Disclaimer: This fanfic is rated 'M' for language and future sexual content. I do not own any of the characters or the Hunger Games.

Chapter 2: Girls Night

So, as it turns out going to Finnick's party might not have been such a bad idea after all. My father missed dinner tonight…again. He's been staying late at the quarry these past few weeks and almost every evening my mother has stared at his empty place setting, sighing in either longing or disappointment, I'm not quite sure which.

Sometimes I don't get her. My parents were high school sweethearts, her first and only love, or so she's told me. What I don't get though is how could anyone love one—and only one—person for the rest of their life? Don't get me wrong, it's a lovely thought and it's great that my parents found each other, considering that they're now going on over twenty years, but I'm not a hundred percent sold on the whole marriage thing quite yet. I don't know. The idea of having to rely on someone else that much and trusting your heart and overall emotional wellbeing in their care is just well, damn right frightening.

Rue shows up shortly after Prim and I finish putting away the dishes, letting herself into the house like she's always done. I still remember the day Prim came home blabbering away about her new best friend. When she was younger, it wasn't out of the ordinary for Prim to have a new best friend every day of the week since said "friends" were always imaginary.

My father said it was best to just humor her so I always did, even though I didn't think it was such a good idea encouraging her behavior. But I'll never forget the "I told you so" look on Prim's face when I came home one day after school to find an actual living breathing person standing in the middle of our kitchen whose name was actually Rue. They've been inseparable ever since.

"So, I think turquoise is totally your color, Katniss," Rue says as she shoves a bright blue bottle of nail polish into my face. I wave her off without even glancing at the recommendation, implying for her to make another color choice.

"Hmmm…how about 'Green With Envy'?" she asks again, this time holding up a dark green one. "It would go great with your eyes you know."

Really? "Green With Envy"? Who comes up with this shit? And what ever happened to the days when nail polish only came in shades of pink and red?

I shake my head dismissively as Rue tosses the bottle back into the pile and continues her search for my perfect color match. When her hand hovers over a sunset orange one, I let out a loud huff. "How about black," I mutter under my breath as I stretch my legs out in front of me. "It'll match my mood perfectly."

This girls' night isn't turning out as I expected. God knows I love Rue like a little sister, more than Prim sometimes, but the moment as she opened up her backpack revealing a rainbow of nail polish and pots of eye shadow, I wished she'd stayed at home. I knew things were going to go downhill from there, and fast.

It's no secret that I've never been a girly girl. It may have stemmed from how my mother was always trying to dress me up like I was her own life size Barbie doll when I was kid. She was obsessed with putting me in dresses with matching shoes and bows for my braids, and to make things worse she would document it all by snapping photos of me in those silly outfits. I have a scowl in every single photo.

I finally reached an age where I realized that if I just put up enough of a fuss, she'd eventually relent and let me dress myself. Thank god Prim came along when she did. With her petite frame, shiny blond hair, and bright blue eyes, she was the spitting image of Barbie. Me on the other hand, my dark brown, almost black hair and olive skin has always made me stick out like a sore thumb in family photos. I guess I take after my father, but even he doesn't tan like I do and his eyes have a much more pleasant quicksilver hue than my storm cloud grey ones. I swear I used to think I was adopted or switched at birth.

"So I heard Finnick is having a party tonight, are you going?" Rue asks while searching her backpack for a nail file, apparently giving up on me and her quest.

How would Rue know about that? She's only fifteen. When did fifteen year olds start going to Finnick's parties? Even though I obviously get older with each passing year, in my mind Prim and Rue always seem to stay the same age, frozen in time at the innocent age of twelve.

"Thresh is going," she adds.

Oh yeah, her brother Thresh. He's only a year older than me but while growing up, he's always hung out with the guys in my small circle of friends. "Nah," I reply with a shrug. "I don't really feel up to hanging around a bunch of high school acquaintances while they get drunk and high and eventually pass out all over each other."

After leaving for university, I've only really kept in touch with Johanna, Annie, and Madge. As much as it pains me to say, it's really only because they put in the effort. I'm not much of a phone person and couldn't be bothered to waste money on long distance calls to them every week just so I could hear about the trivial on goings of our little town. I caught wind of everything I needed to know through Prim, and as sweet and polite as she is, she's always been one for gossip so I was never out of the loop.

