Hey everyone! Happy New Year :) I'm back from vacay, which means I'm also back on my regular posting schedule. Just a few more chapters to go for our dear Everlark. Happy reading.
Dear Daily Ask,
What's the best way to stay calm, cool, and collected for my big day? I am admittedly neurotic, and I'm worried about everything going perfectly for the wedding. What advice can you give me so I don't drive everyone crazy...myself included?
Thanks,
Worry Wart
The next week flies by in a blur as Prim's wedding waits expectantly at the end. It seems all my free time is spent in preparation. As Peeta and I board the plane for home, I finally feel like I can relax. Perhaps I relax a little too much, because the next thing I know, we are coming in for a landing. I lift my head from Peeta's shoulder, not realizing I had rested there. He gives me a sweet smile.
"Hey." He offers as he closes his book.
"Hi." I say groggily as I stretch the best I can given the confined space.
"You ready for this?" He asks after we land and make our exit.
I heave a sigh in response and give him a look. He nudges me playfully and throws his arm around my shoulder. He squeezes me close and kisses my temple. I wrap my arm around his waist and squeeze him back.
"Just tell me what you need." He reassures me as we exit the airport.
"Just keep my mom distracted?" I offer.
Peeta chuckles as he flags down a nearby taxi. We begin to load the vehicle with our things.
"What is it with you and your mom?" He inquires once we slide inside the car.
To be honest, I don't know why I can't seem to build a relationship with my mom. Ever since my dad left us, I've felt so resentful toward her. I was always a daddy's girl anyway, and perhaps I blame her for him leaving. Being home always seems to drudge these issues back up.
"You know how she can be." I say vaguely with a shrug, avoiding diving too deeply into the subject.
"Yeah, she's always been really sweet to me so I'm really not sure what the deal is." He replies with an expectant tone.
I pull out my phone to text Prim and try to dodge the conversation. I hear Peeta sigh. I know it frustrates him when I won't open up. When I look up, his attention has been diverted out the window. I squeeze his hand. He turns briefly to give me a weak smile. We make the rest of the ride in silence. Prim is there to greet us as we pull up outside the house. Peeta pays for the cab and helps bring our belongings inside. We haven't even settled in before Prim is ushering me back out of the house and to her car. We need to pick up my dress for the ceremony tomorrow before the rehearsal dinner tonight. When we arrive back at the house, I find Peeta sitting at the kitchen table tying a bow out of burlap ribbon. His place at the table is quickly disappearing from the mounds of other burlap bows surrounding him.
"What are you up to?" I ask, planting a kiss on his cheek.
"Not sure." He responds, his attention deeply focused. "Your mom sat me down and told me to tie bows. That's all I know." He sits up proudly when he finishes his task. He tilts his head giving it a criticizing look before making a slight adjustment to one of the loops.
"How many have you made?" I ask in disbelief, taking a seat beside him.
He shrugs as he sets his bow aside and picks up more ribbon to continue. I watch his technique for a moment and take up the task myself. He clucks his tongue and shakes his head at me when he assesses my work.
"What?" I ask in mock defense, as I continue in my attempts. "What makes you such an expert anyway?" I ask haughtily.
"I come from a long line of well-to-do bow makers." Peeta says in a regal tone.
"That would explain your fortune, I suppose." I offer, wondering if he'll take the bait and put to rest my curiosity about his finances.
"My fortune?" Peeta asks giving me a curious look.
"There's no way you can afford that loft, with that view, on The Press' salary." I say incredulously.
Peeta laughs out loud. "That's for sure!" He agrees, but offers no further insight.
"Well, I appreciate the generosity you've shown me over the years." I finish, getting the sense that he doesn't want to divulge any further.
"I like taking care of you." He says taking a break from his task to look at me.
I reach out to cup his face with my hand. He presses his cheek to my palm.
"Let's take a break, I want to take you somewhere." I suggest as I get up from the table.
I motion for him to follow and lead him down the wooded path to the treehouse.
