Chapter 9

The Visitor

Sitting on the counter in the back of the bakery, the backdoor opened to the renewed scent of fresh baked pizza. My stomach grumbled in response as I first breathed its magnificence. I thought I was going to starve to death sooner or later. The twins had been gone for nearly an half an hour leaving me in charge of the bakery. I swore if they hadn't made it back by now, I was thinking about falling into temptation and eating a couple of the cheese buns Peeta had made this morning. Peeta, we're still going out. It's weird, I didn't think we would have had made it this long, I don't think anyone did. Especially after that night a week ago, I was the most surprised when Peeta just didn't go. That night, Peeta had seen me at my worst and he hadn't run for the hill, but instead he embraced it and stood with me through it all. He was just pure good. Haymitch's words were right, not in a thousand lifetimes would I ever deserve him.

Seeing as Marcus walked into the middle of the room, setting the pizza box beside me, he grinned, "Someone's hungry."

Dammit, I thought, he must have heard my stomach.

Playfully I push my hand against his shoulder as I watched Rye come up behind him, setting a case of orange soda on the counter beside the pizza box. Then seeing Marcus open the box, a delicious cheese pizza topped with sausage and spinach was revealed. Rye, Marcus, and I had argued over what to get. Rye wanted plain cheese, Marcus wanted sausage and mushroom, and I wanted spinach. And so we compromised, each one of per allowed to pick one and only one topping to which we would choose to put on the pizza; thus leaving us with a sausage, spinach, and cheese pizza.

And then as I reached for a slice of the pizza, pulling one from the pie, I heard it. I heard it, the familiar rumble of a too old, too rusted, too impaired motorcycle engine. The sound seemed so lovely yet so haunted. Dropping the slice of pizza, I hopped off the counter and made my way to out the door. I could feel Marcus's and Rye's eyes following me, but I didn't care, I need to find it. So out the door of the kitchen to the front register I stopped. Through the window, I my eyes were fixed on what was parked across the street. There it was, the silver rusted motorcycle that I had grown up on. The metal was tarnished, the leather seat worn, and the faded license plate that read:

Ash 106.

It had been belonged to my grandfather long ago who had passed it down to my father who had passed it down to me. It was mine, my motorcycle. And there just a cross the street it sat in all its glory.

Then in my head as I debated whether or not to jump over the register and out the door to go to it, but the customer bell rang. I turned and then in one swift motion I turned to see him. He was still himself. I suppose I thought he would have changed, but he was still himself. He was still tall with board shoulders and a muscular frame. His thick, chocolate colored hair was pushed back and his eyes were still a crystal shade of gray. He wore the same familiar faded jeans he wore to anywhere nice with a green button up. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up to his elbows revealing the faint pink outline of a scar that ran from the inside of his wrist to close near his elbow. And with his school bag hanging over his left shoulder and a small silver keychain that he fiddled with between his fingers, he looked to me with a smile.

"Hey Catnip."

Gale, my mind thought.

Gale.

He was here. He came. He said he would. Why didn't I believe him? The same reason you thought he would have changed, my brain retorted. And why was that, I thought. Nevertheless it didn't matter, he was here. He had kept his promise like he always did. He was here. His person was here.

Gale.

Hearing the back door of the bakery, I could hear Marcus and Rye from behind. They were saying something about food, something about the pizza, something about cold. I don't know what they were saying, their words weren't processing. Yet I didn't care about whatever they were saying, it didn't at this moment in time.

Gale.

Stepping forward, I placed my hands on the register counter, lifting myself over. Then with a graceful plop, I landed on the other side. There, there I stood only inches away from him. Gale. Looking up at him, I took a step forward. Wrapping my arms around his waist and my cheek pressed against his chest, I hugged him. Hesitating for a second, Gale then wrapped his arms around me, placing his chin on top of my head.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled.

