Chapter 10
When Katniss finally came back from school that afternoon, she found me wearing a pair of sweatpants, sitting cross-legged on the floor of the balcony in front of a bunch clay flower pots of different shapes and sizes, with a paintbrush in one hand and a small can of white paint in the other.
"What are you doing?" she asked, looking at me as if I was completely insane.
"I'm painting these flower pots!" I stated the obvious with far too much enthusiasm.
"I can see that, but why?"
"Well, I found myself in dire need of a project and gardening just popped into my head."
"Gardening…"
Yes, gardening. I had never done it before and, to be honest, I didn't know the first thing about flowers or any other plant for that matter, but that was something Katniss didn't need to know and nothing a good research in the internet couldn't easily fix.
Besides, it had been a very long, very boring day. I hadn't been suspended nor unemployed in fifteen years and I don't particularly like to be lying on the couch doing nothing all day long even on the weekends, so by the time the girl arrived, I had already zapped at least four times on every TV channel, read all the magazines I kept under the coffee table, done laundry and rearranged the furniture on the living room, and even when it all was done I still felt like I was going to die of boredom if I didn't keep moving.
That was when a gardening show appeared on TV. The woman there said in a very cheerful voice that it was easy enough to do it by yourself; all you needed was some earth, some flower pots and any flower you want to light up your home with.
And before I could think twice about it, I was sitting on the floor and painting the pots I had just gotten from a gardening store down the street that I didn't even know was there.
"And what you wanna plant?" Kat asked, coming to sit beside me and picking up one of the already painted pots to inspect it.
"I don't know…" I replied honestly. "Roses, maybe, or tulips… I haven't really thought of that yet… I'm almost going with the lilies. They're beautiful, they smell delicious and there are a lot of colors to choose. Besides, it's the perfect time of the year to…"
"Since when do you know so much about lilies?" she asked in a snort, taking off her backpack and dropping it on the couch without much elegance. "And aren't you supposed to be at work or something?"
"Why, were you going to throw a party here later and never let me know?" I joked, trying to distract her.
When she arched an inquisitive eyebrow at me, I knew I had failed miserably.
"So you're suspended," Kat went on, letting down the flower pot in her hand to pick another. "How's that going?"
"How do you know?" I asked, going for casual.
"I called to your work phone earlier to ask if you wanted me to pick up lunch on my way home and Johanna told me everything." She took the other paintbrush and dipped it in the paint can.
"Everything?"
"Yep, from you being temporarily kicked out to you and her not talking anymore."
"So everything, then…"
"What happened?"
"Just me and my tendency to break rules and shut everyone out..." I sighed. "Nothing you should worry about, anyway. How was school?"
"Boring as usual," she shrugged. "That Cato guy getting into a fight again and spending most of the day at the infirmary was the only highlight of the day… Prim was thrilled by that…"
That startled me a little. "What? Why?"
"She's very into this nursing and medical stuff…" Katniss explained. "Too much, I'd say… Sometimes I think she's some sort of vampire. Today the school's nurse asked her if she wanted to help the Cato guy with his injury and she almost leaped in joy at the prospect of seeing some blood. I should take a closer look to her mouth and make sure she hasn't grown fangs yet…"
I chuckled at the image of Katniss trying to open Prim's mouth and checking her teeth.
"You think she wants to pursue a career in medicine?" I asked.
"I don't know," she shook her head. "We never talk about that. And she's a little too young to start thinking about that stuff, anyway…"
"It is never too early to start thinking about what you want to do with your life. Cinna, for instance, started making dresses for my dolls at the age of four and look where he got…"
If Kat heard the lump forming in my throat, she didn't let on. I still silently thanked her for switching the subject, though.
"When did you decide to become a cop?" she asked.
"I'm not sure," I replied honestly. "When I lived in the Capitol, I wanted to be a model or a TV hostess; that's the kind of things little girls over there wish they'll be when they grow up… I did some modelling for Cinna when I was a teenager, and right before I left I was about to sign a contract to co-host Caesar Flickerman's new show…"
"Really?" She sounded somewhat impressed.
"Well, at the time I had the looks and was quite famous as a model already, so I think being the first and only granddaughter of the President just sealed the deal."
"Why didn't you take it?"
"Oh, I did take it. It was my golden dream, remember? I wasn't going to let it slip away… But then I found out that… Well, my mother told me about my father being from a District and that caused a scandal of colossal proportions in the family. I lost Snow's approbation – if he ever gave me any – and had to quit the job for the sake of his public image."
Katniss just stared at me and nodded slowly.
"And then you ran away…" she said.
