Disclaimer: I'm just playing with Suzanne Collins' characters and her world. They're hers. Not mine.
AN: Azure, I put the original prompt on 'Broken Clocks', so hopefully that clears things up, though maybe not. Sorry for the confusion, dear.
Garden Party
Gale knew letting Rory come with him on his summer job was a colossal mistake the minute he let the offer pass his lips.
The little pest had begged though, whined about needing money, for what Gale could only imagine-and he honestly didn't want to. So Gale, being a little too generous under his mother's glare, had told his brother that if he was that desperate the gated community was hiring for lawn maintenance over the summer. Rory could come with Gale to mow lawns and weed the flower beds. A simple enough job, not even the brat could mess it up.
Now though, under the blazing sun in the unforgiving heat of summer, Rory is nowhere to be found. Gale hasn't heard the mower's motor in almost an hour and he knows it isn't because his brother is finished with the Undersees' massive backyard.
Lunch is creeping up, so Gale stands and stretches out his back, he's going to have a massive sore spot come night. He looks around, squinting across the perfectly manicured lawns and pristine flowerbeds that surround each of the obscenely large and undoubtedly expensive houses of the community.
Of course, Rory isn't anywhere in sight.
Muttering to himself about how badly he's going to beat his brother when he finds him, Gale takes off toward the back of the house and prays he isn't going to find his dolt of a brother taking a leak in the photinias.
When he gets around the house Rory is still nowhere to be found.
Just my luck.
No, actually, his luck would be to find Rory swimming naked in one of the well kept pools in the backyards of the people he's supposed to be trimming the shrubs of.
Half expecting that that is exactly what he's about to find, Gale rubs his hand over his face and leans into the giant hedges the Undersees' have surrounding their back patio and hot tub.
Instead of finding Rory skinny dipping, he sees the empty tub, not even filled with water. Ducking back out, Gale walks along the hedging and down to the little gate. It's unlocked, so he and the other maintenance crew members can get in to mow and prune. Pushing it open, he steps in.
Gale almost feels like he's walked into a botanical garden.
It's one of the nicer yards. They do their own planting and weeding in the back. There are planters spilling over with brightly colored blossoms and leafy foliage. The flowerbeds are overflowing with delicate looking blooms and carefully manicured little bushes.
They even have a little waterfall set up, churning the contents of a little pond with lily pads floating peacefully on top.
Scratching his head with his filthy hat, Gale looks around. He's certain this is where Rory is. They'd already finished with the two houses before and relocked the gates, and the next house is across the street, Gale would've seen the little bastard if he'd gone anywhere else.
Not wanting to yell and alert the entire neighborhood that he's lost his idiot brother, Gale creeps around the yard. Maybe Rory is napping under one of the bigger shrubs.
Once he's exhausted and irritated, unable to find Rory, Gale rubs his hands over his face roughly.
Then he hears it.
Rory's obnoxious laugh.
The little pain in the ass is nearby.
It sounds a little muffled, blocked by doors and glass. Gale glares at the house and begins taking a few steps around to the corner. He peaks around the edge and groans.
Rory is sitting at the Undersees' little patio table, it looks like teak wood, with matching chairs and comfortable looking pillows in the seat. There are plates on the table, staked with tiny little cakes and cookies, some with fruits and some kind of white dip, and a pitcher of lemonade.
Across from him is a blonde Gale instantly recognizes as Madge Undersee. She's a few years under him in school, though she's smart enough that she's been in a few classes with him.
It's like a nightmare, seeing one of his rich classmates, looking like a model from a Pottery Barn catalogue while Gale looks like a Mike Rowe stand in on Dirty Jobs.
Rory is laughing at something Madge has said, giggling into his tall glass of lemonade.
Gale isn't sure why she's indulging him, letting him sit at her table. Rory is just as filthy as Gale, maybe slightly more since he's been emptying the bag on the mower.
Yet there they sit, eating little powdered cookies and drinking lemonade, having a party while Gale slaves away trimming all the bushes in the front yard.
He strains his ears to try and hear what they could possibly be discussing, but he's too far away. All he catches are a few words now and then.
