AN: Sorry it took so long! It should start getting really interesting soon... :-)


Chapter 6:

Katniss:

After Gale dropped Prim and I off at home, we decided to lounge around, eat ice cream and watch a movie. I let Prim choose the movie while I went to the kitchen for the ice cream. I grabbed some cookies and cream for Prim and cookie dough for me, then walked back into the living room to find her sprawled out on the couch with the menu for Snow White and the Huntsman playing.

"Where'd you get this, Prim?" I asked as I handed her the ice cream.

"Rue, of course. She said it's AMAZING!" she replies bouncing up and down on the couch. I just laugh and sit crooked in the chair with one leg over the arm rest. We both lose ourselves in the movie. I find myself rooting for the huntsman the whole time. I don't tend to be a very girly girl, the kind that faints at the sight of a cute boy, but there's just something about Chris Hemsworth that makes his absolutely wonderful.

It's just at the part where they think Snow White is dead and the huntsman is talking to her, when a sudden loud noise makes me jump. I look around and see my phone on the table in front of me lit up saying I have a text message. I sigh and glance at Prim to see her clutching a pillow a little teary-eyed. I pick up my phone and see the text is from Gale.

"Wanna go to the bakery with me?" Well, that's kind of random.

"I guess. When?" I don't mind going, but I'm not bailing on Prim in the middle of a movie. I look up in time to see the huntsman kiss Snow White. I sigh. Do kisses like that actually exist? My phone goes off again and I open the message.

"When can you go?" I look at Prim and see she's still glued to the movie.

"About an hour? I'm in the middle of a movie with Prim." I turn back to the movie to see Snow White waking up. I know it was the hot huntsman! Just as she starts to talk, my phone beeps.

"That's fine. See you in a bit." I set my phone back on the table and go back to the movie.

Peeta:

When I walked in the bakery after school, I found Cressida behind the counter again and said "Hello" to her. She said "Hi" back and I walked back into the kitchen. The board said we mainly needed bread, so I got started pulling everything out to make some loaves. As I was making the dough, I started to think about the phone call I received from Mother yesterday. She had called while I was getting ready for school and was in a horrid mood even that early in the morning.

"Peeta, how is the bakery and the house?" she asked sounding aggravated, which was the voice she usually had when talking to me.

"They're both fine, Mother. Cressida and I have been taking care of the bakery and I've been cleaning up the house." I was hoping that would be enough for her and she wouldn't get upset.

"Both better be in perfect condition when I get back," she snapped.

"Yes, Mother. Can I ask when you'll be back?" I held my breath, waiting for her to yell.

"I don't know. Soon," she snapped again. I heard her mumble "Worthless" then she hung up. I had let out my breath, sighed and went to school.

I have learned by now there's nothing I can do to make Mother happy. I never do enough at the bakery or at home. My grades are never high enough, though they're mostly A's with one of two B's. She hates the way I dress. She even hates my friends, though I never bring them around her. It's almost like she has this image in her head of the perfect way she wants me to be and I just fail miserably at it. It doesn't bother me, but it irritates the hell out of her.

I sigh and shake my head. I start thinking of everything I need to get done before I go over to Katniss' house tomorrow. Katniss… I can't believe she touched my hand. Shit, I sound like a girl. I can't seem to help myself, though I know she'd never want me. She's just so kind and gentle. I didn't know there were still people like that…

"How's it going back here Peeta?" I jump at the sound of Cressida's voice in the doorway.

"Oh. Uhh…" I look on the counter at the 6 mounds of dough I have out rising. Thank God I can do this shit on autopilot now. "Good. I was just about to work on that cake for tomorrow. Did you need anything?"

"No. Actually, I was thinking of going to pick up something to eat. Would you like something?" she says smiling at me. I like Cressida. She's worked here for a few years and Mother seems to trust her enough to manage the bakery when she leaves, which of course means she trusts her more than she does me.

"No thanks. But you go ahead. I'll watch the front while you're gone," I say and she smiles at me.

"Thanks Peeta. I'll be back soon." She smiles again, grabs her purse and leaves.

I sigh and look around. I might as well clean up some so Cressida doesn't have to do it later. So I start straightening up the croissants, rolls, cookies and everything. I had just started sweeping when I heard the bell for the door rings.

"Can I help you with someth…?"I trail off as I look up and see Gail walking towards me. "Hey man, what's up?"

