Major disclaimer: Don't yell at me for doing the whole "Team Gale/Peeta" thing. Other than that, thanks for reading.
Miley Is Team Gale
"But there are much worse games to play."
She closed the book and took a breath.
In a very short time, Miley had read the entire Hunger Games trilogy. Interest in the books, of course, sparked from Liam's role in the movies, but she couldn't help but be completely compelled by the words she raced through night after night. Sometimes she was so worked up in suspense that her heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest.
She sighed in joy of finishing the series- and in slight dissatisfaction- got up from her position on the couch and ran up the stairs.
"Liam," she said as she entered the bathroom, waving the book in front of her. "I do not approve of this ending."
He smirked at her with amusement. Lacking a shirt and combing out his shower-wet hair, he looked like the man Miley falls in love with more and more each day. He places the brush down and picks up the book, flipping through the pages. "And why not?" he asks.
"Katniss and Gale should have ended up together," she exclaims, "I feel like she didn't love Peeta like she loved Gale! Most of what she did with Peeta was fake anyways, and Gale was always in the back of her mind.. I don't know," she says frustrated, "I just think she chose the wrong one."
"I think it's because whether he wanted to be or not, Gale was a cause for her sister's death," Liam replied, "Neither of them could be together knowing that."
"But some love is strong enough," Miley reasoned.
"Some is," he agreed and pressed his lips to the top of her head before walking into the bedroom to finish getting dressed.
"Do you think Gale is happy though?"
"I think that that's the nice part- since it's never really said, you get to decide."
Miley answers with a sigh and falls onto the bed. She rests on her back and closes her eyes, lullabying to the sound of the ceiling fan and of Liam rummaging around the closet. Then she feels, the bed beside her sink and she squints open an eye to see Liam lying on his back beside her. She playfully collapses on top of him and pokes his forehead like a child. "You alive?"
He doesn't move, but she can see him holding back a smile. "Hello anybody home?" she knocks his head some more with no movement. "Well," she says and gets up, "Guess I'll go call 911.."
He breaks from the game, and reaches to grab her shirt and pull her back to him, Miley giggling. They're rolling around the bed now and he's squeezing her with his arms wrapped tightly around her waist.
"Ahh you're killing me," she yells in between laughs.
"You're dramatic," he murmurs into her neck and buries his head into her side. They stop squirming and just lay there silently and entangled. He smells like soap and cologne and he smells Chanel on Miley and they memorize each other's bodies with love hanging around their lips.
He moves a little and whispers to her skin, "You love me, real or not real?"
They peak at each other under hooded eyes and she buries herself into his chest. The sun is pouring into the lace-lined windows and bounces around their tanned faces. There's a lot she has to get out and do today, with 2012, the year of Miley, ready to be conquered, but in this moment there's no place she'd rather be. There's no person she'd rather love.
"Real."