He knocked the shot back easily, listening to the cheers of the girl sitting beside him. Pausing just one moment to notice the sensation of the alcohol burning a path down his throat and into his stomach, Gale turned his head and looked at the pretty girl sitting beside him. Her eyes were glassy and her speech was slurred as she leaned in close to him and whispered in his ear. His smirk widened as he listened to the dirty things she was whispering in his ear, and his foot began to twitch, eager to leave the bar and take her back to his place.
Looking back down at the counter, Gale wrapped his hand about the bottle of beer and lifted it to his lips. It was still a strange feelings, being drunk. There was no money in District Twelve, and anything he had to trade was used to buy food for his family, he had never even tasted alcohol until he d arrived in District two. After the rebels had overthrown the Capitol after Katniss' trial. Gale's mouth suddenly got bone dry. He swallowed roughly, trying to bring moisture back into his mouth. It had been nearly two years since the last time he'd seen her, weeks since Gale had even thought of his best friend. Whenever thoughts of her would creep up, he'd push them aside, because the alternative was far too painful to consider. He raised a weary hand to his face and pinched the bridge of his nose.
Gale was lost in his own thoughts of hunting, braids and mockingjays when he felt the tug on his arm. The girl was standing next to his chair now. "How about we take this back to my place?" she asked, a coy smile upon her lips. Gale could barely keep the smirk off his face. He got up from his seat and the word sure was on his lips. But something something made him hesitate.
"Listen, I have something to do first, actually" he said, bringing his hand up to rub the back of his neck. The girl looked disappointed and a pout formed on her lips. "How about I swing by in an hour? It'll just take a minute," he assured her and the smile on her lips returned. Gale sighed in relief. What the hell was he thinking? But it looked like the night was still going to go his way because the girl pulled his hand towards hers and carefully wrote down her phone number.
"Call me," she told him, winking at him over her shoulder as she walked away. Her hips swung from side to side seductively, and Gale found himself admiring her figure from behind. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Gale got up and left the bar.
The weather outside was windy, but it was doing nothing to help Gale sober up. He didn't even know what he was doing, he didn t have any sort of errand to run. It was as though his body was on autopilot, his feet taking him to a place without letting his brain know. And all of a sudden he was a the lake in the park. Gale's body found a park bench that faced the lake and he sat down. After a few minutes, Gale realized that he had pulled his phone out of his pocket. He stared down at it, still in awe of the fact that you could use this device to call anybody at any time. Well anybody that owned a telephone. There weren't many people outside of District Two that he would call, and that was usually only for business calls. It was a miracle that he remembered her phone number. The way his fingers dialed the numbers so fluidly, one would think that he called her every day.
The phone kept ringing and ringing, and Gale was certain that she wouldn't pick up. It was later in Twelve than here, two or three in the morning. She was probably asleep. Just when he was about to give up, he heard the phone click and heard a sleepy "Hello," on the other line.
"Catnip?" Gale asked, his heart leaping into his chest. Her voice, groggy from sleep, was one he hadn t heard in years, but at the same time it was so familiar one would think they had spoken just that morning.
There was a long pause before she answered. "Gale? Yeah, yeah it's me. What s wrong?" Gale signed inwardly. Two minutes on the phone with her and he could already sense the worry in her tone. Same old Katniss.
"Nothin's wrong," he replied evasively, though he was certain she could hear the slur in his speech.
The pause after his answer was longer than the first time. He was about to ask if she was still awake or if she'd fallen asleep when he heard a soft sigh on the other end of the line. She was still there. "What do you want, Gale?" there was a new type of weariness to her voice, one that had nothing to do with the fact that Gale had woken her up at three in the morning with his drunken call. It was emotional weariness, brought on by the memories and feeling undoubtedly coursing through both their minds right now.
He didn t know how to answer. What did he want? Why was he calling her at this ungodly hour of the night? A chat for old time's sake? Because he needed to hear her voice, to tell her what he should have told her years ago. "Don't, don't do it, Catnip," he said, stumbling over his words.
"Don't do what?" The venom in her voice was undeniable. He could just imagine her, shaking in anger at his words and a small smile curled the corners of his lips upwards.
"Don't marry him." The sentence hung in the air between them. The only reason Gale knew she was still on the phone with him was because he could hear her shallow breathing on the other end.
"That's not for you to decide, Hawthorne. You left, remember? You never came back to Twelve." If she had been angry before, it was nothing to how she sounded now. "When I needed you the most," she said. "After Prim..." she choked out the name through sobs. "You made your choice Gale. You left."
The frustration that had been growing inside his chest the past few years seemed to explode. "Yeah Katniss. I did leave. Because you had already decided to be with him. Do you know how I felt when you came home, arm in arm with him? I didn t want to see that for the rest of my life, to be reminded that you chose him. Remember what I said in Thirteen? You would pick the person you couldn t survive without. And that was never going to be me. He made you feel too guilty if you didn't love him. Don't you see? How he's been manipulating you since your first interview?" He didn't know how, but somehow Gale was on his feet, pacing angrily back and forth. He ran his free hand through his hair. "I loved you, Catnip, ever since we were kids. I still love you."
"I know." Her voice, which had been angry a moment before, was soft and vulnerable. Gale's heart seemed to leap up into his throat, fluttering hopefully. He wasn't nearly as eloquent as Peeta, he couldn't make people love him by his words alone, but maybe, just maybe he had made Katniss feel something. Maybe she was finally ready to love him too. Gale's mind began conjuring images of their life together. Living in District Twelve, hunting on Sundays. They would be happy, they could have a family, with no threat of the Hunger Games looming over them.
"I- I'm sorry, Gale," she said and he heard a strange sound on the other end of the line. Was she crying? He was so focused on that sound that it took a few moment for his intoxicated mind to process the words. But then he realized what she was saying. She was choosing Peeta, and there was nothing more he could do to change her mind. The thought shattered his heart and he was numb.
Swallowing roughly, trying to get some moisture in his mouth, Gale waited a few moments, until he was sure he had control over his voice. "Alright." And without a goodbye, he clicked the phone, hanging up on Katniss. His arm pulled back, ready to throw the phone into the lake. Just as he was about to let go though, his eyes landed on the writing on his right hand. The girl from the bar earlier. He let his hand go limp and looked back down at his phone. Almost without thinking he dialed the number and waited for the click to indicate someone was on the other line.
"Hey it's me. Gale," he said, trying to remember what her name was. Something with a T. Tiffany? Tadbir? No that wasn't it. "Can I still take you up on that offer, Talia?" he asked, turning his back on the lake and walking out of the park.