Chapter 2
The Hob was already packed as I slipped in the employee in entrance around the back and tucked my purse into the cabinet we used for personal belongings and locked it behind me. I checked my hair and make-up one final time and then tied my apron around my waist before walking out into the kitchen.
"Hey, I'm glad you're early," Madge called from the register at the front. "The new girl called in so it's just us on the floor tonight. "We're going to be busy as hell."
I gave her a tight lipped smile and picked up my tray. Madge had always been nice to me, but something kept me from getting too close. Her father owned The Hob, and although she worked hard, went to school and seemed pleasant I was afraid she would treat me differently if she found out anything about my family.
"What section should I take?"
"Umm.. all of them?" She replied apologetically, "just check drinks and ring up tickets and I'll be right behind you with the orders."
I worked constantly, moving from table to table without pause for the first two hours of my shift. Finally a little after five the lunch crowd started to file out. Gale came in a little after that with his friend Darius and took a booth in the back. After ringing up my last two tickets for the moment and shoving the tips into my front pocket I walked back and slid into the booth with them.
"So what are we having?" Gale asked, nudging me in the ribs with his elbow.
"I have two orders of wings from a call in that never showed," I offered.
"Sold," Gale said laughing, and then looked over to Darius, "What about you?"
Darius ordered his food, which he actually intended to pay for, and I left them to key it in on the computer. As I pressed the buttons on the screen, I felt someone's eyes burning a hole into my back.
"What's up, Madge?" I asked, spinning around on my heels.
She twisted a long strand of golden hair around her finger, and for the first time since I met her, I thought she looked a little nervous.
"Um, that guy you were talking to, the one that's always in here, is he your boyfriend?"
"Who, him?" I asked nodding my head in Gale's direction. Gale must have been looking our way because he waved then and then rubbed his stomach with his hand, signaling that he wanted me to hurry up with his food. I shrugged my shoulders. Freeloaders have to wait.
"He is most definitely not my boyfriend," I assured her, "he's my cousin."
"Oh," she said, immediately perking up. "Do you know if he's seeing anyone?"
I leaned passed her slightly, loading up the food on my tray. "He sees a few girls occasionally, but nothing serious. Are you interested?"
"Well, yeah," she told me, keeping her voice low, but looking over at his table out of the corner of her eye.
"I'll see what I can do."
Damn. I hate it when Gale's right.
I carried my loaded tray back over and set the plates of food in front the guys. "So, Madge was asking about you," I told Gale as I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket.
"What'd she say?" he asked, taking a fleeting glance back to where she was standing.
"Hold on," I told him, holding up one hand and pulling out my phone with the other. A tiny little white envelope lit up on the bottom of the screen. The email from Dr. Hayes.
"Katniss, come on!" Gale urged, as I pressed the icon on the screen, the quick note opening up in front of me.
Human Sexualities and Behaviors
Final Project
Katniss Everdeen & Peeta Mellark
Ke111 pm084
Regards,
Dr. Haymitch
"No." I said out loud, sinking down into the seat beside Gale and forgetting all about Madge for the moment. "This cannot be happening."
"Katniss, what's the matter?" Gale asked, clearly worried by my behavior. "Is something wrong with Prim?"
"No, nothing like that," I huffed, propping my head up with my hand. "I just got my partner assignment for my final project in psychology."
"And? " Gale prodded; clearly not understanding how unhappy I was with this predicament.
"And my partner is Peeta Mellark."
"Oh, sorry," he whispered, a flash of pity reflecting in his face. "What exactly is the project?"
I tried to explain the idea behind the assignment, but both Gale and Darius just stared at me, a quizzical look on their faces.
"So you have to date him, and right a report about it?" Darius asked, completely amused.
"No. I don't have to date him. We just have to pick typical date locations, research them and compare them," I replied, standing up and preparing to make rounds between my tables again.
"You have to go to these places with him, right?"
"Right," I answered, my lips stretching into a scowl, I didn't like where he was going with this.
"I'm totally taking that class next semester!" Darius shrieked, and shoved another bite of food in his mouth. "A girl having to date me for a grade. That's classic."
"You'd fail," Gale added, and Darius shrugged it off.
"Whatever. She'd still have to show up," Darius shot back.
I fought off the urge to slap him in the back of his head, and turned to Gale, hoping he would give me a piece of winning advice.
"What should I do?"
Gale shrugged his shoulders. "Who's the professor?"
