There she was sitting in the meadow. Although dusk had settled, Madge's golden locks shone brightly in the penetrating twilight. While she played with blades of green grass between her fingers, she gazed upwards. The night sky was full of stars shining clear and true. Gale approached her slowly, but Madge was soon to notice. She turned her head in his direction.
"Hey," she said.
Gale nodded, "hey."
Gale walked over and sat down beside Madge. His stomach twisted into knots the closer he got to her. His palms were sweaty too and he knew why.
He was in love with Madge Undersea.
"So," Madge said, glancing in Gale's direction, "what brings you here?"
Her question struck Gale. Why was he here? What brought him to the meadow this evening of all evenings? Gale lay on his back and stared at the twinkling stars above.
"Gale?"
"Oh, I…" Gale raised his head, "I'm not too sure why."
"Oh," Madge said softly. She resumed playing with the blades of grass she had uprooted. "I'm not too sure why either."
Gale watched Madge as she gazed at the stars. What was so intriguing about her? How did he reach this point with his feelings for her? Everything from her kind nature and strength to her secret deviance of the Capitol despite her social status seemed to confuse Gale in that moment. Surely, there was one way to resolve this, he thought.
"Madge?"
"Yeah?"
"Wait," Gale said. He shifted his position to sit beside Madge amongst the grasses. She turned in surprise. No sooner, the two made eye contact and Madge dropped the grass she had been fiddling with.
"Gale?" she questioned, "Did something happen?"
"No, everything's fine, I just…"
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, yeah," Gale couldn't break away from her worried eyes. "There's just something I've been meaning to do though."
Madge looked puzzled but nodded patiently. "You can tell me anything Gale."
At the sound of his name from her lips, Gale knew what he needed to do. He looked deeply into her eyes and closed the distance between them. He stroked a piece of strand of Madge's hair and placed it neatly behind her ear. She smiled shyly and blushed downwards. Gale lifted her chin and ever so gently pressed the sweetest kiss to her lips.
It was one of those kisses that felt like it was both of their first times. One of those kisses that made the whole world stop. And, one of those kisses that changed everything.
Madge was first to retreat. She smiled again and locked eyes with Gale.
"Is that why you came here?" she asked.
Gale smirked, "You could say so."