I sit unsurely on my couch as I fondly fool with Buttercup by teasing him with a feather. He literally goes crazy for it, every time I raise it up high; he tries to jump on it, but, fails. We do this for a few minutes until my fingers get fairly tired, and I let him have it. I let it drop to the floor as he harasses the poor feather. I stand up, clearly knocking over the feather onto the carpet. The cat scrambles to the feather, as it embraces it for dear life. I roll my eyes at him, still playing with the silly object.
"You're stupid." I say to the cat, and as if he understood what I said, he hisses at me.
"Not my fault," I fire at him, "You've been raised on a diet of entrails and fats, what do you expect?"
He just picks up his treasured item and marches off, like he doesn't care. I leave him be, seeing that one more argument with that cat would make me want to kill him.
I stroll beside the telephone mounted on the wall, and I almost picked it up, but I just snatched my hand away.
Who am I to call anyone? Mother already faced all her demons to get here, Haymitch is not that drunk, but still dangerous, and Peeta, well, we haven't talked in a while, and who am I to try to ruin his day right now? But what if he wants a talk?
I shake it out of my head and go onwards to the kitchen. I fix myself a warm cup of tea, since I've developed no interest in coffee, and I'm fresh out of hot chocolate. I stare out the window. The wind is blowing the now naked trees, and the snow is crinkling the ground, but there's already a generous amount scattered.
I march down the house and sit down on a plush single seater glider, sipping my tea. It's pretty snowy out there, so I'm guessing it's a good time for kids to go snowball fighting. I've tried to do it before, seeing as it was the very reason I sprained my ankle, and Gale had to carry me home. It was his fault; since he hurled a ball of snow in my face, and I couldn't see where I went, but I slipped on ice and guess what? It's his consequence, because I made him carry me home.
The memory makes smile, but all I remember is him leaving me alone here. I take it off, and just forget it.
I finally face my fear and lead to the phone. I dial up Peeta's number and it rings. R-ii-ng! It goes, loudly in my ears. R-ii-ng! It continued, and I was about to give up on it until he speaks.
"Hello?" He sounds almost questioningly.
"Um, hi Peeta," I reply unsurely.
"Katniss?" He sounds like he's familiar with it, but sounds rather unsure. He's been having his you could call 'breakdowns' every now and then, maybe I've disturbed him.
"Yes. Katniss here, I was thinking of a talk?" I sound really unsure, like a small girl talking to a stranger.
"Oh, well. Say" He tells me. I nod and swallow hard. Am I about to talk to the boy whom I pretended to be madly in-love with a few years back? The boy who tried to strangle me as I welcomed him?
"Well, I wished we could hit the town, you know, go there." I sputter into the phone. He probably took a minute to decide, and he finally said something.
"Okay," He calmly replies, I could almost feel him loosening up. "Okay, I'll come with you." He says; I can almost see the smile creeping up on his lips. Doubt starts forming inside me as I notice that he wouldn't easily say yes to these things. But, if he easily agreed to escape away to the woods with me before, sure, he'll go out for a nice friendly walk.
"Oh, sure, I'll be there in around 15 minutes." I beam at the phone. He just gives a yes then we hung up.
I slide myself into long pants with warm leggings underneath, with a long sleeve shirt and a thick coat. I wrap my neck into a scarf and pull on my boots, and I head outside. The snow is dampening my hair, which I forgot to put up in a way. It hangs down my face, but in a shaped form that looks rather nice. I walk up on his porch and the next thing you know I knock. The door flings open.
"Hey, Peeta." I shyly whisper at my feet. He's still putting on his jacket, and busily stuffing his feet in boots.
"Hey," He returns in the same manner.
We both step out the door, and he finally cracks a question.
"Hey, where are we going?" He looks down at me, my eyes fixated on what used to be a dirt road, but now is snow packed.
"To the great beyond." I say, sarcasm open in my tone.
"Well, I know where." He points at a small shop, a place full of simple luxuries; candy.
We both enter and smell the unique scents of each and every sweet. He scoops a handful of peppermints, and places them in a paper bag. A smile spreads across my frozen face as he stuffs a handful of the candies in his mouth. I'm taking this as a joke, the night that I bought Prim peppermints and him snatching the bag from my fingers. I roll my eyes at the memory, and continue on the place.
The place is literally crawling with confectionaries, candies, chocolates, and sugar. Yes, sugar. The thing that catches my eye is a neatly stacked pyramid of sugar cubes on a dainty plate. There's a whole box of them, so I snatch a fistful and stuff them in my bag. I pop one in my mouth, and it's fairly hard, but extremely sweet. It's funny how I find myself to pop another one in my mouth. Sugar cubes. Then I'm reminded of Finnick, on how we first met each other through the ever famous, sugar cube.
