A/N: Thank you all for the wonderful reviews! FYI, we raised over $2500 for our friend at the fundraiser today! But now I'm burnt and beat so excuse any grammatical errors I may make. I had to change the rating from T to M because, well… you'll see. This chapter is a little bit shorter, but I had to update for you all. You guys are so amazing! And I promise to keep updating often as long as you keep reading! Enjoy, and send me a little love in a review!
Chapter 12
Something flashes through Cato's eyes when I bring up the idea of a midnight swim. Then he grins, wickedly. "Sounds like a plan to me. But can we drop off the wheelchair first? I think I'm healthy enough to walk."
I hesitate, thinking he may be pushing himself too hard, but then shrug it off. He knows his body a lot better than I do, so who am I to say what he can and can't do. "Okay. But if you collapse or anything, you're on your own. You know you're too big for me to carry. I'll leave your butt in the wilderness." I joke as I wheel him up the spiral hallway and towards our rooms.
He wants to leave his wheelchair in my room, since I have less people living there. I agree, knowing how small our rooms are already, without a big wheelchair taking it up. I make him get out of it outside of our doorway, just in case he makes too much noise.
Although he tries to be as quiet as possible, he groans a little as he stands up, his joints popping. "It feels so good to stand up." He whispers, stretching. "I feel like I've been in that wheelchair all day."
"It's only been a few hours. And I don't know what you're complaining about. I've been pushing you around this whole time. My back is killing me." I whisper back, smiling at him playfully.
I take the wheelchair into my room and set it next to the door. Even though we have four beds in our room, Prim and my mother are asleep on the bottom bunk with Buttercup nestled close to Prim's side. I smile, remembering that this is exactly how I usually left them every morning I went hunting in the woods with Gale. It's how I left them that last day I went hunting with Gale; the day of the reaping. I shake my head to clear the thoughts of Gale and the reaping. I don't want to think about the boy who I thought was my friend but turned out to be more close minded than Peeta's brothers, who actually had a good reason to be close minded.
As I turn to leave, I slam right into Cato's lean, muscular body and have to stop myself from squealing out of surprise. "They look so peaceful." He concludes, smiling at the sight of them sleeping and then adds "You look so much like them when you sleep, you know that?" He smiles down at me and I push him out of the doorway and shut the door quietly.
"Come on. Let's go." I say, grabbing his hand. He interlocks his fingers with mine and uses my arm to pull me closer to him. We make our way to the door of the bunker. It creaks quite loudly, and we glance around, making sure no one has heard. Not that it matters. They basically let people do whatever they want around here. I figured they wouldn't like us going outside because we might give away the location of the bunker, but they have an emergency system that will close off this entrance if needed. Not that anyone could even see anything in these woods from above. Even though we took a pretty easy path to get here, the trees are so dense that it would be almost impossible to even see the lake from above. But even so, their emergency system would make it look as if there were just rocks behind the waterfall, as if nature had made it that way long ago.
We enter the cavern and I begin to walk us past the small but Cato stops. "We aren't going to swim here?" He asks, looking confused.
"No way!" I say, wrinkling my nose at him. "I want to swim out in the open air. Aren't you tired of being underground?"
He shrugs, and lets me follow the way, never letting go of my hand. When we make it outside to the waterfall, Cato puts his hand under it, letting it splash us both. I giggle, trying to block myself with Cato's body, but he's way too strong for me. He uses our interlocked hands to wrap me up with my own arm, grabbing the other arm with his free hand so I can't move. He steps under the waterfall, causing us both to be drenched within seconds.
He looks down at me, and pulls me up towards him. My feet rest on top of his, and our faces become just inches away from each other. The bandage on his nose must be waterproof, because the water is just rolling right off of it and onto my face. He's laughing, but I can barely open my eyes. The water isn't pouring down hard, but there's enough of it to make it hard for me to see. "I've never kissed anyone under a waterfall before." He says, and I can sense him inching his way closer and closer to my face.
I giggle, trying to squirm my way out. "What makes you think you'll ever get to kiss anyone under a waterfall?" I tease, trying to move my face further from his. But, it doesn't work well at all. He has me in a tight grip, which almost frightens me. I know I'm strong for a girl, but I'm absolutely know match to Cato's strength. I'm not sure I like not having complete control, but with Cato things are different.
"Oh, I have a feeling it will happen." He presses his lips down hard on mine, still smiling. I kiss back, just as hard but making sure I avoid his nose as much as possible. And after a minute or so of kissing like this, he releases his grip on my hands, allowing his hands to roam freely up and down my side, over my back, to my face and neck. I do the same, not knowing where exactly to place my hands, just knowing I wanted to touch every inch of his body, which is now covered in a soaking wet shirt, almost like an extra layer of skin.
Our kiss is cut short as we try to come up for a breath and breathe in the waterfall. We're both laughing, trying to step out of the waterfall without slipping. We gasp for breath and I lean against a wall, trying to get my body to calm down. The way I react to him is like nothing I've ever felt before, and I'm beginning to really like the way it makes me feel.
