Chapter 1

A really drunk Haymitch

Gale's POV

It was a sunny May day. Or at least it was going to be. It was only dawn, but it was already very warm. Summer was just around the corner, and flowers were blooming. I was headed to the fence to go hunting with my best friend Katniss Everdeen. Well, I wish she was more than my best friend… But it's as though she doesn't see me as anything more than a hunting partner and a best friend to confide in.

I only started seeing her differently quite recently. I just noticed her in a new light, her beauty so unbearable I couldn't stop think about it. I loved the way her eyes sparkle like a precious gem in the sunlight. The way the corners of her full, pink lips curl up into a perfect smile, a smile that could light up a whole room. The way her black hair shines in the sunlight. I loved all the simple things about her. Simple, but effortlessly and unbearably beautiful.… Whoa, I'm getting off-track here! I quickly look around to see if anyone saw me in my daydreaming. It's been happening a lot lately, but lucky for me, no one saw me this time. Sometimes this exact thing happens at school and a couple times my friend Ayden had to slap my shoulder to snap me out of it. My school friends have gotten suspicious of me lately… Whenever I daydream they first snap me out of it, then for the rest of the day they point fingers and tease. They know what's going on with me, but I can never tell when it comes to my friends. They can be... unpredictable.

I was at the fence by now, my daze passing the time. I looked around to make sure that no one was watching, so I slid under the fence and headed to the place where we keep our weapons. I got my bow, quiver of arrows, coil of wire and hunting knife. Katniss always said I never needed my knife, though I liked to have it with me just in case. You never know when something decides to attack you. Many a time have I actually "accidentally" got a cut, just so Katniss can bandage me up. Might seem like a bit too much, but I think I'm getting more desperate by the day. I should talk to Peeta about this… He could help. By the way, I'm getting suspicious of him… I'm pretty sure he likes Delly. He stares at her all the time when he thinks she isn't looking. He's lucky we're friends, because I would totally make fun of him all the time.

I still remember how we became friends. It was a winter day. We were both walking home with our siblings. He has 2 brothers that are older than him, even though I am 2 years older, that we talking about some girl from the higher grades, that we didn't know. At that point in life, we thought all girls had cooties, so we didn't care. My 2 little brothers were also whispering about something amongst themselves. They rarely included me in their conversations, so Peeta and I were left awkwardly walking next to each other. He turned to me.

"So, your name's Gale, right?" he mumbled.

"Yeah, and your name's Peeta, right?" I answered.

"Right." he smiled at me. I knew this because I have heard his name being tossed around after he won a big wrestling match at school. Otherwise, I wouldn't have answered correctly.

"So… Do your brothers also leave you out of conversations like mine?" he chuckled. At least we had one thing in common.

"Yeah, they're always like that. Yours too?" I asked.

"Yup."

And since then we have bonded over the years and become really good friends. Although not as good as Katniss and I, but he was probably my closest guy friend. I mean, every guy needs a guy friend too. Just like every girl seems to have a little group who they giggle, shop and talk about boys with. Peeta isn't from the Seam though, so we won't have the same understanding between us. He lives in the Town, so he hasn't had to experience hunger, cold, cruelty and poverty like I have. Katniss understands me though, so she's my best friend. We have bonded over a lot of things. Mainly hunting and taking care of our families. But we were closer because of our similar personalities. We also bonded over the loss of both our fathers, who died in the same mine explosion. They were blown to bits. Literally. We didn't even have anything we could bury. I should really not dwell on this, it did happen 5 years ago…

There I go again. I should really get back on topic. My thoughts are getting way too scattered. I think of Katniss again. Wow, she got my thoughts scattered even more. Okay, what could get my thoughts un-scattered? The only thing that cheers me up and clears mu mind, hunting.

I was a couple minutes away from the rock. Our rock. Katniss and I always met at that same rock for all those years. It overlooked the valley. We could see everyone, but they couldn't see us. The rock was covered from all sides by thick blackberry bushes. There aren't any berries on it now, or at least not at this time of year. There aren't any ripe berries right now. They're only available at the end of August and until the end of September. Or until the birds, Katniss and I eat them all.

