Author's Note: The Hunger Games characters do not belong to me. This is the first of a two or three-parter.

"Madge, you're invited to join us for dinner at The Chowder House."

Madge looked up from her position on the couch, she had been sitting curled up for most of the afternoon rereading Lord of the Rings for the millionth time.

"Who's 'us'?"

"Gale and Peeta are in town again meeting with clients and they have the evening off. It would be just the four of us."

Madge frowned. Gale was Katniss's best friend from her hometown and they got together to hang out whenever his work took him to Portland. Lately his business partner Peeta had started travelling with him and Katniss had started dragging Madge along so there weren't any third wheels. All this had really succeeded in doing was making Madge feel like something of a fourth wheel. It was obvious that Gale and Katniss would have plenty to talk about without her and that Peeta was head over heels for Katniss. Peeta was pretty nice to Madge and tried to include her in the conversations but she always felt that Gale thought of her as a creature that, if necessary, was observed, not engaged with.

"I don't know Katniss. I feel like being cozy and reading tonight. I'm at a really good part." Madge gestured with her book.

Katniss plucked the book out of Madge's hands and, after moving the bookmark to the correct page, knowing from experience how vicious Madge would get otherwise, placed it on the coffee table by the couch.

"Madge, you are always at the good part and you always want to just stay in. You have to come with. Think of it as payback for all those parties you dragged me to in college."

Madge rolled her eyes, "You just want me to come so that no one will notice when you spend the entire time ogling Peeta. It won't work though. I'm not grouchy and rebellious enough to satisfy Gale's conversational needs and Peeta will just be staring back at you. If anything, I'd suggest to Gale that he not show up. No need for all four of us to be sitting and awkwardly staring at each other."

Katniss glared at Madge and pulled the blanket off her friend. "Up! Don't turn this around on me. I don't even know how to 'ogle' and you know it. Plus," she added, her cheeks turning rosy, "I can't help it if Peeta is nicely sculpted."

Madge fake gagged. "Ugh. Don't you dare get girly on me Ms. Everdeen. I don't think either of us could handle it. Well," she grouched, "if you're going to steal my book and my blanket then I feel you've left me no choice. But there is no way I'm dressing to impress." Making a show of it, Madge got up off the couch and shuffled to her room.

Ten minutes later Katniss popped her head into Madge's room to find her housemate's nose buried in another book, but thankfully no longer in her pajamas.

"Madge! Get your lazy butt up. They're here." As Madge rose from her bed, Katniss was able to take in what she was wearing. "Ummm, I did mention where we were going right?"

Madge looked at her rebelliously. "If I'm going, at least I'm going to be comfortable physically. There's only so much emotional discomfort one can take when dressed up for a night on the town. I'll be much more capable to handle the evening dressed like this." Madge gestured to her jeans and old college sweatshirt before slipping her cat covered socked feet into a pair of clogs.

"Alright," Katniss shrugged. "Let's go then."

As Madge followed her housemate she contemplated her choice in outfit. It wasn't like Katniss was wearing anything much different. Sure, Katniss was wearing her fancy clothes but that only consisted of dark hued skinny jeans, shoes that weren't tennis shoes, and a sweater. And yes, Madge had worn these jeans so often they were baggy and her sweatshirt had some bleach stains on it, but the jeans didn't have any holes and the bleach spots weren't too large or in prominent places. Plus she was pretty sure the restaurant they were going to was one of those where they practically had to read the menu by candlelight. No one would even be able to tell what she was wearing, it was going to be fine.

Katniss led her to a silver Toyota parked outside their apartment building. The brunette and blonde heads were easy to see through the windshield. As usual, Peeta had a big cheery smile on his face and Gale had a scowl.

As they entered the car Gale turned around and eyed Madge. "We not good enough for your many ball gowns Undersee? I'm sure any dress you wore would be mighty pretty."

She never should have told them about all the fancy dresses she'd owned as a teenager. They'd been talking about strange things their parents did and she'd mentioned that her mom always bought her prom dresses, "for those fancy dress parties you dad might want to take you too." Apparently Gale had been morally offended by how her parents chose to spend their money.

"Oh no. I keep all my fancy clothes at my mansion on the other side of town. I'm sorry I didn't have time to drive all the way over there to pick one out." Madge replied sarcastically.

Katniss sighed, "Just let her be Gale. I wouldn't put it past her to jump out of the car just to get back to that book she was reading. I'm surprised she didn't bring it with."

Madge shrugged, "It's too thick. Maybe I should just go back." She sighed, looking out the window.

As if he was afraid that she actually would, Gale started the car and maneuvered out of his spot.

"What are you reading," he asked.

Madge peered at him through narrowed eyes. Since when did Gale care about her free time activities? "I just got to rereading the part in The Return of the King where Faramir and Eowyn are in the house of healing. I love that part."

"You read that whole thing before and you wanted to read it again?" Gale asked disbelievingly.

She glared at him, offended. "Yes, I like to read. Do you have a problem with that? I don't want to sit around doing my hair and nails all the time, despite what you seem to think."

Gale sighed, making eye contact with her via the rear-view mirror. "Okay, some one is feisty today. I wasn't trying to insult you Undersee. I'm impressed, really."

