Peeta and I stopped by my room first so I could change into something more comfortable, then went to his room upstairs. He flicked on the light, and I took in my surroundings as he dropped his bag and stepped into the closet to change.
Peeta had been lucky enough to get a room to himself, so it was all decorated in his stuff. A burnt orange rug was on the ground by his bed, which had a sunset colored bedspread and pillows. He had various posters of famous paintings all over the walls, plus a few family photos and pictures of motorcycles torn out of magazines. He had a small tv set up on a stand across from his bed with a DVD/VCR player hooked up to it. Above that was a hovering bookcase, stacked with various movies and books, one collection being the Harry Potter movies and books I noticed. He had firey curtains on rods on the closet doorway. By the door was a mini fridge, and a microwave on top. Next to his bed, across from the curtains, was his desk, which I noticed was stacked with a few textbooks, some printed papers, a laptop, an art canvas, and a paint kit.
"You like to paint?" I asked, my back to the closet.
"Yeah, I do." I jumped and turned around; Peeta had apparently been right behind me, and I almost fell over. He quickly grabbed my hand and pulled me up, steady. He pulled me close to him as a matter of fact. His other hand had somehow managed to land on my lower back, and he was staring into my eyes. I gulped nervously and took a small step back.
"Um, thanks," I whispered, tucking a lose strand of hair behind my ear. He smiled softly at me.
"No problem." I took in his outfit as he turned around and started setting up the TV and DVD player. He was wearing a black v-neck tshirt and blue basketball shorts. His wavy blonde hair was tousled a bit, and when he turned and caught me staring, his blue eyes twinkled and he winked. "You wanna pick the movie, Katniss?"
"Sure." I smiled gratefully at him and stepped over to the collection, skimming the titles. I plucked "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" from the shelf. "This one is my favorite," I told him as I handed him the case. He grinned, his teeth showing.
"Mine too." He popped the DVD in, then went over to the microwave and pulled a bag of popcorn from the basket by the fridge. "Popcorn?"
"Yes, please." Once the title menu showed up, the popcorn was ready. Peeta hit play, then gestured to the bed for me to sit. He flicked on the lamp on his desk, then turned off the main light before joining me on the bed. He grabbed the remote off the window ledge and pressed 'play.'
"I get chills every time I see the Warner Brothers logo," Peeta whispered as it appeared. I giggled softly and took a handful of popcorn. We watched Harry do his homework in his room by the light of his wand, and quoted various parts of the movie as it went on. We laughed at things Ron said, and I fist pumped a "hell yeah!" when Hermione punched Malfoy in the face.
"Hermione your hero?" Peeta laughed, poking me in the side.
"You have no idea how much I love Emma Watson," I told him seriously. He looked at the dead-ass serious expression on my face and burst out laughing. "What's so funny?" I fumed.
"Nothing," he chuckled, shaking his head. "You're just too damn cute." I blushed, and he laughed again, putting his arm around my shoulders, pulling me back against his chest. "Come on, let's watch them save Sirius," he whispered, nodding towards the tv. I settled into his arms and against his chest, and we watched the rest of the movie in comfortable silence. When it ended, Peeta pressed the 'eject' button on the remote and got up to put the movie away. He clapped his hands together, and turned around, smiling.
"Let's go out," he exclaimed. I looked at him, confused.
"What?"
"Let's go out, have some fun. I'll take you to dinner, and we'll do something fun, like mini golf or whatever."
"You're not just trying to get into my pants? You actually want to take me out on a date?" I asked, a hint of surprise in my voice. Peeta walked over and crouched down in front of me, taking my hands in his.
"Of course not, Katniss," he said. "Why do you think every day we rehearsed, I tried to get you closer to me, tried to get you to kiss me on the first rehearsal, tried to get you to look at me, got so upset when you wouldn't?" I shrugged, and he laughed lightly. "I've liked you since the day I saw you, Katniss."
"That day in the cafeteria?" He looked at me, confused, then realization hit his eyes.
"You don't remember, do you?" he said quietly.
"Remember what?" I thought for a second. "When you gave me bread from your bakery? I remember that. Are you saying since then?"
"No," he grinned, shaking his head. "It goes back farther than that, sweetheart." He stood up and pulled me with him. "Come on, I'll explain to you at dinner. Why don't you go downstairs and get changed, and I'll meet you down there in say, 15 minutes?" I nodded and smiled.
"Okay." He gave me a quick kiss, then pushed me towards the door.
"Go, I'm excited now," he laughed. "I'll see you down there." I laughed and waved at him as I shut the door behind myself. Then I ran down the stairs and to my room, almost tripping in the process. Once I burst into my room, Joanna jumped up from the bed, looking startled, wielding her axe.
"Oh, Katniss, it's just you," she sighed, setting down the axe. "Sorry, I fell asleep, thought someone was attacking me in my sleep." Then she seemed to notice I was running around the room, throwing clothes all over the place. "Something going on?"
"I have a date with Peeta, and I have no idea what to wear!" I cried. She laughed and grabbed my hand, pulling me into the closet.