"Dr. Haymitch."
"Oh, in that case, just suck it up and do the project. He's not going to change your partner. I've heard he's a real hard ass."
I knew Gale was right. There was nothing I could do but just deal with it. I walked away then, trying to shake off my bad mood and finish the rest of my shift.
I didn't have time to think about anything again until a little after eleven when Madge and I were closing up for the night. After the tables were wiped and the condiments refilled, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and saw the icon signaling that I had another email. I sucked in a large breath of air and blew it out through my mouth; I knew who it would be from before I opened it.
Here we go, I thought to myself. I pressed on the screen, trying to mentally prepare myself for what would be inside. He had to be just as unhappy being my partner as I was being his, but his words were polite enough and straight to the point. He listed his number and asked for me to call or text when I got the message; nothing at all to give me any idea that he did remember me, until I read his closing line.
Looking forward to seeing you again,
Peeta
My stomach did a little flip, and I closed out the screen on my phone. He definitely remembered, but why would he say that. The clock told me that it was a little after eleven, so I shrugged it off, knowing it was too late to get in touch with him tonight.
"I'm going to head out," I told Madge as I retrieved my purse and stepped into a pair of sweats I kept stored at work, pulling them up over the tiny little shorts I had pranced around in all night.
"Alright," she replied, lingering in the doorway expectantly. "Katniss?"
"Yeah?"
"What did Gale say, you know, about me?"
Oh, right, I had completely forgotten about our conversation earlier. I smacked my face with my hand. "Madge, I'm so sorry! I got distracted and completely forgot to say anything, and then he left when it got busy again. I'll talk him tomorrow, I promise."
She shrugged, and tried to play it off, but I could see the disappointment in her eyes. "It's no big deal, just whenever."
We both left out the back door, her climbing into the cute little Beemer Daddy gave her for Christmas and me walking the few blocks back to campus. Once inside the dorm, I climbed eight flights of stairs, our elevator was broken, and made my way to my room, but I could see the sock on the doorknob from the other end of the hall. Johanna was at least making an attempt to be considerate, even know it was now close to midnight and I have a class at nine. At least I wouldn't walk in and catch her in action again.
I slumped down to the ground outside the door and crossed my legs in front of me. Tilting my head back against the wall, I closed my eyes and hoped she at least had the decency to be quick, but I just couldn't get my mind to rest. I keep thinking about the email from Peeta and how at first, I thought putting in off until tomorrow would make me feel better; instead it just made me more anxious. I read his words again and decided that there was no way I could sleep until I sent a reply. It was definitely too late to call or text, but what harm could an email do? He didn't have to read it until morning.
I jotted a quick note telling him I did indeed get his message and that I could meet him tomorrow between my last class and work, if he was available. Then before I could talk myself out of it, I hit send.
Only a few minutes passed and I was completely surprised to see that he had responded almost immediately telling me to come by his room tomorrow at two, and then giving me his room number. I didn't have much time to reflect before the door my room finally swung open and Johanna appeared, her arms wrapped around the neck of a bulky blonde.
"About damn time," I said gruffly, standing and shoving by the pair as she eagerly tried to suck the tongue out of her date's mouth.
"Oh, lighten up," she called over her shoulder as I began to undress and get ready for bed, too tired to care that they were still in plain sight. "You'll be a hell of a lot nicer when you finally get some!"
Picking up my bag of toiletries, I ignored Johanna's remark and went to brush my teeth in our adjoining bathroom room; one major plus of living in the newly built dorms. It may be the furthest away from most of the building on campus, but we only had to share a bathroom with the room on the other side.
After I was finished, I crawled into bed, my mind still spinning, but exhaustion set in and before long I was out.
The next day I awoke early and dressed for class, taking entirely too much time with my hair and picking out an outfit. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out why I cared. I didn't like the boy I was going to meet. It shouldn't matter how I looked, but it did. I didn't want him to take one glance at me and see the girl from the wrong side of the tracks again. Ugh, Peeta Mellark with his big house and fancy car; probably here on a wrestling scholarship, not having to worry about anything but the next party. And it wasn't as if he would even need a scholarship, his dad owned a fancy French restaurant back home, providing all the cakes and desserts for weddings and parties and any other major event that would need catering.
I frowned in the mirror, before giving up and weaving the strands of my hair back into a braid. I had done a pretty good job of creating a new identity for myself since starting school in the fall, and I couldn't let him mess that up now.
