Half of Something Else: Airborne Toxic Event.


After that, Finnick and I spent a lot of time together. At first, the idea made my skin crawl, but soon enough Finnick won my emotions like the rest of the District. We met on the small bank we had swum to earlier, but this time we traveled in a little rowboat. We would sit on the bank in the late afternoons once school was out and work until dark. We often sat close to the edge of the bank so waves would lap up and cool us down on hot afternoons but that day was cloudy so the water only sent chills down my spine. "No, that's not how you tie that…" I would correct him. He would simply smirk and try out his own methods. Naturally, his attempts never worked without my corrections or instructions.

"Oh this is tedious." He would mutter a few times, hurriedly rushing through the knots.

I grinned, stopping him. His sloppy work came undone in seconds. He sighed, defeated so I took his hands and would lead them, practically tying knots for him. "You'll get the hang of it," I said as I completed a corner of the net. He had gotten faster at tying the knots, but if any were ever sloppy they came undone and he'd have to go back to fix them.

He started tying knots on his own again and I sat quietly etching things in the sand. "How's your father's fishing business?" He asked me one afternoon. I stared off to the pools across the bank where we both normally fished. Truth be told, everything had seemed to be overwhelmingly abundant which was marvelous, but I hadn't seen Finnick or any of the Odairs out by the pools and I didn't know if they hadn't had as good of luck. I knew it would have been rude to admit our booming success if they didn't have a scrap to call their own. But that was something I should've celebrated alone, right? …That we were prosperous. I decided to pretend that it was the same as always…

"Fine. And yours?" I asked politely, creating a wall in the sand.

Finnick kept his focus on the net. "Better. A little rough…our last spot was better," He told me with a smirk. "It's been a little difficult trying to make up for the losses," He said with a shrug.

A pang of disappointment and shame had hit me, "You found a new spot?" I asked him quietly. He held up his bargain when I lost…I knew in that single moment, Finnick had done it. He had won my heart and didn't even know.

Another smirk crossed his lips. "Yeah it was a tie after all…don't be stupid Cresta," He laughed, letting the sun catch the tips of his auburn hair. He looked radiant. My heart sank with the embarrassing reality that I had fallen for Finnick Odair.

I played it off. "You know, you're not as annoying as you seem, Odair," I told him, leaning back in the sand.

He laughed. "Unfortunately, you are. But I am a patient man," He joked, tossing aside his net and joining me in the warm sand. It was softer and finer than the sand across the pool.

"Since when did age fourteen make you a man?" I laughed and stared up at the setting sun, the clouds still loomed around it. We were silent for a while but I became restless, because as much as I wanted the moment to last forever, I knew it wouldn't, and it didn't. And I especially knew that soon, tomorrow even, I might never have that moment again. "Do you ever worry about reaping?" I asked quietly.

Finnick turned and glanced at me, "Not as much anymore I guess."

I was a little more shocked that he didn't have a worry in his mind, but that was Finnick. Finnick never cared, because he knew he would win. He never minded because he was Finnick. He was the best. He knew how wonderful he was. So why worry? "But you've only been in three."

"Three's enough. I've been training." And then I remembered why I hated him. He was arrogant. He held his head high and his expectations higher. He thought he was wonderful, and he thought no one reached his level, including me.

"So…?" I said, letting my eyebrow rise and my temper rise as well.

He sat up and shook his head. "There's nothing to worry about, I guess," he said as he shrugged. "Why, do you?" He asked, prompting me to sit up.

I remember not wanting to feel weak, but with those eyes watching me, I did. "All the time…" I breathed.

Finnick frowned, staring at the bank across from us, "So I guess you're scared about tomorrow?" He watched me for a short second and then looked back to the bank.

"Yeah. I kind of am," I told him honestly. I remember feeling stupid for telling him the truth, but his sincerity that followed since that conversation was worth my moment of vulnerability. Finnick and I hadn't had an honest conversation since we knew each other, and I guess the day before the reaping was as good enough of a day as ever.

He smiled at me reassuringly and it seemed that there was something more in Finnick than just overwhelming haughtiness. "Well, I hope the odds are in your favor." I overlooked my hatred once again.

"As they are in yours," I told him quietly. We didn't talk. The sun had been emitting little daylight at that point.

"Do you want to swim?" He asked me as he watched the waves overlap one another.

I shook my head after I contemplated the offer. "No, you need to learn to net." I said, looking at the sorry net and ropes in his lap.

He sighed and pushed the net away from him. "I know how to net. Let's swim," He begged me quietly. After he looked at my uncertain face, he baited me. "Afraid I'll win again, Cresta?" He asked, lifting an eyebrow and showing off the same crooked smile that won the hearts of the girls of District Four.

I grinned competitively, "You're on."

For the rest of the day we swam and then sat on the beach and built a fire, and talked into the slowly approaching night. He told me everything he had learned in training with his father. How to throw a trident. He told me what he liked about fishing. That it was calming. He told me about stories with Kane and Thomas, funny stories. He told me about Kane growing up and the relief it was to have him out of the Hunger Games for good after this year's reaping. He told me all the mischief him and Thomas got into. He told me about things he liked to learn. Music. Surprisingly enough. He liked mathematics and logic and he was surprisingly brilliant. He would sweep back those handsome dark bronze-colored locks and lean into the warmth of the fire. He would smile, shadows dancing intricately on his face. His smile was warm, inviting, and beautiful, even then. He told me stories about his brother, asked me about my own family, asked me anything about me and watched me chatter on happily. He traced pretty pictures in the sand by the firelight and asked me more questions about the reaping. What I thought? Was I scared? If I would watch if he were chosen? "Every second," I told him honestly, blushing childishly.

"Would you really?" He asked with an excited smile. I glanced over at him and nodded. Then I turned back to the stars and watched them twinkle in the cloudless night.

"I wouldn't miss a moment," I told him quietly.

Finnick laughed a quiet hollow laugh. "To see me die?" He chuckled. I remember my heart aching. We were so young, so hopeless…it was all that we could do to pretend as if the morbid truth we were sinking in didn't matter. Even then, in that short moment of infatuation with Finnick, it hurt to hear his true insecurities come out, that he had ever thought I wanted to see him suffer.

I remember shooting up at the thought, "To see you win," I gasped. My cheeks blushed as I thought of my outburst. I tried to collect myself. "You are, after all the superior Finnick Odair." It was all we could do to make jokes and pretend as if tomorrow would just be a normal day of chores, school, and rowing out to the bank to tie knots and sit carelessly on the bank until nightfall.

He had smiled warmly and he kept his eyes locked on the stars. When he thought I wasn't looking his eyes would flicker over to me, emerald eyes that glittered in the firelight. "Thanks Annie," He said quietly. He was like the prince little girls dreamed of. It was all we could do to pretend we believed in fairytales for one night, as children were supposed to.

And in that, I decided then, this side of Finnick was mine. I knew then, this was a side of Finnick rarely anyone ever saw, and that I had been the first that had know all about the young Finnick Odair. And remembering those moments in the short few hours with Finnick beside a driftwood fire, made me hate the next day all the more.