A/N: Quick thing before I start. One of the reviews asked why there was a skipped scene in the last chapter and the skipped scene would have been Peeta and Katniss having sex. The reason that I skipped writing that scene is because I don't write sex scenes, which is why the rating of this story is T and not M. I'm not very good at writing it so any place in this story where there should be a sex scene, I will scene skip it like I did in the last chapter. I'm sorry to do this if it disappoints my readers, but I feel like you all are better off not reading my poor, vapid attempt. However, the rating is subject to change as the story progresses and themes become more prominent.
He woke the next morning to the feint scents of her in his pillow. Of course, the one woman who he's actually shown interest for in a long time wound up to be a one-nightstand. He could remember everything from last night. The way she looked, the way she smelt, and the way she felt around him. There was nothing else he wanted to do than to have last night again. But, he couldn't as the mostly nameless woman walked out his house in the middle of the night and he was too much of a coward to have asked for her to stay. Shaking his head, he rolled over and checked his phone.
Finnick Odair: Date was amazing! And I didn't fuck up! Thanks again, bud! I'll see you later today!
Laughing, Peeta shook his head at his friend. He knew how much pressure Finnick had put himself under to impress Annie on the date and he was glad that his friend was happy. Never in the many years that he knew Finn, did he ever see his friend use so many exclamation points in a text.
Madge Undersee: Do you mind coming over early to help me cook? I can use another hand around here.
His relationship with Madge was definitely an interesting one. They met in high school when Delly introduced them. At first, it started out as innocent infatuation on his end for the beautiful blond and by the time their sophomore year began (with the very constant urging of a determined Delly), he finally mustered up the courage to ask Madge out. They were basically each other's firsts for almost every romantic milestone for every teenager: first kiss, first date, first boyfriend/girlfriend, first time, and first love. They had been dating for nearly three years when they realized that whatever spark there was in their relationship was long gone and somehow, somewhere, unbeknownst to them, in the middle of applying to university and finishing up their final year, they transitioned from intimate, romantic lovers to more of merely platonic best friends. The decision to end their long term relationship was mutual and it shocked not only their families, but also their entire high school as the destined "Golden Couple" to wed had separated just weeks before graduating, but still remained good friends. Rumors spread that one of them was unfaithful, but Peeta, Madge, and even Delly knew that the relationship had ran its course and Peeta and Madge were better off as best friends. However, for years after the breakup, Peeta and Madge endured numerous attempts by each family to reunite the couple. A year or two into college, both of their moms tried their hand at reuniting the couple by persuading Madge and Peeta to go on supposedly separate blind dates. Their mothers failed to remember that Peeta and Madge talked to one another nearly every single day and both quickly discovered days before their dates were that their "blind dates" were one another days. Since then, their families had stopped with the antics and almost begrudgingly accepted reality.
Peeta Mellark: This better not be a ploy to get me to cook lunch.
Madge Undersee: Peeta, you and I both know very well that if I ended up cooking this lunch, we'd probably get food poisoning somehow.
Peeta cringed at the text. Yes, Peeta knew well enough how inept Madge was in the kitchen. He had first hand experience of her skills in the kitchen, or lack thereof actually, when they were dating and she thought it would be romantic to cook a dinner for him. Both ended up at home during spring break with food poisoning and ever since, he has been wary to eat anything Madge has made.
Peeta Mellark: Oh, that is too true. I'll be there in about an hour. I'll have to stop by the store to grab groceries.
Madge Undersee: Peet, you're amazing. I'll send you a picture of my fridge and pantry so that you don't double up on stuff.
The photos of the fridge and pantry definitely belonged to a person who had no idea what she was doing in the kitchen. The fridge held a tower of take out boxes, beer, some eggs and dairy product and the pantry had cans of unidentifiable products.
Peeta Mellark: What the hell were you going to make with that?
Madge Undersee: Um, honestly, I was either going to call for take out for us or ask you to help me out. Obviously, I went with the latter since Annie and Delly became health-freak nuts and have been lecturing everyone about the unhealthiness of take out.
Peeta Mellark: Hahaha valid point. See you in a bit.
Shaking his head, he got up to get ready and head over to the grocery store down the block before heading to Madge's.
"Peeta, does anyone ever tell you how amazing you are?" were the first words out of Madge's mouth when she opened the door to see him carrying grocery bags in his hands.