As Gale and I sat at the counter of the Capitol, I thought of what had happened in the past day. The beginning: Gale showed up last night at the bakery. The following: After showing up, I skipped out on dinner with Marcus and Rye and Gale which caused me receive a few confused and questioning looks. We rode back to Haymitch's. Haymitch was standing in the front door when we had pulled up. He smiled at the sight on my father's bike and gave Gale a firm handshake. We went inside, talking around the kitchen counter while we ate Haymitch's "homemade" mac & cheese. The now: I had woken up this morning beside Gale on the couch from a dreamless sleep. I got a shower and changed to come back to find Gale rummaging around the refrigerator. And beside the uncooked pancake batter and bruised bananas, there wasn't much to eat as a result that Peeta had been away for two days visiting his grandparents so we found our way to the Capitol.

A small bowl of filled with linguine and chicken was slid in front of me causing me to look up to see Marvel. "Hey, Kat," he said looking to Gale sitting beside me.

"Hey Marvel, this is my friend, Gale."

Looking from me to Gale and back Marvel gave him a smile as he reached out his hand. Shaking Gale's hand he said, "Nice to meet you man, I'm Marvel."

Gale nodded his head and mumbled a "You too."

Turning his attention back to me, Marvel said, "You going to the party tonight?"

Party, I thought, I didn't know there was a party tonight. "Whose," I asked.

"Cato's, Cato Burns." Cato Burns, the name seemed to ring a bell, but I couldn't figure out the face it went with or where I had head the name before.

Seeing my confusion, Marvel said, "The guy who stole Rye's girlfriend. You know the guy Rye got into a fight with at the last party and Peeta went overboard."

Oh, tall crew-cut blond with the not so friendly eyes. Was that such a good idea, I thought, going to his party considering what happened last time?

Obviously knowing what I was thinking, Marvel shook his head at me. "Cato won't even be there probably and if he does show it's only a couple minutes before he finds a girl to take up to his room. Plus his parents are rich and the boozes are good." Sensing Gale eyeing me, Marvel stated, added, "And I know you haven't talked to Peeta cause of you giving him time with his grandparents or whatever but he is going because god knows what will happen if Rye shows up and shit goes down. So he's gonna drive straight from his grandparent there. He'll probably make it mid-way through the party."

Should I? I could bring Gale, he could meet my friends. It wouldn't be weird, would it? I think Gale would like that, plus Gale was always a partier.

"Fine," I mumbled, "Send me the address later and we'll show."

Giving me a smile, he said, "Yes! Aw, this is gonna be a good night." Then hearing his name being called from the kitchen he excused himself saying he would see me tonight.

At that point I looked to Gale to see him giving me a suspicious look. "People? Partying? Booze? Fight? What's happened to you, Catnip?"

Life, I thought as I smiled at him. Nevertheless nudging him in the ribs with my elbow I avoided his question as I muttered, "Shut up."

The party had been fun so far. We had been hanging out in the living room of the Burn's home. Finnick sitting in the recliner with Annie on his lap, Marvel sitting on the leather couch with some girl they called Foxface whom which he was playing slaps with, Peeta and I were leaning on each other as we sat on the edge of the coffee table, and Gale leaning up against the wall eye us. Of course there were a few other people in the room but we didn't seem to blend with them. Gale on the other hand had been quite social. At the moment Finnick, Peeta, and himself were having some argument over football. One team's quarterback would have been the best in the league if he hadn't been injured or something. I was just surprised to see him getting along with everyone, especially with Peeta. I haven't explained to him yet what Peeta and I are, but I think he got the gist of it when Peeta gave me a kiss when he first walked in. But every now and then I see him looking around at Peeta and I with questioning eyes.

I'm not sure really why I haven't told him yet, it just hasn't seemed to come up. I don't think I wanted it to come up. Gale and I were like siblings but… there was something else. A few weeks before the accident we had started dating. It was nothing big really; he took me to this dinner called the Hob, we went out to the movies once, and hung out at his house a little more often. He tried not to make big deal out of it all, but it had been a pretty big deal, at least for him. His brother, Rory, had confessed to me one day the year before during our free in school that his brother was in love with me. Gale was in love with me. I never thought of it much. Maybe Gale and I could… but hell I didn't want to get married after seeing what happened to my mother after my father's death or even date for the matter. Yet even before we started dating, people thought we were a couple, some even thought we were going to elope after high school. Then he asked me out and you could see the glow in Gale when I said sure.

