AU: I'm not dead! I'm sooooo sorry! I know you all deserve an explanation but at the same time I don't want to bore you with my life so I will just say that I'm hoping when my semester changes in February I will have less of a work load and will want to write more. I also have writer's block with this story. Someone reviewed this story a few days ago (unfortunately their PM is off so I can't contact them *cough* if you reading this please consider turning it on.) and since fanfiction sends me notifications via email I was reminded of it. I had to sit down for an hour and a half trying to figure my plot out for this story and I'm not even sure if I'm happy with it. (Yes there actually is a larger plot behind this -I'm hoping) I want to try to stay close to the book but at the same time I need to come up with some original stuff to keep you interested. I'm also working on getting a beta (which is a lot harder than I anticipated) so that should help. Anyway, enough author's notes because I know how boring they can be, at least this chapter is longer than the others.
"Hey Racewell!" Clove hollers over the sharp clanging of swords. I guess she's done with the whole 'not talking to me' thing. About time too, it's been a few days. She strides across the huge gym and over to me. The whole class stops what they're doing as her voice and her footsteps echo though the massive room. For some reason I feel the need to remind myself that I'm nearly a foot taller than her and almost weigh twice as much. I twirl my sword in my hand once before resting it over my shoulder causally "Yes Clove?" I say smoothly. I don't let her see for a second that she's making me a bit uneasy. She stops close in front of me, so close that I can see the different shades of green in her eyes and I can smell her. She smells like vanilla or something, whatever it is its good. Whereas I'm sure I smell like BO. I tilt my head to appear more intimidating and make a show of glancing down at her. She stares right at me for a good couple of seconds to see if I'll break character, but I don't. Without warning she turns on her heels and whips around to acknowledge the students that are pretending to do stuff while eavesdropping on our conversation. She must shoot them a death glare because they quickly go back to minding their own business and the gym is no longer dead silent. I smirk as she turns back to me. This argument is probably the longest that we've ever gone without talking.
"My brother wants you to come over for dinner tonight." She states.
I raise my eyebrow at her, "I didn't know your brother was that fond of me." I retort. She sneers, "He's not. He's just under the impression that I've been acting different lately and wants someone to blame it on."
I raise my eyebrow at her and scoff, "So I should go to your brother's house for dinner just so I can be interrogated about this strange behavior of yours that I have nothing to do with?"
She crosses her toned arms over her chest and unknowingly creates cleavage from the top of her black sports bra. God it's hard not to stare at that! "You are responsible for my behavior." She reasons.
I move my sword off of my shoulder to face it downward. My movements are quick and the blade nearly touches Clove but she doesn't even flinch. I lean in towards her so that we're even closer than before and continue to make a note of looking down at her before veering to the left and putting my lips an inch from her ear. "I don't know what you're talking about Sunshine." I whisper seductively.
At first she doesn't say anything, which I know means that it's working. But eventually she must remind herself not to get distracted. "Backup Racewell." She growls at me.
I smile cockily and take my time to lean away again.
"I'll be there at six to make sure you're decent." She tells me. Then she turns to leave but spins back around again, "Oh and Cato," She adds. I look at her to show that I'm listening. "Keep your eyes up." She says with a small smirk before turning back around and leaving.
Busted. Though ironic, considering she happens to be wearing spandex shorts and I immediately end up disobeying her as her hips move while she walks away from me. Wait a second; did I just agree to go to dinner at Jupiter's?! Man I'm so damn screwed!
I spend the rest of the school day worrying about this whole dinner thing and contemplating whether or not I should bail. But I really have been an ass to Clove lately so I guess the least I can do is go to dinner for her.
When I get home I'm exhausted so I completely ignore whatever frilly little thing my mother is chirping on about today and walk past her, taking the steps by two and slamming my bedroom door behind me. I kick my shoes off and then my jeans because they're too uncomfortable for sleeping.
I dream of Clove. It starts out alright when my head fills with images of her training, running and throwing knives. But then I start to picture her smile and her laugh and the strange conversations we have when we're drunk. I see her bright green eyes and pink lips and all I want to do is kiss them. I hold her body close to mine. I wrap my arms around her and press my lips to hers before moving my hands slowly along her curves. She puts her hand on my neck to pull me closer to her. That's when I hear someone calling me out of my sleeping state.