"Not much. Just coming to say hey and see if we can con you out of something tasty," says Gale laughing. We? I didn't see anyone else…

"We?" I ask.

"Hey Peeta," says a soft voice. No fucking way… Gale moves away to check out the cupcakes and there she is. Katniss. My breath catches as she smiles at me and I really hope no one notices.

"Hey Kat. How's it going?" I try to say in a normal tone. Calm down, stupid. There's no way she wants you.

"Not bad." She smiles at me. "How's it going with you?"

"Ok. It's been pretty quiet all afternoon. There's not much to do right now." I shrug.

"Where's your mom?" asks Gale suddenly.

"Out of town. She's visiting some of her family. Why?" I ask curiously.

"Oh. Just wondering…" he says looking a little relieved. Huh? What was that about? "So! Can I have a cupcake?" he points to a chocolate cupcake with blue icing.

"I guess, but you owe me dude." I hand him the cupcake and turn to Katniss. "Would you like something?"

She shakes her head. "No, I'm fine." She glances at the cabinet with the rolls and croissants, then looks back at Gale and I. I shake my head with a small smile that's only been happening around her and walk over to the rolls. I pick one up and hand it to her.

"Here. I think you'll like this," I say still smiling a little smile. How does she do this? I can't even help smiling around her. Does she notice?

She starts to shake her head, but Gale nudges her with his elbow. She sighs and smiles at me before taking it. "Thank you, Peeta." She takes a small bite, then her eyes get really big. "Oh my God. Peeta, these are amazing! Did you make them?" She has a really big smile and I can't help but to smile back.

"Yeah. I make most of it." I can feel the heat moving up my neck to my face. How does she have this effect on me? No one ever has… I hope they don't notice me blushing! "Umm… I decorate the cakes, too." Her eyes get really big again and she turns towards the cakes.

"No way… Which one's your favorite right now?" she asks smiling again.

"My favorite?" I ask and she nods. "Umm… Oh! Come back to the kitchen for a second," I say turning back towards the kitchen still smiling the little smile only she can get out of me. Does she notice the difference? I want her to so fucking bad, but I don't think it'd make a difference or get her to actually like me. I sigh and shake my head.

"You ok, Peet?" asks Gale. I didn't even notice he was following us. I turn to answer him and see he's staring at me looking confused.

"Yeah. Why do you ask?" I say as my eyebrows rise.

"Oh, no reason…" he says before glancing at Katniss and smirking.

"Okay… Well, this is it." I open the big cake freezer at the very back of the kitchen and point to the 3 tier cake I've been working on. It was white with black designs. each of the layers have a black lace design around the bottom, with an old fashioned kind of paisley design on the rest of the bottom layer. It's the one I have to finish tonight. "It's for a couple's 50th anniversary. My favorite part is the cake topper." I close the freezer drawer and move over by the desk where we keep all of the paperwork. I pick up the cardboard with the cake topper on it and turn back to them. It's simple with the bride and groom standing next to each other holding hands. "I just finished repainting it this morning. It's the same one they had on their wedding cake 50 years ago." I look up at Katniss and see she has a small smile and wide eyes. It makes me smile, too.

"It's so beautiful…" she whispers staring at it. I watch her for a few moments, then glance at Gale a couple feet away. He's staring at us and smirks when he sees me look at him. I can feel my face getting red as he pulls his phone out and starts texting someone. I look back at Katniss standing in front of me and see that she's watching me with a big smile. I give her a small smile in return and turn around to set the topper back on the desk. Just as I set it down, I hear the bell on the door ring, followed by Cressida's voice saying, "Peeta?" I walk back out to the front with Katniss and Gale following me.

Gale:

Is this what Jo wanted me to see? The way he looked at her when she was admiring the cake topper and the way she's been smiling at him the whole time we've been here! They're so fucking crazy about each other. So why aren't they together? I need to tell Jo.

"What the Hell?! Why aren't these two together yet?" I text to her while they're still looking at the cake topper.

"Because they're both brainless. They're perfect for each other." I hold back a laugh and look up at Katniss and Peeta just as he looks over at me. I give him a smirk and he turns red. Holy shit, this is serious. Peeta doesn't blush or smile.

"How can we get them together? It needs to happen!" I hear a bell ring then someone call for Peeta. As we're walking back to the front, I get another text from Johanna.

