I wake up in the morning, not to Effie but Cinna and Portia. I sigh and slide out of Peeta's bed almost reluctantly. Today was all about getting prepped for the interviews tonight. I follow Cinna out of the room, and to my room. I look around the room, I hadn't really stepped foot in here at all. It was pretty much the exact same as Peeta though.
"Alright, Katniss I'm going to leave you in the hands of the prep team for now." I nod and watch as Cinna leaves the room. I sink down in a chair and wait impatiently as my prep team works on me. I find myself scowling the whole time, like I usually do. Prepping goes by almost quickly, and soon Cinna comes in to do my make up, hair, and get me in my dress.
"Ready to see the dress?" Cinna whispers in my ear almost startling me, when he's finishes with my hiar.
I walk down the hall with Cinna, going to meet Peeta, Effie, Haymitch, and Portia. I smile instantly when I see Peeta. His blue eyes meet mine widening my smile.
"You look, beautiful. Like always." Peeta whispers in my ear when we reach them. I feel my cheeks heat up, as I look down at my dress. Long and red, brushing the floor with small gems all over to give the illusion of fire.
"You don't look so bad yourself." I look back up grinning at Peeta as I do. He pulls me in for a soft kiss, which causes Haymitch to groan behind us.
"Would you two knock it off? Let's go." We pull back and I can't help the laugh that escapes my lips. "Save that for your interviews." I arch an eyebrow as I turn towards Haymitch.
"Hold on, we have to kiss in front of all of Panem?" I feel that hatred for the Capitol bubble up to the surface again. Who said they had the right to watch us be like that with each other? I press my lips in a hard line. I can't be angry with the Capitol, not during this interview. I had to win over the audience, that is the goal tonight. Not to make them hate me.
"No. Just be sappy and all that other shit you guys are so good at." I roll my eyes as he turns walking onto the elevator. Peeta's hand finds mine as we follow Effie onto the elevator as well.
"Good luck, girl on fire." Cinna says as I walk past him towards the elevator. I shake my head and let out a slight laugh.
"Thanks." I look at him giving him a grateful smile. Cinna was the only person in the Capitol who I liked. I would like to consider him a friend, if I made it out of these games. The trip to where the interviews will be doesn't take more then a couple minutes. When I catch sight of the stage a rush of stage fright hits me. I'm not a people person, and there was more than enough people here.
"Alright you two, you know the plan. Drop hands and get in line." Haymitch almost sounds irritated. I nod and pry my fingers away from Peeta's reluctantly.
"Ready?" Peeta's breath tickles my ear.
"As I'll ever be." He smile placing a kiss on my cheek before following suit and getting in line. Twenty two people will go before me, there's no way the audience will not be bored by the time they get to me. Although, they're not the gamemakers, and they live off the games. They want to know their tributes. Cesar Flickerman's voice breaks me from my thoughts as he calls each of onto the stage.
I follow behind Thresh on to the stage taking my seat clumsily. I have to squint at the bright lights that shine on the stage. It takes a few seconds for my eyes to adjust correctly. I try to pay attention to the other tributes interviews, but find it hard to do so. The time flies by way too quickly. Three minutes per tribute. Three minutes to win the crowd over.
I feel my hands getting slightly sweaty as Rue makes her way to the front of the stage. I take this time to steal a glance towards Peeta, who seems to be doing the same thing. He gives me a small reassuring smile that I can't help but return. Next it's Thresh. I feel frustrated when he gives terse one word answers. If only I was large and scary I could get away with that too. The more unfriendly he is, the more sponsors I'm sure he'll be getting. I don't even notice Thresh sitting back down until Cesar calls me up.
"Next, you know her as the girl on fire. From District Twelve, Katniss Everdeen!" The crowd cheers quite loudly, I make my way to the front of the stage, joining Cesar. I take a seat distracted by the noisy cheering. I find myself so distracted that I had missed Cesar's first question.
"I'm sorry, what?" I feel my cheeks heat up.
"I think someone's a little nervous. I said, tell me about your entrance to the tribute parade the other day." I scan the crowd and find Cinna. I remember him telling me to find him and talk to him.
"I was just hoping I wouldn't burn to death." The crowd laughs, so I give them a small smile that I hope looked convincing. "I'm actually wearing those flame today. Would you like to see?" The crowd goes wild and I can't help the small grin that creeps on my face.
"Is it safe?" I give a fake smile and slight laugh.
"Yes." I stand up as the crowd goes silent. I spin and the dress bursts into what appears to be flames. I find myself giggling, which was something I had done maybe once in my life.
"Woah, steady." Cesar grabs my arm helping me back into my chair. The crowd cheers quite loudly. "Thank you for that. Now, tell us about your score. How did you get an eleven?" I look back towards Cesar and shrug lightly.
"I don't think I'm suppose to talk about it, but I'm sure it's not something that's been done before." The crowd gives a sigh in unison.
