Katniss
"I am so glad that Gale was there when that girl Daphne was talking shit to me. He embarrassed her so bad." I say to Madge. I was really glad Gale had that much ammunition on her. "I don't think many more girls will be bothering me after that," I tell her.
"Yeah, I think he did a pretty good job at warding them off. So, now it's my turn to ask questions about the newest, hottest couple in the school."
"Seriously, Madge? Newest and hottest? You can just ask me questions, I don't mind answering you."
"Okay, then, if you really don't mind," Madge starts.
"When you put it like that you make it sound like you are going to ask the same questions some of the girls were asking," I say worried.
"Don't worry, I know you well enough that you haven't gone any further than kissing. I figured you just started dating last night, since you weren't all handholdy at the reaping. And I know that you would never jump into bed with a guy."
"I'm glad you at least know me well enough, unlike the rest of this stupid school."
She laughs, "Of course, I know we don't talk much but I still know a lot about you. I was just going to start out by asking how you started dating, like, did he ask you out or..."
"Oh, this is a good story. But, I'm only telling you, and probably Prim, although I'm not telling Prim every little thing, so you have to promise to keep it a secret! Oh, I feel like a real girl making you promise to keep a secret."
"Katniss, you are a real girl, a pretty girl, you just don't act like the vapid whores that occupy most of the school's population!"
We both laugh. "Okay, well, after the reaping I told him a story about my life right after my father died, because he was waiting for me at the Justice Building when most everyone else had cleared out, but I wanted to thank Peeta for something that happened a long time ago in case he dies, you know? When my family was starving to death after my father died, my mother didn't do anything, she didn't move or talk... or anything. So I tried to keep me and Prim fed, but then we ran out of food, and I was too scared to go in the woods by myself, so I was looking in trash bins behind the Merchants' houses, my life is super glamorous I know, but there was nothing there. And then Peeta's mom being the wicked witch she was came out screaming at me and telling me she would call the Peacekeepers. But then I noticed Peeta peeked out from behind her, and I didn't know his name because he hung out with the kids from town. But they both went inside while I sat against a tree in the pouring rain, basically waiting to die, when I heard some noises coming from the bakery. And apparently Peeta burnt some bread and his mother was yelling at him to give to the pig because 'no one decent would buy burned bread' and he took off a couple of really burnt parts and gave it to the pig, but then he threw the rest of the loaves to me. And I had warm food for myself and Prim and a little for my mom, I didn't really want to give her any. Anyway, in all these years he's never spoken to me and I've never spoken to him, but I hate feeling like I owe people, so I said thank you to him in the Justice Building.
"I didn't think he remembered me, but Gale said he did because he stared at me all the time, which I didn't believe-"
"He did."
"What?"
"He did stare at you all the time, he probably does like you."
"Well, that's just too bad, isn't it. I said thank you. He never talked to me, and I'm with Gale, and I love Gale very much."
"I know, I'm sorry, I was just saying that Gale was right, Peeta likes you."
"Poor Delly, well since I don't and won't return his feelings maybe he will come to like Delly, I mean, if you like someone why don't you ever talk to them? We've all been going to the same school since we were five, for goodness sakes. If you're a ten year old boy, you can be shy. But not for ten whole years. Hell, I think Rory and Prim will get together soon! They talk to each other all the time and act a lot like Gale and I. But where was I? Oh, yes, so I was kind of sad, because I felt weak that I couldn't help my family and Gale knew and he just kind of held my hands and then let me change into something more comfortable before we went over to his house for post-reaping dinner. We have done for the past few years. Anyway, when we got there we found out Rory had got a turkey all by himself, and we talked and laughed all dinner. But then Vick and Rory went to bed, and Prim and my mother went home, and I stayed to help Hazelle clean up, and we talked a bit, she hinted at Gale liking me, but I wasn't sure, you know?
"After I was done helping her wash the dishes I asked if I could spy in on the bedtime story that Gale was telling to Posy, and Hazelle said I could, but I should be quiet and just peek in the doorway if I didn't want Gale to change the story, because apparently she knew something I didn't. It was a fairytale, with a Kingdom called the Seam. And there was a King and Queen, a Prince named Romeo and three princesses that the King and Queen decided to name all after flowers, Princess Posy was the youngest, and then there was Princess Primrose. And Gale described how pretty the princesses were, but when he got to 'Princess Katniss' he got carried away. And he said that she was sad because her parents wanted her to get married and even Princess Posy's powers couldn't help.
