A/N: This is the chapter where Everlark really gets underway. I hope you enjoy it.
Word count: 6,371
The current school year came to an end, and Gale left permanently. In some ways, Katniss was jealous. What she was learning would be of little use to her in the future, so there was no practical reason for her to continue with school other than the law.
Working in the mines was dangerous. There was no denying that, so Katniss shouldn't have had any desire to be out of school when that was likely to be her fate just as it was Gale's. He already had far less time for hunting than he'd had as a student, whereas Katniss had all the time in the world for it during their short break between school years.
"Some days," Gale admitted during a rare day off while they were in the woods, "I think about quitting and hunting all day instead, see how much money I could make off of that. Probably more than I make in those mines. My family survived for years without anyone mining anyway."
"You're young and fit," Katniss said "They'll have you working in those mines no matter what you want. Besides, it's a more reliable income than the woods."
They could get enough food for their families, and sometimes, they could get enough to provide their families with extras from the Hob. There were always times when times were harder though. Sometimes you couldn't find anything to sell. At least the mines provided a paycheck that arrived on time every month for the same amount.
"I'd never actually quit," Gale said.
Katniss glanced over her shoulder at him as they walked. A frown creased his forehead, and he fiddled with his bow as if he thought something was wrong with it.
"I know it would be stupid to try it," he continued, "but sometimes I like dreaming about it. Those mines are not a fun place to be, Katniss."
"You think I don't know that?"
Her voice came out harsh, but it did nothing to deter Gale.
"I think you know because you've heard it secondhand, but it's a lot different actually being down there to see it for yourself. It's like the entire world is pressing in on you. Every day I go down and down and down. I start wondering if I'll ever come back up again. You're in another world when you're down there—not one that's better than Panem, mind you—and I can't stop thinking about how easily I could die if something went wrong. What would my mom do then?"
"I'd help her," Katniss snapped.
She didn't like to think about Gale dying the same way their fathers had.
"I know, but that doesn't make me feel better about dying."
Katniss didn't respond. Gale stopped walking, and Katniss, hearing his footsteps disappear, pulled up short in front of him.
"Everything feels different now," he said.
She turned to face him, bow held loosely at her side. An arrow hung in her other hand, useless considering they'd scared the animals away with their talking.
She didn't know how to respond. He was right, but he didn't need Katniss to reassure him of it. In many ways, she was looking forward to school restarting because it would let her forget where Gale was all day. School, at least, would be the same as it always had been. Boring but decidedly not life threatening.
"I'm always in the mines, and you're always with Mellark. Who would have thought you'd become close with a merchant kid?"
Katniss' hackles rose, and her shoulders stiffened.
"Peeta and I aren't close," she replied. "Not at all. Prim likes him. That's the only reason I put up with him."
Gale nodded, and Katniss chose to believe he had accepted her words without question.
"Maybe you think of it that way," he said, "but Mellark doesn't."
There had been countless walks home with Peeta since the first one, each one feeling more like a routine, though Katniss still found herself struggling to maintain a conversation with the baker. Gale had tagged along more and more as time went on, finding himself curious about Peeta's continued presence. Katniss' continued comments about it being terrible probably hadn't helped quell his curiosity.
The break from school had also meant a break from Peeta. Katniss hadn't seen him in more than a week as she'd made sure to traverse the perimeter of the town on her travels to and from the Hob.
"I know what you think about Peeta's intentions, but you're wrong," she said.
Peeta didn't like her. He couldn't. She could barely speak to the guy. What would he have seen in her that would have created feelings?
"You didn't use to be able to talk to me either, remember?"
Katniss didn't look at Gale, just turned around and kept walking. There was little hope of making a kill anymore, but she didn't want him to see her face as he continued speaking.
"It was a year after we met before you said something to me that wasn't about hunting or gathering or bartering in the Hob. For a while, I thought you hated me, and then I thought you tolerated me but would never actually be friends with me. I didn't expect this."
She didn't have to look at him to know he'd motioned between them to indicate their friendship. Truthfully, she hadn't expected 'this' either, though she didn't know how to explain how she had felt about him at the beginning without feeling cold. Things had been different then, it was true.
