Prompt: Blind Date

Rated Teen


She doesn't want to be here. Every part of her is fighting the urge to run out of the store. There's nowhere she can look that isn't covered with candy colored lingerie and underwear that barely covers a woman's ass crack. The dainty material mocks her and she wants to rip every piece of clothing from the racks. Katniss eyes a particularly troubling item of lingerie that's crotchless before she looks over to him, shuddering. He seems annoyingly calm as he thumbs through the assortment of thongs and catches the leering gaze of almost every woman in the store. His blond curls are wispy against his forehead and only causes his startling blue eyes to be even more noticeable. And as though his attractiveness wasn't already irritating to her, Katniss couldn't ignore the way his worn t-shirt stretched over the span of his back, deliciously. She's lost in the way that his arms flex when he stretches up to reach a bra for a woman, but when he winks at the older woman, Katniss can feel all of the familiar contempt return. Peeta Mellark is the bane of everything she holds dear and his muscular body will not deter her from that belief.

He's smiling broadly at one of his many admirers when she walks up to him. Peeta runs his hands through his hair and she can hear every woman in the room swoon. God she hates him.

Katniss rolls her eyes before clearing her throat to gain his attention. Peeta turns around and when he sees her he almost seems surprised as though he forgot that she was even in the room. "I can shop with Madge or Annie. I need some real talk."

Peeta crosses his arms over his chest and she has to fight the urge not to look at the flexing muscles. "Real talk, huh?"

Katniss throws her hands up in irritation before knocking a couple of bras from the rack and causing them to fall. "Yes!" She curses her clumsiness as she bends down to collect the undergarments.

Peeta smirks at her when she stands back up and places the bras back on the rack. "Alright." His eyes travel down her body and she can't help but squirm under his gaze.

Why the hell does he always make her feel so warm?

"You have a uniboob. Are there two of them?" Katniss steps back when he leans forward to look down her shirt. Her hands go to her chest, instinctively. He smirks again and she wants to slap the expression from his face. "You dress like a thirteen year old boy from To Catch a Predator. Do you even own something that girls wear?" Katniss narrows her eyes at him before he laughs loudly, clearly amused with himself. "You wanted real talk."

She grits her teeth as a clerk comes up to them and after the blonde shamelessly flirts with Peeta, Katniss is shown to a dressing room with an array of different bras. She can hear him laughing on the other side and she can just imagine him enjoying all of the female attention he's receiving.

Katniss finally settles on a simple nude bra that lifts up her breasts and actually gives the impression that she's endowed. She pulls on her retro Ramones concert t-shirt before taking in her appearance. Katniss pulls the hem of her shirt down and she's pleasantly surprised when the material for once stretches over her chest.

So she does have tits.

She opens up the door to see him leaning against one of the displays, bored. Katniss walks up to him with her arms spread out and turns slowly in a circle. "Better?"

Peeta looks up as he stands and whistles lowly. "Wow so there are two of them. So there is a real girl underneath there?"

Katniss glares at him as she flips him off before making her way to the cash register. She can hear him mutter something about never being that desperate and she can't stop from thinking about how she ended up in a bra store with the last person she ever expected to see after high school.

The club was already crowded and Katniss could feel herself already gravitating toward the exit. She wasn't sure why she had agreed to her roommate Madge fixing her up with a guy she had met in sculpting class. Katniss was six months into her first year at college and she had spent a total of five times off the campus. She had wanted to refuse but she knew Madge was only concerned about her and Katniss reasoned that she could at least get a free plate of hot wings out of the situation.

They push their way through the crowds of people before making it to the set of high table tops in the center of the room. Her gaze lands on him instantly and any amount of air she still had in her lungs from walking through the humid room was now gone. It can't be him. Was it even possible?

Katniss tugged on the end of her braid as she pointed toward the back end of tables. "Who is that, Madge?" The blonde looked toward where she was pointing and smiled.

Madge looked over at Katniss as she began to approach the tables. "Your date, Peter…I think."

Katniss's shoulders tensed as she followed Madge. "You set me up on a blind date and you don't even know his name?" Madge shrugged before Katniss rushed to stand in front of her, causing her friend to stop abruptly. "Never mind. Could his name by any chance be Peeta?"

Madge looked up as though the answer was above her head until she looked down at Katniss and smiled broadly. "Oh that's right!" The blonde motioned behind Katniss. "He's an art student."

Katniss rolled her eyes as she shook her head. "No he's not. He's a jock pretending to be someone with depth."

The blonde eyes her curiously. "Do you know him?"

Katniss swallowed thickly before following Madge to where he sat. "You could say that."

They made their way to the table and Katniss hoped that he didn't recognize her but when his face fell and she could clearly see the disappointment wash over his features she knew she wasn't that lucky. Peeta pulled at the hem of his dark blue button up as he smiled at Madge. He was clearly more interested in the blonde and Katniss felt intentionally excluded.