"I'm working on it… got any ideas?" I watch Katniss and Peeta for another moment before I respond.

"I think we need to get Madge and Thresh in on this. Maybe even Prim…" I sigh. This is going to be hard work, but so worth it. They've been in love with each other for so long and everyone but them knows it. We just need to get Peeta to open up… Shit, this is going to be hard…

Katniss:

I'm so happy to see Peeta in a better mood than he's been in the past few days. I'm pretty sure it's working in his dad's bakery. It was always his favorite place to be when we were all little. He's so good at baking and decorating all of it. That cake was absolutely beautiful. I hope I get to have a cake like that one day… I've never actually thought about getting married, because the only person I've thought about that way doesn't want me like that. I sigh quietly and look up from the cake topper to see Peeta blushing and looking at Gale. When he looks back at me, I can't help but smile. I wonder why he's blushing. There's no reason to be embarrassed of being talented like this. I hear someone call Peeta's name and I glance at Gale. He's smirking at us while holding his phone. I just give him a confused look as I follow Peeta out to the front.

There's a really pretty woman who looks about 30 years old standing by the counter with a couple bags of food. "I got you some burgers and fries anyways, Peeta," she said setting the bags on the counter. "Hey Gale, Katniss." I smiled hesitantly and looked at her a little harder. She just smiled back and waited, watching me. I looked at her closer, medium length dark hair, deep blue eyes, a little taller than myself. I looked at her smile and it clicked.

"Oh my gosh! Cressida! How the heck are you?" I said walking over to her and giving her a tight hug. She had started working in the bakery before Peeta's dad died and we all would come in to see them almost every day. If it wasn't Mr. Mellark feeding us sweets, it was Cressida. Since he died, though, it had been hard for me to come to the bakery, because of missing him so much, as well as seeing how upset Peeta was and how upset his mother wasn't.

"I'm great! How are you? You've grown so much and gotten so gorgeous!" she says hugging me back just as tight. I feel the heat on my face and glance at Gale and Peeta, still hugging Cressida. They're both watching us. Gale has a huge smile on his face and Peeta had his new little smile. I felt my heart stutter a little looking at him and turned back to Cressida.

"I umm… I'm good," I said blushing even deeper. "You should see Prim. She's almost as tall as me now." I looked down at the floor still blushing. She just laughs.

"You should bring her by soon. I've missed both of you terribly," she said still smiling. I looked up at her and saw her looking at Peeta. I glanced at him and he blushed and looked down. What did I miss? I looked at Gale, who was trying to hold back a laugh.

"Of course. Do you work Sunday?" I asked scowling at Gale.

"I do," she paused and smiled wider, "but Peeta doesn't." She started chuckling and turned to take the food out of the bags.

"I know… He told me he has weekends off." I smiled at Peeta. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Gale and Cressida share a funny look. "We have a science lab we have to work on tomorrow," I explained quietly and looked down. Ok, what am I missing here?

"Uh huh…" I could hear the smile in Cressida's voice and I blush again. What is wrong with me today?!

"I uh… I'm gonna go look at the cakes by the window now." I glanced at Peeta, who was watching me with slightly pink cheeks. I gave him a small smile before I walked towards the cakes. I'm sure I look like I hate the cakes in front of me by the way I'm scowling, but, in truth, I'm just trying to figure out why Cressida and
Gale were acting weird… and why I can still feel the eyes of the beautiful blond boy still standing by the counter…

Peeta:

I want so much to just walk over to her and ask her what she's thinking about. She's glaring so hard at that I feel it might burst into flames. She's starting to bite her bottom lip and I want so much to walk over to her, gently pull her lip from her teeth and ask her what's wrong. But I have a strong feeling that she wouldn't like that and would get mad at me. Instead, I turn back towards Cressida and Gale, who quickly look away from me towards each other and smile. What's with people staring at me? Is there something wrong with my face? Well shit, that's a stupid ass question… I sigh as I walk behind the counter and sit on the stool to eat a burger.

"You ok, Peet?" asks Gale while he gives me a sad look. Please don't fucking pity me man. I nod my head and glance at Katniss. She's looking back at me and gives me little smile as our eyes meet. I feel the corners of my lips tug up in response. I hear a small gasp and look at Cressida as she looks away at Gale shocked. I look over at him, too, in time to see him nod with a huge grin.