I was getting closer to our rock and I could feel my face muscles relaxing. I didn't have to act when I was with in the forest with Katniss. There weren't any people here to hear us. And Katniss is used to my rants. It's those moments when I just can't take it anymore, and I need to let all my stress, anger and disappointment out. It doesn't seem like today I'll be ranting. I actually feel like I'm about to faint or throw up. I have butterflies in my stomach and I feel slightly light-headed. That's been happening a lot to me lately.

I'd really like to tell Katniss that I really like her, but I have no idea how… Well, I don't just like her, I love her actually. She just sees me as a best friend and hunting partner though… I only notice her anymore. I mean don't get me wrong, I've had my fair share of crushes and girls, but during my hopelessly dumb stage of life, I noticed her. And now I love her, she's the only girl for me anymore.

"Man, I love Ka-" I mumbled to myself, when I was rudely interrupted by the person I was talking about.

Katniss jumps out of some bushes and asks me: "What do you love?"

"Umm… I love… Cats! Yes, I love cats!" I slurred, scared that she understood what I was talking about and laughed nervously. I think she could see I was lying. Duh. I'm a horrible liar and we both know it.

"Okay, whatever you say!" she just laughed and brushed it off.

Katniss's POV

"Man, I love Ka-" Gale mumbled to himself, but I interfered before he finished the sentence.

"What do you love?" I asked nonchalantly. I hoped that he would tell me he loves me. It was so obvious, or at least Delly always made fun of me on account of that. Personally, I didn't see any signs of it. She's lucky, she has someone who loves her. It's hopelessly obvious, Peeta is head over heels for her. Though, I'm not as fortunate. I know Gale just sees me as a friend, so it's hopeless dreaming about such nonsense. He could never love, or even like me! I mean, look at me!

"Umm… I love… Cats! Yes, I love cats!" Gale just laughed. He looked like I just pulled him out of a daydream. Lately he's been zoning out a lot. I have no idea why though… I should ask him about that, but I just can't get myself to do it. I daydream too, but not that often. I mainly daydream in school. Most of the time, I don't listen to the teachers, so I get some spare time.

Most of my daydreams circle around something I want, but will probably never get. If Gale and I were together.

"Okay, whatever you say!" I just laugh, though I have butterflies in my stomach. I hope my laugh doesn't sound hysterical or nervous…

"Let's go hunt. Sorry I came late. I just had to… finish some stuff." He finishes secretively, sounding like he's hiding something. What would he have to hide?

"You're lying." I state simply.

"Why would I lie to you? You're my best friend, I don't need to hide anything from you! You know everything about me, and I know everything about you." Except my true feelings, yeah, you know everything!

He flashed me a warm smile, and turned around to check a snare. There dangled a fat, dead rabbit. It would make a nice stew, we would just need to pick some spices and it would be perfect.

We checked the rest of the snares, while talking quietly about school, home and nothing that mattered really. Just random stuff. We managed to catch a beaver (Gale created some type of contraption that you can put in the water), 3 fat rabbits, 2 squirrels and a weasel. The former isn't that great, but it's meat, and we have to eat something. I picked some roots and berries, while Gale fished. Today was the perfect day for fishing, and we caught about 6 fish. It was a Sunday, so we could spend the whole day hunting and gathering. Sunday was always the day when we would try to get as much game as we could for the week.

I gathered tons of edible plants and healing herbs for my mother. She gave me a list of what to pick, and I luckily managed to find everything. The sun was lower by now, and we headed to the Hob to trade our stuff. Greasy Sae gave us some soup in exchange for a third of our greens.

Gale and I had just finished trading and were about to leave, when we ran into Haymitch Abernathy, our only live victor of the Hunger Games. He was the town drunk, and was well known all over the district for winning the 50th Hunger Games, a Quarter Quell.

"Mm, the hunter couple! Why aren't you holdin' her hand, boy?" he slurred in Gale's direction.

Curiously, Gale looked down at the ground with a small smile on his face, blushing. He murmured something so quietly even I couldn't hear it.