"Let me help you." She skimmed through my clothes and talked at the same time. "What are you all doing?"
"He said dinner and something fun, like mini-golf," I told her.
"Did he say where for dinner?"
"No, he didn't." Joanna 'hmm'ed to herself, still skimming. "His favorite color is orange I think. He had a lot of orange stuff in his room." She pulled out a pair of nice blue jeans, a frilly orange tank top, and a pair of strappy high heels from the floor. "Here. Now get dressed quickly, and we may have time to do your makeup." I stepped over to my bed and quickly threw off my pajamas and stepped into the date outfit. Before I'd even finished putting on my shoes, Joanna had dumped an armload of makeup supplies onto my desk. She applied a quick dusting of powder, swiped some lip-gloss and blush on, and then put a soft orange eye-shadow on my lids. She brushed my hair, then put it in the braid she knew I liked. She clipped a silver butterfly hairclip on the end of it.
"There, you're done!" she said, standing back to admire her work. Just then, there was a knock on the door, and she smiled. "Coming!" She opened the door, and Peeta stood there in a dark green dress shirt, dark jeans, and a nice pair of shoes.
"Hey, Joanna," he grinned. "May I come in?"
"Of course," she said, opening the door wider. He stepped in, and he saw me sitting in my desk chair. He walked over and pulled me up by my hand, kissing it.
"You look beautiful," he grinned. He took in my outfit and smiled bigger. "And you're wearing my favorite color."
"And you're wearing mine." He smiled again, then offered me his arm.
"Shall we?"
"We shall." I took his arm, and smiled at Joanna. "Thanks for your help, Jo," I told her.
"No problem. You kids have fun," she said playfully, winking at me. I rolled my eyes and grabbed my keys and purse off our makeshift coat rack by the door.
"I'll see you later," I told her as she started shutting the door.
"See you." She closed it with a snap, and Peeta and I walked outside. He led me to his car, a red Toyota Solara. He opened and closed my door for me, and held my hand as we drove to the restaurant.
We ended up at the local pizza place in downtown Panem, and ate pizza and chicken wings, trading stories and laughing at each other. Once he'd paid, he took my hand again and asked me if I'd like to go for a walk in the park. I, of course, said yes; he could've asked me if I wanted to go skydiving and I would've said yes. We walked down the street to the park, and held hands as we strolled through the park's various paths.
"So, are you going to tell me the story of how you came to like me, or am I going to have to prod you for it?" I teased. He laughed, then pulled me towards the bench up ahead.
"Katniss," he started out slowly. "We actually went to the same elementary, middle, and high school."
"We did?" I asked, shocked. "How come I never saw you?"
"I kept to myself a lot, tried to keep quiet in the back of the room, stay out of trouble," he explained. "But I remember, when we were in third grade, the teacher asked who knew the valley song, and your hand shot straight up in the air. You sang it for us, and I thought your voice was beautiful. The next encounter we had was in middle school, when I gave you the bread outside the bakery that night. I saw you coming through the window, and purposely burned the bread so I could go out back and see you. I remember our freshmen year of high school, I saw you in the field…"
"Of dandelions," I whispered. It all came rushing back to me. I remember that day so clearly. I was walking home with Gale, and we were cutting through the field of dandelions by the school – a shortcut of sorts. I picked up a dandelion and smelled it, and tucked it into my braid. I remember looking up and seeing a group of boys, one with blonde hair, walking towards us. I had gotten nervous and quickly walked off with Gale, but I had thought the boy with the blonde hair looked nice.
"Of dandelions," he said, nodding and smiling. "You picked a flower and sniffed it, and tucked it into your braid, at the bottom by your ponytail holder. You looked up, and I thought you had the most beautiful face." As he talked, he stroked my knuckles with his thumb. He looked up into my eyes, and smiled softly. "I've liked you for a very long time, Katniss. And I'm just very glad that you fell into me that day in the cafeteria." He leaned in towards me, and I felt my breath catch in my throat. He slowly kissed me, his warm lips brushing over mine. I sighed and leaned into the kiss; his kisses were like liquid fire – they were hot, but beautiful and slow at the same time. After a long minute, he pulled back and rested his forehead against mine.
"Will you stay with me tonight, Katniss? Just for a little bit?" he whispered. I nodded, and I could feel his grin against my cheek. "Come on, let's go." He pulled me up and we walked back to the car, his hand resting on my leg. On the way back, I texted Joanna that I was spending the night with Peeta – she texted back a dozen smiley faces. Once we were back, I stopped by my room, said hello to Joanna, and grabbed my pj's and toothbrush. Peeta and I changed into our pj's, and he led me to the boy's bathroom so I could brush my teeth. Once we were both done with our nightly preparations, he crawled into bed and patted the spot next to him, encouraging me to lay down. I slowly slid in between the sheets, and he covered us both, wrapping an arm around my waist. As he kissed me goodnight, soft and slow, he whispered against my lips
"You have no idea how long I've wanted to just hold you."