Waking up to someone banging on the door is not my ideal way to start the morning.

I roll myself out of bed and trudge sleepily to the door, as the banging continues. I grumble as I unlock the door and yank it open. I'm very surprised to find Gale standing on my porch.

He scowls at me momentarily before his eyes drop down my body. I flush when I realize I'm only wearing a tank top and very short shorts. My arms cross over my chest and Gale's eyes snap to my face again. He scowls at me. Is that all he does? "Can I help you?" I ask, when Gale just stares at me.

"Yeah, actually." He spouts out, sarcastically. I roll my eyes at the man in front of me and he frowns. "Who's car were you in yesterday?"

Suddenly, I feel defensive about Kenton. "No one. Why?" My lips tingle just thinking about him.

Gale rolls his eyes and shoves his hands into his pockets. "Because I know him."

I shift so I'm leaning against the doorframe. "And what does that have to do with me?"

He frowns at me before scowling. "He does this a lot. He finds a pretty girl, makes them feel special, uses them, and then forget about them. I know him, Undersee. He's going to do the same to you."

I scowl at him myself. "Kenton's not like that," I protest, defending him.

"Oh, are you sure?" I nod and Gale groans at me. "Okay, fine. Just don't come crying to me when he breaks your heart."

I roll my eyes at Gale. "I wouldn't come to you anyways. Why are you telling me this?" He ignores me for a moment, and I repeat the question.

"Because I'm trying to be friends with you."

I scoff. "Well, you haven't been trying very hard." I stare him down. Gale rolls his eyes.

"What do you want me to do, Undersee? Did you expect it to be us skipping through a meadow?" He scoffs again and starts to make his way down my steps. "Look. I'll try. Okay?" He pauses and I nod. "Just... just be careful with Kenton. I don't trust him."

A few weeks pass, and I keep Gale's warning in my head. But, I don't say anything to anyone about it yet. Gale attempts to be friends more often now, and I find that it's lovely when Gale's actually nice to me. He still calls me Undersee, but now it's more of a tease.

I'm at Kenton's apartment. I just woke up from a three hour nap and I find Kenton cooking something in the small kitchen. I sit up slowly and stretch my arms, making a noise of pleasure. My feet bring me into the kitchen and Kenton smiles, pecking my cheek. "Good afternoon, sleepy head."

A smile breaks onto my face and I sit on one of the barstools so I can watch him. Yawning, I rub the junk out of my eyes as he places a plate in front of me. "Something smells good," I murmur, taking a small bite. I grin; he's a good cook. Kenton plops down on the other barstool, except he doesn't eat, only watches me.

"Can I help you?" I tease, and Kenton chuckles, finally taking a bite.

We're quiet for a little, until Kenton finally speaks up. "Madge?" I look up at him. "Tell me about your family." I freeze instantly, my fork clattering to my plate. In the past couple of weeks, Kenton's opened up to me and told me a little about his family, but I've been changing the subject every time he's asked me about mine.

My hands start to shake and I force myself to swallow. "I... I..."

"Hey, no," Kenton starts, recovering from his mistake, reaching for me, "Madge, you don't... You don't have to tell me, I..."

My head shakes and I force out, "No. Wait." His hands grip onto my wrists to keep me grounded. "I... I want to tell you." Kenton nods and I slide off of the barstool before tugging him to the couch. We settle on the couch and Kenton looks at me, expectantly.

"You don't have to tell me, Madge. I was just wondering."

I shake my head again, before finally starting my story. "I'm originally from District 12. My father was the Mayor. My mom... She, she wasn't the most stable person in the world after her twin died in the 2nd Quarter Quell." Kenton listens the entire time. He holds me when I start to cry about the bombing and he wipes my tears when I'm done. He's very patient with me, and he's very understanding.

When I'm finally done recounting my story of how I got here, I heave a great sigh. "I'm technically not legally old enough to be living alone, but someone pulled some strings for me so I'm okay now."

Kenton nuzzles into my neck for a moment, before pressing a kiss there. "I'm proud of you. For telling me, I mean." A watery smile flips onto my face and Kenton grins at me. He attacks my face with kisses and I laugh, pressing on his chest slightly. Kenton grins, finally finding my lips. Our kisses escalate into much more when his fingers start to slide under my shirt. I let him at first, and I let him pull my shirt off. He greedily takes in all of the exposed skin and I blush red.

"God, you're beautiful." He murmurs, lips trailing down my neck. My fingers thread through his blonde hair quickly when he starts to suck lightly on the spot behind my ear.

But, when his fingers flip open the button on my jeans, I push him away. "No," I force out, pressing on his chest. Kenton's eyes flash with a momentary anger, but he cools down and sits up, "I can't. Not yet."

Kenton nods and jumps off of me. "Okay." He says, handing me my shirt. I take it slowly before pulling it back on. "I'll take you home."