"Speak up, boy! I'm not an owl!" Haymitch yelled, getting impatient. I could barely make out what he was saying. He was probably really drunk…

"We're not a couple, we're just best friends. Now if you would just let us go…" Gale stated, carefully trying to get around Haymitch, but the drunk man just grabbed his shoulder and stopped him. Gale tried to shake off his hand, but Haymitch seemed quite strong, even for a drunk, middle-aged guy.

"Now wait just a second, boy. So you're saying she ain't your girlfriend?" Haymitch asked, seeming quite surprised.

"Yes, that's what I'm saying, Mr. Deaf Drunk." Gale answered, obviously challenging Haymitch. But the drunk didn't answer to the insult. What he did surprised even me. He punched Gale in the jaw, so he fell over and I caught him. Gale was really heavy! He was quite muscular, so that should explain it. I almost fell over myself, this sudden turn of events surprised everyone.

Gale quickly stood back up, infuriated and glared at the drunk.

"What the hell was that supposed to mean?" he growled at the drunk, who could barely stand. I could see Gale wanted to punch Haymitch back, and I carefully placed a hand on his shoulder. I didn't want Gale to get hurt even more or to hurt Haymitch. I've seen Gale get into fights at school before, and I know that he only lost once. He was really strong, and has grown some muscles (that I quite enjoyed) from all the hunting we do over the years.

"That was supposed to tell you not to annoy me, boy. Now, you obviously love her, so go for it, god damnit!" he said. And without a further explanation, he walked away. Probably to drink even more.

Never did I think that I could actually even hint something like that to myself, but I hope that drunk was right! But it's not a very good idea to trust drunks… Oh well, I never said I trust him, I just said I hope he was right!

I was too surprised to move and Gale was too. His expression read that he was embarrassed, angry, surprised and… scared? I could understand embarrassed, surprised and angry, but scared? Now that was something I would have to ponder later…

"Gale, we should get back home. They should be waiting for us by now." I reminded him quietly. It's true, it was getting late and out families would be worried.

Gale still wasn't making any move to step out of his frozen state, so I picked up my game bag, that I had dropped and poked Gale's side, right in the sensitive spot that kinda hurts and tickles at the same time. You know that one, right?

He gave a small sound of surprise and whirled around to stare at me, like I had just grown another head. I just sighed, rolled my eyes, grabbed his arm and pulled him along. Gale was still walking like he was in a daze, and I have no idea what cause that, but I will figure it out.

"Wait, but we're heading your way." He said, finally noticing we were going down the wrong road.

"Yeah, you need your jaw checked out. There might be something wrong with it. It's already swelled slightly, and there's a bruise. Does it hurt?" I was really worried that he may have gotten something broken or something was wrong in general. I loved him, so I had the right to be this way! Gale had no clue of that, though…

"Catnip, I've gotten hurt worse in fights at school. There's nothing wrong, it'll go away soon. But now that you mention it, it does hurt a little. Haymitch is strong for a middle-aged drunk." He answered honestly. "And by the way, you can let go of my arm. I can walk."

I let go, embarrassed. We stayed silent for the rest of the trip. I came in and dropped my game bag on the floor. Gale followed example. My mother and Prim immediately emerged from the small room that was our living room, I guess. Their faces were confused, seeing that Gale was with me.

"Gale, what happened to your face?" Prim asked, concerned. She was already running to the little cupboard she and mother kept all their healing herbs.

"We had a run in with Haymitch, the drunk. He punched me, after I said something… not so nice." He explained, being quite vague on the conversation part of the run in.

"What did you say?" Prim asked, unaware of Gale and I's recent experience.

"I called him Mr. Deaf Drunk, after he didn't hear what I said. And then he punched me."

Prim examined Gale's jaw and asked him to do some stuff, like clench his teeth, shift his jaw from side to side, etc. Apparently, his jawbone was just slightly bruised. There was nothing really wrong with it. Gale would just have a bad bruise for a couple days. I felt relieved knowing everything was okay, since I didn't want Gale to get hurt.

We sent Gale home to his worried family, and had a calm dinner. The rest of the evening passed by uneventfully, but I was still thinking about what Haymitch said.

AND SCENE!