She looked at him, unsure if she should believe his words. Gale had been making snide comments to her and about her since they'd met. She didn't know if he'd actually ever said something nice to her before.

"Welll," Peeta said, interrupting her thoughts. "I think this is the perfect time for me to share my thoughts on which character each of us would be." He turned in his seat to wink at the two girls. "Madge and Gale here aren't the only two to have read that tome."

Well, that was interesting tidbit. Gale read a book? Madge never would have guessed.

"Not this again Peeta." Gale groaned.

"Yes!" Peeta chirped. He spent the rest of the ride in a monologue debate as to whether he was more Gimli or Pippin. Katniss and Gale were obviously Legolas and Aragorn, respectively. After much thought he'd decided that Madge was Arwen although, he added, he could see her as Galadriel. Madge was pretty sure Peeta was Tom Bombadil but didn't try to bring it up. She was too busy mulling over the implications of Gale and her characters being in a romantic relationship. She wasn't quite sure how she felt about that. She'd definitely thought before about what it would be like to be the calm water to Gale's fire but he always seemed to turn her from a calm pond into a whirlpool of emotions. In the end she'd decided it was a moot point. Gale didn't seem to have any interest in her other than as a personification of all the things he felt were wrong about the upper class in the United States.

Finally they arrived at the restaurant and Katniss was able to distract Peeta by asking about if he'd been there before. Madge followed behind them and was startled when she heard Gale's deep voice close to her.

"Madge, I'm sorry about that comment when you got in the car. Bread boy convinced me I shouldn't change out of my suit from earlier and I was envious of how comfortable and self-assured you looked, like you know you're hot stuff and people will pay attention to you no matter how you dress."

Madge scanned Gale and noticed that while he did look quite nice, not that she'd ever tell him but those pants did great things for him, he also didn't look quite comfortable. "It's okay, I shouldn't have jumped at your throat. And I'm pretty sure I could count the times I've been considered 'hot stuff' on one hand and none of those times was I wearing anything near as casual as this." She shrugged, "I just didn't feel like caring about my appearance tonight. Everyone gets judged either way. I might as well like what I'm wearing."

By this time they'd been shown to their table and everyone started paging through their menus. After a few minutes their server came by the table. He began by flirting with Katniss but both Peeta and Gale made it clear that they considered Katniss off limits that type of treatment. Katniss herself was oblivious to the subtle interactions going on between the men. After they'd ordered conversation flowed around what each had been doing since they'd met last. Katniss mentioned her sister's upcoming graduation and that started her and Gale reminiscing over old times with Peeta eagerly asking questions.

Gale and Katniss were debating some old disagreement when the server arrived with their food. He was looking confused so Madge took pity on him and reminded him of who had ordered what.

"Thanks darling." He grinned at her. "Let me know if you need anything, and I mean anything." He winked and departed.

Madge blinked at his retreating form. Had this guy just flirted with her, after hitting on her friend not 30 minutes ago? How dense did he think she was? She heard a snort and looked over to see Peeta and Katniss barely containing their laughter while Gale glared daggers at the man.

"Next time, I'm wearing pajamas. Hopefully that will protect me from guys like him."

"I don't know Madge," Katniss grinned, "He seems the type to like My Little Pony pjs."

They joked a bit more then dug into their food. When they got their checks however the waiter mentioned that he'd split it four ways "since they didn't seem to be couples".

Gale took the billfold and opened it up, then sat staring at its contents.

"Gale, you going to pass those out anytime soon?" Peeta asked.

He looked up, glaring. "Peeta, you pay for Katniss and I'll pay for Madge."

Katniss and Madge both started protesting but he waved them off. "We invited you two out. We'll pay." He scribbled something on one of the receipts and added his credit card before passing the whole thing to Peeta. Peeta added his card but apparently felt the need to look through the receipts and flipped through them, then began laughing.

"What?" Madge asked.

Gale turned his glare on Peeta again. "Just give the stuff back to me. You don't need to show them.

"Oh, I think I do, this is just to good not to share. I can't believe you wanted to keep it all to yourself."

Peeta pulled one of the receipts out of the pile and flipped it, backside up, onto the table between Madge and Katniss. On the back, written with curlicue lettering and hearts, was 'Hey, I know you just met me, but here's my number. Call me maybe?' followed by what was presumably the waiter's number and then two squares, one with yes written next to it the other no. In different handwriting was a new box, checked, with writing next to it: 'No way in H—'. Katniss snorted. Madge just looked at them all, completely astonished.

"Ahh, I don't know if this guy is for real or what."

"Well, he seems pretty creepy to me." Gale growled. "I don't think there's any point in him having any of your information. Now give it back to me so that we can pay the bill and get out of here."

"I think you should be thankful for this guy," Peeta chuckled, passing the receipt over. "He gave you the chance to rescue Madge from the evil doers of the world."

Gale glared at Peeta again, Madge did not know how Peeta survived the constant glares he seemed to receive. One must get immune to them, she decided.

"You wouldn't find it so funny if he'd given Katniss his number," Gale retorted, then glanced quickly at Madge as if he'd just let something secret slip.

Katniss and Peeta snickered again but Madge just looked confusedly at them. She turned to Gale, "I don't know what they're giggling about, but I'll thank you." She shivered. "I think I might not ever leave my apartment again."