Prim gives me an innocent yet borderline devious smile. "You mean you don't really feel like trying to spend the whole night avoiding a certain blue eyed, blonde by the name of—"

"Enough Prim!" I hiss, a scowl straining my face and as I shoot her a stern look. Damn it. I glance down at my toes and she's caused me to smudge the dark purple nail polish I'd finally settled on from Rue's collection. "Look at what you made me do."

Rue seems unfazed by my little outburst as she continues to concentrate on her manicure, but just when I turn my attention back to the mess on my nails, her head pops up. "Wait…who? Oh…OH!" Her face fills with understanding as she abandons her nail file and slumps onto the floor across from me, her eyes bright and grinning from ear to ear. "Have you seen him? He'll be working at the bakery full time for the summer you know, I stop by every other day to pick up a loaf of sourdough for my Mom and I always make sure to go in when he's there. My God, I'm pretty sure he gets hotter and hotter every time I see him!"

I've heard enough. It's one thing to sit here and take this kind of inquisition from Prim, but from both of them? And why would Rue be keeping tabs on him anyways? It's creepy hearing Rue talk like that about a guy that's way too old for her to begin with, let alone him. Things really have changed since I've been away. They've both grown up so much this past year, physically and emotionally. One day they were have tea parties with their dolls in the living room and the next they're sitting on the couch reading Cosmo while playing fuck, chuck, or marry.

I consider getting up and leaving, but they'd read too much into that if I did so I stay put and feign a look of indifference. "Yeah, I saw him but I don't know what you're talking about, he didn't look any different to me," I lie through my teeth.

Truth is he looked better than from the last time I saw him, if that's even possible. Way better. Better than I could have imagined. I mentally scold myself for allowing my mind to drift to the memory of how his ass looked in those jeans today. Or how his toned arm tensed and flexed as he shifted his grocery basket from one arm to the other. It must be from working at the bakery, unloading the supply trucks, no doubt. I bet he can lift those hundred pound bags of flour over his shoulder like they weight nothing. Fuck. What am I talking about?

The high pitched giggles from across the room break me from my daydream. "You know what," I huff as I shake my head, "you two are starting to get on my nerves. I'm gonna call Johanna and see what she's up to." With that I cap the bottle of nail polish in my hand and escape to my room.

Once behind the safely of my closed door, my eyes scan the room nervously. It hasn't changed much since my childhood. Everything still looks the same. The same photos from high school litter the walls along with boy band posters from groups I hate to admit that I still love. I haven't paid much attention to the photos in awhile but I find myself drawn to them as I relive the memories from past parties and school trips. A smile tugs at the corner of my mouth when my eyes settle on one of me, Annie, Johanna, and Finnick. It was taken at Finnick's last crazy party, before everyone went off on their respective paths to college or university. I don't remember the photo being taken, but from the strained smile on my drunken face, it's almost believable at how happy I looked.

What happened to me? When did my life start to get so complicated? When did I get so cynical? My eyes drift to something, rather someone, in the background of the photo. Off to the side of our group is Delly Cartwright with her hands tangled into a mop of familiar blond hair. I can't help the frown that threatens to overtake my face or the feeling of resentment that bubbles at the back of my throat. That's when it all started. It's because of him.

I stare at the photo for a moment longer before tugging it off the wall and tearing it into tiny pieces that I scatter across my floor. I flop down onto my bed and bury my head in the pillows in frustration. I was so wasted that night. I don't even remember how I got home. Oh yeah, Johanna.

I pick up my phone and before my brain can comprehend what my fingers are doing, I've typed out the familiar digits and someone picks up on the other end, a harsh voice crashing through the line.

"Oh look who it is, took you long enough, don't you think? Bitch." I laugh into the phone, my sour mood already placated by Johanna's charming greeting. "So you've finally decided to crawl out of that hole you've been living in, huh. You know, if I were anyone else, I'd think you didn't like me."

Oh Johanna. She's the only one that ever really understood my reasons for wanting to leave this town and never come back. Even though I win all the awards for being such a lousy friend this past year, she's never held it against me for not keeping in touch. As much as it probably bugged her, whenever I came home to visit our friendship always picked up like nothing had happened. That's what I like about our relationship, it's not complicated.

I take a deep breath and say through gritted teeth, "So, are you doing anything tonight? Prim and Rue are driving me nuts and I think my room is slowly closing in on me as we speak. Wanna get out for a bit?"

