knew exactly who this man was: Finnick Odair, renowned because of his revolutionary water technology. He was powering this whole city with running water, which was continuously recycled to be used again. It was incredibly green, only needing a minimal supply of the water for it to work. Of course, Annie was absolutely uninterested. She had put herself into the legal field, giving herself a pronounced name in the world of lawyers. She now only took the most prestigious cases.
So she ignored and walked over to the table, purposely facing away from him and putting her iPod on pause. She put the cream cheese on the bagel and ate her food before her phone buzzed in her pocket. She almost spat out her bagel in surprise and grabbed the phone, quickly reading the text. It was the head of her law firm, demanding she get to work in the next thirty minutes because it was an emergency. Her bagel got caught in her throat on the way down and she coughed to get it out. She took a giant swig of her coffee, finishing it off and stuffing the rest of the bagel in her mouth before she started to head to the trash can.
"Hello," the man said. Mister Finnick Odair himself stepped forward, blocking her way to the trash can. A charming, but ill-effected smile was on his face. She tried to keep herself from scowling. "Would you like a sugar cube?" he inquired.
She looked up at him out of confusion before he held out a hand with a sugar cube in it. He gestured to the empty coffee cup. "It's empty," she said slowly before she was forced to swallow her bagel. She glanced at the table he and the other girl was sitting at before a bell rang. She turned to see the girl storming out of the café. Her eyebrows rose and her eyes narrowed. "Seriously, you just dumped her to talk to me?"
"She didn't like sugar cubes," he said indignantly. A snort escaped from Annie's lips by accident before she swerved around him. She quickly grabbed the sugar cube from the palm of his hand, popped it into her mouth, and threw her trash away. She was trying to be at least a little rude. That normally made people go away. She had no interest In this man, but there was also the fact she had to get home, take a shower, get dressed, get ready, grab her case files, and then get to work before her minutes were up. She was never known to be late for anything.
"Excuse me," Finnick chuckled. He held up his hands. He somehow again got in front of her. She licked sugar cube residue off of her molars in irritation. Her hands were placed on her hips, an eyebrow quirked at him.
"You are excused," she interrupted before he could continue. She knew his type; he was the kind of guy to go gallivanting off with some girl he had never met before. Just like what he was trying to do now.
"I'm sorry, you must not know who I am."
"Oh, I know you," she said, an uninterested look plastered on her face. "You're both a playboy model and a millionaire. You are more bipolar with girls than the state Florida is with its weather. And I clearly see you have your eye on me. But I can clearly see that I am not interested. Now move." Emotion was void as she spoke in both her face and voice.
He looked slightly astonished, being brushed aside so bluntly, as if he were an annoying pest. Then his eyes narrowed and he smirked. "You're playing hard to get."
"No, I'm playing impossible to get." She gave him a quaint smile before she dodged him again and left the café entirely. She was about to put her ear buds in when he walked in front of her yet again. "Look," she said briskly. "I have work in" —she checked her watch and choked again— "fifteen minutes. So, if you could be so kind, move."
"Go to dinner with me."
She stopped and looked at him, one eye twitching a bit in extreme irritation. Damn this kid was thick! "You can't take a hint? I don't like you, don't like what you stand for, don't like how you treat women, and I most certainly want nothing to do with that. So step aside or I will be forced to do it myself." Not that she was all that strong, but she was fairly sure she could move him… But looking at his dark gray tee, she could see the muscles gently outlined.
He said nothing and just let her pass by. "Thank you," she growled before putting her ear buds in and jogging towards her house.
During the day the only thing she thought about was Finnick Odair and why he had ditched such a pretty girl to take up a sweaty, mouth-filled, ugly girl like Annie. She just reasoned it was because that was his nature. Near the end of the day, she got a text that said:
Meet me at the Plaza, 8:00, tonight. –F
Oh, he's so prestigious that he signs texts with F? And how the hell did he get her number? She texted that to him, but he just replied:
Intuition.
She had gotten the reply in a meeting, causing her to snort when the man was talking.
"Do you have something, Miss Cresta?"
She glanced up sharply and her mouth opened in surprise. "No, sorry," she said quickly, fumbling to hide her phone from prying eyes.
Once she was out, she returned the text with: You got me in trouble.
What can I say? It's my gift.
She pursed her lips. She couldn't really think about going to this stupid Plaza place? It was an Italian place, well established and well known for their delicious pastas. It was incredibly fancy, requiring fancy attire she easily possessed, but still. This was a man she had no desire in chasing, no desire in knowing. She could probably guess that he had already had another girl coming. Finnick was always in the Tabloids or in the magazines with a new girl every week. It was like women came out of the woodwork just to get on camera with the man, maybe even get lucky with the incredibly handsome millionaire. Annie felt no want to fulfill either of these actions with Odair at all.
So after work, she walked over to Plaza, which wasn't far from her firm. She would tell him straight tonight that this was not going to happen and he needs to move on. The less time they spent together, the least likely they would be in a photograph together. So she tapped her foot impatiently, obviously undressed for the occasion, since she was not planning on going inside.
"I thought the Plaza implied more… elegant clothing," someone said to her lowly. She turned to see Finnick in a suit. Her heart condensed and ached at how the suit only made his beautiful figure stick out. She kept it to herself, however, because she still didn't want him having he satisfaction of knowing that he still was a God of beauty.
"I'm not here to eat with you."
His face scrunched up. "Harsh. You do know I was going to pay, right?" She growled a little.
"How did you get my number?"
He sighed and slid his hands into his pockets slowly. "You're not the least known woman in the world. It's so easy to track down someone who does know your number."
"Stalker much?" she growled.
He shrugged. "Not really. I just needed to have a date with a very, very beautiful woman."
"Flattery will get you nowhere, Odair."
"Flattery gets me everywhere, sweet Annie." There was a smile on his face.
Annie's face flamed scarlet. "How do you know my name?"
"Like I said, you're not all that hard to find, Miss Cresta." She pressed her lips together and she stood up straighter, trying to him to understand.
"Finnick, I want nothing to do with you."
"That hurts," he commented, seemingly not taking it to heart. "Listen," he said quickly, putting her hands out and licking his lips, "just hear me out, alright? Just come in here, have some dinner with me. Then decide. If yes, then awesome. If no, then… You just got a free extremely expensive dinner. A win-win for you, no?"
She heaved a large sigh, looking up at him with tired, green eyes. "Whatever," she muttered and walked inside. She was stopped by a hand that gently wrapped around her arm. Her whole body froze up and her eyebrows knitted in confusion. She turned around slowly to look at him. He had the same exact reaction, but he shook out of it quicker than she did.
"You can't eat in the Plaza with clothes like those," he snickered, gesturing to her work suit. She glanced down at them and figured he was right. The celebrity world was all about dressing to impress. She stepped back from him.
"Then I need to go home and change."
He nodded. "And I will take you."
"To hell you will!" she exclaimed a little too loudly. "I don't need you knowing my address, too, lest you crawl in my bed in the middle of the night."
He laughed a little humorlessly. "Oh, my lady, how you wound me," he groaned before he tentatively let go of her arm. "Then go home and get changed. I'll be waiting here."
She couldn't believe she was actually going to go through with this. She was going to put her foot down, demand that he leave her alone or else she would report for a restraining order. That would make the magazines and talk shoes go into a frenzy for a while. But when she was near him… He had this sense of reason without even opening his mouth that required her to listen to before interrupting.
Upon getting into her car, the song Crazy For You by Adele was on the radio and she quietly sang to herself as she went home.
Hopefully, she thought to herself, this night will end in a disaster.