"My entire life, I've never felt like I needed friends," she admitted.
She'd never said even that much out loud, but she supposed admitting to it made little difference. Everyone could tell.
"I just haven't. People are confusing, and they always want to talk about things that aren't important. It was a waste of time. Besides, after Dad died, I had more important things to do. Why would I hang out at a friend's house after school when I could be hunting in the woods to get food we needed? It never made sense to me."
Gale said nothing in response. For once, Katniss found his silence unnerving.
"That's why I was annoyed when I found you in the woods that first time," she admitted. "The woods were a place where I could be alone and do what I needed to do. I didn't need any distractions in here like I had to put up with at school and everywhere else."
"Well, sorry for intruding."
Katniss finally looked at him, shooting him a half-hearted glare.
"That's why you kept talking to me. Because I proved I was useful to you."
It wasn't a question. Katniss figured that he'd realized as much for himself years ago and was only having it confirmed now.
"Kind of, but you were also hopeless with a bow at first. Remember everything I had to teach you?" she joked.
Her words broke the tension, and she was relieved to see Gale laugh at the memories of the long archery lessons that had made up much of the time they'd spent together in the beginning. Gale had never held a bow in his life, and he hadn't been a natural.
"I taught you some things too," he protested when he'd gotten his laughter under control.
"You did," Katniss said seriously. "And that's why I kept talking to you."
Gale nodded as he fiddled with the string of his bow. Katniss wished she knew what was going on in his head. Many would have been angered by her confession to have used him for his knowledge, but Gale knew her better than anyone else. Long ago, he had accepted that Katniss didn't 'make friends' as such and, therefore, had needed something else to cement their friendship than his company.
"Now though?" he asked. "If I had an accident tomorrow that left me unable to hunt again, what would we be then?"
Katniss swallowed against her fear of that idea. She couldn't look him in the eye as she answered.
"Friends, I'd hope."
Gale nodded instead of verbally responding. He took a step forward, around Katniss, prompting her to follow him instead of taking the lead.
"That's all I'd ask for," he said. "But I guess that's why you haven't given Peeta a chance? You don't think he's useful?"
Katniss hesitated, images of a rainy day in her mind's eye.
"Something like that," she said.
XXX
Katniss kept her head bowed as she hurried along the fringes of town. She'd be hunting alone, and she was anxious to get into the woods. It would take longer for her to get the same amount of food that it did when Gale came along. She growled in frustration as she thought of how little she could carry by herself.
"Katniss?"
She froze.
The voice was more familiar than she wished it was, but she hadn't expected to hear it for another week. She'd done such a good job of avoiding the bakery, which resided on the opposite side of town from where she stood.
When she turned to look at Peeta, he wasn't dressed for working in the bakery. His clothes were flour free and looked newer than most of the clothes he wore on a daily basis, though they were also a little worn.
"Hi," she said, raising a hand awkwardly.
Peeta gave her a small smile, walking towards her like one might approach a skittish animal.
"Long time no see," he said.
"Yeah," Katniss replied. "A long time."
Two whole weeks, give or take a few days. She'd hardly seen Gale for those two weeks either, but it didn't actually feel like it had been that long. There were plenty of other things to keep her busy. She hadn't had time to think about it.
Peeta looked down at her clothes. He seemed mesmerized by them, like he perhaps hadn't believed she traversed into the woods until he saw the clothes she wore especially for it. Not that the outfit itself was particularly special. Her boots were merely a version of what the miners wore in the caves after all.
"Are you going out there?" he asked, motioning towards the woods as one might a place of unspeakable horrors. There was awe in his voice.
"Yes."
It was quiet for a few seconds as both struggled to decide what they were meant to do next.
"Are you meeting Gale out there, or…?"
"Gale's in the mines."
Peeta paused for a second before nodding.
"Of course. He graduated. That means he's working now."
There was another moment of silence as Peeta put the facts together.
"You're going out there by yourself?"
Katniss felt a surge of irritation that Peeta was concerned for her safety. As if he had a reason to care. She was the one who had a weapon that she knew how to use. There was nothing in the woods that she feared.
"I've done it before. There's nothing out there that an arrow won't kill, no matter what ridiculous rumors people like to spread about mountain lions."