"You know, standing under a waterfall isn't my idea of a swim. And I didn't plan to get my clothes completely soaked." I say, wiping the water out of my eyes.
"Well, that white shirt of yours looks pretty damn good soaked." He says, eying me. I give him a stern look and cross my hands over my chest. Then I notice how his shirt is sticking so perfectly against his body. You can make out every muscle in his chest and stomach. He's breathing heavily, so his muscles are rippling nonstop.
I look up and see him watching me. He's noticed that I'm checking him out, so I turn and start walking out of the waterfall, hoping he won't say anything about it. He doesn't, and I sigh with relief. Instead, he follows close behind. I decide that instead of turning towards the lake, I turn the other way and climb up the side of the waterfall. I'm curious to see where this water leads us.
"Where are we going? The lake is right there." He says, trying to catch his breath still. I remember that he's injured and probably didn't get much air at all during our kiss with his nose all bandaged up, so I slow down for him.
"I want to see where the water is coming from. Come on, it'll be an adventure." I say, stopping to wait for him to catch up. I put my hands on my hips, acting like I'm not still trying to catch my breath.
He grunts, pretending to be annoyed with my adventurous side, but smiles and grabs my hand as soon as he reaches me. We reach the top of the waterfall, and I see that a steady stream is feeding it. We follow the stream at a leisurely pace for what feels like a mile or two, just talking about anything and everything.
"Once, when I was in primary school, I got in huge trouble for looking up a girl's skirt. But it really wasn't my fault. She was climbing on the playground and I just happened to be under her." He says, trying to sound innocent.
I laugh. "Oh, I'm sure you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time." He playfully shoves me.
"It's true!" He insists. "I bet you had all the little boys trying to look up your skirt too. You probably climbed trees like you wanted them to look just so they could get caught by mean teachers."
"Actually, I was kind of a loner. I sat by myself most of the time at lunch and minded my own business in the classroom. My only two friends back home were Gale and Madge, and I didn't even become friends with them until later."
He stops, looking at me. "Well, I'm sure if you would have let other people in, they would have loved you." He smiles, and then changes the subject. "So, I saw a replay of you singing to Rue while we were recovering in the hospital after the games. That was really beautiful. I didn't know you could sing."
My cheeks turn red. "Actually, I'm not that good. They must have played up my voice or something. You know how the Capitol is. I just used to sing with my father all the time when we would go out into the woods. It calms me down."
"One day, I want you to sing for me." He states, as if he's telling me instead of asking me.
"Keep dreaming. I never sing for anyone, except Prim. And only when she's scared." I say, looking forward.
"Will you sing for me if I get scared?" He asks and I can't tell if he's kidding or not.
"What exactly is the mighty Cato afraid of anyways?" I joke.
"A lot of things, actually. I'm afraid of losing the people I love, for starters. And I'm afraid of roaches. Those things are shifty little things. Oh, and I'm afraid of heights. That's about it though. What about you? What are you afraid of?"
"Nothing. Except losing my loved ones. And mines. I hate being underground. This bunker seems stable enough, but since my father died in a mining accident, I haven't handled being underground well. I almost had a panic attack on the train into the Capitol before the games because we went under that tunnel." I shudder, remembering how horrible that was. And before he can reply, we both stop dead in our tracks, our breath taken away by the sight in front of us.
Through a few trees, and in the middle of what seems like an even more dense part of the forest, lies a beautiful lake. It's about the size of the lake in front of the waterfall, except it is fed by six or seven waterfalls of different sizes, coming off a tall cliff full of many different kinds of rocks. The waterfalls glitter in the moonlight and cause peaceful splashes into the far end of the lake. I grin, and look up at Cato. "This is the spot where we're going to swim."
I start to walk towards it, but Cato won't budge. His hand is still locked with mine, so I jerk back. When I turn to look at him, he has an awkward look on his face. I walk closer to him, confused. "I should probably tell you something." He pauses, as if he wants me to stop him. But I don't. "I don't actually know how to swim. I mean, I can probably keep myself afloat, but it will take a lot more energy than it should."
I stifle a laugh, and turn to look up at him. "Cato, you're really tall. We don't actually have to swim swim. We'll just wade out into the water until you can't stand anymore and we'll stop." He looks at me, as if unsure of what I'm saying.
"Okay, I guess. But I'm taking my clothes off. I forgot to mention my fear of drowning earlier and I think these things will drag me down." He gestures at his still wet clothes and I agree. Although the clothes were pretty light when they were dry, they've now become as heavy as sandbags. Not to mention they've become almost completely see-through anyways. I nod in agreement and Cato begins stripping right away. I laugh at him, turning away. "You better start getting undressed too, Katniss. I'm not going in there alone." He says, dropping his wet clothes to the floor.
"I am. But we should hang up our clothes so they can dry a little more while we swim." I say, trying to get my shoes out of my wet boots, and then peeling off my wet shirt and hanging it on a branch jutting out of a tree nearby. When I turn around to help Cato with his clothes, my jaw drops. He is standing there, butt naked. The moonlight is reflecting off of his body and I can't help but look at where it casts light. I'm so shocked that I can't even look away. I just keep staring. I can feel my cheeks getting red as he starts laughing.