Finally, hot, irritated, and dirty, Gale steps around the corner, crosses his arms over his chest and glares at Rory.
They don't notice him for a minute. Then Madge's eyes widen and she flushes a faint pink.
"Hi, Gale."
How she remembers his name, he's never spoken to her other than to ask for a pencil and he's not exactly in her social class, is a mystery. She might just have a very good memory.
He grunts a hello back at her before turning to Rory. "You. Up. We're supposed to be working."
"I'm on my lunch break," Rory tells him, turning back to the table and picking up the glass of lemonade in front of him.
Gale almost loses his patience with him at that. He'd warned Rory he wasn't supposed to interact with the clients.
"The only reason they don't have us doing everything at night is because it would wake everyone up," he'd told him. "But we're still supposed to be as invisible as possible. No interaction."
"Unobtrusive," Rory had nodded. "Like house-elves."
Gale wasn't sure what a 'house-elf' was, but he nodded anyway. Whatever it took to shut Rory up.
Apparently a 'house-elf' got to sit it's lazy butt down on a clients back porch and have lemonade and cookies. Gale should've investigated them a little more closely…or at all.
"You can sit down too," Madge tells him, standing up so fast she knocks her own glass over when she bumps the table, sending the sugary yellow liquid cascading across the glass top of the table and creating a waterfall off the edge.
"Crap," Gale pulls out his rag and tries to stem the tide, but it does little more than drench his sweaty cloth.
Madge turns faintly the same shade of pink as her mother's clematis growing up the trellis by the garden gate. Her hands ball up in irritation at herself and she sighs, curses under her breath at her clumsiness before looking up at Gale.
"I'll be right back," she tells him as she turns to go back in the house to find something to clean up her mess with.
Once she's disappeared back into her house, through the French doors and to the counter to find towels, Gale turns his glare back to Rory.
"What are you doing? Don't you remember what we talked about?"
Rory rolls his eyes. "Yeah, but Madge isn't a 'client'. Her parents are. Plus she's nice. She worked in the tutoring lab at the school and she helped me with my homework last year."
Those reasons apparently disqualified Madge from the very staunch rules Gale had set forth for his brother at the beginning of the summer. It had only been a few weeks and Rory had thrown the terms of his employment out the window.
"As soon as she tells her parents you are going to be fired, you know that right?"
"You're so dramatic," Rory huffs. "Madge's parents are nice, but her mom is taking a nap and her dad won't be home until tonight. Don't get your panties in a wad."
Gale is about to give Rory an atomic wedgie he'll never forget when Madge reappears and saves him from his much deserved fate.
She's still pink on the cheeks, Gale can almost feel the heat radiating off her as she brushes the mess off the table and into a little wastebasket she'd brought with her. Carefully she takes a wet washcloth and wipes the glass off, drying it with the dry rag she's thrown over her shoulder.
"Sorry," she mumbles as she picks up Gale's now sticky sweat rag.
He grimaces and reaches for it, but she puts it with her other rags. "I'll wash it and get it back to you."
"Oh, uh, you don't have to do that," he tells her, a little mortified at the thought of her washing his pitiful, thin and disgusting rag with her apparently pristine, other than the lemonade, towels.
"No, it's my fault. I'm just clumsy sometimes," she tells him as she pushes a loose strand of hair from her face.
It gets quiet after that, uncomfortably so, with the exception of Rory noisily eating several of the little powdered cookies and slurping his lemonade.
Madge bites her lip and gestures to a chair, one that hadn't been caught in the lemonade disaster. "Please, sit. Like Rory said, it's lunch. You've been working so hard, surely you're hungry. I was heating up some of the leftovers from last night."
He almost tells her no. Rory and his mother had packed them a couple of cold sandwiches that are growing increasingly soggy in the cooler in his truck. When he looks at her though, sees that same hopeful expression Posy gets on her face when she really, really just needs a little interaction, someone to notice that she's a human being and acknowledge her, he sighs.
