APRIL 12, 1912

~Peeta~

When I woke up the next morning, my thoughts went immediately to Katniss and our kiss the night before. A goofy smile spread itself on my face and other parts of my body began to react as well. I forced my thoughts elsewhere as I pushed the covers back and got dressed.

I met Mother out on our private promenade where the maids were setting out breakfast. Mother was already seated and was sipping coffee. The smell of the coffee wafted over to me and I hurriedly took my seat.

"Good morning, Peeta" Mother said icily, peering at me as I poured some cream into my coffee.

I immediately became nervous over her tone. "Good morning, Mother," I replied, bringing the steaming mug of coffee to my lips and taking a long sip. The strong, hot liquid felt good going down my throat.

"Where did you disappear to last night?"

I gulped. "I just went to the top deck again. I like it up there."

Mother looked at me for a moment, the look in her eyes making me gulp again. "Really? I went up there myself after supper and did not see you."

"Well, it's a large ship, Mother. We must have been on different parts of the deck." I was surprised at how steady my voice was.

Before Mother could respond, the maids brought us plates of fried eggs, grilled sausage, toast, marmalade, honey, and fresh fruit. My stomach audibly growled which only seemed to irritate Mother further.

We ate our breakfast in silence, the only noise was the sound of our silverware clinking against the plates. I tried to finish quickly, eager to see Katniss again, but trying not appear suspicious.

After I had finished, I excused myself, claiming that the gentlemen had asked me to join them in playing cards. Mother did not respond, but I kissed her cheek and left before she could refuse me.

I quickly dressed myself and washed up before hurrying out of the suite and to the top deck. The sun was shining and the ocean waters were a brilliant blue, reflecting the clear sky. The weather seemed to be reflecting my mood.

As I approached the stern, my heart began to pound. I desperately hoped she would be there. She had to be. She told me she would be.

And she was.

She leaned on her elbows over the railing, looking out over the ocean. She was wearing a brown dress that complemented her olive skin and dark hair, which was braided down her back. Finally, I approached her.

She turned around at the sound of my footsteps and her eyes lit up when they met mine.

"Good morning," I greeted her, taking her hand and leaving a lingering kiss on the back of it.

"Good morning," she greeted in return. "You seem rather cheerful this morning. Why is that?" she said with a mischievous glint in her eye.

"Well, I may have kissed the most beautiful woman in the world last night," I smirked proudly.

Katniss's face fell slightly. "I'm not beautiful," she said barely above a whisper.

"Of course you are," I replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Not like that girl that followed you last night."

Madge? Was Katniss jealous?

"Madge? No, she doesn't even compare to you," I replied kissing her cheek lightly.

"How do you know her?" Katniss asked, looking up at me with stormy silver eyes.

"She and her family sit at our table in the Dining Saloon." I decided not to tell her mine and Madge's parents expected us to get married. It didn't matter anyway because I wasn't going to marry Madge. I couldn't.

Katniss seemed to accept my answer and gazed out at the ocean. "What should we do today?" she asked after a few moments of silence.

I thought back to the tour I had of the ship yesterday and got an idea. "Come on," I said excitedly as I grabbed Katniss's hand.

"Where are we going?" she asked as I pulled her along.

"It's a surprise."

I led her back to my suite and paused at the door.

"Is this your suite?" Katniss asked, her eyes wide.

I nodded, listening at the door.

"Isn't your mother here?"

"No, I don't think so." I replied, not hearing anything from inside. "She probably met with some other rich women."

I led her into the suite and shut the door behind us. Katniss gawked at the luxury surrounding her.

"Wait here," I said as I went into Mother's room and began to quickly but carefully rummage through her clothing.

I emerged from her room a couple of minutes later with what I was looking for. I held it up for Katniss to see. I hoped it would fit her. Mother was petite like Katniss so I assumed it would.

Katniss narrowed her eyes. "A bathing suit?"

I nodded eagerly.

Katniss seemed hesitant. "Where would we go swimming?"

"In the swimming pool, of course. Did you think I would make you jump into the ocean?" I laughed, but Katniss didn't seem amused.

"But isn't the swimming pool reserved for the upper class?"

"How will they be able to tell the difference? Especially if you're wearing an upper-class woman's bathing suit." I held out the suit to her.

She reluctantly took it, holding it as if it would come to life and bite her.

"What about you?" she asked.

