"Vol pour Paris, la France, l'atterrissage maintenant." The voice over the intercom sounds. (Flight to Paris, France, now boarding.)
My hands playing flappy bird freeze and begin trembling.
"Katniss," Peeta holds both of my wrists. "Don't worry. They're going to love you." He insists.
When we walk out of the airport, I'm struck at how beautiful Paris is. Everyone is dressed their age and couples are holding hands and talking and laughing.
This really is the city of love.
Peeta and I find ourselves molding right in with everyone. We talk in English and everyone is uncomfortable around us.
Peeta informs me that his family normally speaks in French around the house but they're going to speak in English for my family. "Oh they don't have to do that." I say.
"Well they are." He says. I notice he has my luggage. I make a grab for it as he opens the door to a place and walks inside.
"What are you doing?" I ask.
"Not letting you overwork yourself." He says.
"Aw come on." I reach for it again but he pulls away.
"Nope." He let's the door slam shut, a bell rings, and then he kisses me. He pulls away and tucks a lock of hair fallen from my braid behind my ear. "I'm not letting you carry anything." He smiles and I smile back.
"Fine." I kiss his cheek.
"Let's go." He takes my hand and leads me through the door. We must be in the bakery where he grew up. Nobody is here and I'm guessing it's closed. He leaves our luggage down here and peers out the window. "I think we're late. Everyone is here."
"Who's everyone?" I ask.
"My whole family. Aunt and uncle and cousins and both sets of grandparents..."
"That's a lot of people." I mumble.
One thing is even though I'm respectful to people I'm extremely shy when it comes to meet new people. "Let's go." He links our fingers. I'm wearing black skinny jeans with a long sleeve light blue jean button down shirt with the front tucked in, combat boots and a maroon scarf. My hair is in my usual braid. He leads me up the stairs and I can hear voices and laughter. I tighten my grip on his hand. He pecks my lips. "Don't be nervous." He barely whispers in my ear. Then he reaches over and opens the door, pulling me into a neat and tidy living room. There is a chandelier in the middle of the ceiling and a flat screen TV plastered on the wall. There is a brown couch beneath the TV and one directly across from it and one on the side. In the middle there is a mahogany wooden coffee table with a black rug beneath it. There is a hallway off to the left and another one off to the right. I can't see which is which. Directly in front of me there is a painting of Paris and beneath it it says "No family is perfect...we argue, we fight. We even stop talking to each other at times, but I'm the end, family is family...the love will always be there."
I love that quote. Peeta squeezes my hand and I snap my eyes up to his.
Nobody has even noticed us, they're just talking. I notice that it's in English. Peeta turns and opens the door and slams it again. Every set of eyes snaps onto us and the house drifts into silence. My hand trembles and Peeta holds it tighter.
"Peet! Bro! God you've got yourself a model or something!" A boy who looks like Peeta but taller with short hair and a different shade of blue stands up and, and instead of hugging his brother or shaking his hand, he walks right to me, plants a kiss on my cheek and throw his arm around my shoulder. "Well damn! You are quite sexy!"
"Katniss," Peeta pulls me out of this boy's distance and wipes away the kiss. "This is my brother, Rye. He is twenty five. Rye, this is my girlfriend, Katniss." I notice the way he says "my" by saying that he isn't allowed to kiss me again."
"Nice to meet you Katniss. I'm going to call you Kat." He sticks his hand out. "Or sexy, or beautiful, or my wish."
I can't help it. "Or you can just call me Kat or Katniss." I say.
I'm surprised, really, when everyone, including him and Peeta start laughing. I smile and a man that looks like an older Peeta with short blond hair stands up and hugs Peeta and sticks his hand out my me.
"Hello Katniss, I'm Daniel, Peeta's father."
"It is lovely to meet you." I shake his hand.
He looks actually shocked. I notice the way his eyes grow slightly larger, his jaw opens in shock, his eyebrows rise and he looks at Peeta. "I wasn't expect you to say that." He says.
Did I say something wrong?
I begin to panic, and Peeta squeezes my hand reassuringly. "I mean...Delly is so..." He trails off.
"A bitch?" Peeta says.
"Yes...and your so sweet and kind and beautiful and you..." He looks me up and down. "Dress like it's winter."
Peeta starts laughing for some reason. "You guys are going to get a kick out of this." He says. "So Katniss was a work and she came to my house. Delly showed up and we were fighting. When Katniss got there I forced her to leave. She had on her usual clothes and as she was walking out the door-" he gasps, struggling to catch his breath. "She told her to put some clothes on!"
Why did he just tell them that?
They start laughing and introducing themselves.
There is a little girl with blond straight hair and green eyes. She is the last person for me to meet. She scrambles off the couch and walks over to me. She has on a pink dress and she's adorable. "Up!" She holds her arms up to me.
I love kids so much. I don't hesitate to grab her under her armpits and pick her up. "I'm Audrey! I'm four!" She grins.
"Hi Audrey." I smile. Peeta shows me around the house and into the room we will be staying in. Then he orders me to stay where I am has he disappears. He comes back two minutes later with our luggage.