"We only get thirty minutes," he tells her quickly as he pulls out the seat closest to Rory and flops down, no doubt covering the expensive looking pillows in dirty and grass clippings.
Her eyes widen, she clearly hadn't expected him to agree, and she nods.
"It'll be heated up in a minute."
#######
For the rest of the summer Madge seeks them out, bringing them freshly made sandwiches and carefully cut fruits, jugs of water, which Gale had told her was better than the sugary Lemonade for them while they were out in the heat.
"How do you find us?" He asks her as they enter the second month of her tracking them down.
She's wearing an enormous hat, a floppy looking thing that makes her look a bit like a movie star from the fifties. He'd asked her about it the first time he'd seen it, burst in to laughter at the sight, and she'd told him, mumbling, that she burns easily.
"Wear some sunscreen," he'd told her.
"I am,"she muttered. "I'm just fair. Not everyone gets a perfect tan. Some of us just go redder than the Mellarks' zinnias."
He didn't needle her about it after that. If she needed the goofy looking hat then so be it. Though he'd never admit it, he slowly grows fond of the look.
As the summer rolls on, gets hotter and stickier, the job gets more enjoyable. Mostly because of Madge and her daily visits. The closer the end of the season comes, the closer the end to his seasonal work gets, the more Gale dreads it, though he'd be damned before he tell anyone that.
"Admit it," Rory taunts him as they finish up pulling the weeds between the begonias in front of old Rooba's house. "You're gonna miss lunch with Madge."
Gale only grunts, tries not to make it too obvious that he's keeping an eye out for Madge's approach.
"I'm gonna miss it," Rory sighs. Gale glances at him, curious if he's about to hear something sweet and profound from his brother. "She has the best tank tops."
Of course.
Gale rolls his eyes.
Madge finally comes up, wearing her floppy hat and a soft looking sundress, carrying a basket of food for the boys.
They settle down in the shade of a tree, on the outer edge of the golf course that runs behind some of the houses. Madge tosses out a thin blanket and they sit, quietly eating Madge's little sandwiches and cookies.
"They're going to have an end of summer bash at the club house," Madge says offhandedly.
Gale nods. He'd been up at the club house trimming and watering, weeding the numberless flowerbeds in anticipation of the fancy pants party.
"I thought…maybe you'd like to come."
She says it so softly Gale almost doesn't hear it. He stops eating, mid-chew, and gapes at her.
"Wha?"
Madge glances up from her sandwich then back down, picks at it in thought. "Do you want to come to the end of summer party?"
Rory lights up. "Yeah!"
"No," Gale says, a little more sharply than he intends.
Madge flinches and Rory scowls.
"Why not?" He asks. "You can stay home if you want. I'll be there, Madge."
Gale runs his hand over his face. "We're staff gardeners, or some stupid title, I don't know. Anyway, we can't go."
He's pretty sure there's a rule against it.
"You'll be off the payroll by then," Madge counters. "They go down to the year round staff by the end of August. You'll just be there as my guests. You can even bring your mom and dad, your sister and other brother…"
She has that look on her face again, like all she wants is attention, and it strikes Gale that she hasn't missed a day of bringing them lunch. Madge clearly didn't have much to do with her time if all she filled her hours with was making him and Rory lunch everyday.
His stomach does a stupid flip-flop and refuses to let him tell her 'no'.
When he finally sighs, gives in an nods to her request, her face lights up, and somehow that makes the pain and suffering he's about to endure worth it.
#######
His mother has starched his shirt almost to the point that he's pretty sure it still looks like it's vaguely on the hanger. It's almost too stiff to move in and it's itchy.
"Stop bellyaching, Gale," his father tells him, though he's tugging at his collar as well.
Vick and Rory don't look much happier. Their dress shirts look every bit as uncomfortable as Gale's and their mother had threatened them with bodily harm if they got them dirty.
"I just want to make a good impression," she told them for the ten thousandth time, as she went over the 'do this and I'll kill you' list again.
