Chapter X

Gale woke to the sound of voices coming from the living room. What the hell...?, he thought, suddenly awake. Although he couldn't understand what they were saying, he recognized the first voice as Madge, and the second onde as Ferinse.

Startled, Gale stood up quickly and put on his old hunting pants that he always kept on the bedroom chair. But when he was leaving the room, he heard the front door close, letting him know he wouldn't arrive there on time.

When he entered the living room, Madge was turning her back at the door and her blue eyes met his. He realized that a blush rose to her face when she noticed he was shirtless, getting very quiet and tense. Gale felt confused, looking down at his stomach in the morning light, and his big feet peeking out the bottom of his trousers, which were hanging on his hips. Usually he didn't walk half-naked through the house, but it wasn't every day he wake up with another man inside his home.

"Was that a walk of shame?" he asked, determined to clear the air.

Madge's face turned from embarrassed to angry. "Of course not." How could he dare to ask her something like that? If he wasn't being so god like, she would probably be much more mad at him right now.

"That doesn't explain why your door was shut last night" Gale said, almost sounding hurt about it.

"I shut it because I was trying not to listen to you guys." For a moment, neither said anything, and that choking feeling found it's way back to Gale's throat.

"So why was Ferinse here so early in the morning?" he asked, while half-sitting-half-laying on the couch, almost afraid of looking directly at her.

"In fact, he came here to give me my papers." Madge showed the large Brown envelope she was holding in her hands. "They arrived yesterday."

"Oh," he said, biting the inside of his lip. "You're going back to 12."

"That's what the Mayor wanted to talk to me about yesterday," she said, matter of factly, sitting on a chair and resting her palms on her knees, feeling her jeans. "He told me he read my files and, you know I wasn't 18 when the atack happened so I wasn't allowed to work yet, but my job was already chosen. So he found out I was going to be a first grade teacher, and he asked me if I wanted to learn it here and then decide if I wanted to go back to 12 or stay here."

"And did you made a decision?" He was finding it hard to speak because of the lump on his throat, but he asked it anyways. Madge looked at him with a half puzzled look.

"I told him I would stay until next Monday. I start tomorrow morning, from nine in the morning until six in the afternoon. I guess we can go and come back together since we have the same work schedule." She seemed very determined when she said that. He could see that she was thinking about it for a while now. "And my birthday is on Saturday so I thought it would be better to celebrate it here." With Ferinse, he thought. Not him.

"That's great," he managed to say, while she got up to lay the envelope on the table.

At that moment, Gale's bedroom door opened with a bang, and Enobaria emerged from the corridor wearing nothing but his white button shirt. Madge blushed and turned her back on the brunette.

There was no competition between them. Enobaria was tall and lean, her long worked out sun-kissed legs, her perfect red polished toes, and her dark hair that looked like silk at the sun, covering her breasts over the white shirt. Of course he would always choose Enobaria over her. She exuded sex and confidence through all her pores. Madge was as good as a little sick flower, deflensless and always at risk of being stepped on.

"Sh*t, you two talk too loud," complained Enobaria, sounding annoyed. "I couldn't manage to sleep anymore, thanks to both of you. Now I will take a shower so I can meet the Capitol people in two hours."

She didn't even wait for a response, turning her back on them and closing herself inside the bathroom. Neither Gale nor Madge said anything for a while, staying quiet in their places.

"She's a charmer," Madge finally said, putting down the envelope. "A real catch."

Gale got up. "This is not what you think," he said, nervous.

"And what do I think, Gale?" Madge turned to look at him, trying not to show the hurt in her eyes. "That you two have a weird relationship? That both of you are too damaged to admit that you care about each other and want more than what this is? You are perfect for each other. And it's none of my business."

"It's not like that," Gale walked to her. She looked almost scary, her blue eyes flaming, her red cheeks and her hand on her hip, reminding him of his own mother back at 12. If she was taller, he would have runned away to his room. "I am not in love with her. Like you said before, we have fun, but she's not the girl that makes my heart skip a beat. She's not the one I want to be the mother of my children. And I don't even know if I want that, but she's not the one I want to find it out with."

He took her face in his hands and her expression softened. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, she's not y-"

"Thank you for sharing, Gale."

Both turned their eyes to the bathroom door, where Enobaria was standing. She was probably there listening to the whole thing, since none of them cared to hear if the water even started running.

Gale looked mortified. "Enobaria-"

"Save your breath to someone who cares, Hawthorne," Enobaria left the bathroom and walked fast to his bedroom, where Gale found her getting inside her party dress and picking up her stilettos.

"Enobaria, this is not the way I wanted you to know this-" he started, following her out of the bedroom, but she turned around and pointed her finger at him.

"Don't even start with me. You should have talked directly to me instead of sharing your deepest emotions and thoughts with your little girlfriend. Now you better not even get in my way anytime soon, or I will go Arena-Enobaria on you."

She flashed her pointy teeth at Gale, wich was enough for him not to move an inch. She tuned around, glanced beastly at Madge, and left the house slamming the door.

Madge was still in the same place, looking at Gale stare at the closed door. "Gale, I'm so sorry..."

But when she started to speak, he turned around and went to his room. She understood instantly that he needed some time alone with his thoughts. He didn't love Enobaria, but he still cared about her.

She leaned on the table, biting her thumb nail. She wondered what he was about to say before all the yelling and fighting with Enobaria. Sure it wasn't nothing, she assured herself. No need to think about it now.