Chapter 11-A Night to Remember
The party had been an absolute success. Milo spent the entire time smiling, laughing, and playing with his friends. His happiness and joy caused Annie to almost completely forget about the events that had transpired the night before. However, once she curled up in her bed that night, the frightening images came back. She closed her eyes and saw three faceless figures looming over her. When one of them reached for her, she quickly opened her eyes and jumped out of bed. Would she ever be able to sleep peacefully again?
Something small hitting the window interrupted Annie's thoughts and caused her to jump. She rushed over and peeked out to see what had happened. Finnick was standing below her window. She opened it slightly and looked down on him.
"What are you doing?" She tried to keep her voice down so that her mom wouldn't hear.
"I'm throwing rocks at your window. Is it not obvious?" Finnick held out his palm, which contained a few small pebbles.
"I can see that! I mean, why are you at my window?"
"Maybe you should just come down here." Finnick offered.
Annie nodded her head before opening her window all the way. She grabbed on to the window sill and proceeded to put both her legs out the window. She lowered herself until she felt the familiar groove in the stones on the side of her house. Although, she hadn't snuck out the window in a few years, she still remembered where that first step was. After the first step, she was able to climb down the rest of the way without any issue.
Finnick was waiting for her at the bottom with a smile on his face.
"Wow, you are still so graceful after all these years."
"Don't patronize me, Odair. It's been a little while since I snuck out." Annie looked down at the ground and noticed that there was a basket sitting next to Finnick's feet. "What is that?"
"A basket." He replied coyly.
Annie laughed. "Yes, I can see that. What's in it?"
"Well, I thought that since you couldn't sleep, we could have a picnic on the beach in front of my old house."
Annie's body stiffened and she felt exposed to him, like he had just discovered a secret. She immediately felt uncomfortable around him. "How did you…"
Finnick placed his hand lightly on her shoulder. "Hey don't get that way, Annie. I figured you couldn't sleep because that is how I was after the Games. It's perfectly normal after a traumatizing experience."
Annie felt ashamed all of a sudden because she remembered that Finnick had faced worse circumstances than she had and yet he felt the need to take care of her.
"Please don't compare what I went through to what you went through. What you went through was worse than what I could ever imagine. What I went through was…"
"A terrible ordeal, Annie. " Finnick finished. "Don't diminish what happened to you just because of what happened to me." He offered a smile, which Annie could plainly see in the moonlight.
"So, are we gonna do this picnic thing or not?"
Finnick picked up the basket at his feet and offered his arm to Annie. She took it and they walked a path that was extremely familiar to both of them.
Later:
They were sitting side by side on a soft blanket a few feet away from the water. The wind was warm and the bright moon illuminated the world around them.
"Did you cook that, Finnick?" Annie asked after chewing the last bite of her sandwich.
He laughed. "No, once you've won the Games, you never have to cook anything yourself ever again."
"I see." Annie said, looking out over the water.
"In fact, you really don't ever have to do anything yourself after you've won the Games."
"That must be terrible." Annie joked.
"No, not really. I love being waited on."
Annie leaned over and lightly punched Finnick's arm.
They both laughed.
"Thank you for bringing me out here tonight." Annie said.
Finnick reached his hand over to grab Annie's. She continued to look across the water.
"You're welcome. I'm glad we're together. I'm glad that we're—"
"Don't." Annie pulled her hand away.
"What did I do?"
"I don't want to talk about us." Annie kept her eyes glued to the landscape.
"Well, I don't want to talk about the food or the Games." Finnick snapped.
"I wasn't talking about the Games. You were." Annie kept her voice level.
Finnick stood up and began pacing. "What do you want from me? I thought we were having a great time tonight."
Annie stood up as well. "We were Finnick. But when you start talking about us I get confused and…"
"And what?"
"And I want something that I can't have."
Finnick came toward her. "If you're referring to me, Cresta, you can have me. I surrender to you, willingly."
She pushed him away. "No, I can't."
"Why?"
"Because I don't want to share you with the Capitol, Finnick." She placed her hands on either side of his face. "If you're gonna be with me then be with me."
He looked at her sadly. "I can't abandon my duties in the Capitol, Annie."
"Yeah, I know." She released his face and began walking away.
Finnick watched this whole scene unfold in his mind. Somehow he knew that if he ever tried to let Annie know how he truly felt then he would have to tell her what had happened to him or he would lose her. He hated both of those options, so he decided that he would put off telling her for a little longer. Maybe he would gain the courage one day. So, after Annie thanked him for bringing her there, he decided to not place his hand on hers. Instead he thought of something else. Annie noticed that his demeanor had changed.
"What is it?"
He looked over. "I want to go swimming. Do you want to go swimming?"
Annie laughed. "It's the middle of the night, Finnick."
"So? We used to swim at night all the time." He was already standing up and stripping off his shirt.
"Well, I don't have anything to swim in."
Finnick raised his eyebrows and smiled mischievously.
Annie shook her head. "No."
"You're loss, Cresta." Finnick ran towards the water. Once he got in knee deep, he dove underneath the waves.
After he resurfaced, his eyes found Annie, who was still sitting on the beach.
"Oh come on, Annie! The water feels great. When is the last time you went swimming?"
He playfully splashed water her way.
Annie rolled her eyes and gave him a dirty look before finally getting up.
"Don't look." She ordered before turning away from him.
"Okay."
"Promise?"
"Promise!" He turned his head to the side while Annie pulled her dress over her head. However, he angled his head slightly her way before she could turn back around. Her upper back was covered in bruises from the night before. They showed clearly against her pale skin in the moonlight. He turned away again and waded back into a deeper part of the lake.
"Keep looking away, okay. I'm coming in." Annie, clad only in her underwear and bra, ran into the water just like Finnick. Once she got in to where the majority of her body was underwater, she went over to him. He stayed turned away from her.
"Hey, you can look now." She said, touching his shoulder.
He turned around, his face solemn.
"What's wrong?"
"The bruises on your back. They just…"
All of the blood in her body rushed to her cheeks. Even in the semi-darkness, Finnick could tell that she was blushing deeply.
"I told you not to look."
"I know, I just…"
"It's fine. I'm fine. I don't want to talk about it anymore. I'm sure you have some scars from the Games."
Finnick couldn't disagree with her, although his scars were more mental than physical.
"Alright. What do you want to talk about?" Finnick wondered.
"I don't want to talk." Annie raised her eyebrow.
Finnick swallowed hard and tried to hide what he was feeling.
"What do you-" He had let his mind wander in the complete opposite direction obviously, which caused him to put his guard down. Annie took this opportunity to splash a huge amount of water in his face. While he was trying to recover by wiping the water off of his face, Annie did it again. She laughed while he sputtered violently.
Once he recovered, he began splashing water on her. They did this childish interaction until they were both too exhausted to continue.
After a while, Finnick got out of the water in order to get Annie a towel from the basket he brought. He turned his head while she took the towel from him and wrapped it around her body.
Then, they both lied down on the blanket from before and looked at the stars.
"I wish we could just stay here forever." Annie said, grabbing a hold of Finnick's hand.
"Maybe one day we will be able to." Finnick replied.
"I hope so…" Annie was getting drowsy.
Within a few minutes, Annie's breathing had become slow and steady. When her hand loosened in his, Finnick looked over. She had fallen asleep. He pulled out another blanket and placed it over her.
"Hey Annie," he waited for her to respond on the small chance that she was still partially awake. She didn't answer so he continued. "I think I might be falling in love with you."
