Want to make things a little more dramatic if I can. Basically I've had some ideas for later on in the story so I want to pick up the pace a little. Let me know what you think! :)

-H


Raindrops on Roses

Taki's was surprisingly quiet for a Monday afternoon. Usually students from the school piled through the doors to relieve the stress of the new week but it seemed that the rain was putting most people off. Katniss had a booth to herself and was slowly stirring ice cubes around her drink with a straw when a shadow loomed over her, "Cato! You startled me."
"Sorry," he sat on the bench seat opposite her.
"If you're looking for Gale I've no idea where he's gone. I haven't spoken to him at all since he gave me the cold shoulder at lunch."
She stared down looking slightly miserable. Gale wasn't speaking to her, Marvel had pulled a disappearing act and even Isabelle seemed like she hated her. Cato grimaced in sympathy, "He's been weird with me too Katniss," he lied, "You know Gale, it's probably his time of the month." She didn't smile and he nudged her arm, "Want me to sort him for you?" He pulled a stern, mean looking face that somehow made him look like a goofy serial killer.
Katniss burst out laughing and Cato grinned. She and Gale might have been friends since childhood but in the years Cato and Gale had spent chasing girls and rugby wins Katniss had always still managed to fit in and he hated to see her sitting alone.
"I think if anyone was going to sort Gale out it would be you, but you don't need to murder your best friend just because he's suddenly decided he doesn't want to speak to me."
"There will be more to it than that Katniss, Gale adores you. It won't be personal."
She smiled sadly, "With Gale it's always personal."
Cato reached for a way to change the subject, "So what brings you here on this piss-take of an afternoon?" He gestured at the pouring rain outside.
"I was looking for Marvel," Katniss admitted. "After the way Gale behaved on Saturday I've been trying to explain to him but it's like chasing a ghost."
"Now him I can sort for you," Cato said seriously.
Katniss hit his arm, "I already have Gale on my case, be nice."
"He can't take you out on a date and then blow you off just because Gale warned him to treat you right!" Cato argued.
Katniss knew that if Marvel wasn't careful he'd have the whole team on his case, "Well I text him as I left school and he agreed to meet me. You can hover in the shadows and make sure his intentions aren't wicked if that's what you want."
Cato blew air out of his cheeks, "I'm not doubting that you can't take care of yourself Katniss, I'm not as stupid as everyone thinks."
"I know you're not stupid Cato," she said quietly. "You're smarter than Gale at least, especially since he's apparently clueless when it comes to dealing with his female friends. You can at least act like you understand." She grinned but he didn't return it.
"I'm not smart with girls, trust me."
Katniss raised her eyebrows, "Well luckily you have a close friend that has first hand experience of being one, but since Gale isn't here spill it to me and I'll see what I can do."
Cato opened his mouth and then hesitated, could he tell Katniss about Maia? The door opened and he saw Marvel enter, shaking the rain from his hair and jacket. "Seems your ghost has decided to show up," he commented and Katniss turned to look over her shoulder.
"Oh, I guess I should try and explain Saturday..."
"You want me to stay?"
She shook her head, "Thanks Cato but I seriously think that if he was scared off by one of my guy best friends, having another one here while I talk to him about it is not going to help."
He stood up and shrugged up his hood. "You could do better," he said quietly. Marvel had spotted them and was walking over, his weary eyes on Cato. When she snorted unconvinced he lightly aimed a punch at her chin and said, "Seriously, than both him and Gale... and they know it."