"Cato, wake up!" When I open my eyes and see that it's Clove I just about have a heart attack as I jump to the other side of my bed and yell, "Holy shit!" Clove looks confused and concerned. "Cato?" She questions. I'm still breathing hard as I mutter more curse words. Why the hell do I keep acting so weird?
"What's the matter with you?" She asks.
"I'm fine." I insist. For some reason I'm sweating like a pig, which makes my red linen sheets stick to my skin like plastic wrap. I start to peel the sheets off, "I slept later than I meant to. I'll go change." I rant quickly as I stand up and walk towards my dresser she grabs my shoulder on my way by and stops me.
"Are you sick or something?" She asks as she reaches up and places the back of her hand on my forehead. Don't touch me right now, it's not helping! I'm sure my skin feels hot and sweaty when she touches it.
"Do you have a fever?" She inquires.
"No, I'm just too hot." I tell her. Stop asking questions!
She lowers her hand. "You were talking in your sleep." She comments.
Shit! Since when do I talk in my sleep? What the hell did I say?! I cough to clear my throat before speaking but my voice still cracks when I ask, "What was I saying?"
When Clove lies I can usually tell by this ridiculously tiny change in the tone of her voice. I listen for it in case she decides to lie. But I don't hear it when she answers, "My name. Was I in a dream you were having or something?"
Dear Lord: please kill me now! I spit out the first thing that I think of, "Who let you in anyway?" I suddenly sound very bitter and she looks offended.
"Your mom, now stop trying to change the subject!" She demands.
I groan. "It's nothing" I dismiss.
But of course she doesn't want to let it go that easily. "No it's not, what was your dream about?" She continues to question as she crosses her arms. This is torture!
"In my dream you got hurt and were dying." I lie. Is that even an improvement from the truth? Not really.
She looks shocked, "Really?"
I can't believe I'm about to cave and actually say this out loud! "Um...no actually I... um... had a dream about you." I want to slap myself in the face right now, 'she knows that you idiot!' And stop saying 'um'! "I was-" Nope! I'm not gonna say it. "I mean I was just... it was about you and that's it." I finally mutter. I don't look at her. I stare at the ground and am reminded of her comment from earlier about keeping my eyes up.
Why am I such a wimp right now?
She laughs a little, "Are you actually embarrassed right now Cato?" She asks with amusement. What the hell?! Why can I bang every girl in school but I can't even talk to this one?
"Shut up." I grumble.
She smirks. I never get embarrassed but lately Clove has had the ability to make me feel uncomfortable.
She gives me this sweet smile before whispering "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."
I know she won't but I don't really care about that. "I don't care what they think." I don't realize how that sounds until I've already said it. The way I said 'they' makes it sound like I only care what she thinks, which I guess is a little true but I didn't mean to say it.
Her eyes widen with surprise, "Well I think that it doesn't matter what you dream about. It's not like you can control it." She says.
I'm really sick of talking about this. Who even talks about this shit anyway? Typically; not a couple of teenagers that can kill with their bare hands.
I'm done with talking, "I'm gonna take a shower." But I don't want her to think that I'm jacking off because I'm not, so I quickly add, "Because I'm sweaty."
She laughs a little, probably catching on to why I felt the need to add that, "You don't have to justify it Cato."
I walk over to the bathroom and call back to her, "Yes I do" before closing the door.
I shower even faster than usual but when I get out I realize that I forgot to get clothes. I wrap a towel around me and open the door.
"I forgot my clothes." I tell her.
Clove is sitting on my bed. "Yeah, I picked them out for you." She says motioning to the clothes that are neatly laid out beside her.
I pick up the grey boxers, "Do you care?" I ask her because I don't see much point in walking back to the bathroom just to put them on, which will only take a second. It's not like it's something she hasn't seen before anyway.
She shakes her head and looks away.
I drop my towel and put them on then I take the jeans lying on top of my black and grey plaid comforter. Clove must have made my bed. "Are these mine?" I ask her.
She turns to see what I'm referring to. "No but they are now, I bought them." she replies as she leans back on my bed so that she's lying down, her legs still hanging off the edge.
"I'll pay you back, how much?"
She rolls her eyes, "Don't worry about it I don't need your money." She insists coldly.
I groan, and grab my wallet from my nightstand. I dig out three fifty dollar bills and drop them on her stomach. She grabs the money and sits up some, balancing by leaning on one elbow while she uses her other arm to shove the bills back in my direction. "Take it back." she insists.