"And at that point, was one of the many time Posy interrupted Gale. She said, 'how come I can't help her, and did you make her the prettiest princess because you love her?' And I thought it was just her three and a half year old mind making stuff up until Gale said, 'Posy that was supposed to be our secret! And I said the princess were pretty in different ways!' But when Gale described all the princesses he was kind of vague until he got to me, 'Princess Katniss'. He said that Posy was dressed in purple with a tiara with pretty purple stones and diamonds, and that Princess Primrose was dressed in sapphire blue with a tiara made of diamonds and sapphires. But when he got to me he said my dress was orange and red and looked like fire, and my tiara was full of diamonds but all kinds of other stone in red and orange and yellow - all the colors of fire. And Posy said that fire was the hottest and she'd heard boys say that girls they thought were pretty and beautiful were 'hot'. To which Gale replied that she was too smart for her own good. And then she asked if he was going to tell me he loved me, and he said that he was going to after he finished her bedtime story and had been planning to for a while. And the Posy asked if he was going to tell me that he dreamed about me, and he didn't know what she was talking about and she told him that sometimes when she got up to go to the bathroom she heard him making noises in his room when he was sleeping and saying 'Katniss, oh, Katniss, you feel so good, I love you so much.'"
"Oh, my, god, his little sister was hearing his wet dreams about you? This is too good."
"Yeah, well to me I could hardly keep myself from either laughing or crying, so when his story was over, and it was a wonderful story, by the way, Hazelle tapped me on the shoulder because I guess I was just thinking too hard and was staring at them so I went to sit down at the kitchen table and waited for Gale because he said he was going to walk me home. Which I think was all part of his plan. Oh, and he started off really awkward, and he was embarrassed because he had be practicing what he was going to say in his head. And he starts off, 'So how long have we've known each other now?' or something like that and I give him the answer because I know exactly how long we've known each other, and I let him flounder around for a couple more minutes because I found it funny that 'ladies man' Gale Hawthorne was having trouble talking to his best friend. But that's what I think the problem was, he didn't want to ruin our friendship. But then I let on that I heard what Posy said about loving me. And he said the most beautiful things, ever, Madge. He asked me if I wanted to know what he loved about me, and he listed everything inside and out. At one point I was actually crying tears of happiness, it was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard. Then we talked a little bit more, I teased him about his dreams. But then I felt bad because he was really embarrassed, and I told him -and if you tell anyone what I'm about to tell you, I'll kill you, just so you know before hand- I told him that I've had one or two of those types of dreams, because I have, but most of my dreams are nightmares, but I told him that in those one or two dreams I dreamt about him. And that made him really happy and he told me the exact minute he knew he loved me more than just a best friend, and we kissed a few times and he walked home and I went to bed happy for once."
Madge looked a little like how I imagine I looked last night besides the slight smirk when I told her about our dreams. And she said, "If what he said made you of all people cry tears of happiness I wish that I was a fly on the wall so I could have heard what he said," she was smiling really big and grabbed me into a big hug, which was mostly one-sided, I truly felt like a girl. "I'm so happy for you, Katniss, you really deserve it."
When she let go of me I thought I couldn't have picked a better girlfriend ever. And so I tell her so, "Madge, you know you're my best girlfriend in the world, right?"
Cockily she nods, "Yeah, I know, just like you're mine." And we smiled at each other and by that time class was just ending and school was being let out.
"Don't tell Gale I told you everything," I say, I know Gale doesn't like to show his romantic side too much so I don't want it getting around.
"You know I won't, I promised."
"Okay, good, well Gale and I are going out hunting, we want to get extra squirrels for the baker because he always gives us the better part of the trade, and he likes squirrels, and Peeta's in the Games, so we thought we'd do something nice, I'll try to get some strawberries for you and your dad if I remember."
"That would be great. Well, there's your Gale, hopefully I'll see you later, but if not I'll see you tomorrow. Last day of school!"
"Oh, yeah, I forgot! More hunting time!" I basically say to myself, "Bye, Madge!"