"Technically, I decided to take a year and travel around Panem due to the sudden identity crisis I was going through; that's what I said when I quit and what the media spread as the reason I was leaving the show," I explained, "but yes. I took the first train to Twelve the morning after."
"How old were you?"
"Twenty-one, almost twenty-two…"
"And you never came back until now?"
"My mother stayed there, so I kept visiting her regularly until she died of a heart attack eight years later. After that, I had no reason to go back there, so I didn't."
Kat put down the flower pot she had just finished painting and took another one. "You lived in Twelve?"
"Yes," I answered. "I stayed with a friend's family who lived in the town."
She frowned. "You had friends from Twelve?"
"Maysilee Donner, yes. She was also a model back then. We lost contact after I moved here."
"Did you know Haymitch?"
"No, we never met."
"But he was a cop there…"
"Yes, well… I was trying to keep a low profile, you know… Trying not to rob a store or mug someone on the street so they wouldn't know I was a Snow."
"Why?"
"Fear of being murdered, I guess…"
She nodded again, probably remembering our talk on the train. "And then you came here and joined the police…"
"After I got mugged, yes… It kind of inspired me."
"You got mugged…"
I laughed at her half-shocked, half-incredulous expression.
"I know…" I said, shaking my head. "But, still… I like to think that if I hadn't been through all those, shall we say, unfortunate events, I wouldn't be sitting here with you right now…"
"You're one of those fervent fate activists, aren't you?" Katniss said, dipping the paintbrush in the can.
"Not exactly, but I do believe there's a reason for everything and everything happens for a reason."
"Dad used to say that too…"
I looked up at her and it surprised me to find that she wasn't about to cry. She was smiling, actually; a sad smile, but a smile nonetheless.
"Maybe that's where I picked it up from…" I said shrugging.
"Do you think that me wanting to become a cop is because I want to be like him?" she asked. "You think that's my reason?"
That was new, completely unexpected and I immediately put it in the metaphorical box labeled Progresses. Katniss wasn't one to go talking about her dreams or goals, and even if she was, I didn't think she would ever tell me about them. If anyone, Prim would be the one to know that bit of information about her big sister, so Katniss trusting me with this meant the world to me.
"Maybe not the main reason but certainly a big one," I offered. "Since when do you want to join us?"
"I don't know, it popped into my head one day just like your gardening, I think…" she said, chuckling. "But I was, like, six when Dad first took me to the woods and taught me how to use a bow; he said I was great for my age, that one day I'd be a wonderful archer, and I remember thinking: 'Maybe I could use that to help you catch the bad guys'."
"Well, I'm very sure the Department would appreciate a wonderful archer in its lines…"
She looked at me with something akin to hope in her eyes and then dropped her gaze to the task at her hand with a contented smile.
"I have other skills, too, you know…" Katniss said a few moments later, letting the now white pot on the floor to take a third one. She was so obviously much better than me at this…
"You do?" I asked. "Like what?"
"I'm very good at noticing details and making the right questions about them. Or so my Dad said once."
I nodded appreciatively.
"Alright…" I said, when she didn't say anything else. "Don't leave me hanging and show me what you've got…"
Kat spared me a quick glance and straightened her spine before tilting her head a little, and that simple motion made her look just like Deen when he was about to start an interrogatory.
"Haymitch hasn't called you yet, has he?" she said, casually.
My eyebrows shot right up to my hairline. "I beg your pardon?"
"You've been watching your cellphone ever since I walked in here half an hour ago, and every thirty seconds your left nostril twitches, which means you're either frustrated or impatient. You've also got this crease on your forehead, which only appears when you're worried over something or stressed out, so I suppose this call you're waiting for must be really important…"
All I could do after that little speech was blink at her.
"Well, it is a very important call," I admitted. "But I don't see what Haymitch has to do with everything…"
Katniss flashed me a smirk and let the paintbrush she was holding on the floor.
"Yeah," she said as she stood up. "I guess I have been living with you for too long if I can notice that detail." She walked towards the kitchen and I heard the water running.
"what detail?" I asked, standing up too and following her.
"You know, some gestures you make when you talk with or about him…" She took a long sip from her glass of water.
"Like what?" I chuckled in amusement, before shaking my head when she offered me one.
"Like biting the inside of your cheek when you guys are talking, or biting your lip when someone brings him up in a conversation."
I froze, my mind running through every possible situation that could match Kat's description. "What was I doing now?"
"The lip thing," she answered. "that's how I figured it out. You don't usually do that."