The next thing I know, Cressida is walking over to Katniss and Gale is standing in front of me leaning on the counter. I raise an eyebrow at him and wait for him to explain what the hell is going on.

"What's going on with you and Kat?" he whispers with a big Cheshire cat smile.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I whisper back.

"What is going on between you and my cousin?" he repeats slowly. "You two are acting weird. Especially you, Peeta. I mean, you actually smiled at her." Shit. Shit. Shit. He fucking noticed.

"I don't know what you're talking about, man," I replied trying to sound calm. She can't know how I feel. She'd hate me.

"Don't bullshit me, Peeta. I'm not stupid, dude. Just fucking talk to me!" he says a little too loud. I see Katniss and Cressida look at us curiously from behind Gale. This can't be happening! I've gotta get out of here.

"There's nothing to talk about, Gale," I say through gritted teeth. "Just leave it the fuck alone!" I growl the last part before I stomp back through the kitchen and out the back door towards the woods and my favorite oak tree I always hide behind. I drop on the ground with my head in my hands.

Katniss:

I stare at the door to the kitchen for a moment in confusion. What the hell just happened? Why did Peeta yell at Gale? I look at Gale and see he's staring at the kitchen door, too. His face is red from anger, but he looks more worried than anything. "Gale… What happened?" I ask quietly.

"I… umm… I'm not… quite sure…" he says still watching the door. I look back over at the door and don't realize that my feet have started moving towards it. Once in the kitchen, I look around for Peeta.

"Peeta?" I walk through the kitchen towards the back door. "Peeta?" I say again while holding the door open. I scan the trees as I walk through the backyard. I stop by a big oak tree turn around in a circle still looking for him. "Peeta?" I call louder. I hear something very quiet. It almost sounded like a small gasp. "Peeta?" I ask again. I must have been hearing things, because there's still no answer. After looking around the back yard one more time, I head back in through the back door into the kitchen. I decide to leave Peeta a note, so I walk over to the desk where the cake topper is still sitting. On the opposite side of the desk, I find some large orange sticky notes and a few pens. I grab a pen and jot down a short message to him, then put the sticky note in front of the cake topper. There's no way he won't find it there.

When I get back to the front of the bakery, Gale looks at me and raises his eyebrows. I shrug and walk over to say good bye to Cressida.

"You two come back and see me soon," she says hugging me.

"Yes mam," I smile.

"Of course!" Gale says. "Peeta makes the best cupcakes." He starts rubbing his belly and we all laugh.

We wave to her one last time as we walk out the door.

Peeta:

I honestly can't believe she came looking for me. I was so shocked that I just sat there frozen for a few moments and by the time I got up to talk to her, she was already gone. As I walk through the kitchen to finish the anniversary cake, I notice something orange on the desk by the topper. I walk over to it and find it was one of my sticky notes. It's from Katniss.

Any time you wanna talk, I'm here. X Katniss X

She wrote her number at the bottom. I stare at it for a long time. I honestly can't figure out why she's being so nice to me. I sure as hell don't deserve it. It doesn't make sense for her to care for someone as useless and fucked up as me. It's not like I have anything to offer anyone… I shake my head and put the note in my pocket.

I'm just sitting down by the window with the cake and decorating utensils when Cressida comes in to check on me.

"You ok, Peeta?" she looks at me with a worried expression. I sigh and nod before turning back to the cake. "We were really worried about you, hun. Especially Katniss." She watches me with a weird expression. My brows wrinkle in confusion. Where's she going with this? "I think she likes you, Peeta." I groan.

"Not you too. Cress, there's no way she likes me. Why would she?" I shake my head and work on the cake some more.

"Maybe because you're very sweet and caring and rather handsome, if I might add," she says smiling at me. I feel the heat rise to my face as I shake my head.

"You're biased Cress. You're more like family then Mother is, so of course you think nice things about me. But that doesn't mean anyone else will."

"Oh sweetie, if only you saw yourself like we do…" she smiles sadly at me before walking back to the front. I sigh and shake my head again as I continue decorating the cake. How could she honestly think someone other than her could think of me like that? She's like my older sister, so I guess it's normal for her to think that way about me. But I don't really think I'm the best judge of normal, especially about family. Family… I wish I could have a real one someday, but I'd have to find someone to put up with me long enough… No use getting my hopes up.