Peeta looked simultaneously frightened and impressed. Katniss wished he'd stop looking at her when she wasn't sure what she was supposed to say.
"Right," Peeta said. "Of course there isn't."
He hesitated for a moment; Katniss was sure he'd walk away. She'd be left to head into the woods, Finally, and Peeta could go back to doing whatever the hell he did when he wasn't around her and Prim or at the bakery.
But he didn't leave.
"Can I come with you?"
"Out in the woods?" Katniss clarified. "In the trees with the coyotes and the mountain lions?"
It was impossible for her to picture it. Peeta and the woods, the two things didn't fit together in her mind. The only people meant to be in those woods were her and Gale. Peeta wouldn't have a clue what to do out there. The idea of it was almost comical, but Katniss couldn't find it in herself to laugh.
She narrowed her eyes.
"I can handle myself."
Peeta held up his hands in surrender.
"I know," he assured her. "Really. You stand more of a chance out there than I do, but I'd like to see it."
Katniss watched him for a moment, blinking slowly.
"You want to see the trees and the birds? The rabbits? That...what? Excites you?"
While the woods were a place of comfort for her, they couldn't be the same for Peeta when he'd never experienced them before. If he thought things out there were exciting, then he was setting himself up for disappointment.
"You know we won't actually see a coyote or a mountain lion, right?" she asked, earning a slow nod from him. "They stay away from us. I've never even seen a mountain lion."
"I'm not asking because I want to see a mountain lion," he said, his wide, fearful eyes further reinforcing the point. He hesitated before he continued, "I guess I just want to understand what you love about the place."
Katniss stared at him. Her gaze made him nervous, causing his eyes to glance in one direction and then another before landing back on her.
"Only as long as the stories aren't all true," he joked, scratching the back of his neck.
"They're not true," Katniss said, voice wavering. "Not most of them."
There were stories that frequently circulated among the children in District 12 of the possible horrors of the woods. As more years passed with the woods off limits, the stories became more elaborate, filled with a wide variety of horrors.
"There are no bloodsucking wolves in there," she said. "Just your run-of-the-mill woodland animals."
That didn't sooth Peeta, who was probably thinking of the mountain lions again. She couldn't tell him that those weren't real.
"We're not anything's food," Katniss said. "Everything in there will leave you alone if you leave it alone."
It was that simple, even when it came to the mountain lions, but Peeta looked as reassured as anyone else in District 12 would have been. When you'd never seen a wolf face-to-face, it was easy to find them terrifying.
Peeta looked hesitant for a moment, and Katniss wasn't sure why she was suddenly eager to see him go into the woods instead of chickening out. All she knew was that her skin was buzzing at the thought of seeing Peeta, this merchant boy who confused her so much, be brave enough to go beyond the fence.
He glanced at her bow as if sizing up its effectiveness against potential threats. The sight of it reassured him. He nodded briefly.
"I want to go," he said.
He tried to smile, though he couldn't manage much of one.
"Mountain lions or no mountain lions," he joked.
"We have to be quiet," she said, beginning her walk towards the fence and motioning for Peeta to follow. "Noise scares off the animals. Remember, anything we're after is more scared of us than we are of it. They can't know we're there."
Peeta gave a quick bob of the head.
"Quiet, right. I can do that."
Katniss had serious doubts about that as she listened to his footsteps echo behind her as they walked. If Peeta was that loud on the clear, level streets of town, it was only going to get worse in the underbrush of the woods.
She didn't know how to teach someone to walk quietly. She and Gale had always done it naturally, or, at least, she assumed it was as natural for Gale as it was for her. There was no way that Katniss could put the technique into words. She could only hope Peeta would catch on as they went.
They ducked under the fence, Peeta turning his head this way and that in short, jerky movements that would have drawn attention to them had anyone been bothering to monitor the perimeter of the district. Katniss didn't say anything about it. No one was looking anyway.
"Welcome to the woods," she said when they were far enough into the trees that the fence could no longer be seen.
She glanced at Peeta, watching him as his eyes roved over everything. She couldn't read his expression to tell if he was impressed or frightened.
"There's so much shade," he said. "It's almost like being inside."