"Bye!"
Gale
Today was the start of the rest of my life with Katniss. Although there had been some backlash from jealous girls mostly, the guys just glared at me because Katniss wanted me instead of any of them. But it was nothing I couldn't handle. Right now I'm waiting for Katniss to walk out the school doors. And I spot her having a whispered conversation with Madge, then talking normally again and saying goodbye. I wonder what the whispering was about. She probably told Madge how we got together. Madge is her only friend and I knows she trusts her so I trust her too. It must be hard-wired into girls to talk about boys they're dating, and Katniss must have had a lot to catch up on since she's never dated anyone before.
She looks up and sees me and smiles. I swear I will never tire of seeing her smile. "Did you realize the last day of school is tomorrow?" she asks me.
No, I guess I hadn't realized I was too worked up about asking her out, so I tell her, "Nope, I hadn't realized it. Is it because of the Games? We usually have a couple more weeks of school."
"Yeah, it's probably because of the Games but I'm not complaining! I thought we could do a hunting trip. Especially trying to find squirrels for the baker. It probably wasn't the best site to see, his son in a skimpy coal miner's uniform."
"I would never want to see my kids in that," and I notice a panicked look in her eyes before she can cover it up. I had meant us having kids one day, but I can lie. "I meant the kids, you know, Posy, Prim, Rory, and Vick."
The relief is obvious, I really hope she changes her mind about kids one day. "Oh, of course, sorry I was just being silly."
"It's fine, Catnip, really," I say. "So do you want to head home and get changed and I'll do the same and we'll meet at the fence?"
"That sounds great, just don't take too long, pretty boy."
I scoff and act offended, "Pretty boy, why I never!" She laughs again and it's the best sound in the world. "I'll see you in about 20, Catnip?"
"Yep, 20 minutes sounds like plenty of time to get changed and get over there, see you soon." And she leans up and pecks me on the mouth, I guess she does like kissing. That makes me one happy guy. She walked one way home and I decided to take a shortcut maybe if I got to the Meadow before her I could scrounge up some wildflowers for a bouquet. I hop a fence and then another into my backyard. I go in through the backdoor and see my mom cleaning clothes and Posy playing on the floor. My mom looks at me and smiles and Posy notices me and starts jumping up and down.
"You told Katniss you loved her last night, like you said you would! I thought you were lying because you were afraid to tell her! But you did tell her, and you guys will get married and she can be my sister for real!"
My mom looks over and gives me a smile while rolling her eyes, she's apparently had to deal with this for most of the day. Well it is big news. "Yes, Posy, didn't I tell you I would tell her?" I look over at my mom, "Katniss and I are going hunting, mainly for squirrels for the baker. But I want to get to the Meadow early to wait for her."
"To pick her flowers, you mean?"
Damn my mom was good. "Yes, ma', to pick her flowers, is that a crime?"
"Of course not, honey," she dries her hands while walking over to me to give me a kiss on the cheek. "I think it's very sweet. And you know what else I think would be very sweet?"
"You think lots of things are sweet, ma'," I say as I head to my room to get changed.
She continues the conversation in a louder voice so it would carry through the house. "I think that one of these days - soon - that you should share some of your father's books with her. I'm sure you would enjoy reading to each other, on that secret rock of yours'? I know I loved it when you're father would read to me, and he enjoyed it when I read to him to. He would put his head in my lap and close his eyes and just listen. I would do the same when he would read to me. I think you would like to have Katniss' head resting on your lap, am I right?" I nod and realize she can't see me.
"Yes," I say.
"Just be careful with the books they are very, very old, and even more precious. Let me know before you take one, please."
"Of course, ma', that sounds like a great idea," I say as I finish tying up my boot. "Maybe I'll surprise her with a picnic on Saturday, today's Thursday, right? It'll give me enough time to choose a good book."
"I think you should read her Romeo and Juliet it's the most romantic love story of all time, or at least that's what they said when books were commonplace."
"I don't know how much Katniss would like a romance story, ma'," I say, because I really don't know.
"Just try reading it to her for me. And I know the words they use are a little weird, because it's so old, but you know what the book is talking about and you can teach her like your father and I taught you. You said Katniss likes learning new things, right?"
