"Katniss, are you seriously telling me it was all for the games?" Peeta stood there, fighting for his life to hold back tears. He couldn't let her know how it felt as though a million rocks had been dropped on his chest.
"Peeta...I can't even begin to explain how complicated it is. Honestly, Peeta, you have to know -"
"Katniss, please. I know you don't want to have this conversation. But I deserve the truth."
"Peeta, you can't...I can't..."
"Katniss, cut the act, please! It's just insulting at this point." Peeta was growing angry. "Everything I said during the Games, all that time, every single thing I did; all of that was REAL. You have to know how honest that was. All of it. It's still true." Peeta's voice cracked as he said this.
"Peeta, I don't know what to tell you, I-I...it's hard for me to talk about this stuff. I haven't sorted in my head, but I think...I think some of it was real, but I don't know, I can't-" Katniss realized she was rambling and stopped. Tears were flowing down her face and she knew it. She didn't care enough to wipe them. She was focused on Peeta's face. All she knew was that she desperately didn't want to hurt him.
A small part of her was surprised how she felt, but it was overwhelmed by her desire to make Peeta feel better. But she was at a loss for words. She just really needed to take the destroyed look off of Peeta's face. She did the only thing she could think of. It was what she would have done in the arena. She would never be out of there.
Without allowing him time to talk, she leaned forward and kissed him. It was like her heart exploded. She stumbled back. She wasn't used to these emotions. She looked at Peeta and in stark contrast to how the kiss felt, it was as if her stomach had been plunged in ice.
Peeta wore a cold expression. "Katniss, I don't think I can do this right now." His voice was colder than his stare. He ignored the Katniss's tears, even though it killed him inside. Even though he was in love with her.
As Peeta Mellark turned, he started walking away from Katniss. He thought about how a mere month ago he would have given anything for her to kiss him like that. He realized that he would never feel that again, and he started to weep. He wept for the part of him that had died, and he wept for the Girl on Fire.