As expected, Peeta's footsteps echoed through the air around them, startling a few birds here or there. Not a good sign. Katniss wasn't sure how she could explain to him that he was a liability, that it was doubtful she would catch anything with him trailing behind her.
"Is that a mockingjay?" Peeta asked, not bothering to keep his voice quiet now that they were far from the fence.
Katniss didn't turn around to look as she heard the bird in question mimic Peeta's tone.
"Yes."
She'd forgotten that many in District 12 had heard about mockingjays more than they had seen them, as the birds didn't often cross the boundaries of the fence. It was easy to forget how many things she had experienced firsthand that others around her hadn't thanks to her illegal excursions.
They came upon one of her and Gale's usual clearings, one with a fallen log positioned along its edge that they often perched on. Peeta's eyes were still wide as he stared at everything around him, unable to believe he'd gone into the woods.
"You walk loudly," Katniss said simply, having failed to come up with a nicer way to say it.
Peeta's eyes snapped to her before narrowing in confusion.
"What do you mean?"
He glanced down at his feet as if that would help him decipher the words.
"I can hear you behind me," Katniss continued. "You were scaring birds away."
It took a second for realization to dawn on Peeta's face. His cheeks turned a light pink as he averted his eyes to the ground.
"Sorry," he said. "I'd never thought about something like that before. I guess everything else is as scared as the birds?"
"Yes. Gale and I have been hunting in these woods for years. The animals aren't stupid. As soon as they know we're there, they'll be gone. Everything except the bees."
Peeta took a few steps back and then forward again, looking down at his feet as the underbrush crackled beneath them. When he looked up again, he was regretful. He scratched at the back of his neck.
"I guess I should go back then."
He hesitated, but Katniss, who knew she should let him go, didn't say anything until he'd taken several steps away from her.
"No, it's fine," she said. She didn't admit that she'd known they'd have this problem before they'd gotten to the woods. "We can gather plants. They don't run away."
Peeta grinned at Katniss as if she'd made a joke, but all she'd done was state the truth.
Though she was annoyed she wouldn't be catching any meat—which was entirely her fault after inviting Peeta to stay—she laid her bow against the log with a sigh.
Thankfully, it was late spring, and a number of plants were readily available. They'd have no trouble, even if it would have been preferable to have some meat to go with what they gathered.
"There's a blackberry bush over here."
She led Peeta to the fringes of the clearing where the blackberry bush sat. It was a bush she and Gale visited every year, but they hadn't paid it much mind since they'd gathered the last of its fruit a year ago. The berries had only begun to ripen over the last week or so, and Katniss had no idea how many edible berries they would find.
Hunching over the bush, she pushed branches out of the way and pulled others closer to inspect them for fruit. She felt Peeta approach and watch her from over her shoulder. When she'd found a good branch, she motioned for him to come closer, trying to ignore the strange feeling in her stomach as they bent over the same branch.
"These aren't ripe," Katniss said, motioning to a number of the berries along the branch. "This one is."
She picked the aforementioned berry from its stem and held it out to Peeta, who took it from her, their fingers brushing. He rolled the fruit around in his palm.
"It's simple," Katniss explained. "You'll know they're ripe when they look like the blackberries you eat."
Peeta nodded, but a frown had creased his forehead.
"I've never eaten blackberries," he said, sounding embarrassed.
Katniss blinked at him several times. It was all but impossible for her to believe Peeta's words. Fruits weren't plentiful in Twelve, but you could find them in the legal grocer's as well as in the Hob. Apples were a staple that could be found year round, whereas the berries came when in season and in smaller numbers. Still, they were there, and Katniss had always thought the merchants were the ones buying them.
"You bake them into cakes," she said almost as a question. "I've seen them at the bakery. The blueberries and the raspberries and the blackberries."
"I've baked with them," he clarified. "I could pick out which ones look edible, but I've never eaten them myself."
When Katniss still looked confused, he continued.
"Using fruit bumps up the price of something. That stuff with the berries is some of the most expensive stuff in the bakery. We only bake it in small amounts we know will sell, which means it's never around to go stale. I've never eaten any of it."