I hope the eagerness in my voice isn't too much for her sense how desperate I am, but enough for her to suggest Finnick's party as a viable option. Although I don't understand why I want to go really; maybe I'm having an adult moment and feel like I can put aside the high school ghosts that plague my past. Or maybe curiosity is finally getting the better of me. Oh who am I kidding, it's definitely the latter.

"I'll pick you up in half an hour," Johanna instructs. "Wash that rats nest you consider hair that I know you have going on and put on something hot. We're going to a party."

Not a moment later the line goes dead. Damn it, she knows me too well. I lug myself off my bed and quickly hop into the shower, making sure to run a razor under my arms and across my legs as I try to figure out what I'm going to wear. I don't own anything hot. I'm more of a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl and have never been one to dress for attention. That part of me hasn't changed.

I hear Prim and Rue giggling down the hall and turn away from my open closet just in time to see them hovering in the doorway. "Wear the dark skinny jeans," Prim says as she leans against the door, "and you can borrow my black sweater. You'll look great in it, better than me anyways. Black has always looked better on you." And with that a black sweater flies in my direction and the two of them are gone.

I throw on the outfit and braid my hair as I study my reflection in the mirror. I don't look too bad I guess, maybe some eye liner and mascara would help. What am I doing? I don't even wear makeup in the first place, why am I suddenly so concerned about how I look? Before I have time to rethink it, I hear Johanna's old clunker of a truck come to a halt in front of the house. Screw it. I grab my old leather hunting jacket on the way out just in case and lock the door behind me before jogging towards the truck and hopping into the passenger seat.

"Lookin' good, Everdeen! Finally got some fashion sense I see?" Johanna snorts in amusement.

I give her the finger and frown. "You can thank Prim. How would I know to put this together?"

"You never know, people can change." She grins as she starts the engine and pulls away from the curb. "Stop worrying. No one's seen you in over a year. I bet half of them won't even recognize you. Maybe we can pass you off as some new girl in town and all the guys will flock towards you and I sit back and laugh as they try to get in you pants."

I hope she's right. Not about the part with guys wanting to get in my pants, but rather the part about no one recognizing me. Who am I kidding? I already know how this night's going to go. I chew at my bottom lip as I drop my gaze my lap. "So, any clue who's going to be there?" I'm fishing and she knows it.

"The usual suspects I'm sure. Annie and Madge are meeting us there. Not much has changed really you know, but you'll see for yourself soon enough. Guys like Cato and Marvel are still jocks, Delly and her harem of minions are still bitches…the joys of living in a small town."

I nod my head in agreement as I lift my hand to the dash and begin channel surfing the radio, trying to find something decent to listen to. We pass the time in a comfortable silence as we drive through the streets of my hometown. As expected, everything looks the same. The houses. The downtown shops. The people.

Johanna bats my hand away from the stereo and settles for some indie song I've never heard. "You're either really nervous or I'm the most boring person in the world. What's with the silent treatment? This isn't about him is it? He's going to be there you know."

Damn her for seeing right through me. I release a heavy breath and train my eyes out the window. "I know, I know. I ran into him at the grocery store earlier today. He kind of already invited me."

"Oh really…but you thought I'd make a better date, right? I'm flattered." She doesn't miss a step does she? "Katniss, listen…" She never uses my first name unless she's serious. "It's been over a year. What happened in the past is done and over with. Why dwell on it? Don't torture yourself about it, you've moved on and I'm sure he has too."

"I'm not torturing myself!" I squeak. Great, I'm building myself up so much that my voice is starting to squeak. I wish she was right, about the moving on part that is. While away at school I believed it, but now that I'm back home and after seeing just how good he looks…well, I'm not so sure anymore. "It's just…I-I hate crowds, you know that. I don't want to be the center of attention and that's exactly what'll happen, guaranteed. Why do you care, anyway?"

Johanna rolls her eyes and laughs. "You're right. Besides myself and of course Annie and Madge…oh and if you're lucky, maybe Finnick, no one really gives a shit about you." I and stick my tongue out at her but she winks in response. "Well, expect for maybe one other person."

Author's Note: Thank you so much to all of you who took the time to read my story! It means so much to me, it melts my heart, sniff sniff :) This was actually part of Chapter 1 but I thought it would be too long for an intro chapter, hence the quick update. I'm not sure how regularly I will be able to post chapters, but Chapter 3 is already underway. Don't worry, Peeta will be making a reappearance in the next chapter! Thanks again for reading and please leave a review, I love hearing your thoughts!