I walk on over to Peeta a he's eyeing the chocolates like a hawk.
"Boo." I come up from behind him, tapping his shoulder lightly. He twinges, and then looks around to find me snickering behind him. He mouths out a 'not nice' followed by a grin, then moves on to another place.
I go back to my candies and stuff more into my bag, especially the chocolates.
"You ready?" I say over my shoulder. I turn to find Peeta to the counter, paying for his things. It's strange that I have so much candy in my arms now, but it's good for some enjoyment sometimes.
I plop down my collection to the counter. "Count me in, too." I smile, and he gladly pays for it. We head out the door.
"You know, you shouldn't have done that." I inform him, without eye contact.
"Done what?" He sounds as if he's totally confused.
"You, know, pay for it." I bite my lip. I don't like owing people.
"Oh, please it's nothing." He says, brushing off some snow on his shoulders.
"You've gone taller," I randomly pop up.
"Well, you've gone…. Prettier." He blushes, looking away, but the red on his cheeks is evident because of his pale skin. I look away and kick some frozen snow.
"Well, thanks." I mumble, unsure of my words.
We stand and blush in silence for a few minutes until I give out a sigh.
"How's life?" Is the most nonchalant thing I could think of? Well, I guess so.
But he actually answers. "Good, kind of lonely." His blue eyes meet my dull grey ones, as if implying something about me. "I mean, nothing's been happening," He sighs. I nod and continue to listen. Surely, I haven't talked to him in a while, but it's good to have an update on his life.
"Same here," I find myself scooting closer, as the wind blows my dark hair around.
"Err, stupid wind," I mutter, smoothing down my hair. He gives out a small laugh, then a smile.
"It's been easy though," he points out. "I've heard word that Haymitch might raise geese sometime soon." He shrugs. I hold a stupid grin, as I imagine what it's like. Sober Haymitch, geese in his backyard; the undeniably scary future. I shudder at the thought. "Well, poor geese," I scoff, "Yeah." Peeta agrees.
We both remain silent, and then he disappears.
"Peeta?" I wonder, looking around frantically. Maybe he went home because of another flashback, or hid somewhere. As I continue looking, a snowball hits my face. Then I see a ducking Peeta behind a bush, laughing his pants off. He looks so childish, but there was so little fun he's had, so I decided to play along.
"Ooh, you're going to pay!" I say, sounding like a child. He quickly hides, but I still target his face.
"Nice aiming skills." He comments, wiping off the snow from his face, but another one follows.
"Foul!" He yelps, trying to free his face off the cold snow.
"Ow!" he proclaims, yelling at the top of his lungs. I immediately go beside him.
"Are, you okay? I'm so sorry!" I say frantically. Almost immediately, a smile plasters on his face and then starts to form a ball of snow in his hands. He smashes it in my face, and I give a sound of disgust.
"Eww!" I say like a child. He smiles. The battle continues for a few moments, and then we stop.
We both start walking, until we slip on a piece of ice. I fall on top of him and he falls underneath me. We both blush and look away.
"I wish we could stay this way, freeze at this moment." I recall the words we said before.
He fakes that he's frozen, and then sticks his tongue out.
"Not that kind of frozen," I grin at him. He continues with his act.
"Oh, Peeta, stop." I laugh, a smile spread across my face. I help him up and he stands up. Some of the candies had fallen on the ground, but we'll manage with the ones in our bags. We march back home, and both red faced but smiling.
"Let's go to my house, the fireplace is on." I smile. He agrees, and we start for my house. When we enter, we settle on the couch and start on our candies.
"Want anything?" I offer, my breath smelling of peppermint and many other stuff.
"Oh, no, I'm good." He smiles, his breath heavy with the minty fresh scent of peppermint.
"Your choice," I say, settling back on the couch. I lean my head on his shoulder, and then all of a sudden, Buttercup strides in.
"Get out of here," I warn the cat playfully. "I'm sorry." I tell Peeta.
"Oh, don't be! He's adorable!" He smiles at Buttercup.
"Adorable? Are you sure?" I question him. He nods.
"Come here, boy!" He pats his lap, and surprisingly, Buttercup pounces on his lap. He starts purring.
"He likes you." I say. And it's hard for Buttercup to like and trust someone so fast. But he loses interest and strides away.
We both laugh and Buttercup stares as we continue.
I look at the crackling fireplace, and then I say something. "So, this is what it's like to rekindle a fire, huh Peeta?" I ask him, only to find him sleeping, leaning on my shoulder. "Oh, wow." I exclaim, and lay his head on my lap.
If this isn't what you call rekindling a fire, what is?