Hello people! I am sooooooooooooooooo very sorry for taking forever to update!
I had finals this week and it's been hard to think of stuff when my brain is fried xP
Sorry it's kinda short but hopefully the content makes up for that ;D !
ANYWAYS, hope you guys like it! Please review and tell me what you love, what you hate, what you wanna see more of.
THANKS TONS!
p.s. this takes place a couple weeks after the first chapter, hope you guys don't mind:)
I stare at Peeta, snoring softly in his sleep. His arm curls around me, as if to protect, even when he's sleeping. He looks so boyish and innocent in his sleep I almost don't want to wake him up.
Almost. Today is a big day, he just doesn't know it yet.
I gently push some hair away from his face and place a light kiss on his forehead. He opens his eyes startled and then sees my face and visibly relaxes.
"Happy Birthday, Peeta." I whisper and kiss him again.
"Is it really my birthday today? I forgot." He tells me jokingly.
"Yes it is, bread boy. March 23rd. You're 25 years old as of today."
"Damn, I'm getting old." He says, passing his hand through his face.
"Yeah, you are," I tease. He sticks his tongue out at me and I laugh.
"How about you stay here and I'll bring up breakfast" I ask him as I kneel on the bed, getting ready to get up.
"How about I go downstairs, bake some bread, and eat in the kitchen?" he says, mimicking my tone playfully. I cross my arms and look at him sternly. He props himself on his elbow.
"No, it's your birthday and I want to do something for you." I say almost childishly.
"You do enough for me already, Katniss." He puts a piece of loose hair behind my ear. "The fact that you're here with me is more than enough." He kisses me tenderly and a shiver runs down my spine. I sigh. "I knew you were gonna be like this."
"Does that mean I win?" He says with a sly smile.
"Nope," I tell him quickly and jump off the bed, running. Peeta hasn't even had time to make sense of what happened when I'm back with breakfast on a tray. He looks at me with a defeated look on his face and I set the tray before him.
I'd woken up over an hour earlier to make breakfast and bake a somewhat pitiful cake. I tried frosting it too but it was next to pathetic. Well, at least he'll know I tried.
Peeta looks at the breakfast, eggs with herbs and squirrel, his favorite, but his eyes settle on the cake. He turns to me, smiling radiantly, and pulls me toward him from the waist. I sit down next to him and he kisses me.
"Thank you, Katniss. I love it."
"And that's just one of the surprises." I say under my breath with a sly smile. He raises an eyebrow.
"What was that you said?"
"You better finished your breakfast quick and get changed." I tell him, purposely avoiding the question. "'You got a long day ahead of you." He snorts and I smile at him, while making my way out of the room.
"Katniss," he calls. I peek my head inside the room. "I love you." I practically sprint back to where Peeta is and sit next him. He cups my face in his hands and looks at me with those eyes.
"You are the best thing that has ever happened to me." And he kisses me with so much passion and for so long, I finally have to break off the kiss to gasp for air.
"I love you too, Peeta." I give him a quick peck and go downstairs, smiling from ear to ear.
"This is… amazing." Peeta says as he takes in his surroundings. Another one of Peeta's surprises was this; a lunch picnic in the woods by the lake.
"I knew you'd appreciate the scenery; might give you some ideas for your paintings." I can almost see the gears turning in his head. He was thinking up which colors he would have to mix to get the perfect shades of green from the forest, the mystical blues from the lake, the bright colors for the flowers. I place the food on old blanket on the ground and sit. I pat the ground next to me.
"Sit, you must be tired." I say with a somewhat smug smile on my face. He laughs at my expression.
"Yes, the boy with the prosthetic leg over here is very tired after hiking through the woods."I roll my eyes at him and he sits down next to me and kisses me. "I'm sorry. I'm not used to illegally going into the woods and burrowing under fences." He says playfully. I lightly smack him on the arm.
"Shut up! It's not even illegal anymore."
"Well it's not technically allowed either." Peeta says still challenging me. I roll my eyes at him and stuff some bread into his mouth.
"Shut up and eat, bread boy." He tries to laugh but decides to finish eating the bread.
"This is why I love you." he tells me, and caresses my face. I blush and he smiles. He lies down on the blanket and I lay across his chest, tilting my head up to kiss him. He kisses me back, more passionately. He puts his arms around my waist and I lock my fingers in his hair. Peeta places light kisses on my lips, my neck, my collarbone. I feel my self shiver with every kiss and I almost give Peeta his last surprise right here, right now.
No, I think, This has to wait until later.
"Peeta," I whisper. He makes some unintelligible sound and I say his name again. This catches his attention.
"What's wrong?" He says, looking around automatically for any trouble.
"Nothing's wrong. Let's just... save this for later. Okay?" I look at him straight in the eyes, trying to make him understand my message. I give him a quick peck and settle down next to him, cuddling.
I'm not sure he caught it, doesn't really matter anyways. What matters is that later tonight, I'm going to give Peeta something he's wanted for 8 long years.
We get back home around mid afternoon and Peeta immediately goes to his paintings. I go to the kitchen and start unpacking the leftover food and check the time. Annie's train should be pulling about around now. It'll be about a half hour before she gets here. That should be enough to get everything ready for the party.
Suddenly there's a knock on there. Well that was really fast I think and make my way toward the door.
"Are we expecting company?" Peeta asks. I'm surprised he even notices because when he's painting, it's almost as if he's in his own little world, far away from here.
"Nah, it's probably just Haymitch, coming to say happy birthday." I tell him. I can almost see Peeta rolling his eyes; I'm such a horrible liar.
"Oh okay, well open the door." He says just to humor me. He probably knows I'm lying but he's still curious as to what's at the door. With any luck it's Annie, or any other of the guests I invited to Peeta's surprise party. I open the door, ready to embrace whoever is at the door.
I stop dead in my tracks.
Well they sure as hell weren't on the guest list.
On my doorstep stands a cute little boy with vivid green eyes and brown hair and a very pregnant woman whose son, I assume, is an exact replica of her. Next to her is, I presume, her husband; a handsome man in his late 20s with dark hair and intense gray eyes.
My intense gray eyes.
My "cousin".
My ex-best friend.
Gale Hawthorne.
