Peeta POV
Chapter 4: So She Dances
"Get out! Pack your bags and go! Your no longer welcome here" I turn my back to walk away from her. Screaming and crying. It's all I can hear. Filling my ears so that the music I know is playing in the back ground can no longer be heard. Pulling, I feel I'm been pulled. But by what? To where?
I look down at my hand. She's trying to pull me back to her. As forcefully as I can I pull my hand back out of her reach. She's falls to the floor, hunched over crying into her hands. I bend down and grab her around the upper half of her arm and pull her to her feet. And drag her to a room. It's all so hazy but I can make out that it's the bedroom. As soon as I have focused where we are I let go of her and go to a closet. I remove a bag and start throwing her clothes in it.
She starts to beg, "Peeta please don't do this. I'm sorry. Surely we can work through this?" I feel the anger boil up inside of me. "Peeta, I love you. Please talk to me" I can feel my anger rattling around inside of me. It like a bird in a cage banging against it compound trying to get out. I pick up her bag which I have subconsciously packed a week's worth of clothing in and hold my hand out to her. She gives me her left hand, unknowing to where it would lead her. I walk her to the front door. And I stop, turning to her. When I am looking her straight in the eye I take her left hand in both of mine, and remove the engagement ring I gave her only six months previously.
I can hear her muffled sobs as she covers her mouth with her free hand. "Peeta? Please? Let me explain!" she chokes out between hiccupped breaths. Then the first words pass my lips since I shouted earlier. "No." It was plain and simple, and barely above a whisper. "There is nothing to explain Johanna. We are done and you have no one to blame but yourself. Now get out!"
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I awake covered in sweat, breathing heavily. This reoccurring nightmare was becoming tiresome. It is always the same. Always the same argument, the one we had the last time I saw her. It took me a few moments to realise where I was and what day it was. I was in my room in the London Hotel, it was Saturday morning. Today was the day. I was finally going to see Katniss again. And I was nervous, like butterfly in my stomach nervous. I got dressed and when I looked in the mirror holding a shirt in each hand, flicking back and forth holding each one in front of me. When did I become such a girl? Fretting over what to wear... really?
The two weeks in New York flew by, especially after I received an email from Katniss. It was arranged that we would meet in London on Saturday morning at 11. I couldn't wait, I was excited to see if the chemistry from the audition had been real, at least real enough to pretend every day for the next three months or if it had been a complete fluke. God I was hoping it hadn't been a fluke. I was praying it was real, praying that the silver eyed beauty felt the same as I.
London was still so very new to me that I decided to take a cab, a taxi as they call it here, figuring it would be safer than trying to navigate their subways. Katniss and I were due to meet at 11 at the London eye, and then we were going to get to know one another.
When I exited the cab at Waterloo I crossed over the grass, scanning the crowds looking for the natural beauty that had so kindly graced my life for the first time two weeks ago. Something about the kiss we shared our first meeting had left a deep impression on me. Surely this girl had a boyfriend. She was too much of a natural beauty not to have been snapped up by some lucky bastard before now.
"Katniss?" The whisper passed my lips before I realised I had stopped dead in my tracks. I stood on the balls of my feet, craning my neck to get a better view over the sea of faces that were milling around me. And there she was leaning against a railing looking over the Thames. Her hair was lose and dancing around her face.
I stood and watched as she pulled back her hair and started to tie it in a braid that hung over her right shoulder, slow and precise her fingers danced through her hair till she had completed her task. She was so smooth and elegant as she turned and scanned the crowd. She raises a hand to the sky to shade her eyes from the warm autumn sun. When she saw me her body seemed to visibly relax, as if she had been as nervous as I still felt. From the distance between us I could see her mouth twitch up into a smile and as she raised her arm and waved in a smooth action as if she is moving to music a full mega watt smile graced her face.
She starts to walk towards me she moves out of the way of people walking by. In and out the crowd at only a slight glance. She almost looks as if she is dancing round them. Before I knew it she was standing in front of me. Eyes sparkling and a smile that matched. She looked up at me through thick eye lashes.
"Hi Peeta." Her lips move so little I wonder if I imagined it. That is until I see a tell tale sign of what I believe is shyness creep into her cheeks in a light rosé pink that could easily be blamed on the chilled wind in the air.