"My two cousins and my brother aren't here yet. My brother lives in Brittany, actually. He's driving here. Oh and my cousins, Justice and Kegan, they're coming. They're coming over right now."
He nuzzles my shoulder and kisses, and then kisses my lips. Then he whispers, "My mom is going to think we've having sex." He opens the door, kisses me again and walks out of the door, pulling me with him. He sits down and pulls me down next to him.
"So, Katniss." Mrs. Mellark begins. "How old are you?"
"I turned twenty three on May eighth." I answer. She nods.
She starts asking questions. "What do you do for a living?"
"I worked at a recording company, but someone," I look at Peeta. "Begged me since July to quit my job."
"Peeta Ryan!" Mrs. Mellark scolds. Peeta shoots me a look saying 'your gonna get it' and then he sighs.
"Mom I never got to see her because she worked nonstop without breaks from six to six and it wasn't fair because I love her and when I don't get to see her I get sad so I begged her to quit her job so she can work with me!" He rants.
"I love you too." I mumble. He pecks my lips six times before kissing my cheek and pulling away.
Everyone is smiling. "What is your nationality?" His mom asks.
"I'm not sure...all I know is I'm really French..." I shrug.
"Really?" She looks surprised.
"Yeah I can speak fluent French. My mom actually grew up in Brittany."
"Wow! Peeta, why didn't you mention that?" Mrs. Mellark asks.
He shrugs. "I don't know."
"Are you a virgin?" She asks.
"Mom!" Peeta says.
"What? Peeta your not supposed to be having sex until your married." She says.
"No I-I'm not...I'm not supposed to have sex till marriage either-"
"So you did anyways?" She asks.
"I um...I just..." I begin to panic. Peeta takes both my hands.
"I was raped." I mumble.
"Oh goodness!" His mother puts her hand over her heart. "You poor girl! I am so sorry for asking, that was none of my business-"
"It's okay..."
"No it's not okay." Peeta's angry. "That wasn't your place to ask."
"Peeta stop." I mumble. He probably doesn't hear me.
"You shouldn't have asked her that!"
"Peeta stop. She is your mother and your being rude." I drop his hands.
He drifts into silence. "I'm sorry mom." Peeta says.
His mom is silent for a while. "I like her. You better not let her go. If she's your wife, maybe she'll whip you into shape. And if she's the mother of my grand babies, then we don't have to worry about them being disobedient."
Everyone begins to make small talk and Peeta and I start playing flappy bird together.
A boy with blond hair, a bit longer than Rye's but shorter than Peeta's, with another shade of blue eyes bursts into the house. Peeta's Aunt Portia and Uncle Cinna must be the parents of the boy who looks to be eighteen with dark skin and short hair. I notice his left eyebrow is shaved in three parts. His black hair is short and he has a black hat on backwards. His outfit screams gang member but I know he isn't. There is one more boy; he has very curly blond/brown hair and brown eyes.
"Sorry we're late!" the boy with dark skin exclaims.
My bird dies one tunnel before I get to my goal and I sigh sharply. Peeta places his hand on my knee. "Just relax. It's not that hard." He says.
"HOLY SHIT!" The guy that I am assuming is Peeta's brother shouts. Everyone looks at him in confusion. He turns to Peeta. "Putain de merde, elle est votre amie? Merde Peet, si j'étais vous, je n'attendrais pas à obtenir ses maudits vêtements. J'ai regardé du porno, mais oh putain elle est comme un secret modèle de défilé de mode de Victoria. Elle baise magnifique. Quelle est sa taille de soutien-gorge? Êtes-vous renifler sa culotte? Je sais que je l'ai vu au mariage mais ... merde, je ne souffle la chaleur dans ma putain de maison jusqu'à ce qu'elle est si chaude qu'elle a à strip-tease. Un conseil bro, jouer avec ses seins." (Holy shit, is she your girlfriend? Damn Peet, if I were you, I wouldn't wait to get her damn clothes off. I've watched porn, but oh fuck she is like a Victoria secret fashion show model. She's fucking gorgeous. What's her bra size? Do you sniff her panties? I know I saw her at the wedding but...shit, I would blast the heat in my damn house till she's so hot she has to strip nude. Word of advice bro, play with her tits.)
Peeta stares at his brother for a long time, and then he bursts out laughing. "Oui Graham, Katniss est ma petite amie." (Yes Graham, Katniss is my girlfriend.)
Graham turns to me. "Well hello there beautiful, I'm Peeta's brother, Graham." He says.
I decide to completely embarrass the shit out of him, simply because I have to. I stand up and shake his extended hand and say, "Ravi de vous rencontrer Graham. Juste vous faire savoir, je peux parler couramment le français." (Nice to meet you Graham. Just letting you know, I can speak fluent French.)
His entire face and neck goes completely red and he drops my hand and steps back, looking at Peeta. "Why didn't you stop me?" he shouts.
"Because I needed a good laugh,"
"Well do you know her bra size though?" Graham asks.