I could feel the crease forming in my forehead again. I knew about it, of course; it had appeared during my first ballet class when I was three years old and, as my mother so accurately predicted, it never left my face again. She said it would be a problem if I wanted to pursue modelling as a career, because they do not hire women with wrinkles on their faces, Effie dear. So by the time I started walking the runway in Cinna's dresses, I had learnt to keep the crease at bay. It would only show, as Katniss had pointed out, when I was feeling worried or stressed, or when I was too focused on something.
The lip biting thig, though… I wasn't aware of that. Or any other Haymitch-related gesture, for that matter. I didn't even know I had those…
"Impressive…" I said at last, trying to get the conversation back on track. "Quite scary, I must say, but impressive. If you ask me, I would say you're a natural and that you really should apply to the Academy one that."
Kat's face lit up. "You really think so?"
"Absolutely."
"You think it'd make him proud?"
"Are you joking? You inherited his talent; he would be leaping in joy right now!" She gave me a shy smile. "Although, he'd be proud of you no matter what you decide to do with your life, Katniss, I'm sure of it. He'd just want you to do whatever you want to do that makes you happy…"
"I know." She dropped her gaze. "We had the job talk when I turned fifteen… I just wish he were here to have it with Prim too…"
Katniss never sobbed, not once since she was living with me. And she certainly wasn't about to sob now, but when she shut her eyes and let out a heavy sigh, I instinctively wrapped my arms around her and held her tightly. She clung to me as if her life depended on it and her tears made a pool on my shoulder.
"Okay," she said, letting go of me after a few minutes. "I better go pick up Prim."
"What time did she say she would be back from her friend's house?" I asked.
"She didn't say anything." Kat snorted. "Now that she and this Hawthorne boy do everything together from homework to lunch, she tends to keep those little details to herself… But it's getting late and I don't wanna drag her home in the middle of the night."
"I can go pick her up. You haven't even eaten yet…"
"It's fine, I'm not hungry. Besides, I wouldn't make you miss a call from your beloved Haymitch…" The smirk was back on her face.
"Katniss, please, Haymitch and beloved do not belong in the same sentence…"
"That's not what I saw when we were on the train…" She raised an eyebrow, the smirk.
"That…" I stopped short, narrowing my eyes at her. "What did you see?"
"Nothing compromising, just him being a gentleman for once in his life and putting his jacket on your shoulders." She put on her backpack. "After he said you were a beautiful pain in the ass or something equally stupid that made you beam and blush like a schoolgirl."
"I thought you slept most of the ride?"
"No, at some point I went to the bathroom and found you guys in the corridor. But don't worry; your secret is safe with me."
Katniss winked at me and walked towards the door.
"There's no such a thing as a secret to…" I said, but she was already gone.
If she had seen the way he looked at me later – much later – that night, though, she would have been totally convinced that there was something actually going on between me and Haymitch.
"It's three in the morning, what are you doing here?" I said in shock, when I opened the door he had been punching for almost five minutes.
His eyes wandered down my body and I suddenly realized my state of undress. I hadn't even tied the belt of my dressing gown in my hurry to keep the girls asleep and the top of my pajamas wasn't exactly doing a good job at covering the reaction of my breasts to the chilly night.
"I'm sorry to disturb your beauty sleep, sweetheart," he said, his voice gruff and eyes black. "But we have a little bit of a situation."
Haymitch stepped into my apartment purposefully not looking at me.
"Sure, why not, come in…" I muttered, following him with my head.
"You heard her, boy, come in!" he shouted as he picked a flower pot from the floor.
"Would you please keep it quiet?" I hissed at him, turning to close the door. "Katniss and Prim are… Peeta?"
Peeta had stayed outside, waiting like the well-mannered young man he was to be invited in. He looked tired, worn out, older even.
"I'm truly sorry to bother you, Effie…" he whispered, giving me a weak smile. "I didn't know where else to go… May I get in?"
"Of course, of course…" I pulled him into a hug. "What happened?"
"The murder weapon was found on his bedroom," Haymitch answered.
I stared at Peeta with wide eyes. He looked away.
"Murder weapon?" I said. "Peeta, what on Panem did you do?"
"He didn't do shit, he got framed." Haymitch let himself drop on the couch.
I turned to him, never letting go of the boy who was burying his head on my shoulder. "What do you mean framed?"
"Someone sliced Snow's throat and put the knife in the boy's closet. Rookie's move, if you ask me, but…"
My hands in Peeta's hair stilled. "What did you just say?"
"Snow's dead, sweetheart. I don't think they're gonna pay attention to Cinna's case anymore."
It's been ages, guys, I know... I just hope I can make up for it with this chapter :)
Lots of love and free hugs for everybody.
Liv :)