Meanwhile Effie had led us into a big room, where we were supposed to wait for Cinna. In the room it was completely silent so I stood up and started walking around restlessly. Again and again my thoughts drifted away and forced me to think about the interview. Until now I had kind of repressed the whole presentation thing, but now I realized that I was scared. Really scared. Not only scared of the interview, but of the whole bullshit here. It took me a long time to realize that I was frightened to death by all the events that were lying ahead of me… of us.
...
"Katniss, is everything alright?" Gale looked at me worriedly.
"No, of course not. Damn, Gale, we are in the Hunger Games and there are 22 monsters out there that want to kill us. It scares the wits out of me! I don't want this whole thing!" All these pent-up feelings were rushing out of me like a waterfall and I was glad I said it. Gale was the only person with whom I could be myself. There was absolutely no point in lying.
At first he just looked at me, then he pulled me in his arms. "Honey, you are great, okay? You can win this thing. Just think about Prim and your mum, alright?" His hand moved up and down my back in a comforting way, but not even this could calm me down.
"IT'S NOT ABOUT ME!", I yelled at him, although I didn't really know, why. "Gale, I'm more worried about you than me", I whispered and looked in his eyes. " I don't want to lose you." My voice broke and I felt tears filling my eyes. Losing Gale was the worst thing that could happen to me now.
Gale softly touched my cheek. "I don't want to lose you, too", he whispered and looked at me in the same way he did last night. When he bent down his head my heart started racing. Again thoughts were rushing through my mind and I didn't know what I wanted. After experiencing the feeling I had last night I wanted nothing more than Gale's kiss, but on the other hand I prayed he wouldn't kiss me, it would hurt too much.
...
When our lips finally met, this well-known feeling filled my stomach. I closed my eyes and wished that this moment would never pass. The warmth coming from Gale was so familiar and comforting that I didn't want to ever let go of him again. It felt so good feeling his lips on mine. In my whole life I had never been so happy and sad at the same time before. After we had broken apart I made a decision. I would do everything to get Gale out of the arena healthy even if I had to die for that. I was only sure about one thing: I could never kill him or let somebody else harm him. Never.
My head rested on his shoulder. I had never realized how good he smelled before. He smelled like home, like the woods early in the morning, untouched and fresh and he smelled like…Gale.
"Katniss?" His quiet voice reached my ear. He was still holding me tight and I prayed he wouldn't let go of me. Even if he was the main reason for the chaos of my feelings, he was also the only one I could rely on, the only one I could hold on to.
"Yeah?"
"I love you."
That was exactly the moment when I couldn't hold back my tears any longer. They ran down my cheeks like small rivers, but I didn't make the effort of wiping them away or holding them back.
"I love you, too." It wasn't hard to say these words although I had never thought I would ever say them. Usually I wasn't the kind of girl who falls in love, marries and has kids, but it was true. I took me a long time to realize it but I really loved Gale.
Without letting go of me Gale led me to a chair. He sat down and pulled me on his lap. For the first time since the kiss I looked him in the eyes and when I saw the trail from the tears on his cheek, I immediately started feeling bad. I wrapped my arms around his neck and leaned my forehead on his head. "I am sorry I didn't run away with you. We wouldn't have to go through this now", I whispered while moving my hands down his arms.
"Shhh. You couldn't leave, you have to take care of Prim." Gale squeezed my hand and caressed its back with his thumb. With my other hand I touched his cheek and bent down to kiss him. Our lips got closer and…
"Sorry for being late."
We broke apart quickly and stared at the three adults who had just entered the room. A man with dark skin and black hair offered me his hand, smiling friendly. "Nice to meet you, Katniss. I am Cinna, your stylist."
I nodded. Cinna pointed at the two women behind him. "This is Venia and this is Octavia. Venia will give me a hand here while Octavia will take care of Gale. I hope, that's okay for you."
Gale and I nodded in agreement. We still weren't able to say a word after the previous minutes. Cinna looked from me to Gale and back. "Don't worry, it won't take a lot of time." He smiled at us encouragingly and signalized me to come with him.
"See you later, then." This was the only thing I could say to Gale, before he left the room with Octavia. The door closed behind them and it felt like if the temperature had dropped by a few degrees within a second.
...
I cleared my throat to get rid of the lump. "So you are responsible for making me beautiful?" I asked while Cinna was leading me into one of the other rooms.
He shook his head. "No, I am here to help you make an impression. You are already beautiful." He looked at my reddened eyes and wanted to say something, but he stayed silent and softly touched my knee instead. Then he went to the other side of the room to get something. I stared at him surprised. Every other one in the Capitol would have wanted to know everything or would have just congratulated me for the huge honor of being a tribute, but he didn't say a word. My experiences with other people were very limited and I really didn't know a lot about them, but I could tell from the first second on that Cinna was different.
"Ready?"
I nodded and stood up.
"So, let's offer them a good show, hm?" When Cinna rolled his eyes depreciatively I could see his gold eyeliner. There was a MAN who was wearing GOLD EYLINER? Wow…
I smiled and let him begin with his work.
...
Cinna was the first person in the Capitol I felt comfortable with. The way he looked at me let no doubt that he was serious about every word he had said earlier. Although I had only been in his company for a couple of minutes I immediately felt like I had already known him for years. With him I could be myself. I had only felt this feeling once. I felt it a couple of years ago, when I met Gale for the first time…