"Yeah, she does. Okay, I'll have a surprise picnic with her on Saturday and bring the book then, advanced warning, how's that?" I say cheekily.
"Oh, you! Well you go have fun with Katniss and I hope you find some flowers for her! Love you, Gale!"
"Love you too, ma', and you too, Posy, I'll be back late probably." I leave out the front door and jog at a steady pace until I get to the Meadow. Good, Katniss isn't here yet, time for flowers. Katniss taught me all kinds of different flowers. I pick some wild daisies, and black-eyed susans, coneflowers, columbines, ironweed, meadow rose, lance leaf, compass plant and some more that I've forgotten the names of, or Katniss hasn't told me the names of. It's a pretty big bunch of flowers by the time I'm done, filled with all sorts of colors, I hope she likes them. Then I see her jogging over to me with a smile on her face and then she sees the flowers I've picked her and her smile gets even bigger.
"If you keep treating me this good I'll turn into a girly-girl," she jokes.
"Now, Catnip, you and I both know that's never going to happen." Then we both laugh, I hold out my hand, "Shall we?"
"We shall," she says back, with her right hand in my left and her left holding the bunch of flowers. She looks down at them, "They're really pretty, Gale, thank you. I'll have to let them soak in that tiny pond, you know the one that's closest? So they don't die, and I'll bring them home and put them in water. I bet we could even get a few water fowl if we play our cards right."
"Yeah, I think we will."
Katniss
Since I had both of my hands occupied, one with Gale's hand and the other with the flowers he gave me I had to swing my game bag over my shoulder. I see he's holding his in his right hand. We get to the bushes that are hide the hole in the fence and Gale says he'll go first so I can pass him my flowers once he's through. It seems like a good enough plan as any, so I let him go first. It takes him a second because he's so much bigger than I am, I idly think that maybe we can try to open this part of the fence more. Once he's through he tells me because he said that I looked like I was thinking to hard. I pass him the flowers and get on my belly and crawl through the opening.
"Yeah, well that 'thinking' I was doing was for you, Gale," I say as I take back my flowers and start heading the way to the small pond.
"Oh, yeah? What were you thinking about?"
"I was just thinking how hard it must be for you to get under the fence, because it's a little tough for me and I'm a lot smaller than you. And I was thinking maybe we could loosen up the fence a little more, and/or dig a little bit under it so you'll fit better, and both of our game bags would fit better as well."
"I guess thinking pays off," Gale jokes. "Seriously that's a good idea, Catnip, thanks for thinking of me."
"Of course," I say when I come to a hollowed log where I keep one of my bows and get it with a sheath of arrows out. "Gale, you can hold my flowers until we get to the pond, we both know I'm the better shot."
Gale sighs dramatically, "The things I do for love." After he says that he silently takes my flowers and we go into hunting mode, moving silently through the woods for the about five minute walk to the small pond. I spot two ducks and a loon. I've had my arrow ready since I took it out of the log, I string my arrow back and let it fly, hitting one of the ducks, I'm so fast the other duck didn't know what was coming until there was an arrow in it. And the loon can duck under water, but has to come up eventually, so we wait it out a minute, and when it comes up I shoot it too.
"It's a good thing they were so close to shore," Gale comments, as he hands me my flowers back. He only has to wade about a foot in the water to get the ducks and lean over a couple feet to get the loon, it's easy to grab from my arrow. "Nice shooting."
"Nice gathering," I smile and kneel down to put the ends of my flowers in the water and use a medium weight stick to hold them in place. "You know this pond isn't too deep anyway, it would only go up to your waist, and it's warm out."
"Are you trying to get me out of my clothes already, Katniss? I don't want them to get all wet."
I blush, I hadn't really thought of what I was saying, I guess. I sit down near the pond and Gale comes and sits next to me, he hands me one of the ducks so I can pull the arrow out of it. He pulls the arrows out of the other duck and the loon, and hands the arrows to me before taking my duck and putting it in his game bag. I take the arrows to the pond and wash off the little bit of blood that's on them and put them back into my sheath.
"Okay, Gale, now let's go hunt the most dangerous game."
He plays along, looking scared, "And-and what's that, Katniss?" Wow the stuttering was a nice touch.