It was our third "date." Gale and I had been driving to a party when halfway there we realized Prim laying in the backseat. I wanted to take her back home, but that didn't happen. Prim had made a good argument on why we should let her stay and go to the party with us. Gale backed her up. I even backed her up even though I wouldn't admit it. So we went to the party. We didn't drink or anything, maybe we would have if Prim wasn't there, but we had to be responsible. At some point it started raining and we decided it was time we headed back. And then no more than a mile away from home, the accident happened. Prim died, mom was gone, and I was alone. Gale and I weren't together, I just couldn't do it. It wasn't because I blamed him, I didn't, I just couldn't do it .Gale understood and he knew his new role was just to be there for me. Since then he had been my rock. We didn't talk about our relationship and now I knew we would have to and I was dreading it.

Standing up I felt Gale's and Peeta's eyes on me. "I'm going to get a drink, anyone else?"

Shaking their heads no, I headed to the kitchen. I had to say the house was elegant and that Cato knew how to throw a good party. As I reached the kitchen, I pulled the door to the large, stainless steel refrigerator open. Booze. There were countless bottles of booze ranging from cheap water downed beers to some pretty pricy whiskey. Reaching for one of the glass beer bottles, I felt a hand grab me my shoulder and pin me against the opposite refrigerator door. Looking up, I came face to face with a familiar looking, blue eyes and blond haired boy.

Cato.

"Hey sexy," he said evenly even though his breath reeked on liquor. Cringing away from his touch, he stepped pressing his chest to mine. "Not so fast," he said leaning his face to mind. Closing my eyes I pushed my hands against his chest, but he didn't budged. Then feeling his lips on my and hands moving up toward my chest, I began to squirm.

Why wasn't anyone doing anything, I thought, why was no one doing anything. Feeling his hand dance over my scars I gasped and he slipped his tongue into my mouth. I pushed at his chest against again, but he didn't move. He had me pinned. I couldn't move, it was as if nothing worked. That's when I felt the tears begin to well up and spill over.

No, no, no, I thought, no.

Then in one swift motion, Cato was pulled off me. My head began to spin as I watched the scene taking place before me. Peeta punched Cato. He pushed Cato up against the counter. People were backing away from them. A few people started yelling fight. Annie, Gale and Finnick were then beside me. Seeing the outline of a bruise form along Peeta's cheekbone, he punched Cato in the nose causing blood to stream from it. Peeta took him by the front of his shirt and punched him across the jaw. Cato went down and Peeta stood there, chest heaving and eyes wandering. Spotting me, he immediately made his way over, pulling me into a hug.

"I'm sorry," he said into my hair as I cried into his shirt. Rubbing circles on my back, my eyes began to hurt and the tears began to run dry. Parting us, Peeta looked me in the eyes. "Stupid question, but are you okay?"

It was a stupid question, but that was Peeta, stupidly considerate. It made me smile a bit and laugh a little.

"Home," I said with a sniffle, "Can we go home?"

Giving me a smile, he said, "Sure." Then pulling me back into a hug, he gave me a tight squeeze. We stood in our embrace for what seemed like a million moments. There I felt so safe.

Yet hearing Gale's voice break the silence he said, "What did he do?"

I cringed at the question as Peeta replied, "Kissed her."

Looking to Gale, I saw his face flare up with anger, this wasn't good. Watching him step a few yards away, he walked over to Cato who now stood on the other side of the room among a few guys with a cocky smile playing across his lips as he looked at me. Then seeing Gale's knee connect with his groin and hand with face, he went down. Gale calmly took a deep breath before returning to my side.

"You good," Peeta asked. And all he did was nod before saying, "Let's get out of here."