"This is way cool!" He says with childlike enthusiasm as he begins to scale the ladder.
"My dad built it for Prim and I." I tell him as I follow closely behind.
"Whatever happened to your dad? You never talk about him." Peeta inquires as he disappears ahead of me into the little house.
"There's not much to talk about. He walked out on us when I was twelve years old." I say as I settle in beside Peeta.
He looks around the tiny space thoughtfully. "Any particular reason?"
"He and my mom would fight a lot. I guess that had something to do with it. He was there one day, then gone the next. Like he vanished in thin air. No explanation. No goodbye. I was always really close with my dad, but after he left, he became the bad guy." I confess as I trace the wood grain of the floorboards with my finger. "I'm sure he's off living a wonderfully happy life with some new woman, maybe a new family. Not worried about us at all." I shrug. "What about you? You don't talk about your family much either. Was it all cupcakes and rainbows in the Mellark house?" I halfheartedly tease.
Peeta gives a wide-eyed look and shakes his head. "Hardly!" He says with a scoff. "My brothers and I spent the weekdays with our dad and his witchy wife, and the weekends with our mom. Both of my parents worked like crazy, so it didn't really matter whose house we were at. My grandpa, on my mom's side, owned a slew of very successful bakeries. When he died about ten years ago, my mom took over, and my brothers and I all inherited a very comfortable sum of money." He concludes, putting my earlier question to rest.
"I always imagined you lived a pretty picture perfect life." I say as I pull my knees up to my chin.
"You seem to have a very active imagination when it comes to me." Peeta chuckles. "Sorry the reality is far less exciting than your fantasies."
I quirk my eyebrow at him. "Well now, my fantasies are something entirely different." I purr as I turn on to my hands and knees, drawing close to his face and lips.
He presses his lips to mine, and I feel my mind turn to mush. In moments, he comes to his knees and begins to push me down with the force of his kisses. He gently cups the back of my head as he guides me to the floor beneath him. I wrap my arms around his neck, inviting his exploration.
"Katniss are you up there?" I hear my mom's voice call from below.
Peeta pulls back immediately as if we are two teenagers caught in the act. I throw my arm over my face in frustration. "Yes!" I yell, trying to hide my annoyance.
"You two need to hurry up, the rehearsal is in an hour!" She yells back. "Nice job with the ribbon, Peeta." She adds as an afterthought.
I peak at him from under my arm, chuckling. It feels like we've been caught red-handed.
"Thanks, Mrs. Everdeen!" He calls back, trying to suppress his own laugh.
We wait to hear her walk away before descending the ladder. The journey back to the house is the last bit of calm we experience for the next 24 hours. Peeta is exceptionally helpful through the entire process. Just when Prim starts to lose her mind over one detail or another, Peeta is there to guide her back to sanity by fixing or alleviating the issue altogether. He has a quiet, easy way about him. I watch as he sees things that need to be done, and simply does them. He is there for last minute pick ups and deliveries. And since he's not directly tied to the wedding party, he becomes my mom's personal assistant as she helps keep things running smoothly behind the scenes. In fact, she keeps him so preoccupied the day of the wedding, I don't see him again until the ceremony.
As I take my place at the front of the church, I scan the crowd. My eyes fall to his quickly. I give him a smirk. He mouths the word "wow" after I see him look me over. I feel my cheeks blush as I lower my head. The sound of the bridal march draws my attention as I look up to see my little sister, all grown up, walking down the aisle in a wedding dress. She is stunning. My emotions get the best of me and I feel a tear run down my cheek. I quickly wipe it away and look back to Peeta. I mouth the words "I love you" to him before turning my attention to the ceremony.
Once the wedding formalities are finished, the fun part begins. Peeta and I spend the evening eating, dancing and laughing with one another. It feels good to finally cut loose and enjoy the fruits of our labor. We are up until the sky starts to lighten, finally crashing in to bed together after he helps me take out the pound of bobby-pins that were holding my hair in place.