"The dreaded squirrel." I say seriously. And it gets the laugh I want out of him. "Okay, lets go and get another bow for you, and you set your snares, because you know I can't do them well, and we'll hunt for squirrels." We get started.
It's funny that when you seem to be hunting after only one thing that it seems like it doesn't show up as often. But even so I've already gotten four squirrels and Gale's gotten three, and we haven't even checked the snares yet, we agree on hunting anything for the next half a hour, because we do have to feed our families too. And then I remember that I wanted to get some strawberries for Madge.
"Hey, Gale," I whisper trying not to scare off any game, "while you check and reset your snares would you mind if I went and got some more strawberries? I told Madge that I would try to remember, and I did remember so I don't want to break my promise."
"That sounds fine, Catnip, you know to be careful and keep a arrow ready, you never know what you might come across." During the next half hour I get two more squirrels, and watch as Gale heads toward his snares. So I set off to a slight, but quiet jog, down to our strawberry bush. But when I get there I don't only see a strawberry bush, I see a big, fat, turkey. Since my arrow had been at the ready, I shoot it in less than a second, then I go over and pull out the arrow and throw the huge thing, it was a boy turkey, guy turkeys are bigger than the girls. This monster weighed about 30 pounds, I could not wait to rub it in Gale's face! But before that I had to pick some strawberries, not nearly as many as yesterday morning, especially because I had a considerably heavier game bag. I picked about a quart of strawberries for Madge and her dad, I don't really ever get to see her mom.
After about 15 minutes of lugging my game bag, I came across Gale and smiled at me holding up three more squirrels and two juicy rabbits. Then he noticed how big my bag was. "What did you shoot, a bear?"
I plop my bag on the ground and pull out the biggest turkey either of us had ever gotten. His eyes got huge. "Is that thing even real?" He asked.
"Yes, see for yourself, I was as shocked as you are, but it was shoot first and ask if it was real later." I hand it over to him.
"This thing must weigh 30 pounds! Katniss, this is amazing!"
"I know, I've never seen one this big besides already plucked at the butchers! We're going to have a lot of feathers to pull. We could probably make a feather pillow with all the birds we've gotten today!"
"Well it would be your feather pillow, Katniss, I didn't shoot any of these birds. And you're lucky I brought my own foraging bag today, we can start plucking feathers at our rock."
"Good idea," I say. We head back, on our way putting our bows and arrows back, and walk about a half hour to our rock. Gale who was still being gentlemanly carried my heavier game bag. "We should cook the turkey tonight and have another family meal together, Everdeens and Hawthornes," I say. "I don't want you to have to give this to Cray, no matter how much he likes turkey, he wouldn't give us a fair price. And I wouldn't say no to the butcher, but it would be so nice to have another family dinner like we did last night. It was so much fun."
"I agree. Family dinner it is. Now, let's start plucking!"
I smile, then frown, "Oh, no, I forgot my flowers. You start, I'm going to run over there and get them and come right back."
"Okay, but please hurry, there are a hell of a lot of feathers here."
I ran at a fast and steady pace, I can go faster, actually a lot faster, but the way I'm built I can do fast sprints, but I get tired quickly if I do, so if I would have sprinted to the pond I would have probably had to walk back. Running at a steady pace gives me better time. I get back in about seven minutes, our rock is a little way to the side, if I was just running back to the fence it would have been quicker. Gale has most of one duck done already, I walk up to our rock set my flowers down carefully and start on the second duck. We sit in companionable silence for a while.
"I want to take you on a picnic on Saturday," Gale says.
I was surprised, does that count as a 'real' date? "A picnic," I ask, "where?"
"Well the most special place in the world of course," he answers, "right here."
"A picnic at our rock?"
"Well if you don't want to it's fine, I mean, I was just trying to do something out of the ordinary..."
"Gale, Gale, calm down, I'm not saying it's a bad idea, I was just wondering if it counted as an official date?"
"Oh, I hadn't thought of that," he said pausing, "but I have now, and yes, it would be a real date."