Now that they're in the clubhouse, a chilly building with pretty but stiff chairs, a 'ballroom', and a bar area, though, she can't keep as close an eye on them. Rory quickly tugs Vick to the 'bathroom', but Gale knows almost instantly they're probably heading outside to torment the girls they'd seen wandering by minutes earlier. Posy insists that their dad dance with her in the ballroom, which has a horrendous looking chandelier and boring sounding music coming from a group of musicians in the corner. She's in her new dress, one she'd only gotten because she'd outgrown the one their mother had wanted her to wear, and she keeps telling people she's a princess when she wears it.
When it gets down to just Gale and his mother, both standing awkwardly in the corner of the foyer, he almost asks her if she wants to dance. It'd be better than looking like a pair of idiots just standing around.
"Gale!"
He turns and finds Madge doing a little half run toward them. She almost trips in the strappy looking shoes she's wearing.
Her outfit is a far cry from her sundresses and floppy hat he's become accustom to. The dress is a dark peach color, a shade or two darker than the bra she wears that Gale is so fond of when he catches hints of it peeking out from under her tops, not that he's looking, but it's hard to miss. Her shoulders are bare, the dress wraps around her, fixed at the left of her hip with a white flower, he thinks it's a magnolia, her family has a tree in the backyard.
The soft fabric falls loosely down to her legs, getting a little tangled as she jogs and adding to the suspense that she might trip.
She's out of breath when she gets to them, though more from the effort of not being killed by her own party dress and shoes than the actual run.
"I'm so glad you could make it," she gives Gale a kiss on the cheek, which catches him off guard and he feels heat flood his face.
His mother smirks at him before Madge catches her hand.
"You must be Gale's mother," she beams, gives her a bright smile.
Gale's mother beams back. "Oh, guilty. I hope he and Rory haven't been too much trouble for you this summer."
Madge shakes her head, her eyes widen and she begin ringing her hands. "No! Never! They've been great! The yards all look wonderful! I mean, I know they aren't doing all of them, but they do a lot and they do a great job! I-"
Gale's mother cuts her off with a smile and a hand on her shoulder, "I was only joking dear."
For a second Madge processes what she's said, then flushes as pink as the peonies that decorate the clubhouse.
Choosing to ignore her embarrassment, Gale's mother begins asking Madge about the foods spread out in the dining area. They wander off to explore the offerings a bit closer when Gale feels someone come up behind him.
"So that's the girl you've been sweet talking all summer," his dad grins.
Gale rolls his eyes. "She's been sweet talking Rory and me, not the other way around."
His dad arches his eyebrows. "I can imagine a lot worse. What's the trouble with this one? Got an extra toe or a lazy eye? Don't be so judgmental, Gale, she took time out of her day to keep you fed. That's a sure sign of a keeper."
It takes considerable effort not to roll his eyes again when he turns back to his dad.
"There's no trouble with this one because there is no 'this one'," he huffs.
"She invited you to her fancy club, she's talking to your mother, she hasn't strangled you brother, I'd say there is a 'this one'."
Gale crosses his arms and forces himself not to look at Madge and his mother.
"Look at this place," Gale jerks his head up at the ceiling. "She's out of my league."
"Only if you want her to be," his dad counters. "If she were really out of your league she wouldn't have invited you to this party."
That thought had occurred to Gale, but he'd quickly batted it away. Madge was just being nice, inviting Gale and his family to the party, a thank you for keeping her company over the summer.
Just as he's about to tell his dad just that, Madge and his mother reappear.
"Where's Posy?" His mother asks, eyebrows scrunched together in worry.
Gale's dad points out to the dance floor where Posy is dancing, a wild spinning thing, with a very annoyed looking Rory. Vick is hiding behind a display of lilies, giggling at Rory's embarrassment.
The whole ordeal is almost worth it just to watch Rory suffer.
"Gale, why don't you go help Madge get some food together for us while I go rescue your brother," his mother tells him, not even waiting for a reply as she grabs his father by the sleeve and drags him to put an end to Posy's 'dancing'.
Honestly, Gale would rather watch Rory slowly darken with embarrassment. He deserves a healthy portion of it after all the crap he constantly puts Gale through, but his mother doesn't leave room for negotiations.