My classes that morning flew by in warp speed and before I knew it I was standing outside Peeta's door waiting for him to answer, my heart thrumming rapidly in my chest. The door opened and I was completely taken off guard by the face on the other side. Johanna's friend from last night smiled at me, propping his large frame against the door.
"Well, hello sweatheart," he purred, his voice sugary sweet, "decide you needed to try me out for yourself?"
I took a step back into the hallway and looked at the number above the door again.
"Oh, sorry, I must have the wrong room. I'm looking for Peeta, I replied, when I saw him over the big jock's shoulder. He was dressed simply in a tight fitting gray t-shirt and jeans, a baseball cap covering his messy blonde locks. I couldn't help but let myself stare for a second; I didn't remember him being so attractive.
"Just ignore him," he instructed, shifting around his roommate that he introduced as Cato, "I always do."
"Thanks for the tip," I gulped and wiped my now sweaty palms on my thighs. "Can we stay here and talk? Or should we go somewhere else?"
"We can stay here," he assured me, pushing the door open wider and letting me into the cramped room. "Cato was just leaving," Peeta looked at his roommate pointedly.
"Right, right. I'm out," Cato said, punching Peeta playfully in the shoulder and sending me a wink. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."
"Is he always so…" I struggled to find the right word.
"Obnoxious? Yes. Always."
Peeta closed the door behind him, and I stood awkwardly in the center of the room until he asked if I wanted to sit down. I looked around. Two beds took up the majority of the room, which is usually the case in a small dorm, the only other options being one of two desk chairs perched at the end of each bed. I chose to sit cross legged on the floor, and Peeta joined me, sitting so our knees nearly touched.
"So how do you want to go about this?' I asked, pulling out my binder and placing it on top of my lap. "I was thinking we each could pick two…."
Peeta was watching me intently, his eyes fixed on my face, his lips turned up in a mysterious smirk; a small dimple appearing in his right cheek.
"What?"
"Nothing," he said with a laugh, "you're just straight to the point, aren't you? No hi, hello, how have you been?"
I took a deep breath and set down my pencil. "Look, I don't see any point in pretending we're friends. You can't be any happier being my partner than I am being yours."
"I don't mind being your partner."
"Oh."
I tried to think of a way to back track, but it was too late; I had already stuck my foot in my mouth.
'Look Katniss," Peeta said reaching out to touch my elbow, "I know we weren't exactly friends back home, but to be honest, the whole premise of this project makes me a little uncomfortable, and I was glad to see your name in the email."
"You're uncomfortable?"
"Well, yeah. Aren't you?"
I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know. I mean, I'm not really good at working in groups, but…"
"You don't think it's weird that Dr. Haymitch is making us date for a grade?" he pressed, arching an eyebrow.
"Of course it's weird. All of his assignments are, but just try not to think of it that way," I tell him flipping my notebook back open to an empty page. "I mean, it's not like its real, right?"
"Right."
Peeta shifted then, so that he was reading over my shoulder as I began putting words on the page. "So, as I was saying, I think we should each pick one date location from both a high and low socioeconomic group and then decide one control. "
"A control?"
"Yeah, a place everyone goes. Someplace standard for groups of all levels."
"Peeta thought for a second taping his finger against his chin. "Like the movies? Everyone goes to the movies."
"Sure. Works for me."
I wrote it down on the paper. We tossed some more ideas around and finally selected the other four we needed. I was surprised when I looked at the clock and realized we had been talking for nearly an hour. I started to pack up my things.
"So when do you want to do this?" Peeta asked, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans and walking me to the door.
"Well, I was hoping we could get the majority of the research done before spring break, if that's okay with you, that way we could just write the paper when we get back."
"I love how you keep calling it research."
"That's what it is."
"Right. So how about tomorrow night? For the first one?"
"I work tomorrow."
"Thursday?"
"Thursday it is."
"Great," Peeta said, putting his hand on the small of back as he ushered me out into my hallway, and I tried not to jerk away from his unexpected touch. "I'll pick you up at eight."
I started to walk away when I heard his door crack open again. "Oh, and Katniss?"
"Yeah?"
"It really was nice to see you again."
I smiled slightly and turned to go, but not before watching him close the door completely. Maybe this wouldn't be as awful as I imagined, I thought to myself until I remembered a very unsettling thought. I had a date on Thursday. My first date, real or not, with Peeta Mellark.