In response I went into my own room and retrieved my own suit. I held it up for her to see when I came back out of my room.

"Let's go," I said as I grabbed her hand again and led her out of the suite.

As we approached the changing rooms for the swimming pool, I noticed some crew workers standing nearby. I assumed they were stationed there to keep out the lower-class. I looked at Katniss who seemed to have picked up on this.

"See, Peeta, I won't be able to go in there," she said quietly, her voice tinged with disappointment.

I watched the crew workers for a moment then had an idea. "Alright, I'm going to distract them and you sneak your way into the women's changing room."

"Peeta –" she started to protest but I interrupted her.

"Come on, Katniss, don't you want to have fun on this voyage?"

She sighed and then got a determined look in her eyes. "Alright."

I walked up to the couple of crew workers and greeted them. They both stood up straight and greeted me back.

"I have a question for you gentlemen," I began, standing in a way that forced them to look at me.

My eyes quickly darted to Katniss, who began to quickly sneak toward the changing room. I made up some ridiculous question, not really pay attention to the crew workers' responses as I subtly watched Katniss disappear into the changing room.

"Thank you for your help, gentlemen," I said kindly and entered the men's changing room.

I had never worn a bathing suit before as I had never had a need to. But when Mother heard there would be a heated pool on the ship she bought one for each of us. It felt awkward and probably looked awkward too, but my excitement to spend time with Katniss outweighed my feelings toward my appearance and comfort.

I made my way to the pool, finding that it was vacant. I waited for a few minutes, leaning against the wall until finally Katniss walked out.

The black bathing suit fit her better than I had expected. It went down to the tops of her knees and bared her arms and a small part of her chest. She blushed when she saw me staring at her.

"Well, are we going to swim or not?" she asked trying to sound exasperated, but I could hear the smile in her tone.

I sighed dramatically. "I guess," I replied, as I made quite a show of running toward the pool and jumping into it.

I broke through the surface, my hair and face dripping and looked over at Katniss who stood rooted to the floor.

"Come on! It feels wonderful!" I called to her.

She tentatively took a step forward, then another until she was at the edge of the pool. She touched the surface of the water with one toe, then another.

I swam over to her. As she bent down to feel the water with her hand I exclaimed, "You're taking too long!" And pulled her down into the water.

She squealed as she plunged into the water. I laughed as she struggled against me and broke through the surface, her hair sticking to her face in various places.

"Peeta!" she cried.

I laughed and grabbed her again, dragging her out to the middle of the pool as she squirmed against me. The fact that her backside was pushed against my hip threatened to cause an embarrassing situation for me in the tight bathing suit. I kept my hips away from her and willed myself to calm down.

I let her go and she playfully splashed me. I splashed her back which started a war of more splashing and trying to wrestle with each other. Her squeals of delight made me giddy.

We played and laughed for a while, and no one else joined us in the pool. I considered myself lucky.

After a while, she moved to the side of the pool and pulled herself up to sit on the edge, catching her breath. I swam over to her and stayed in the water below her, looking up into her lit-up eyes.

She shook her head. "You're going to get me into trouble."

I laughed. "But isn't this worth it?"

She smiled softly. "It is."

She rubbed the material of her bathing suit between her fingers. "Peeta, I never asked you: where is the rest of your family?"

I sighed. This wasn't exactly what I wanted to talk about at the moment, but she had told me about hers so I supposed it was only fair to tell her about mine.

"Well, my father died just a few months ago," I began quietly.

"Peeta, I'm so sorry." Her silver eyes portrayed sympathy.

"I miss him terribly," I continued. "And my brothers."

"What happened to them?" she asked cautiously.

"My mother wanted to come to the United States and they didn't want to. They wanted to stay away from her. I can't really blame them."

"Why did you come with your mother?"

"I didn't really have a choice. I had no money, nowhere to go, nothing. She told me that I would be making the Mellark name a well-known and respected name by going to college and becoming an upstanding businessman."

Katniss narrowed her eyes. "Is that what you really want?"

"No," I said, averting my gaze from hers. "But what choice did I have?"

"I'm sorry, Peeta. Truly," she began. "But…I'm glad that it led you here," she said, echoing my words to her from the night before.

I smiled softly and took her hand in mine, kissing it gently. She smiled back at me, then squealed again as I pulled her back into the pool.