"I think that would be wonderful. And after the date we can go home and see the training scores, I want to see how District 12 weighs in this year." I say. I mostly want to see Peeta's score to see if his dad will be more or less upset afterward, it was harder just picking off squirrels than one would think. After about a we were done plucking the feathers, we had to work on the turkey together, and our fingers are sore after doing the repetitive motion for so long. We put everything back in our bags and just sit next to each other on our rock. Then Gale pulls me in close to his side.
It's extremely comfortable. I'm nice and small and curl up perfectly to his size, and I think he notices too because he says, "You and me fit so perfect together, just look. I've never been more comfortable and at ease in my life, Katniss. I'm so glad you agreed to be with me."
"I am too," I say, "the only thing I was worried about was if or how it would affect our friendship, because I would never want to lose that."
"I thought over the same thing too, Katniss, I was worried, but then I thought, if we never try, we'll never know. And I thought it could make our relationship better. And I think that I'm right."
"You are. But, Gale, I know you've been with lots of girls, and they're all experienced, not at hunting, but, you know, at other things, and I heard girls talking about it in school, and I just don't want you to be disappointed in me, or regret dating me."
"Katniss, despite what the school thinks I've only even been with two girls. I've fooled around, yeah, but I told you last night, none of them ever meant anything to me. And you mean everything to me. You can learn to 'do things' as you put it. But they can't learn how to be like you, and that's the part about you I like the most. Plus I think teaching you will be fun," he said to me with a wink. I knew he wasn't joking about the first part though, and that made me happy.
"You really wouldn't mind teaching me?" I ask
"Not at all, in fact, I think it will be my pleasure."
"Can I start learning a little now?" I am trying so hard to be brave. That's my mantra, 'Be brave, be brave. Gale would never do anything you wouldn't want to do. I trust Gale with my life.'
"Are you sure Katniss? I don't want you moving too fast for yourself just to try to make me happy." He's so sincere and that seals my resolve.
"I'm positive. We can just start taking it slow, right?"
"Of course, you set the pace." He moved the game bags to the top of the rock and used the one filled with feathers sort of like a pillow for our heads. He laid us down facing each other, but with space in between us so I wouldn't feel to uncomfortable. And we were looking at each other in the eyes. His held so much tenderness and love I felt like I was going to cry again, I don't know what's come over me. I guess it's because I haven't had anyone but Prim, since my father died, that loved me. Well I suppose my mother does love me, but she's lost all my trust in her. I have put all my trust in Gale and Prim.
He looks at me and puts his hand on the side of my waist, it feels nice and warm. Then he leans his head down, and has his face just a breath away from mine. "Are you sure?" he asks again.
"Yes," I whisper. And his lips are on mine. And I remember from last night you are supposed to move them a little, but I let him show me how. Our eyes are closed and our lips are together, and I feel warm inside. I move over closer to him so our bodies are touching and hear moans against my mouth and it makes me feel excited. His hand that was resting on my said is now around my back holding me closer and my neck is practically using his other arm for a pillow around my neck and he's holding it around the back of my neck, again pressing me closer. But it doesn't scare me. It feels so nice, and so warm.
As we continue kissing he moves his mouth a little more and then sticks out his tongue, which at first I find funny, but then just find it amazing, and he traces it around my lips, which causes me to moan opening my mouth. And while I've heard girls talk about it at school before it could never prepare me for what a real 'french kiss' feels like. Our tongues were touching, and when I was younger I thought, 'who would want to do that? that's gross'. But it's so not gross. His tongue was moving against mine and I felt a heat in my lower belly. I moaned into Gales mouth and moved my body even closer to his, I was basically on top of him now. He didn't seem to mind one bit, the opposite actually. I kept kissing him and ended up threading my fingers through his silky hair.
I think he was jealous of my fingers, because I felt the band that held my braid together come off and one of his hands undoing my braid and then threading both of his hands through my hair and moving his fingers against my scalp. It felt wonderful. He moved from my hair to rub up and down my back, while I kept one hand in his hair and brought the other down to his neck and collarbone. He groaned and then stopped. I was disappointed. Did I do something wrong? After a couple minutes of me and Gale heavily breathing Gale finally opened his eyes. They were half-lidded. It was like he could read my insecurity about not being good enough because he brought my head down and kissed me deeply, but quickly again.
