I awoke with Rory's face in front of mine. I stared back at my younger brother for a few minutes before I even bothering thinking of why the hell he was there. I rolled over, hoping Rory was having some sort of episode and would leave. He knew not to wake me up; now that I thought about it I realized he was never up before me for this to be a problem.
"What's wrong?" I murmured to my younger brother. I sat up, letting my body and my catch on to the idea of being fully awake.
"Shouldn't you be gone already?" Rory said as though he was stating the most obvious thing in the entire world. I rubbed my eyes and looked out the window behind Rory. The sun high in the sky marking that it was later in the morning.
"Shit." I yelled as I jumped out of bed. I forced myself across the room, even though my body still felt groggy. I pulled on the first pair of pants I found, and quickly tugged a black shit on. I spun in a circle searching the floor for socks, but my mother must have picked them up earlier that day. I cursed again, this time under my breath. I decided to just put my shoes on regardless and I grabbed my pack and rushed out the door.
"Bye then!" I heard my brother shout after me.
I ran through the dust covered streets, people complained as I stirred the dust up, but I couldn't slow down. I turned onto Main Street almost losing my balance, I only made it a few more feet before I hit something solid. I hit the ground with a thud; some objects hit my head in a cloud of dust.
I coughed and realized that it had been bread that had been bouncing off my head. I rubbed my eyes till I got the dust out and looked at who the owner or the bread was. Peeta.
He stared at me, a frown covering his face. I quickly gathered the bread that had fallen to the ground. All of them seemed to have burnt spots; I hoped this meant I hadn't ruined anything that wasn't already ruined. I knew how expensive a loaf of bread was and I didn't happen to have any money to give him as collateral.
"Sorry, I was in a hurry." I stammered balancing the bread with one hand and extending the other towards him. He grabbed on and I pulled him to his feet.
"I could see that." He said a slight hint of amusement in his voice. He dusted off his cloths, patting down his pants and shirt as if he were beating a rug.
"yeah." I replied awkwardly. This was the first time I'd been this close to him. Well and noticed that I was. I'd passed by him in school every day, him and Katniss just a few years behind me. It wasn't till I caught him one morning late last year, a few weeks before the 73rd Hunger Games, frosting cakes in the store. He looked so determined to get each line, every detail in the correct place. He got lost in his work, it was then when I began to admire him.
Now several months later, all I could say back to him was 'yeah'. I was an idiot.
"Here" I said gesturing towards the bread. I kept repeating how big of an idiot I was. I wished to rebel against the Capitol but couldn't stand up and speak to a sixteen year old boy.
He shook his head. "You keep it. I was just going to give it to the pigs anyway."
"You sure?" I asked surprised, they weren't in too bad of shape. A little dusty sure but this could feed my family for a few days. I looked down at the four loaves of bread and saw the value of what four slightly burnt pieces of bread could be.
"Yeah, as long as you put them away quickly." He said glancing back at the bakery, anxiety covering his face. "Don't want my mother to see."
I pulled out my pack and stuffed the loaves into it hastily. Pulling the strings to close it, I looked up at Peeta. Being so close to him had my heart pattering at an uncontrollable pace, making it hard to breath. One boy could affect me so, I was a hunter, a revolutionary thinker, but last of all I was pathetic.
"Thanks." I smiled at him and he returned it quickly, glancing back at the bakery.
"Look I got to get back." He explained. With a parting grin he ran off.
I stood there for a couple moments, letting the short lived events sink in. I looked over towards the fence at the end of the street and got myself together. I had to get back to what I was supposed to be doing, not daydreaming about some stupid crush I had on the baker's son.
I pulled my pack onto my shoulder and hurried off. I was hoping I would still find Katniss in the woods. I needed to refocus my priorities, and she was the only person for the job.