"Hi yourself" I reply with my 'hollywood' smile kicking in. And I use this time to try sneak in a large breath to try and steady my wavering nerves. Unsure of how to continue I balled my fists up swinging them back and forth as I bounced on the balls of my feet. This was more awkward than I had anticipated. "So Katniss... What have you got planned for us today?"
"Well..." she starts and trails of looking over her right shoulder. "How are you with heights?" I follow her line of vision to a giant wheel. I took a great gulp of air to steady my nervous and put my smile, which had momentarily slipped, back into place. "Great" I replied with as much enthusiasm as I could muster. And with that we headed off to collect our tickets for what I was told, was called the London Eye.
When we were almost half way round on the wheel my nerves started to get the better of me. Staying away from the glass I sat on the bench in the middle of the hub we were in, admiring the view of London as best I could away from what I considered very breakable glass.
Katniss noticed my discomfort not after our accent started and she had been distracting me with general conversation until now. Sat next to me she tuned and faced me straight on. With a small smile she spoke. "Peeta why didn't you just say you weren't any good with heights? There was plenty of other places we could have gone."
"Honestly Katniss its fine. Just keep me talking, I'm just not great with them on my own, but I have you for company and that is helping immensely." I smiled at her and I was quick enough to notice the subtle but still present blush creeping into her cheeks.
"Well since I am to keep you talking, how bout you tell me about the work that has already been done for this movie? And maybe you can tell me why Johanna Mason was replaced with me of all people!"
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"Peeta why don't you go home and see if that beautiful fiancé of yours is any better" Snow said as we wrapped up filming for the day. It was only five in the evening but we hadn't expected to finish till seven at earliest. "Sure, I'll surprise her... pick up soup or something on the way home. Make her feel a bit better." I sat down in the chair next to our director. We had only started filming a week earlier and poor Johanna was already ill. She would have spent most of today sitting around bored anyway.
Johanna was newish to the acting business having only done a few small TV roles and a supporting role in 2 movies. She had done work as an extra for years, which had been how we met. We had been together 3 years in total and had gotten engaged 6 months ago. It was still very quiet. We had never been a very public couple and had managed to stay out of the spot light. Only our family and very close friends knew how close we were as a couple. In love or so I thought that is.
I left the studio we were using for the small insignificant scenes and grabbed my things from my trailer. On the way home I did as planned. Living in New York there was lots of small delis dotted all over happy to meet your needs. I stopped at Jo's favourite and bought her some soup, hoping it would maybe cheer her up a little. I still had some bread from my father's bakery that I bought that morning on route to the studio.
Before I had even set foot in our apartment I knew something didn't feel right. I could feel it in my gut. When I opened the door it was empty and quite except for the distant hum of music from our bedroom.
'When I close my eyes I can see
The spotlights are bright on you and me
We've got the floor
And you're in my arms
How could I ask for more?
She was listening to our song. It was normally something that could be relied upon to raise her spirits. She was generally always a happy girl, but something, I didn't know what yet, was eating away at Johanna. She was quiet, more reserved. Spending days lying on our bed staring at our bedroom ceiling and when she did sleep she was restless, tossing and turning and muttering incoherently.
Little did I know that today would be the day that everything came out in the open? Little did I believe that what Johanna and I had was so weak and meant so little that she would do what she did! I never realised she was so weak willed that she couldn't even be faithful.
I had dropped my things on the floor on the floor and started to make my way quietly to the bedroom, not wanting to wake her from her rest just yet. But then, I heard a soft giggle and a loud moan. What the fuck was going on? Edging to the door I saw it was slightly a jar and there where shoes on the outside of the room, mans shoes, that weren't mine.
The closer to the door I got the more I questioned whether I wanted to see what was on the other side. However before my nervous could get the better of me I closed the distance to the bedroom an pushed the door open.
There on our bed Johanna sat astride some faceless man. Back arched, head flung back in passion. I hear her moan escape from her lips. And that is when I see white hot flashes of anger mark my vision. When the shouting starts, that is when she moves and in the process, reveals the face of her of her partner in crime. My own brother, Nathan.
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"And so in short we don't really know whyJohanna quit." I try to say with as little venom in my voice as possible. As we stepped out on to solid land I took a deep breath and took Katniss' hand. And when she looked from our intertwined fingers to my face she smiled. "Where to next then I asked?"
The true story of Johanna's leave of the movie could be told another day.