"Like what you see?" He chuckles, throwing his wet clothes at me, bringing me back to reality.
"Uh—I—um, I—I didn't think you meant all of our clothes." I stutter, turning quickly to hang up his clothes next to mine.
I can hear him moving closer to me, and my breathing becomes more rapid. "Are you afraid of a little fresh air?" He whispers, almost breathing down my neck.
"No. I just don't do the whole naked thing around other people. I'm more of a private person." I say, my cheeks burning.
"Okay, I'll make a deal with you. I'll get in the water and face away from you so you can undress. And then I won't look back until you're deep enough in the water to be covered. I mean, we really should dry our underwear too. If we swim in them, we're just going to get our clothes wet all over again."
He has a point there, and I sigh, still not turning to look at him. "Fine. Just hurry up and get in so I can hang my clothes up." I say, unbuttoning my pants. I strip quickly, trying to keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't turn around, although I have to turn my back to him to hang up my clothes.
I should be perfectly fine with nudity. My mother and Prim are. And I've seen naked people so many times on our kitchen table. But it's different knowing there's a naked Cato in the water waiting for me to join him. I've even gone skinny dipping, but I was by myself out in a lake by the cabin my dad took me to when I was little. I was always alone.
I can feel myself shaking as I run to the water, trying to get underneath the dark surface and hide my exposed skin. I dive down as soon as I hit knee deep water, and soon, I'm swimming up to Cato.
"You can look now. There's nothing for you to see." I say, splashing the back of his head.
"I should be honest with you. I peeked—a few times. And I must say, there's a lot for me to see." He turns, that cocky grin of his shining brightly in the moonlight. He laughs as I splash him in playful anger.
"You promised you wouldn't look!" I shout, swimming deeper into the lake, knowing he won't be able to follow.
"I never promised! I only said I wouldn't look, but I changed my mind. And I didn't stare like you did." He points out, still grinning widely at me.
"I wasn't staring. You just caught me off guard." I slowly swim back towards him, knowing how mean it is to swim to where he can't go. He's standing about elbow deep, and I laugh, thinking about me standing next to him in the same depth water. It would almost cover my whole chest, but not quite. And as much as I love seeing his bare chest, especially in the light of the moon, being closer to him seems like a pretty good alternative. "Come out a little deeper so I can be closer to you. It's too shallow where you are." I call out to him and he obeys.
"You better save me if I start drowning." He calls back, slowly taking steps further into the lake.
"Of course." I say, smiling. He's up to his armpits now, so I feel that I can safely stand near him without being exposed. We're about a foot away from each other when I stop. I remember that we're both naked, so I shouldn't get too close. Especially since lately, I've been ending up almost too close to him, even with clothes on.
"Are you afraid to be close me?" he asks, seeing the hesitance in my face as I decide whether or not to close the gap a little more.
"Of course not. I've been near you almost every second of every day since we left that hospital." I say, even though I know that isn't what he's talking about.
He inches closer, and I debate swimming further away from him. But I stand my ground. "Right. Then why do you look like you're about to swim as fast as you can to the deep part of the lake where I can't follow you."
I accept his challenge, and inch closer to him. "Does it look like I'm swimming away now?"
I can almost feel his body in the water in front of me. My body begins to react to the heat of his and soon I'm in his arms once again. This time is different than others, and I know that we're going to become a lot closer than before. My heart beats quickly in my chest; I can almost feel it pounding in my ears. Our kisses are a lot softer than before and we explore each other.
When we finish, we're both breathless. We lay out on the rocks at the bottom of the waterfalls. I'm no longer ashamed of my body in front of him, and even though I still glance at him every now and then, I know I don't have to stare any longer. He is mine, and I am his. It's stupid of me, really. I haven't known him for very long and we just did something I never would have thought I would do with anyone any time soon. My head is resting on his arm and we're still tangled up in an embrace. Even though the temperature outside is perfect, his body heat warms me up. We lay like this for a while before Cato notices the sun coming up. We quickly run around the lake to our clothes, which are now fully dry, although they are no longer crisp and clean. But we don't really have too much time to wash them. We should probably head back to the bunker before anyone notices that we've gone missing.
We walk back silently. But it isn't an awkward silence. He puts his arm around my shoulder and I lean into him. Although walking this way will slow us down, I don't care. I love the closeness that I feel towards him. It's amazing how far we've come in the last few days. I went from wanting to be alone with him so I could kill him, to wanting to be alone with him just to be alone with him. I love our talks and the way we can just joke about everything, but be serious when we need to be.
I smile as I think again about how much fun I've been having with Cato. I don't think I had ever giggled in my life before I met him, and I'm not ashamed of it, like I thought I would be. I've always had to be strong for my family, and now, I just get to be me. The real me. I thought the real me was serious and calculating. But I like this happy, adventurous Katniss a lot better.
When we finally make it back to the waterfall hiding our bunker, Cato stiffens up and stops dead in his tracks. It takes me a few seconds to realize why he did that. And then I hear it too. Someone is screaming; screaming in agony.
