Katniss's POV:
I blink hard to keep the tears from flowing freely from my eyes. Ever since the war I've lost quite a bit of my composure- I'm so vulnerable to my own emotions now.
I have no right to be upset. Of course Gale has a girlfriend; he's good-looking, smart…of course he moved on.
Was I really that delusional and self-centered to think that he still pined after me? I never cease to disgust myself with how ridiculous I can be.
I hear the footsteps coming after; I hear his voice. He's probably coming to tell me to leave him alone, to never come back ever again…
"Katniss, wait!" He calls.
I turn finally, pressing my lips into a hard line. "Yes?" I say evenly.
"I'm sorry, I didn't realize the door was open-…"
Why was he apologizing? He had nothing to apologize for, and yet I was so glad he was…I was being ridiculous.
"No Gale" I cut him off, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have showed up without checking in with you first."
He shook his head. "It's my fault for not leaving you any means to check in with me with."
He had a point- he hadn't given me his address in two, or his phone number. There really was no way I could've called to warn him.
"Well…I didn't exactly ask for contact information the last time I saw you." I say.
He tries to hide it but I can still see the small wince on his face when he thinks of our last meeting. When I basically told him I could never forgive him for the bomb.
"That was a while ago, wasn't it? The day you shot Coin…"
Memories start flooding back and I close my eyes. "Stop." I say.
"I'm sorry." He said, and I can tell from his voice he felt truly contrite.
His rubbed my arm softly, a concerned look in his eyes. "Are you okay? I didn't mean to bring the bad times up…"
The bad times? A fitting way to refer to it if you ask me.
"It's okay." I reply.
He leads me back to his apartment. The girl is still there, staring at me with her arms crossed in front of her chest. She's wearing an incredibly puffy white and black striped dress, with purple high-heels. Her orange her looks ridiculous.
Now that the people in the districts have the same rights as the people in the capitol, they also have the same fashion sense.
Or at least some of them do; I still find it distasteful.
"Gale, what is she doing here?" She asks in a squeaky voice. She reminds me of a mouse.
"Mercedes, this is-"
"I know who she is! Katniss Everdeen, you're ex-girlfriend."
I've been referred to as a number of things, but never Gale Hawthorne's ex-girlfriend. Frankly, it's somewhat degrading.
Neither Gale nor I say anything so Mercedes continues.
"I would like her to leave."
She crosses her arms and looks at Gale expectantly, waiting for him to send me away? Will he?
Even if he doesn't want me, he'd never take orders from this brat, would he?
He sighs. "Mercedes, you're being unreasonable."
She simply repeats: "Gale, I would like her to leave."
What the…
"What are you, his school teacher?" I say, irritated with the way she thinks she can just control him.
She glares at me. "No, I'm his girlfriend."
"No Mercedes, we've been on a few dates, we're not-…"
"So you're just trying to keep the door open for the mockingjay, are you now?" I swear if I hear this girl's voice for another second I'm going to need to take some serious pain relievers.
Gale's POV:
Why did I ever agree to date this girl in the first place? She'd seemed nice at first, at least tolerable. And she was friends with some important people. She took a liking to me so I played arm candy.
A lot of the girls in Two like me, but I suppose they liked me back in Twelve as well. Not that that ever mattered, the only girl I ever wanted didn't like me, at least not in that way.
All the other girls I've dated since her, none of them mattered. Every kiss, every night spent, none of it mattered. All I want is Katniss.
And now Mercedes, a rotten woman I'd never cared about, was getting in the way of that.
"You know what Mercedes; I would like you to leave." I said pointedly.
"What? Wha-…Gale!" She screeched, bursting into tears. She looked ridiculous and I didn't even feel bad. I knew she didn't really care about me; she was just disappointed that she'd lost her alluring pet that she would show off to her friends.
"Leave." I said. With a stamp of her foot and glare at both me and Katniss, she did as she was told.
After she'd slammed the door and gone her way, Katniss burst out laughing.
"Gale…why would you date that…that…" She was beside herself with laughter.
I couldn't help but laugh too, I don't know why, because it wasn't really funny, but all I could do was laugh. Laugh and look at Katniss…She's so beautiful when she's happy.
And the next thing I know I'm kissing her.