Gale
"Katniss, you think you did something wrong, or you weren't good enough?" I asked her incredibly. She looked down and nodded shyly, so I just had to kiss her again, but a quick peck this time. "Katniss if we had continued it would have been incredibly hard for me to stop. That was so amazing, Katniss. You were amazing, a natural. And you know my dreams?" It's almost like we could joke about them now because she knew about them and knew they stared her. "That's how they start out. But in my dreams I get to finish. And I do not want to move too fast, even if it feels really good, okay?" She nods less shyly this time, actually the vixen has a little smirk on her face. "I want you to know that just being you is much more important to me than fooling around or sex. But we can do things like that eventually if you want," I wink at her, I know she knows I'm telling the truth and trying to make her feel more at ease.
The way she reacted to the kiss was amazing, practically lying on top of me, running her fingers through my hair, which reminds me I messed her's up. Whoops. Her hair was as silky as I imagined it. Then her running her hand along my collarbone, that's when I had to stop, that's when I knew we were going too far for the first time. God, I can't wait to finally be with her, but I know that might take some time no matter how much she enjoys kissing, and that's alright with me, because Katniss Everdeen is a girl worth waiting for.
"So what do you say about bringing some squirrels to the baker's?" I ask. I get the game bag and we separate everything out, things for home and things for trading. We got 12 squirrels in all, definitely a squirrel record, two rabbits, two ducks, a loon, and that monstrous turkey that Katniss shot. We decide for each of our families two have two squirrels, and each have a duck, while we trade the rabbits and the loon at the Hob and trade 8 squirrels with the baker, giving us at least two loaves of good bakery bread.
"I need to go herb-hunting tomorrow, will you come with me then too, Gale? I know you don't know them as good as I do, but I can still try to teach you more so if I can't go out you can."
"I would love to go herb-hunting with you tomorrow, Catnip. After school again?" She nods. "Right, then. And I've been thinking that I can teach you something besides kissing, as well."
"Really?" She sounds excited, she does love learning stuff. "What are you going to teach me?"
"Well it's a surprise, silly. Now, let's go to the Hob first since it's closest, but we'll have to take real care to hide that turkey because everyone will want it." She nods again. "Then we can stop at my house and leave the game we're keeping, and stop by your house to tell your mom and Prim to head to my house for supper again. Then we'll bring the squirrels to the bakery."
"That sounds good, long and tiring, but good," Katniss agrees.
"I'll carry the heavy bag."
"I knew you would," she smiles. "You know, I like this more gentlemanly side to you Gale. Because you're being nice and doing all the heavy work, but you still know I could kick your ass, or beat you at an archery contest any day." She laughs.
"Archery contest, no doubt, but kicking my ass?"
"Was I, or was I not just on top of you. That was just a ploy. I had you pinned to the ground, and you know it," she jokes.
"Yes, I guess you're right. I'll be a good man-servant for you."
"That's all I'm asking for," she says like she's serious.
We weren't holding hands this way because we both had game bags, with the forage bag stuffed with feathers in mine and she had the bouquet I gave to her. So we stopped at the Hob and went straight to Greasy Sae. We show her the rabbits, which both have no marks on them, since they were caught in my snares, and the loon which was shot through the neck. She likes the rabbits because they are both nice and plump at this time of year. I trade for paraffin, but Katniss says she has enough and trades her rabbit for coins, the loon we also trade for paraffin, because you can never have enough candles!
Greasy Sae must notice the bit of change between the two of us, or maybe she notices the thing that I just noticed Katniss forgot to re-braid her hair, and she still had her bouquet in her hands. "It's about damn time you two got together!" She basically screams for the whole Hob to hear and I could hear literally every single conversation stop. And I'm sure Katniss can too, because she's blushing hard. We're somewhat legends here at the Hob because we both started hunting and trading at such a young age after our fathers died. They say we're a lot like them, both in our hunting techniques and our no-nonsense trading. Greasy Sae continues, and I find out I'm right about the pool about us getting together going around. She asks us, "So when did this start? If it started before yesterday than I'm going senile!" She doesn't say this bit as loud as she did the other bit, but you can tell she's excited, and she's actually happy for us, she likes us and 'our attitude and aim'. "Oh, and what a gentleman Gale is, getting you flowers!"