"No, not as nearly as much as they should, and move out of the way woman, I walked here and these bags are starting to rip at the seams." Laughing, Madge took some of the bags out of his hands and stepped to the side.
"Now, whose dumbass idea was to do that?"
"Well, I didn't think it through. The store and your house are walking distance from mine, but I didn't think about having to carry enough groceries to feed five adult mouths, two of them being mine and Finnick's, and we both know how well we can put away food. You know, one of these days I am going to successfully teach you how to cook a meal."
Madge replied, "You already tried that twice, remember?"
"Yeah, the first was in what, the summer before our senior year, and we ended up in bed. Second was in college and you almost burned down my parent's kitchen. I think it's time to try again since you and I know very well that we're done with the whole romance, lovey dovey stuff and I've learned that leaving the kitchen to simply use the bathroom when you're manning the stove is a spectacularly bad idea. Third times the charm, right?" Madge laughed and made no promises.
As he started to put away the groceries and begin cooking the meal, he and Madge effortlessly bantered and teased one another. It wasn't ever weird for them to mention their history as a couple and they had no problems discussing it. Though they still did act like a couple from time to time, both knew that there was absolutely nothing more than friendship and platonic love between the pair.
"So, I had a one-night stand last night," Peeta randomly says as Madge took a sip of water. The comment made her choke on the water a bit and he rushed over from his place at the stove to help calm her down. After finally getting though the little episode, she immediately turned on him and swatted his arm.
"Ow! What was that for?"
"You ass! Why did you wait until I was drinking water to drop that on me? But, seriously, since when does Peeta Mellark do one-night stands?"
"Sorry about the water and I don't know. I was filling in for Finnick last night at the bar and there was this gorgeous woman at the end of the bar. We started talking about basketball and next thing I know, we're at my house and I have her against a wall." Madge looked at him incredulously. Though he and Delly were always close, there was always something about Madge that made it effortless to confide in her. They knew each other better than anybody else in the world.
"Do you want to see her again?"
"Madge, she's all that I've been thinking about. I can't get her out of my head and the only thing I know about her is that she likes gin and tonics and her name. And not even her full name. Just that her name is Katniss," Peeta settled down on the seat besides Madge and placed his head in his hands. Madge hugged him from the side as he sat there.
"Babe, I know you don't like hearing this, but the chances of seeing her again are about slim to none if you don't even know her name."
"I know that! And it sucks! I would give anything to see her again." Silence fell over them as Peeta continued to wallow with Madge beside him.
"Maybe, she frequents the bar. Try going back this Saturday and see if she's there. Ask Finn is he's seen her around. It wouldn't hurt to try." Peeta spun and looked at his friend like she was the smartest woman on the Earth.
"You, my friend, are a fucking genius," were the only words to tumble out of his mouth as he nearly knocked her off the bar stool and hugged her. Chuckling, she hugged him back and playfully patted his head.
"You're welcome. Now, get back to cooking, slave." Playfully glaring at her, he turned his attention away from Katniss and onto the simmering sauce on the stove.
"I smell food! Madge, please tell you me that you didn't cook it," Finnick exclaimed as he walked through the door with Delly, Rye and Annie in tow.
"Hardy har, no, Peet's here and used his magical skills in the kitchen to feed us," Madge said as she hugged each of her friends. As they walked further into Madge's house, they saw Peeta mixing a salad at the counter. After initial greetings, all of them grabbed a plate and filled up on the spaghetti and salad and made their way to the table. The hot topic of the lunch was of course Finnick's and Annie's date, which went swimmingly well. Annie mentioned to the group that Finnick had been so nervous when he picked her up that he accidentally dropped the vase full of water and flowers on her doorstep when she opened the door. Having to pick up the glass and find another vase, they were late for the reservations, but everything was smooth sailing from that point. The image of the notorious casanova bumbling at the sight of a pretty lady had the group erupting in laughter. Finnick beamed as he told them how their date went from then and as he told the story, he only had eyes for Annie, who was sitting across from him. Peeta, Madge, and Delly all shared a look, knowing that Finnick was truly in love with the redhead whether he knew it or not.
"Seriously, Peet, thanks for covering for me last night. How was it?" Finnick asked in between bites.
"No problem, Finn. Delly let me go home a bit early so I could get some sleep and you know I enjoy working the bar. The extra money isn't too bad either. It was a Saturday night so the bar was packed at the start, but started to wane out a bit as the college crowd moved to the next bar," Peeta was skirting around tell his friends of how his night really went and how thankful he was that he picked up Finn's shift. Beside him, Madge kicked his shin underneath the table and threw him a meaningful look.