I ignore her and go back to putting the jeans on. "Cato I'm serious, how many times to I have to tell you that I don't want your damn charity."
This is one of Clove's traits that sometimes drives me crazy. She never lets me help her and she thinks that stuff like this qualifies as 'help'. "Just shut up and take it Clove! It's not charity, I'm paying you back." I demand. She shuts up finally, but I have the feeling she'll probably leave the money sitting on my bed or something. Go figure.
Clove has picked out what she calls 'nice' jeans with dress shoes and a white dress shirt. As far as I can tell these jeans look the same as my other ones but whatever. She actually got the right size. I let Clove fiddle around with my dress shirt, straightening it out and rolling the sleeves up. She loosely ties a black tie around my neck and tucks it under the collar of my shirt. "You know I know how to tie those things by now, right?" I joke. When I was twelve and Clove was eleven she had came over to my house on reaping day. My parents weren't even home but they left my dress clothes out for me. I didn't know how to tie my tie at the time. So Clove had spent an hour trying to figure it out. She finally got it after about the fiftieth try and ever since then she's tied my ties for me if she happens to be around while I'm dressing in nice clothes.
I've been so distracted with other stuff that I haven't noticed that Clove is in a tight black dress with lace sleeves that go to her elbows. She has on black sandals that are flat with lots of straps going across her feet and around her ankles. She looks super hot but I filter myself to say, "You look nice."
She shoots me a look, "Why, because I'm in a tight black dress?" She challenges.
She thinks she's won this but I think of a good come back, "No, because you're not in your sport bra and spandex underwear for a change." I retort.
Making fun of the fact that she, just like all the other girls, wears nothing but sports bras and spandex shorts when working out at school.
"You bastard!" She yells, though she can't keep herself from laughing a little. She punches me in the bicep which hurts but I don't acknowledge the pain.
"I mean really you have more clothes on than usual." I continue.
"You're such a pervert." She complains.
"It's okay, your bras and spandex are cute." I tease as I put my arm around her shoulders. Surprisingly she just stands there for a few seconds, letting me keep my arm around her, before she ducks out and turns to face me.
By the expression on her face I can tell she's about to say something serious. "Okay, I know you're still the same as always but I get paranoid that you're mocking me after saying that I liked you. But I know it's stupid and that you're not and it's just the way you always were and are." She's staring at the dusty hard wood floor.
I have trouble believing that it's Clove Spaulding I'm talking to right now. I think she's closer to me than anyone else but she still never talks about her feelings and I find myself questioning if that's because she just didn't want to, or if she didn't want to talk to me about it. I hope it's the first one, because as uncomfortable as this type of stuff makes me, I'm willing to suffer though it for her. "As far as I'm concerned, what you said doesn't even mean anything anymore because you've basically told me that you didn't mean it and even if you did I'm sure it's just because of that time we were drunk at your party a month ago."
"I was hoping you were too hammered to remember that." She mutters.
I shake my head, "No, I remember it."
Her cheeks get a little pink and I find it ridiculous that she's embarrassed. "Don't beat yourself up about it Clove, it was my fault."
"I probably didn't even do it right." She mumbles, still staring at the floor.
"Huh?" I ask.
"Don't make me repeat that." She threatens.
I smirk. It hadn't been my intention to torture her with awkward questions. I just wanted to make sure I knew what she meant before I answered. "No, you did it right." I tell her.
"Okay! We're not talking about this anymore, come on we're going to be late and my brother's gonna think it's because I was bribing you with sex or something."
AU: Cato's being a bit of a pervert at the moment but I think its part of his personality to be sort of rude (I actually have to go though my chapters and take out words like 'please' because I'm always throwing them in out of habit), and he's sex deprived which might come up in other chapters lol depending how much I push the teen rating on this, (I'm trying to balance out the mature themes with a lack of F bombs in case you were wondering why I've always got Cato saying shit and not the F word.) I also like embarrassing my characters because I'm mean like that. :P Anyway, the next chapter is dinner at Jupiter's and I have a pretty good idea of what I'm doing so hopefully it will be posted within two or three weeks, that's what I'm aiming for! Thank you again for all the follows and reviews! Support makes me very happy and I would just like to remind everyone that you do not have to have a fanfiction account to review this story, I gladly welcome guest reviews as well as everyone else so PLEASE REVIEW. It motivates me to write!