Katniss felt a pang of sadness at the thought of Peeta baking things that he'd never know the taste of. It felt strange knowing that a baker wouldn't know if what they were making tasted good or not.
"My parents never really buy fruit," Peeta continued. He was looking at the bush, not Katniss. "If they do, it's the cheaper stuff. Never the blackberries. But I pretty much grew up on stale bread and whatever vegetable was cheapest in the market. Once or twice a week, they'd add the cheapest meat."
Her family also bought the cheapest fruit in the market, so it wasn't as if she couldn't understand. Still, they'd had their fair share of the fruits available in the woods. She always thought the town kids would have had their own share of District 11 provided berries.
"I just thought…" Katniss hesitated, suddenly self-conscious of what she'd thought. "Since you bake so much, I figured you were allowed to eat it. Even the stuff with berries. Sometimes."
Peeta still held the berry in his hand. Instead of answering immediately, he held the fruit out to Katniss, who opened her sack to reveal a smaller bag that she pulled out and held open for him to drop the lone blackberry into.
"Some of the stale stuff we can eat," Peeta said. "But that's never the more expensive stuff."
"Well," Katniss said, "you can eat some of these then."
"No," he answered reflexively. "You should take them to your family, to Prim."
"Prim's fine," Katniss said, though she couldn't look Peeta in the eye as she said it. "She's had blackberries her whole life, and she's not going to starve without them. There are plenty of other things we can get while we're in here."
Peeta nodded and, with the slightest hesitation, took the small bag that Katniss handed him. They bent over the bush again, each twisting off what ripe berries they found. Peeta would occasionally ask if an ambiguous berry looked ripe to her, but for the most part, they worked in a companionable silence that Katniss found relaxing.
Even when picking berries, Peeta made more noise than she did, but she didn't care what he was scaring off anymore. As she worked, she thought of the other plants she could show him. Before, she had been considering this a one off trip for a straitlaced boy, but after learning that he'd never gotten to try berries before, Katniss began to consider which plants it would be most helpful for Peeta to know should he decide to risk another trip to the woods.
She was surprised that she wouldn't mind if he did return, especially if he were willing to go at it alone and leave her to hunt.
By the time they'd picked the bush clean of every ripe berry, Katniss had decided what to tell him next.
"You know, dandelions are edible?" she said as she led him over to a small patch of the wildflower.
XXX
Months passed with what felt like a new routine.
Katniss saw Gale one day a week. She saw Peeta on weekdays when he walked home with her and Prim, but she also saw him when he traversed into the woods with her on the rare days he could escape from his mother's tyranny at the bakery.
Those days weren't for hunting. She'd rearranged her schedule into hunting days and gathering days. If she found plants that could be gathered when Peeta wasn't with her, she'd make a mental note and decide to come back to them later if she thought they'd still be around then.
Peeta had been a quick student and could recognize almost as many plants as Katniss could after several months. She'd been surprised the first time he'd been the one to point a particular edible plant out as they walked, particularly since the plant had been largely hidden from sight. Because he had taken being invited into the woods with Katniss as an honor, Peeta took his task seriously and was slowly working towards being more of an expert on the local flora than Katniss.
What he still lacked was any substantial knowledge on the fauna. Yes, he had a general idea of what animals were around them, but each time Katniss tried to get him close to one, he would send it scampering away, much to his chagrin. So, it was with plants that they stayed focused.
Her hunting took place on the days she was alone or with Gale, who knew of her trips with Peeta only in the vaguest ways. Katniss shouldn't shake the feeling that she had almost betrayed Gale when she brought Peeta into the woods, so it had been difficult for her to discuss the trips with him aside from a comment here or there about having been with Peeta the day before.
"Why doesn't he come when I'm with you?" Gale asked out of the blue one day.
They were resting in one of their usual clearings. The same one Katniss had first brought Peeta to several months ago. So far, they'd had a productive day, and neither had felt guilty about sitting down to enjoy a long lunch break.
"I've told you," Katniss said. "I can't hunt when he's around. He walks like he's making noise on purpose, but it's worse because he can't actually control it."
"I know that," Gale said, rolling the cap of his water flask between his fingers. "But I could help the two of you gather too. Why do we never do that?"
