AN - Written for thegirlfromoverthepond in response to the prompt: "I think you're just afraid to be happy".

"I think you're just afraid to be happy."

"Excuse me?" My baby sister snorts at my incredulous stare. Her turned up nose wrinkles adorably, or at least it would be, if she weren't being so obnoxious.

"I'm serious, Katniss," she says, stirring her margarita. "You always do this. You meet a guy. You spend a little time with him and then-"

"You find a way to blow it, Brainless," interrupts Johanna, and Madge and Delly wince.

Madge covers her hand with mine. Her blue eyes are filled with kindness. "It's more like you deliberately choose guys who will never work out," she consoles.

I look around the table at the women who are supposed to be my best friends. We planned this girl's night to help me get over a break-up by drinking our faces off and singing Men Are Slime.

I did not sign up for Pick on Katniss Night.

"I thought you girls were my friends," I mutter.

"We're your very best friends," Delly asserts, her blonde curls bouncing. "It's our duty to tell you when you're sabotaging yourself, and that's exactly what's going on here." The other three turncoats all nod in agreement.

I take another swig of my jack and coke. "What is this, an intervention?"

"If that's what it takes to make you wake up," says Jo. "This last one, Darius, was a total player. And I think you knew that."

I did know that, but I don't acknowledge it. I just stir my drink with the useless little straw that the bartender always sticks in there. "I wasn't looking for anything serious with Darius," I tell them.

"And Marvel was-"

"Gay," Jo says, interrupting Prim. "Firmly in the closet until you came along, Brainless, but completely and totally gay."

"He was sweet," I insist.

Delly shakes her head at me. "Katniss, he had fabulous shoes. Gay."

"Cato was alright," I argue.

"Cato needed to lay off the 'roids," said Jo. "Didn't you tell him it was going to shrink his dick, Katniss? Or maybe it was really little already and you didn't have the heart to tell him?"

"Shut-up, Jo." Honestly, I never saw Cato's dick. My lack of interest in said organ is why we broke up.

"Katniss," says Prim gently. "Let's face it. The only decent guy you've dated since high school is Gale, and the only people who thought that would work were the two of you."

"And thank God it didn't," laughs Madge, who wears Gale's ring on her finger. "You two are far too much alike."

Johanna taps one long, black fingernail on the table thoughtfully. "Maybe we should fix you up, Brainless. You can't seem to pick one out for yourself."

All the other girls look at me, waiting for my reaction. Unlike Jo, who I met when she first moved in next door, the other women have all known me since forever. They know there was another guy. A perfectly decent guy. And I sent him on his away. I had to, or he'd never have gone to culinary school. He'd have stayed here, slaving in the bakery his father owns instead of coming back to run it.

"You know, Katniss, he's moving back to town next month," says Delly, his cousin. "He finished his apprenticeship and is coming back to take over the bakery."

"Who?" says Jo.

"I saw him on Facebook the other day, Katniss," urges Prim. "He looks great."

"You're on Peeta's Facebook?" I ask. This feels like a betrayal somehow, but my sister just shrugs.

"You're the one who broke up with him, Katniss," she says, "not me."

"Who the hell is this guy?" Jo demands.

"Katniss's high school boyfriend," says Delly. "My cousin, Peeta Mellark. Just about the nicest guy you'd ever meet."

"And not hard on the eyes," says Madge. "And captain of the wrestling team."

Jo grabs Prim's phone off the table and shoves it at her. "Quick, pull up this dude's Facebook profile. I gotta see him."

I bury my face in my hands. I do not want to see Peeta, not even his digital image. It will just bring it all back.

"Here," says Prim, passing the phone to Jo.

My punky, spunky friend whistles long and low. "You broke up with him? You really are Brainless."

"I had too," I insist. "He had too much going for him to stay here."

"You're going to contact him," Jo says.

"No. No, I'm not going to do that."

"Katniss, he'll be back next month. You're going to run into him," Madge urges.

Jo is still scrolling through his profile. "How do I… There." She taps the screen again. "Hi Peeta, I was just talking to Katniss. She wants you to call her. Her number is-"

I jump up and lunge for the phone. "Oh no you don't!"

"917-454-2873. Send."

I fall into my chair. "I can't believe you just did that. I can't believe…" My heart is filled with panic. "Prim, please. Please write him and tell him that was a mistake. Right now."

My little sister hesitates and then she makes a decision. "No, I'm not going to do that."

"Prim," I beg.

"You can't keep going on like this, Katniss. You need closure."

"I've had closure for years," I mutter. "I ended it, remember?"

In my purse, my phone begins to ring. I pretend not to hear it.

"If that's true," muses my sister, "why don't you answer that phone?"