"No." Peeta says.
"You're slacking." The boy with dark skin shakes his head.
Then so quickly, he darts forward and kisses me right on the lips. "Justice, what the fuck!" Peeta lunges at him and everyone shrieks as the two of them start fist fighting.
I'm not that upset that he kissed me, I'm pissed at the way Peeta is reacting.
I think back to after Cato raped me. Dad taught me to fight and break up fights.
"Just remember Kitten, it doesn't hurt when you get hit. If you tell yourself that, you're invincible."
The town found out I was raped and a guy came up to me and confronted me.
Finnick nearly put the kid in the coma and everyone was surrounded. I broke it up and I was so angry at Finnick that I punched him.
He's never fought again.
"Stop it!" Portia shrieks.
My vision is slightly red on the edges. Peeta is on top of the fight. I lunge forward and shove him off. I'm so angry that everyone can tell. My hands are clenched in fists and I'm glaring at Peeta. "What the hell did I do?" he snaps.
I grab his wrist and pull him downstairs, slamming the door behind him. I lead him to the front of the bakery before rounding on him. "What the hell was that?" I shout.
"What are you talking about? He fucking kissed you!"
"I don't care! That's your cousin! You don't fight with family! That's not right! I'm still your girlfriend! He kissing me doesn't have anything to do with us! I get it pissed you off, but you don't go fighting people like that! Especially not your cousin!"
He exhales sharply and paces around the bakery in silence. "You're right, I'm sorry." He says.
"It's not me you need to apologize to." I cross my arms.
"I still need to apologize to you for arguing." He says. "And I'm sorry." I kiss him roughly.
"Don't do it again. When I first was taught to fight I had to break a fight up between Finnick and some guy and I punched Finn because I was pissed off."
"Well I'll be extra careful then." He takes my hand and pulls me back upstairs. He goes to sit down but I clear my throat loudly, and when our eyes lock, I arch my eyebrows. He sighs and walks over to Justice. "Sorry. Don't touch my girlfriend and we'll be alright." He says.
"Fair enough. I'm sorry too." They guy hug and then everything is back to normal.
My phone starts ringing. It must be in the couch. I reach in and grab it and see Mama as the caller. "Hey Mama." I say after answering.
"Hey honey." She says. I can hear her smile. "Listen, we're in the airport in Paris…where do we go?"
"Wait, I thought you guys were coming tomorrow?" I ask.
Mama is silent for a while. "Katniss you told us to come on the twentieth!" she says.
"No, I said Peeta and I were coming on the twentieth and you guys were coming on the twenty first."
"Katniss if they're here now it's not a big deal. We'll just give them directions."
"Katniss…" She sighs, stressed out.
"Okay Mama, it's fine." I say.
"Are you sure?" she asks.
"Tell Brainless I said she's a total fuck up." Johanna says.
"Why would I tell her that?" Mom asks in the background.
"Because it's funny."
"I'm not telling her that." Mom says.
I give her directions and a few minutes later she texts me.
Mama: the sign says closed.
I stand up. "I'll be back in two seconds." I say. I go downstairs, and Peeta follows me, snatching my hand in his own.
The next ten minutes are filled with introducing and laughter and talking.
"Hey Kat?" Kegan, the other guy that came in with Justice and Graham asks.
"Yeah?" I ask.
"Come here a second." He's sitting on the other couch next to the arm on his laptop. I walk over to him and sit down on the arm. "Is this the recording studio you worked at?" he asks.
Plutarch's recording firewalls get hacked: A mystery singer with the voice of an angel records the song Enchanted by Taylor Swift and the world is struck at this beautiful voice.
"Uh yeah, that's the one." I say.
"Did you know the firewalls got hacked?" he asks.
"Yes." I reply.
"What is it?" Peeta asks.
"Read it out loud." Aunt Annabella requests.
"Plutarch's recording firewalls get hacked: A mystery singer with the voice of an angel records the song Enchanted by Taylor Swift and the world is struck at this beautiful voice."
"Is that all it says?" Finn narrows his eyes.
"This girl has the voice of a saint. In the song (listed below) she hits every high note on spot and she hardly used any auto-tune. The world is in love with this girl and everyone is dying to know who the mystery girl with the voice of a god is. As a matter of fact, this Friday, November twenty first, Good Morning America will be having a concert in Times Square and every girl that has recorded a song inj Plutarch's recordings is allowed to join and sing the song so we can see who sang the song. If the wrong girl is there, we will be moving all around the world. The winning girl with be offered a record label with Warner Bros and an interview on the Ellen DeGeneres show."
"They said the song is listed below. Play it." Peeta says. Kegan scrolls downward.
"Kitty that's the same song you recorded at the same studio." Finn says. "For the wedding,"
"I know, but there's no way it's me. I'm not that good."
"We hardly used any auto tune." He reminds me.
"But it's not me." I insist.
Kegan plays the song.
The girl starts singing and I swear to god, I almost pass out.
Because it is me.
"Well..." Mrs. Mellark speaks up when the song is over. "It looks like we're going to New York City."