There was a moment of silence before Gale gave up on receiving an answer and went back to eating his bread. It was only then that Katniss answered.
"I'd never considered it," she admitted. "These days have always been for hunting. I figured you'd want to do that instead of gathering plants with Peeta. Gathering was always your least favorite part."
It took a second for Gale to swallow his mouthful of bread, and Katniss felt increasingly tense as she waited.
"Yeah, I like hunting more, but I'm also interested in seeing Mellark in these woods. No one's ever out here except me and you. And he's a merchant kid to boot."
She had forgotten how novel having Peeta in the woods had been on their first trip. She could understand Gale's own interest in seeing it, but she couldn't shake her anxiety at the thought of having both boys with her in the woods at once.
"Sure, I don't see why we couldn't do that," she said. "I can ask Peeta to come with us next Sunday, but he probably won't be able to. Sunday is a busy day at the bakery, with everyone in the mines being off and all."
Gale sighed as if Katniss were purposefully getting out of the situation, but she hadn't thought of the excuse until she'd agreed to ask Peeta along. That wasn't to say she wasn't secretly thankful.
"You like him," Gale stated simply.
It was impossible for Katniss to tell how Gale felt about that. His voice had an odd, controlled quality to it that made him more difficult to read than usual.
"What do you mean? I never hated him."
She felt oddly defensive, though she had, in fact, been wary about having him around. A fact of which she and Gale were both aware.
"The only reason I brought him out to the woods in the first place was because he gave me that look that made me feel guilty for getting rid of him. I didn't think he'd want to come back."
"But you've started to like having him around."
It wasn't a question, and Katniss felt her cheeks heat up as she stared down at the half eaten apple in her hand.
"He's more useful than I expected him to be," she admitted. "Besides, it's kind of nice having him around when I can't have you."
Gale cringed, and Katniss realized how that might have sounded.
"Not that he's a replacement," she said. "It's just that he helps me gather more plants than I would be able to get otherwise, even if he scares off all the game. He knows almost as much about the plants in this forest as I do anymore. Soon, he'll probably surpass me. Gale, he's even started giving me recipe ideas about how to cook some of the stuff we find. You'd think the bakery was expanding into a full blown restaurant."
Gale's eyes narrowed.
"And you say he's not taking any of it for himself?"
Katniss shook her head and threw the core of her apple as far as she could, watching as it disappeared in the underbrush.
"I've tried to get him to take some, but he won't. Eventually, I stopped asking because he got weird about it when I did. I know it's his mom, even if he won't tell me it is. It's frustrating though. Why would she get angry at him for bringing home extra food? That doesn't make sense."
"That woman cares a lot more about her reputation than making sure her kids are fed," Gale said, scowling. "I can picture it: her getting angry and eating all the food herself in front of Peeta as some sort of messed up punishment. That's the way I imagine it playing out in my head."
It played out similarly in Katniss' own imagination, but that hadn't stopped Katniss from trying, at first, to get Peeta to take something, even if he had to hide it as he had the blackberries he'd taken that first day. He hadn't accepted any of her offers since then, and Katniss wondered if something had happened with the berries that he hadn't shared with her.
"It's weird," she said, picking at the bit of bread she had left.
She had piqued Gale's interest. He looked at her with one eyebrow raised.
"What's weird?" he asked.
"How that woman raised someone like Peeta. She's so," Katniss struggled for the right word before deciding on, "mean. And Peeta doesn't seem capable of being mean. How is that?"
Gale shrugged.
"I couldn't tell you. His dad's not bad, and his middle brother seems alright. I'm not so sure about the other one. What's his name?"
He paused, brow furrowed.
"I can't think of it," he concluded.
Katniss wasn't sure either. She had never had a reason to learn it before. He had left school several years ago, so Katniss had never seen much of him. For the first time, she realized that Peeta had never spoken to her about either of his brothers by name.
While she could have identified them by sight, Katniss had no idea what the boys were called.
"That family is strange," Katniss said. "Even Prim said so."
Gale didn't answer. He stood, stowing the sack that had held his lunch in his bag.
"Ready?" he asked.
Katniss shoved her last piece of bread into her mouth and stood, following Gale from the clearing. They headed in the direction of some of their traps, which Katniss knew was a sign that Gale planned to head home soon.