I wake later in the morning to discover the bed is empty beside me. As I make my way toward the kitchen, I overhear my mother's voice followed by Peeta's laughter. I pause and press my back to the wall in hiding, trying to catch their conversation.
"She always was a stubborn little thing!" My mom remarks. "I would ask her to do something for me and she would hold her breath and stomp, until I let her off the hook." She continues.
"I'm not sure much has changed." Peeta chuckles along with my mom.
I roll my eyes from their bantering at my expense.
"You seem to be the only person that knows how to tame her." She remarks.
Peeta doesn't respond, or if he does, I can't hear him. I take a few more steps toward the kitchen to catch their hushed tones.
"Just between us," I hear my mom say quietly, "I'm glad she finally came to her senses about you."
"Me too." Peeta replies in the same low whisper. "Although, I never really had a choice in the matter." He says after a moment. "I knew from the moment I met her, I was a goner."
His words strike me unexpectedly. I have never heard him admit to this. I begin to realize just how long he has waited for me.
"You know what's funny?" He continues, "The night I tried to ask her out for the first time, is the same night she met Gale."
My mom must've given him some sort of reaction. I hear him continue, "Yeah, she finally agreed to meet with me at some bar I told her I was doing a review on at the time. And wouldn't you know, she runs into Gale Hawthorne along the way." He says, cynicism heavy in his voice. "I guess it was my own fault, I wasn't forward enough all these years. I don't think she ever saw me as anything more than a friend until recently."
I distinctly remember the night he's referring to. Peeta is right, I didn't think of him as anything more than an acquaintance back then. After my initial impression of him, I wasn't eager to spend time with a man I thought would love me and leave me fast. Admittedly, I found him very attractive, and I had a sense he liked me, but I settled for keeping him at arms length anyway. Although, as we spent more time together over the years, I grew to know and appreciate him as my friend.
"He was wrong for her from the start." I hear my mom weigh in. "He was too hot headed; like her father, like her. But Katniss has to come to her own conclusions in her own time." She finishes.
When I had moved to The Capitol and started working at The Press, I was fairly new to city living. Gale had captivated me with his tall, dark and handsome physique. His intensity intrigued me, but it must've blinded me to the person he is, and how wrong we truly were for each other. I wonder suddenly how different life would be had I given Peeta that chance.
They are quiet for a moment, then I hear Peeta change the subject. I take that as my opportunity to make my entrance, before I let myself get lost too deeply in that what-if mentality.
"Good morning!" I offer to them both as I head for the cupboard to retrieve a mug and fill it for tea.
I watch my mom and Peeta shift around awkwardly at the table, trying their best to act natural.
"What time are you heading back?" My mom asks as I take a seat beside Peeta.
"Our plane leaves at four." I offer in response and help myself to one of the cinnamon rolls sitting on the table. "Dis is so good!" I exclaim with my mouth full.
"Peeta made them this morning." My mother beams as she stands from the table. "He's a great cook, he's helpful around the house and he's good looking? I think you found a keeper, Katniss." She says leaning down to whisper the last part in my ear.
"Mom!" I yell as I pull away from her in surprise.
Peeta sits by trying to hide the smile from his face as he rubs the back of his neck.
"You're not getting any younger!" She announces as she makes her way down the hall, leaving us alone.
I roll my eyes at her comment, and flick a bit of roll at Peeta.
"What are you so happy about?" I tease as he dodges my projectile.
"Your mom likes me." He replies smugly.
"Well, I'm just glad she finally came to her senses about you." I say with a smirk and a wink as I stand from the table to take care of my dishes.
Peeta stutters for a response, then eventually gives up. After a moment, we shift our focus to our plans for the day. We agree on taking an abbreviated tour around town before we need to be to the airport. I begin to open up slowly and share bits of information about my past with Peeta. He is full of questions as we walk the small town streets, and listens intently to my thoughts and stories. My heart is full as we pack our belongings to head back to The Capitol later that day. As we sit side-by-side on the plane ride home, I come to the realization that Peeta as captured my heart. My whole heart. Forever.