I tried to wrestle with her again until she squirmed so much that we ended up face-to-face, our bodies flush against each other.

She looked up into my eyes and I swear I saw hers smolder. Before I knew what was happening, she had her hand behind my head and was pulling me down to her. Our lips locked in a passionate frenzy and I felt myself harden immediately. I tried to pull my hips away, but she wrapped her arms around my waist and kept me in place.

I pulled my lips away from hers and kissed and licked my way down her jaw, her neck, to her collar bone. She whimpered quietly which only spurred me on. The warmth of the water and the way it dripped off her chin and ran down her neck only sent me further into a frenzy.

My hands constantly moved on her back, gripping her shoulders, running my fingers down her spine, until they found their way into her hair. Her hands found their way into my hair as well and I locked lips with her again. My mouth opening for her tongue and hers for mine.

Suddenly I heard a cackling laugh behind me. Katniss and I jumped apart. I spun around to see who was laughing at us, desperately hoping my body would calm down, and fast.

It was none other than Haymitch, standing by the pool, laughing his head off. I blushed deeply and I'm sure Katniss did as well.

"Haymitch!" I barked at him. "What are you doing here?"

Haymitch took several seconds to catch his breath enough to respond. "In case you had forgotten, this isn't just your pool."

I groaned in frustration. I made my way to the side of the pool and pulled myself out, helping Katniss out behind me. We both hurried into our separate changing rooms, leaving Haymitch cackling behind us.

~Katniss~

That might have been the most humiliating moment of my life.

I had lost myself when I was kissing Peeta, but from the moment I saw him in his bathing suit which revealed his toned arms and legs, all I wanted to do was kiss him. And Haymitch had ruined it.

I grabbed one of the complimentary towels from a rack on the wall, quickly stripped off the bathing suit, and dried myself off.

I hurriedly tugged on my clothing and rushed out, hoping that Peeta was still changing so I wouldn't have to face him. Unfortunately, he was already changed and was waiting outside for me.

I brushed past him and the crew workers without a word.

"Katniss!" Peeta called after me. I could hear his hurried footsteps as he tried to catch up to me. "Katniss, stop! Where are you going?"

"Peeta, this was a huge mistake." I shrugged him off when he tried to grab my arm.

"What are you talking about?" he sounded hurt which broke my heart a little, but I kept marching away from him. "Katniss, please!"

I stopped and spun toward him, causing him to nearly run into me. His blue eyes were wide and frantic.

"Peeta, this isn't going to work! You're from the upper class, and I'm in the lower class! We live completely different lives! Imagine how your mother would react if she caught us together!"

Peeta looked taken aback. "Katniss, calm down! Are you worried that Haymitch will tell someone? He won't! He's just an old drunk who likes to make people feel uncomfortable."

"And telling your mother what he saw won't make you uncomfortable?" I snapped back.

Peeta pushed the heels of his hands into his eyes. "That's not what I meant! He won't tell, Katniss! I promise!"

"How do you know?"

"I'll talk to him. He won't, Katniss."

"But what about your mother? Her plans for you?"

"I don't give a damn about her plans," Peeta said desperately. "You were right that first night. No one should be able to steal my happiness, and I'm not going to let her anymore. I…I want…"

His voice trailed off and my features softened.

"You want what, Peeta?" I said barely above a whisper.

He stepped closer to me and held his hand up to caress my cheek. "I want…you."

I swallowed as he leaned down to kiss me chastely on the lips.

Suddenly my stomach growled, breaking the tension between us. We both chuckled and Peeta looked over at a clock on the wall. His eyes widened.

"Oh no," he whispered.

"What?" I asked confused.

"We missed lunch! Mother's going to kill me. She's already suspicious of something."

I felt my anger rise again. "You don't want her to know about me? You just said you didn't care what she wanted anymore."

Peeta pushed the heels of his palms into his eyes again and groaned. "That's not what I meant, Katniss."

"I think it is," I said as I began to storm away again.

I expected to hear his footsteps behind me again when suddenly I heard an angry high-pitched woman's voice exclaim, "Peeta! There you are! I have been looking everywhere for you!"

I glanced over my shoulder as I continued to walk away, seeing Peeta's mother slap him on the cheek. His head spun my way and our eyes met briefly. He looked crushed.

But I kept walking and didn't look back again.


Fun Fact: The Titanic and her sister ship, the Olympic, were the first ships to ever have pools on board.