"Was I interrupting something?" Marvel had replaced Cato opposite her and the atmosphere was decidedly less affectionately friendly.
Katniss rolled her eyes, "So you disappear on me during a party and run off in to the night, don't return my calls, don't show up to school and I'm on the one on trial for chatting to a friend?" He at least had the decency to look slightly ashamed, "Are you going to tell me what happened Saturday night?"
"Are you?" Marvel shot back, "One minute we're hitting it off, the next you're flirting-"
"Flirting!" Katniss laughed through her shock and shook her head, "Marvel that wasn't flirting, that was just... me and Gale. He's my best friend," she emphasised when he looked unimpressed.
"I had my doubts about the two of you before I asked you out, but Simon assured me that Clary said you two were just mates."
"We are! But Marvel Gale and I have been best friends since... since I was born! We're going to have inside jokes, things that the two of us understand about each other. He's going to get all macho and protective when he sees me with a guy, because that's what he's always been like, that's what he does."
"Yeah because he's in love with you."
She sighed, "That's just not true, trust me."
"You want him to be in love with you?"
"What? No- god no Marvel. Once upon a time I had a crush on Gale but he was never anything more than my best friend. You can understand that right? I mean, Clove said that you and Glimmer used to be tight... before she became head cheerleader. I swear Gale just got a little carried away because he was drunk, he's an idiot, but he's my friend. Marvel-"
Marvel had both paled and gone very quiet while she had been talking. I'm losing him, she thought. Two dates and I scared him off and I don't even have my son-of-a-bitch best friend to turn to because despite the fact he helped ruin this he's too much of an ass to bother talking to me. She sighed very quietly and made to leave, "Whatever Marvel if you don't get it you never will and I can't date someone who has this big a problem with my best friend."
"Katniss wait!" he reached out for her and she settled back against the seat, her eyebrows pulling together. "I do- get it. Kind of. I get the whole best friend crush thing too... didn't you and Gale ever... go further? Just to see what would happen, because you were drunk or upset?"
"No Marvel, never. He kissed me once when we were five to prove that he was strong enough to fight off cuties but that's about it." She noticed his hopeless expression and asked wearily, "Why?"
Then she remembered Clary asking Isabelle something while they held her hair as she threw up into the Lightwoods toilet. Through the haze of drunken embarrassment and nausea she'd heard Clary say, "We just went outside for some air Izzy. Please don't make a bigger deal of it than it needs to be, I'm just not in the mood."
"Well yeah, talk about a mood killer. Katniss barfing everywhere-" Her next round of vomit had cut Isabelle off. "Shit! How much did she drink?"
"I think Peeta was pretty good at beer pong," Clary surmised.
"Well I'm surprised it wasn't the two of them sneaking out for a round of streaking in the garden."
"Isabelle! Jace and I weren't- though we did see Glimmer getting up close and personal in your rose bushes."
Isabelle had almost smacked Katniss' head off the toilet seat in shock, "I'd rather you didn't do that," Katniss had drunkenly mumbled.
"Shh, seriously Clary, good ol' Glimmer got down and dirty in the compost? With who?!"
Katniss had blacked out then but something in the conversation had stuck with her, "Oh my god," she said dropping her head into her hands, "I thought it might have been Cato- but that was you in the rose bushes with Glimmer, wasn't it?"
"Katniss I can explain."
"Explain what? That you got intimidated by my best friend being a drunken idiot and ran off to swap gardening tips and saliva with your old best friend?! How exactly are you going to explain that in a way that doesn't make me feel like an utter moron? I've been feeling so guilty all damn weekend because of what happened and you-" She broke off and Marvel bowed his head.
"I was drunk Katniss, it doesn't excuse it I know but- Glimmer, she was outside already having a cigarette and she asked if I wanted one. I think Cato had blown her off and she was looking so vulnerable just like she used to before the whole cheerleading thing..."
"So you decided the best way to make her feel less vulnerable was to rip off all her clothes."
"It wasn't like that! We got talking about how things used to be between us and I just- didn't say no."
Katniss stood up, "Well now I'm saying no, Marvel. I'm not going to be your distraction when you clearly still like Glimmer."
"It was a one time thing, she made that very clear!"
"Well now let me make something clear Marvel, this is exactly why Gale made a fool of himself the other night, because guys like you who choose a one night fling over a relationship aren't worth it. I'm not going into competition with Glimmer! I'm not going to be that stupid girl who tricks herself into believing the guy she's dating is over his ex when really he's still completely and totally whipped!"
Marvel groaned, "She doesn't control me Katniss! But how was I supposed to feel, when my own best friend is pissed at me for dating you and yours is determined to get rid of me, it was nice to feel, I dunno, wanted."
"I wanted you, Marvel," Katniss said more quietly, glad that Taki's was almost empty. "But now all I want is to forget about you completely."
She grabbed her bag and made for the door, not bothering to pull up her hood. As she exited into the rain she almost ran headlong into Maia and Jordan who were hand in hand and heading for shelter. "Katniss are you okay?" Maia looked alarmed by the tears in her friends eyes. Katniss never cried.
"Fine," she gasped, "Just heading home."
"Do you want a lift, my truck is right here?" Jordan pointed over his shoulder, "Come on otherwise you'll freeze to death."
"No- no thanks, Jordan. I'm good to walk, it'll do me some good." She shivered. "I'll see you guys tomorrow all right? We can plan this weekend or something."
Jordan looked uncertainly at Maia who shook her head, she knew if Katniss had decided to walk there would be no stopped her. She was stubborn when she was in a good mood. "Yeah there's that new club Pandemonium opening," he offered.
"Sounds like a plan, listen I've got to go." Katniss made to head off down the street.
Maia grabbed her hand and asked quietly, "Are you sure you don't want some company? Did you and Gale fight?"
But her friend just shook her head and made off down the rain-battered street. "Will she be okay?" Jordan asked.
Maia looked up at him, "God I hope so, I haven't seen her like that in years."

By the time Katniss reached the end of the road, the tears that had threatened to spill before had joined the flood of raindrops running down her cheeks. She was stupid to have trusted Marvel, she didn't trust anyone really, except Gale and maybe Cato and the girls. Her hands were shaking as she dug her phone from her pocket and hit the speed-dial that would take her to Gale. It rang all the way through to voice mail and impatiently she hit re-dial. He could be an ass during school all he liked, she was used to him being stuck to her like glue one minute and cold and distant the next, but he always came through when she needed him and right now all she needed was her best friend. But the second time like the first, it rang all the way through and Gale's recorded voice clicked into play, "If you've waited this long to realise that I don't want to speak to you then hang up, I hate listening to messages on my phone. Unless you are the pizza guy who is late and I'm dying of starvation, seriously man, you're supposed to deliver within half an hour!" the tone clicked again and the silence echoed on for her message, "Gale," she hiccupped, "Gale where are you, it's me-"