"Hey, Finn? Is there a gray eyed woman who wears her brown hair in a braid that shows up at the bar often? Her name's Katniss," Peeta asked. All eating had stopped and every single pair of eyes were on him. It had been years since Peeta had shown interest in a girl, so it came as a shock to the group that Peeta was asking about a girl.
"No, not that I know of. Did your night go a little better than you said?" Finn smirked at him.
Looking down to the food on his plate, Peeta nonchalantly replied, "I had a one-night stand with her." Madge had to suppress a giggle as several pairs of eyes around the table comically widened and stared at the blond man next to her.
"Aww, my little brother is all grown up!" Rye exclaimed as he came around the table to playfully hug Peeta from behind and rub Peeta's head like he was ten years old.
"Quit it, Rye," Peeta laughed as he fended off his brother's attempt to kiss him on the cheek.
"Come on, Peet! You've never done this before! Should I call mom and Ban to share the news?" Rye joked with his blushing brother.
"Rye, leave Peeta alone," Delly scolded. With one more pat on Peeta's head, Rye returned to his seat by his wife.
"Whipped," coughed Finnick.
"Hey bud, I wouldn't be calling me whipped when you're the one who's been following Annie around like a lost puppy from the moment you met her," replied Rye and the table erupted into laughter. This caused both Annie and, uncharacteristically, Finnick to blush.
"Peeta, honestly though, since when were one-night stands your thing?" Annie asked when the group finally calmed down.
"That's the thing. They're not. We just started talking about sports of all things and next thing I know, we're at my house. I didn't even get her full name and I really want to see her again," Peeta confessed to his friends.
"I'll tell you what, Peet. If this mysterious woman shows up in the bar again, I'll let you know. I'll text you and you can be 'coincidentally' there in a heartbeat."
"Finn, thanks. I appreciate it," and with that the conversation shifted and Peeta's mind was taken off of Katniss for awhile.
Shutting the door to his car, he willed his nerves to calm and walked the short distance to the entrance of District Twelve. The week passed by fairly quickly as the bakery continued to be busy. But, Katniss was still on his mind for the majority of the week. Finnick hadn't seen Katniss show up at the bar the entire week, but Peeta was still holding out for her. As he entered the bar, he felt a buzz in his pocket.
Madge Undersee: Peet, calm down and relax.
Peeta Mellark: Thanks for the support. Love you.
Madge Undersee: Love you too. Now, go get her, tiger.
Shaking his head at Madge's text, he looked up and scanned the bar for any sign of her. Seeing none, he sat down at the bar and tried to not let the feeling of disappointment enter his mind.
"No sign of her?" Peeta looked up and saw Finnick handing him one of his favorite beers.
"No, not just yet," Peeta didn't know if he was foolish for hoping, but he couldn't help it.
"It's good that you're hold..." Finnick never finished his sentence as his attention was drawn to the ringing of the door and he saw a young woman walking in. Her brown hair was tied into a long braid and he watched as her eyes scanned the room.
"Well, I can see why you've been nuts about this girl." Confused, Peeta turned around and found himself looking into a familiar pair of stunning gray eyes. He heard Finnick move somewhere down the bar, but he couldn't care less. She showed up. She was here.
"Hey there stranger," were the only words from her mouth as she approached him.
"Hi," he mentally smacked himself for the dumb response. This woman was the only woman, only person in the world who could turn the usually verbose, witty, great-with-words Peeta into a blubbering mess.
"Is this seat taken?" He shook his head at her.
Their conversation was once again about basketball. He tried to ask her for more information about herself, but she would always divert the conversation away. It was probably an hour or so after she arrived when she placed her hand on his thigh and looked at him through her long eyelashes. She looked nervous, shy even when he met her eyes. He found it funny that this apparently strong, independent woman was shy about her advances with him. He found her alluring. Seductive. Addictive. There was absolutely no way he would be able to say no. Placing his hand over hers, he left a few bills on the bar, ignoring the massive grin he caught on Finn's face, and led her to his car. The drive was a blur as next thing he knows he's fumbling with his key with her pressed against the door, her lips on his neck, and he's struggling to fit the damn key into the lock.
A/N: Love it? Hate it? Comments? Suggestions? Let me know and leave a review!