It wasn't long until Madge excused herself and with a reassuring smile walked over to the far side of the club where their friend Annie waited. Katniss glared at her friend before she disappeared into the groups of people. When she looked back at him he was watching her closely.

"It figures the first time I go on a blind date the hot girl sets me up with her Duff."

Katniss shook her head as she leaned in. "Her what?"

Peeta sighed before crossing his arms over chest. "Duff. Designated Ugly Fat Friend." He rolls his eyes when he sees her react. "It's not literal. It just means that you're less hot and interesting than your friends."

She curled her hands into fists as she leaned back in her seat. "You'll need to give me some time to process exactly how many times you just insulted me, but I don't really think cry babies should be hurling around judgment."

Peeta narrowed his eyes at her. "You're still throwing that in my face after all of these years." She knew how much he hated it when she brought up the doll incident. "I didn't even touch your Cabbage Patch doll."

Katniss snorted, indignantly. "Peeta, when I picked it up and the head fell off you cried."

He slammed his hands against the table. "I was seven!"

She stuck her tongue out at him before chuckling at his irritation. "Still a cry baby, I see." Katniss eyes him warily for a few seconds. "I thought you were going to state on an athletic scholarship."

Peeta shrugged. "Things, change." He reached up to rub at the back of his neck before taking her in completely. "What are you even wearing?"

Katniss looked down at herself before shrugging. "What they're clothes?"

He shook his head. "You came to a date in a band t-shirt, jeans and sneakers."

"I dressed comfy."

Peeta laughed out loud. "You're not supposed to be comfortable on a date. The more restrictive the clothing the more likely you are to get laid. That's really the only reason to be dating anyway. To ensure that you can have sex on a regular basis."

Katniss glared, clearly offended. "Oh I'm sorry I was under the impression that it was about making a connection."

He sighed as he looked around the room. "In those clothes you would."

The night had only become more tense as they sat in silence while Peeta watched and flirted with every other girl in the room and Katniss drank about ten sodas. After she had gone to the bathroom and made it back to the table she had challenged him to make her look more dateable. She figured that it couldn't hurt. She was wrong.

Peeta's already dragged her to every store that seems to think less fabric is better, before she stops abruptly in the middle of the walk way. Shoppers mutter insults to themselves as they walk around her. She waits for Peeta to notice her absence. When he glances beside him, she can see him turn around concerned. Was he worried?

She disregards the notion as he walks toward her. "I can't do this anymore!"

Peeta glances at the people walking around them before looking at her. "What?"

Katniss sighs. "I like the way I am. I like that it takes me fifteen minutes to get dressed and that I have no idea what most make up is even for. I like my punk band t-shirts, and okay you were right about the uniboob." She pulls at the hem of her shirt as she inspects her chest. "It feels a lot better, but I'm happy with who I am and the guy who loves me will be too."

She doesn't wait for him to respond before she begins to walk toward the parking lot. They make their way to his truck in silence and she misses the moments when he would insult her. The tense way he watches her is unnerving.

It isn't until they're in his truck and sitting there quietly that Peeta speaks.

"Why do you think we stopped being friends after grade school?"

Katniss shrugs as she looks out the window. "You got good at sports and popular and then you didn't have time for the Welfare girl." She glances at him but he's looking forward as he grips the steering wheel. "What happened to your sports car?"

Peeta looks over at her and his face is so genuinely soft that it surprises her. "My mother took it away when I decided to turn down the scholarship and be an artist instead. My brother lent me his truck. I had to drive all the way out here, because she wouldn't even pay for my plane ticket."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

He tilts his head to the side. "Come on? You at least take a little joy in my misery?"

Katniss bites her bottom lip as a smile forms. "Maybe a little."

Peeta matches her smirk as he motions to her. "You were right. There's nothing wrong with you. I even like your retro punk t-shirts."

She raises a brow, confused. "Then why would you put me through all of this?"

He sighs and she tries to ignore the way his tongue darts out to wet his lips. "It was the only way I could think of to relate to you." Peeta scoots closer to her on the bench. "It was the only way I could think of to spend time with the girl I've loved for years."

Katniss blinks a few times as he closes the gap between them. "Wait. What?!"

His face is so close to hers that his breath causes her cheeks to blush. "You heard me."

She shakes her head. "But you never gave me the time of day in school and you called me a Duff not twenty four hours ago."

Peeta shrugs as he reaches up to brush his fingers over her cheek bones. "I'm a little complicated."

Katniss sighs against his touch. "How would we even start to be a normal couple?"

He presses his lips against hers gently. "I was thinking a little light spanking." Katniss giggles as she pushes him away playfully. When she looks into his blue eyes she can feel her chest tighten. "You're not a Duff."

Katniss smiles as she reaches up to take the collar of his shirt and pull him into her. "Maybe I am, but I'm yours."