"Kenton!" I protest, following him quickly out of his apartment. "Wait. Hey, listen to me."

He stops by his truck and turns around in defeat. "I crossed a line, Madge. I feel bad."

"I'm just... I'm not ready for sex, yet. We haven't dated very long and I'm just not ready to... to make that kind of commitment."

Kenton nods and helps me into his truck. "Okay. Just... Just tell me when. I'll be ready." He waggles his eyebrows at me and I blush, but inside, I'm screaming. Gale's warning is coming fresh back into my mind, and I'm starting to get worried.

"You know, I really love it when I look outside at night to find you sucking that guys face off." I shove Gale's chest one afternoon. I went outside to get the newspaper and Gale was out there as well.

"We do not suck face." I protest, crossing my arms over my chest.

Gale rolls his eyes, grinning at me. "Yeah, yeah, Undersee whatever you say." I shove him again and he chuckles. "Just tone it down a bit, you're scaring the neighbors."

I laugh at him and shake my head. "None of the neighbors are awake when I get home at night, except you." I raise a brow, "Are you watching us?"

Gale groans and rubs his face. "Of course not, Undersee. I have better things to do than to snoop into your love life."

I snort. "Like your own love life?" Gale's eyes darken for a moment, when I remember Katniss. "Never mind."

"No, it's fine." Gale tells me, checking his mail quickly. "I'm over it. I guess I've realized over the years that I wasn't actually in love with her, just in love with the idea of being in love." For some reason, I can't meet his eyes when he talks about this.

"Oh. I guess that's good." I mumble, before turning back around. "I gotta go. Work."

"Where do you work?"

I swallow a bit, "A bar. It was the only place that could give me enough money. It's not ideal," I admit, shrugging, "I hate it and its disgusting, but it's all I can do right now, until I get enough money to go back to school."

Gale frowns and wrinkles his nose. "Why in God's name would you ever want to go back to school?"

I grumble a bit, but I know he's teasing. "I like school. I like learning and I want to do it again." Gale chuckles, and I catch his eye. He's looking at me in a way no one's ever looked at me before, not even Kenton. Gale's gaze is so intense that I have to look down at the ground.

"What do you want to do?"

I shrug. "Finish my education, first. Then, something with music."

Gale smiles a bit, checking his watch. "You probably need to get going. Don't want to be late."

I nod and push a bit of hair behind my ear before hurrying back up to my apartment, trying to ignore the nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach that something's up.

"Madge," Wren asks one Saturday evening, after our shift is over, "how are you and Kenton?"

I shrug, blushing a bit. "We're good. Great, really. Why?"

She chews on her lip momentarily, tugging her heels off. "I have to tell you something."

"Hm?" I turn, immediately thinking back to Gale's warning.

Wren, sensing my nervousness, quickly recovers, "No, it's nothing about him." I told her and Finn about what Gale told me and they both lost their shit. Finn claimed that if Kenton ever did that he'd cut Kenton's balls off and then feed him to sharks, and Wren said that she'd help. "It's just," Wren pauses, wringing her fingers, "it's just that... I think I might..." Her voice lowers dramatically and her head drops into her hands, "I think I like Finn."

I can't help it, a laugh bubbles out of me. "Really? That's it?" Wren looks up and scowls. "By the way you were talking you'd think you were dying or something."

"You're supposed to be supporting me." She growls, looking up.

"I am," I tell her, "it's good that you do, I guess."

"It's good?" I nod and she lets out a shaky laugh, "I don't even know if he feels the same way and if he doesn't it'll hurt like hell."

I sit down next to her and shrug. "I guess if you really do like him then that's a risk you have to take Wren."

She groans and rests her head on the back of the lockers. "You make it seem easy."

I snort. "Getting one guy to like me was a hassle I promise."

Wren looks over at me in disbelief. "Have you seem yourself, Madge? You're every guys dream. All the guys here practically drool over you."

"That's not true," I stutter quickly, trying to remember if this has ever happened.

"Yes, it is Madge. Don't try to deny it."

I quiet myself and let her sigh. "I'll figure it out, I just don't want to get hurt.

"Finn wouldn't hurt you, Wren. He can't stand it whenever the guys flirt with you. He loses it and always growls to himself about it. If he doesn't like you, he certainly cares greatly about you. It wouldn't take long for him to actually start to like you. Trust me, Wren." I pause, standing up. "And if he doesn't, I'll make him. We'll just manipulate him and corner him until he just agrees to your terms."

Wren laughs loudly and the two of us hurry out to Finn's car, plotting.

A/N: So there's some pretty big hints in this one. See if you can catch them. Gadge is soon, or at least what I believe to be soon. Heh heh. Sorry for any mistakes, I'm pretty busy and have hopefully edited this well enough. Anyways: thoughts? Please review, y'all have turned to crickets c: