"Katniss, I have feelings for you. Oh, and I've been lying to you about selling the Mockingjay pin." Peeta frowns at himself in the mirror. Yeah, this isn't going to go well.
He thinks about when he was a child, and how whenever his father had bad news to tell Peeta and his brothers, he would first ply them with a treat from the bakery. Probably not the best parenting strategy, but it sure softened the blow. Besides, this isn't all bad news, Peeta thinks. Assuming she considers my feelings for her a good thing. He shakes his head to clear his thoughts and heads to the kitchen to get started on some homemade cinnamon rolls.
…
"You made cinnamon rolls?" Katniss' voice rises a bit at the end, even though her face remains in its carefully neutral state.
Peeta grins, hearing the obvious excitement in her tone. "I made them for you, actually," he tells her. He watches as her face turns a bit pink and she ducks her head.
"Thank you, Peeta," she says.
They take their usual spots across from each other in the comfortable seating by the window. Peeta decides to jump right in to his confession, figuring if he can get to the end before she finishes her cinnamon roll, it will be best.
"So," Peeta begins, "I wanted to apologize for my brother—I hope he didn't make you too uncomfortable the other day."
Katniss doesn't look up at him but she shrugs. "No, it was fine," she says. "Brothers are like that, right?" She looks up and gives Peeta a half-hearted smile, catching him staring intently at her. He looks away and clears his throat.
"I mean, it's true; I do talk about you a lot, I guess. And I do think you are very—" Peeta is cut off when Katniss interjects.
"There's an auction in Capitol City today!" she says, louder and more forcefully than normal. She's clearly trying to stop him from saying what he was about to say next, which was "beautiful." Peeta frowns at the unexpected derailment of his mission, but remains quiet to let her continue.
"I thought we might drive up," she says, her voice calmer and back to its normal volume. "There are sure to be a lot of possible items…" She takes a deep breath and continues, "…and it would be a good chance for us to get to know each other better. Since we're going to be working together."
Peeta's lips quirk up. So she doesn't want him to tell her that he thinks she's beautiful, but she does want to spend the day together, he thinks. It could be worse. He decides his confession about the pin and his feelings can wait a bit longer. Maybe it is better if they get to know each other better before he tells her why he hasn't sold the Mockingjay pin.
"Sure," he says, giving her an easy smile. "Let me just make a sign for the door explaining why we're closed. The auction sounds like a great idea and I'd love to spend some time together."
The smile she gives back to him is as radiant as the sun.
….
It's a two-hour drive to Capitol City, and Katniss offers to drive Peeta's truck so he can relax his leg. Peeta protests at first, because he's finally off the crutches and the boot on his foot is perfectly fine while driving, as it's on his left leg. Still, it's much nicer to stretch it out in the passenger seat and he finally gives in to Katniss.
"So," Peeta says, as soon as they pull out onto the highway, "if we're going to get to know each other, are you ready to talk about the deep stuff?"
Katniss glances at him briefly, scowling, before turning her attention back to the road. "What exactly is the deep stuff?" she asks.
Peeta chuckles. He wishes he could tell her how adorable she looks when she scowls at him like that. Instead he says, "Like….what's your favorite color?"
Katniss lets out a small laugh. "Oh, um, it's green. What's yours?"
"Orange," Peeta says.
He's rewarded with another glance from Katniss, this time her face is incredulous. "Orange?" she says in disbelief.
"Well, not traffic cone orange," Peeta says, gesturing to a construction barrel on the side of the road. "More like sunset."
Katniss nods in understanding. After a few minutes of comfortable silence, Peeta speaks again. "Now it's your turn," he half whispers in a deadpan voice, causing Katniss to let out a small giggle. Her hand flies to her mouth in surprise at the sound.
…
It's almost 11:30 in the morning when they begin to approach Capitol City. The estate sale begins at 1:00, with a preview at noon, so Peeta suggests they go ahead and grab an early lunch before they head to the sale.
"So what do you feel like," Peeta says, pulling out his phone to find a list of nearby restaurants.
"Tacos!" they both say in unison, before they immediately start laughing.
"I know a great place," Peeta says. "Unless you had something specific in mind?"
Katniss shakes her head. "No, I'm up for wherever," she says, looking over at Peeta to give him a quick smile. Her face is flushed from laughing and he can't help but stare at her, swallowing thickly.
"Peeta?" Katniss asks.
"Huh?" he says, coming out of a daze.
"I said, 'Where to?' I just need directions," Katniss says, looking straight ahead at the road, her face still remarkably red.
"Oh. Um, just turn here and stay on West Second Street. It's on the corner of Second and Jefferson," Peeta tells her.
Katniss nods and steers onto Second Street.
…
"So besides tacos, what are your favorite foods?" Katniss asks Peeta over lunch. The covered patio of The Taco Shell overlooks the busy college campus in Capitol City. The place is hopping with college students, but Peeta feels like they are in their own world, seated closely together at a little two-seat table in the corner.
Katniss' eyes glow with warmth as she leans forward waiting for Peeta to answer. They've been trading questions all day, getting to know more about each other as promised.
"Probably pizza," Peeta says. "That's pretty standard, I guess." He gives a short, self-depreciating laugh.
"Who doesn't like pizza?" Katniss replies, taking a large bite out of her fried chicken taco. There's a bit of sauce on her face and before he can stop himself, Peeta reaches up and swipes it from where it sits next to her upper lip.
Katniss ducks her head slightly and wipes her mouth with her napkin.
Now Peeta can feel his own face turning red. Should he not have done that? He shouldn't have touched her face. She's probably thinking of a nice way to tell him to never touch her again.
"Thanks," Katniss says shyly, before he can gather up the nerve to say anything.
"What's yours?" Peeta asks, changing the subject.
"Favorite food besides tacos? That's easy," says Katniss. "Cheese buns."
"Not homemade cinnamon rolls?" Peeta teases her, referring to the ones he made for her earlier this morning.
"They're a close third," Katniss says, laughing. "Really anything from this one particular bakery in town—maybe you've heard of it? Mellark's?" she's teasing him back now.
"Never heard of it," he deadpans.
Katniss takes another bite of her taco, chewing slowly and watching him as he watches her with a grin on his face. After she swallows she says, "So what was it like—growing up in a bakery?" She seems genuinely curious.
"It was good, I guess," Peeta says. "I mean, I always liked helping my Dad when I was little and then…we just naturally took on more work as we got older. Part time jobs in high school and that sort of thing."
"But you didn't want to be a full time baker?" Katniss asks. "You opened the store instead."
"It was just…I love the idea of a family business, but I always kind of wanted to do my own thing, you know?"
"I do," says Katniss, folding her arms on the tabletop and leaning there casually. Katniss and Peeta sit silently, looking into each other's eyes for a brief and comfortable moment. "And so Blue Sky Mercantile was born," Katniss finally says, a small smile playing on her lips.
Peeta returns her smile. "And so Blue Sky Mercantile was born," he echoes.