She scowled in confusion. They'd only just eaten lunch. They had hours until it would be too dark to hunt. But she didn't ask for the reasoning behind the decision. Maybe heading that way was a coincidence, not something that she should let bother her.
"So," Gale said, "do you still believe that Mellark doesn't want to be friends with you?"
He didn't bother to keep his voice down, which meant they weren't trying to catch anything. They really were heading for the traps.
"No," Katniss said with a roll of her eyes. "I don't get it though. His fascination with the woods that is."
Gale laughed, and there was an edge to it that bothered Katniss.
"I doubt he has any fascination with these woods," Gale said. "At least not any more than anyone in Twelve with their over the top stories."
Katniss climbed over a large branch that laid across their usual path.
"You wouldn't say that if you'd seen him in here."
"Oh, he's interested. It's just not in the food."
Katniss reached out to grab ahold of Gale's shoulder, bringing him to a stop. When he turned to face her, his face was tight.
"What does that mean?" she asked.
Gale tilted his head as he looked at her. After a few tense moments of analyzing her, Gale let out a snort, shaking his head. He continued to head for the traps, but he did answer Katniss' question. In a way.
"You really have no idea, do you?"
Katniss stomped after him, for once her footsteps not as quiet as she prided herself on being. Gale's legs were longer than hers, and he was making no attempt to slow down his stride for her benefit.
"No idea about what?" she snapped.
Gale rarely did this, talk vaguely instead of being upfront. He knew how much Katniss despised people talking in vague terms and expecting others to understand. This was one of the behaviors that turned her off from talking to people.
They had reached the first trap, and Gale took his time to answer as he removed a rabbit from the metal clutches. Katniss did nothing to help.
"Mellark is in love with you," Gale stated simply.
He was staring down at the rabbit as he stowed it in his sack. Katniss' eyes widened, and her mouth gaped as she stared at Gale. The word 'love' sent unpleasant shivers down her spine.
"He's only been talking to me for a few months. It's not possible to love someone that quickly."
Gale stood back up, his face an emotionless mask.
"Katniss, it's been almost six months since he started walking you and Prim home. My mom and dad had been together for five months before my mom proposed."
Katniss did the math for herself and realized that Gale was right about how long she and Peeta had been speaking. Prim's illness had been during the Hunger Games, and soon, it would be the Victory Tour. It was hard to have two more vivid markers of time than those.
"Maybe so," Katniss said, not backing down, "but he's still not in love with me. He talks to Prim more than me whenever she's around, and, yeah, we spend time together in the woods, but so do me and you. It doesn't mean he's in love with me."
Gale was growing increasingly agitated as he hurried through the task of checking trap after trap. Katniss couldn't understand why he was so adamant that Peeta had feelings for her anyway. Or why he seemed annoyed that Katniss didn't see it the same way.
They worked on the remaining traps in silence, Gale no longer trying to convince Katniss to see things his way. It wasn't until they were back within the confines of Twelve that Gale spoke again.
"It may shock you, but that guy isn't going into the woods because he has a newfound passion for botany."
Katniss hadn't actually thought Peeta's interest came from any particular love for plants, but she sensed that it was better to stay quiet than to snap at Gale for saying something annoying.
"He likes you," Gale said. "Maybe he would have helped Prim that day regardless because he's a decent guy, but he only noticed you needed help because he was watching you already. You have to have at least considered that it's true."
Gale's words left her scrambling for a response. She stared at him as her mind struggled to make sense of what he'd said.
She'd come to accept that Peeta wanted to be friends with her. That was easy to come to terms with once she'd realized that he was one of the rare types of people who wanted to be friends with everyone. It had little to do with her, personally.
She hadn't, however, considered that Peeta was interested in anything more than friendship. Her only close friend was Gale, and so far, nothing had happened between her and Peeta that wouldn't have happened between her and Gale. Nothing had felt outside the realms of an ordinary friendship.
In sixteen years, though, no one had professed romantic feelings for her, so she didn't really know what such a thing entailed.
"I guess it could be true," she responded quietly, "but I'm not as convinced as you are."
"Just wait and see."
