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Chapter 9
"Almost, but not quiet," Effie heard Haymitch said to Peeta and Katniss.
He walked down the length of the corridor with a bottle of wine in his hand and she stepped out of the shadow, addressing him.
"They're watching your games?"
For someone who was drunk, Haymitch could move blindingly fast. Effie found herself backed against a wall with his steel knife pressed against her throat. A whimper escaped her lips, her eyes wide with fear.
"It's me, please, it's me."
Haymitch blinked and slowly backed away. "Don't. Don't ever sneak behind me like that,"
"I wasn't. I was on my way back to my room, I heard you talking to them," Effie said, rubbing her neck.
"You sure you were walking back? Not hiding?" he smirked at her, his hand reaching out, slapping hers away, slowly examining her neck.
"Yes, Haymitch, I think I know where I was going," she replied coolly, trying not to let the feel of his fingers on her neck distract her.
"Or were you standing there in the dark sneaking at them trying to watch my Games?"
"I... I've watched your Games years ago," she replied, looking at him.
"Oh, did you enjoy yourself? Did you and your little friends placed bets on the girl from One when it was only the two of us left?" he said bitterly, sounding surprisingly angry.
Effie found the shift in his mood quite alarming. He retracted his hand and took a swig of drink from the wine bottle. She had a nagging feeling it was the alcohol that was rendering his moods mercurial.
"No. I was rooting for you, and I had to watch your Games again before I started my first year as an Escort. To get to know the mentor," she told him.
"Rooting... for me? Is that so? Why?" he asked, slightly taken aback. He was clearly surprised by this unexpected information. District 12 hardly ever had anyone rooting for them, being the perennial underdogs that they normally were.
She flushed and bit her bottom lip.
"Your eyes, you had a spark in them, some sort of determination. You were defiant, strong and proud. You stood out, and... Well, I noticed you. Especially during your interview," she said, looking down, embarrassed.
Effie felt Haymitch trailed a single finger along her jaw line before lifting her chin up to meet his eyes.
"Noticed me, huh?" his lips curled in a smile. Effie blushed under his gaze, his eyes boring into hers.
Haymitch's eyes were the most captivating shade of ash grey and Effie felt herself getting lost in them. Her mind must have dissociated itself from her body as she felt herself leaning forward, her mind screaming a warning at her to stop. She was acutely aware of the warm feeling of Haymitch's hand as it rested on her waist and the cooling feeling from the bottle of wine in his other hand pressing against her hip.
She blinked in surprise, the spell broken when Haymitch cleared his throat. He stepped away from her, "Goodnight, Eff."
He was gone before Effie could process what just happened.
XxX
"Do try to keep up, Haymitch! The opening ceremony isn't going to wait for you while you stumble around half drunk," she snapped at him.
"What's the matter with you?" he grumbled as he slipped a flask into his coat pocket.
Effie responded by walking briskly away. Haymitch caught up with her as she slid into her assigned seat, her eyes fixed at the spot where the chariots were arranged.
"I asked you a question, Trinket," Haymitch questioned her.
She pursed her lips in annoyance. "Not now."
"Well, if it's about yest–"
The words he was about to say were swallowed by the roars of the crowds as the tributes for District 1 rolled out in their chariots. The rest of the Districts passed by in a blur, turning to Haymitch, Effie commented, "Looks like they're trying to replicate our Tributes' designs last year."
"Yeah, looks like it," Haymitch said, the fight temporarily forgotten.
When Katniss and Peeta rolled out in their chariot, Effie couldn't help but feel a swell of pride. They were glowing like the fire in Effie's fireplace at her apartment; glowing like a warning to Panem. Cinna and Portia had showed her their designs so she wasn't really surprised. But Haymitch, like everyone else, looked captivated by the sight of Katniss and Peeta.
The crowds went wild, some standing on their feet and clapping enthusiastically. Others were cheering the so-called star-crossed lovers as they rode out in their chariot.
When it was over, Haymitch and Effie made their way back to the Training Centre. Haymitch immediately went over to talk to Chaff and Seeder. He may have hid it well, but Effie saw the unmistakable sadness in his eyes at the knowledge of his friends going back to the arena.
Effie crossed the room and went over to him, touching his arm, "They want us to go back to the Penthouse."
Haymitch turned and glanced at the Capitol attendants ushering the tributes away.
Walking towards the elevator, Haymitch was quick to bring the subject they were arguing about that morning.
"Are you going to be a bitch again? Cause if you are, I'll wait for the next elevator,"
She rolled his eyes. "No, and watch your language."
"Why so cranky, Trinket?" he teased her again.
She sighed. Haymitch could be very persistent when he wanted to. He chuckled. Taking her by the elbow, he guided her towards the elevator. Haymitch repeatedly jabbed the button for the twelfth floor and stood back as the doors closed.
"Just... Just leave it, okay? Just leave me alone."
"An odd request, sweetheart. Can't leave even if I wanted to, I'm stuck with you in this elevator," he told her, a sly smirk on his lips.
Effie ignored him and they rode the elevator in silence.
"Oh, for fuck's sake, will you tell me what I did, that's got you all twisted like this?"
"More like, what you did not do," she mumbled to herself.
"What was that, Eff?"
"Nothing!" she hurried to say, horrified that he may have overheard her.
"What didn't I do that got you all bothered like this?" Haymitch said, stepping closer to her. Her back was against the wall of the lift.
"Oh! It's inconsequential." she replied hurriedly, her eyes darting from the number displaying the level they were at and Haymitch's lips.
He raised an eyebrow, not believing a single word Effie just said. Effie raised her palms and rested it flat on his broad chest, gently pushing him away from her. He didn't budge.
"No, tell me. I don't want to go back to that Penthouse and have you nag at me all day because of some stupid thing."
Effie's breath hitched as she struggled to find the right words to say to him. No, no I can't tell him that I'm frustrated with how he's been treating me, that I had wanted him to kiss melast night.
One of his hands was gently resting on her waist, while the other was against on the wall of the lift beside her head. Their position was almost...intimate.
Effie took a deep breath and strengthened her resolve. She closed her eyes and pressed her lips against his in a soft chaste kiss.
"That. That was what you didn't do yesterday," she murmured against his lips as she pulled back.
"Oh," he said, surprised.
She watched him, afraid of his reaction. He bent forward and pressed another kiss on her indigo coloured lips. "For yesterday," he whispered to her before he walked out of the elevator as they reached the twelfth floor.
Effie trailed after him in a daze, pleased but dazed. What had they gotten themselves into? They had not even dealt with the implications of their first kiss - when Katniss and Peeta had won the Games - and now this happened. They had not even talked about what was going on between them. Effie was fond of him, but would he even return her affections?
Well, it's my fault, she thought to herself, for giving in to temptation. She shouldn't have. But, that didn't mean she didn't enjoy it.
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