Instead of watching the disaster slowly unfold, Gale follows after Madge.
She leads him into the room with all the food, hands him a plate and gestures for him to start filling it up.
"Your mother told me what Posy and Vic will want, so I'll get theirs done and hand them off to the attendant to get a table ready for us. You get to do the rest," she tells him.
"Great." Rory is getting every slimy looking thing Gale can get his hands on. He frowns at Madge. "You're sitting with us?"
Why is she sitting with them?
Madge nods, keeps her eyes fixed on the food. "My mother doesn't like the crowds and my dad is out of town."
All Gale manages to say to that is, "Oh."
Once they finish with the first set of plates, Rory's is stacked high with a disgusting mishmash of things Gale can't even pronounce, they hand the plates off and go back through.
"So," Madge begins carefully, "are you-is your family having fun?"
Gale grunts. He can't look at her. She's too close and he can see right down the front of her stupid soft dress.
"I was thinking, you know, if you'd like, maybe during the school year we could meet up and go to the movies or something? Instead of just not talking ever again," she carries on, still focused on the food and oblivious to her gaping neckline.
It stops Gale in his tracks, mid reach for what looks like potato salad. Is she asking him out?
"It's okay if you don't want to, I mean, I'd understand," she brushes a few strands of hair that've escaped the bun her hair is in back behind her ear. "I mean, I'm not really part of your group of friends so it's totally understandable-"
"Madge," Gale tries to cut her off, but she's worked herself into a frenzy.
"I'm sorry," she tells him suddenly. Her eyes are wide as she rushes off and hands Vick's half finished plate off.
Feeling a bit off balanced, he hadn't said anything, there was no reason for her to be so spastic, Gale hands his dad's plate off and follows after her.
She's disappeared into the garden, all lit up with twinkle lights and smelling sweet with the carefully cultivated cutting flowers Gale had worked with all summer.
It takes him a few minutes to find her hiding in the maze of hedges. She's sitting on one of the stone benches with her face in her hands, looking absolutely disgusted with herself.
He doesn't mean to startle her, but she doesn't hear him come up, and when he puts his hand on her shoulder she jumps.
Her eyes are watery and she sniffles when she looks up. "I'm so, so sorry. I'm just an idiot."
Gale drops down beside her. He isn't sure what he's supposed to do. Crying girls aren't really his specialty, so he reaches over and gently pats her back, just barely stopping himself form saying 'there, there'.
They sit in silence for a few minutes, Madge sniffling, trying desperately not to start crying even though tears are working their way out the corners of her eyes anyway, and Gale patting her back.
He'd admit, even with a runny nose and puffy eyes, she's pretty. It only takes him a second to decide what to do.
Ignoring the little voice in his head that's telling him he's making a mistake, Madge is making a mistake, Gale leans over and presses a quick kiss to her salty lips.
She freezes, eyes wide and mouth slightly open as she stares at him. Finally, she starts breathing again. "Why did you kiss me?"
Gale shrugs. "I don't know. I mean, I'm not really in your group of friends, but I thought maybe you'd still want to go to the movies when school starts up again. Instead of not talking again, I mean."
A little smile forms on her lips. "That doesn't answer my question."
He shrugs again. "I wanted you to stop crying."
She stares for a second of two, then starts laughing. "That's one way of stopping it I guess."
It had worked, so his logic is clearly soundproof.
Bumping her with his shoulder, Gale gives her a smile. "So, what do you say? Movies?"
The few free strands of Madge's hair fly around her head as she nods enthusiastically.
Gale stands and offers her a hand up, which she takes and doesn't let go.
"You won't mind if I don't bring Rory though, right?" He asks her as they wind their way through the hedges.
"That seems a bit unfair," she snorts. "He's the reason you even talk to me."
Gale dips down and kisses her again. It stopped the crying so surely it'll stop the nonsense coming out of her mouth at the moment.
She laughs, pulls him in tighter.
Maybe he'll bring Rory a box of raisinettes back from the movies. After all, letting him in on Gale's summer job hadn't been as big a mistake as Gale had thought after all, even if he won't admit it.