I speak for us because I know that Katniss is too embarrassed to say anything. "Yeah, she's been calling me gentlemanly all today and last night at supper," I say and get a small smile out of Katniss. "Yeah, Sae, we started going out last night."
Cray seems to appear out of nowhere, and I don't like him a whole lot knowing he takes advantage of starving girls and sleeps with them and he only gives them a meager few coins before throwing them back out. I'm glad Katniss was a whole lot smarter than that. Plus, as disgusting as he is I don't think he would sleep with an eleven year old, the only time that Katniss was desperate. But I still don't like him around Katniss, I've seen the looks he's given her even though he won't force himself on her. "Well it seems like you've finally grown the balls to ask her out, huh. Or were you just too sick of sleeping around?"
"First off, Cray, I never slept around, yeah, I fooled around but I'm a teenaged boy, and I fooled around with girls my own age, and I didn't have to pay them money to get it." I know I might have gone too far. Not with talking about fooling around, because Katniss knows that, but giving shit to the Head Peacekeeper isn't a good idea as a general rule. Luckily Darius was there to save the day.
"Come on, Cray, you know he was just working on his skills so when he finally got to be with Katniss he could keep her happy," Darius winked at me and I forced a smile, he was trying to help me but I didn't like the way he was going about it. "Plus, you're probably only mad because you didn't win the pool money." Okay, there we go, thank you, Darius.
Katniss' eyes widened and she held her flowers a little tighter and in a tight, squeaky voice asked, "Pool money?"
"Oh, honey, for years folks here around the Hob knew you and Gale here would get together, you were always so close, and yes, we all know you're best friends, but you crossed a line didn't you? You realized you were more than just best friends, and people 'round here can't help but looking for something to bet on, and you were it. You're such a cute couple!" Greasy Sae tells Katniss kindly. Then she shouts, since she's sort of the unofficial leader of the Hob, "Who had yesterday? Or who was the closest to yesterday? Ripper, the chart?"
"Chart?" Katniss asked in that same squeaky voice.
"Uh, it looks like," while she was using her one good hand going down a list to see who won the money, "Rooba, it was Rooba, she guessed the day before yesterday. Seems like she though he'd tell her the day before the Reapings so maybe they could have a day of happiness if one or both of them got reaped, luckily you two didn't get reaped. Do you know how gloomy it would be around here without you two?"
"Thanks... I guess, Ripper. I'm also glad we didn't get reaped. I am also glad that our relationship is so interesting to everyone." Katniss said in a flat voice. "I'm going to want more for that rabbit, Sae. Maybe since everyone here likes pooling they can pool to help you give me five more coins. Entertainment costs money."
The whole Hob laughed. But Katniss was serious, so Ripper threw in two coins, and Darius threw in two so Greasy Sae only had to give up one extra.
"But Rooba doesn't even work at the Hob, she has her Butcher Shop," Katniss says.
"It wasn't just the Hob that was in on the pool," Greasy Sae starts explaining, "It's basically the whole Seam and some of the Merchants, I know a lot of the miners were in on it too. The Hob's just the place to go to make not-so-secret betting pools. Even Goat Man was in on it."
Katniss' eyes widened further than I've seen anyone's eyes widen. She doesn't like the Goat Man. "Goat Man?" She says in disgust. "Well at least Rooba won. Goat Man was going to sell Lady to Rooba, but since we brought her the deer the night before and knew I wanted Lady for Prim's birthday she lied to Goat Man and told him she couldn't even use her for sausage."
"Ready to go, Katniss?" I ask.
"Um, I need to talk to Greasy Sae real quick about something, how about I meet you at my house? When we get to my house we can use my forage bag to put the squirrels in before going to the bakery, does that sound alright?" She asked.
"Of course it does, I'll see you at your house in about, fifteen minutes?"
"Yep, fifteen minutes sounds like plenty of time," she said smiling at me.
"See you soon," I say.
"See you soon," she says but she one ups me by giving me a peck on the lips and apparently some entertainment to the Hob, because many of the people there wolf-whistle, hoot, or clap. Some hoot and clap at the same time. Katniss tells me with her wink after the kiss it was for both of our benefits, she wanted to kiss me, and wanted to kind of make fun of the Hob that we were their source of entertainment. I left for my house with a smile on my lips.