"Oh, come on. You're killing us." I can't help but laugh as I shrug again.
"Sorry."
"Katniss, you volunteered for your sister at the reaping. Tell me, did she come say goodbye to you?" I bite my lip looking down.
"She did."
"And what did you say to her?" I take a deep breath letting it out slowly.
"I told her that I love her." I wasn't going to tell everyone that I pretty much told her I didn't plan on making it out, unless Peeta was at my side.
"Of course you did." Cesar gives me a warm smile. He could tell he wasn't getting anymore on that subject out of me. "I have just one more question for you. It's about your district partner, Peeta Mellark." Here we go. "There's been some rumors going around that you two are in love, are they true?" I glance back at Peeta to find him nodding at me.
"Yes. They're true." The crowd yells, cheering and clapping. I get up scurrying back to my chair when my buzzer goes off. I was beyond thankful that the buzzer had gone off when it did. I was almost positive I was as red as a tomato.
"Okay, next we have Peeta Mellark!" The crowd cheers loudly as Peeta calmly makes his way to the front of the stage. Once the crowd finally quiets down, Cesar begins. "So, Peeta tell me how are you finding the Capitol and don't say with a map." Peeta chuckles leaning back in the chair.
"Well, it's different. The showers here are quite different then back home."
"Showers. We have different showers." Cesar says this slowly with an amused expression.
"Tell me, Cesar. Do I smell like roses to you?" Peeta leans forward motioning for Cesar to smell him. I press my lips together in an attempt not to laugh. The crowd bursts into laughter as they take turns smelling each other. "You smell better than I do."
"Well, I've lived here longer."
"That makes sense." Peeta leans back in his chair again as the crowd laughs. Peeta knew how to win over anyone, even a large crowd.
"So, Peeta tell me about you and Katniss." I feel my cheeks heat up instantly.
"Well, we uh, we've been together for about three years now. Although, we've known each other since we were eleven." The crowd let's out a collective sigh. "I've been in love with her though since I was five, I still can't believe she's mine."
"And she loves you too?" Cesar leans in closer waiting impatiently for the answer.
"Of course she does." Peeta glances back at me with a broad smile that causes me to smile back.
"Now, why did you volunteer after seeing she was going in?" I hold back a humorless laugh. I've been wondering the same thing, even though he's told me I still just couldn't understand.
"Because I need to protect her, and keep her safe." Peeta's voice takes on a determined tone now. "I couldn't live with myself if I let her go in there by herself and she didn't come out. Although, she has other plans when it comes to who's coming out of the arena." The crowd has fallen silent now, hanging on to Peeta's every words. He's just blown all of us off the board with this confession. When the crowd realizes he's not saying anymore they give out cry's. I resist rolling my eyes, it's not like they really care.
"Well, that's bad luck." Cesar says as the crowd quiets.
"Yeah, it is." Peeta looks down at his lap.
"And I wish you the best of luck."
"Thank you." Peeta walks back to his seat next to me. His eyes meet mine and I have to resist falling into his arms. Once the camera's are off, I follow Peeta back stage and towards the elevator. Once we're safely on the elevator I wrap my arms around him tightly. His arms are around me in return in an instant. His lips press to the top of my head.
"I love you, Kat." I bury my face against his chest.
"I love you too, Peeta." I whisper. We pull apart when the elevator doors open.
"Great job you two. We've got this Capitol crowd in the bag. At this rate we should be getting both of you out of there safely." I nod sighing in relief. We accomplished what we needed to me. Well, Peeta did at least. We all eat dinner quietly, and watch the recaps of the interviews. It was clear Peeta's interview had wiped out all the other's.
"Well, you two better be going to bed. Have to get you guys to the arena tomorrow." Haymitch pats both of us on the shoulder as he walks to his room. I look towards Peeta at the same time he looks at me. His lips meet mine in an instant. His arms encircle my waist pulling me into him, his lips never leaving mine. My arms go around his neck, my fingers tangling in the back of his hair. He pulls away just slightly resting his forehead against mine.
"Kat, I'm not going to let anything happen to you in that arena. I promise." I nod his blue eyes burning into mine.
"I'm not letting anything happen to you either, remember that." My voice comes out hushed and almost silent. He tightens his arms around me, burying his face against my neck. I lay my head on his shoulder holding on to this moment as long as I can, because we may not get another. For all we know, this is our last one. I refuse to accept that though.
"Peeta, I love you. More than anything." We pull back just enough to look each other in the eye.
"I love you too, Kat. You're my world." My lips turn up into a slight smile.
"And you're mine." He smile, kissing me deeply once more.
"We'd better get to sleep. We don't want to be tired, for our first day in the arena." I sigh knowing he's right. He scoops me into his arms carrying me into his room. We lay in bed just between sleep and consciousness, waiting for a sleep that both of us know isn't going to come.
A/N: I want to thank you all for reading, and reviewing this story. I hope you guys continue to enjoy it. :)
