So here's the next chapter, and it's in Peeta's POV, and his life in the Capitol. I know it's strange to have this in a Galeniss story, but I've had this chapter planned for a long time, and he makes a great realization about Katniss and Gale. Pinky promise the rest of the story will be in Katniss or Gale's POVs!
Disclaimer: I unfortunately don't own Gale, but I have decided that I will make it my goal to own Liam Hemsworth's heart(Who plays an extremely hot Gale in the movie, so that's close enough for me ;) )
About a year has passed since I started living in the Capitol. I know it's kind of running away from the problem, but I had to say yes when Plutarch offered to have me host a television show here. I had nothing to go back to District 12 for anyway; no family, no Katniss. And I just couldn't stand to watch Katniss be happily in love with Gale for the rest of my life. So I took the offer gladly, even though I hate the Capitol. It's better than 12, because even if I know Katniss chose him, I don't have to have the constant reminder.
And surprisingly, I do enjoy my job. My show is part talk show, where I interview guests much like Ceaser Flickerman did for the Games, and part cooking show. I bake for a live audience, or have a guest cook who will sample one of their dishes for the whole audience. Its easy work for me, because I do like it and my manager, Horatia, helps me come up with new ideas for everything. I try to stay busy, working hours longer than necessary because I don't want to go home. Home is a lonely place where I have nothing to do but think of all I have lost, so I avoid it as much as possible. I live by myself, and I haven't really made the effort to go looking for friends outside my job because what's the use? The people in the Capitol are in general very much the same as they were before the war, and I don't really have anything in common with them.
One day I have just finished my show, and the audience is filing out while I look around the set making sure everything is put away from the baking I did today. I look up and see Effie coming towards me, with her arm around a pretty girl who looks maybe a year or two younger than me. Reddish blonde hair, beautiful brown eyes, and she doesn't look like someone from the Capitol. I sigh internally, because I have a feeling Effie is just trying to set me up with yet another girl. I know she's doing it out of kindness, but Effie really doesn't understand that I don't want to date anyone. I'm just not over Katniss yet, nor do I think I ever will be.
"Peeta!" Effie squeals, "I would like you to meet someone special." I roll my eyes internally, because Effie thinks every girl she's brought to me is special. But I try to be polite, because really, this girl has no idea how I feel anyway. It wouldn't be fair to treat someone I just met badly.
"Hello." I say, turning to the girl.
"Hello, nice to meet you." she replies with a warm smile.
"Peeta, this is Lucy Loden. She just moved here with her father and brothers recently from District 8." Effie informs me. Well I have to say, I like this girl better than the others already; she's the first one not from the Capitol.
"I believe you knew her mother. I miss her so dearly, Cecilia and I had many nice chats over tea during many Hunger Games you know." Effie continues. Wait, this girl is the daughter of a Victor? I feel sorry for her, losing her mother like that. Maybe I could talk to this girl after all.
"Yes I did," I answer, and turn to Lucy, "I'm sorry."
"Thank you." she replies sadly. In her eyes, I see her trying to repress her grief, and suddenly I want to do something to help this girl. After all, I know it sometimes helps to have someone to talk to, especially if it has to do with the Games. I have plenty of experience with that, at least.
"Would you like to go have tea with me?" I ask her politely.
She gives me a sad smile and replies, "I'd love to."
We say goodbye to Effie, and walk down the street to the nearest coffee house and order drinks. Once we sit down, I don't really know where to start. After all, I don't even know this girl. Luckily, she saves me the trouble and says something first.
"So, you moved to the Capitol. I must say, I was actually surprised by that. You don't seem to be someone who would willingly come back here." Lucy states. Wow this girl is good. I've known her for all of ten minutes and she made that correct observation.
"Well Plutarch offered me the show, so decided it was a good opportunity for me. So I took it." I reply, not really wanting to tell her the real reason is Katniss. She looks at me with a sad and slightly amused expression.
"I have a feeling that wasn't the only reason." Lucy guesses. I must say, she impresses me with her intuition. She's nailing me right on the head. In response I shrug. Well if this girl can guess all that, there's no reason to not admit the truth.
"Your right." I concede.
"Wanna tell me about it?" she asks sympathetically. I really don't know how my plan reversed itself, because I was the one that was hoping to help her with her grief. But she's offering to listen to me, and something tells me I can trust her.
So I do tell her. I tell her all of it, beginning with after the first Games on the train, the Victory tour, Gale's whipping, the Quell, the hijacking, the war, and everything after. I tell her how I came back to 12, and Katniss was still barely living even when I tried to help because of her grief. Until she found Gale. She came back to life again, and realized he was the one for her. So I had nothing to come back to 12 for. The whole time, Lucy never interrupts. She just listens, nodding here and there, her eyes showing expression now and then. When I finish, she doesn't say anything for a moment, and I wonder if she's judging me. Though that makes me nervous, I'm glad I finally got all of that off my chest. It's a relief to not have it all bubbled up inside, to have someone to share it with.
"Wow." She says, "That's quite a story you have there. I'm sorry that you didn't end up with her, you love her very much."
"Thanks." Is all I reply.
"Though I must admit, I knew he wasn't really her cousin the whole time." she states. Wait what? I thought for sure everyone believed that, considering that they still dragged out the star-crossed lover thing even during the war. Only the people that really knew us were aware that was a lie.
"You did? How?" I ask. She gives me a pained smile, which almost looks like regret.
"Being a Victor's daughter makes you more aware of things." she replies evasively. And that's when I realize, I still know very little about her. I feel guilty for pouring out my life to her without even thinking to ask her about herself.
"Tell me about it." I say, hoping to return the favor. And so she does.
Cecilia fell pregnant with Lucy shortly after her games, which she was actually terrified about. Lucy's uncle had a friend who was a Victor in their district whose son was reaped 6 years back, and another District's Victor had a daughter who was reaped the year before. She realized it happened far too often to be a coincidence; the reaping was probably rigged for Victor's children to create more drama. With that in mind, Cecilia made a dangerous decision; she decided to train her children, much like the Careers. But it had to be secretive, because there would be consequences, and she was already part of the rebellion; the Capitol would only get more suspicious of her if they found out. So Lucy, at the age of nine, started to train for the Hunger Games. Other trusted Victors would help her learn weapons in their basements after school; her mother took her out to the forest to teach her plants and how to camouflage. And they also taught her strategies, and how to pick up on the little things. Learn to read people by their actions and words. They even had a rebel Peacekeeper helping to hide the training; none other than President Paylor herself. But one day, shortly after the Quarter Quell announcement, someone caught Lucy training. President Snow came and personally chewed Cecilia out for this, and he decided that the punishment would be to send her into the Quell. Lucy felt guilty, because she knew it would have been her going in if it wasn't Victors only. She was the one that got caught, and her mother had to pay for it. Lucy helped out in District 8 during the war, and when Paylor realized that she and her family were just too heartbroken to stay in their house in Victor's Village, she invited them to live in the Capitol.
As she tells me this, I am completely awestruck. This girl is amazing, and I'm so glad I met her today. I feel like we could be friends; that I don't have to be so alone anymore.
Three Years Later
After that day in the coffee shop where we told each other our life stories, Lucy and I became best friends quickly. We were almost inseparable, and I wasn't so lonely and sad anymore; I had someone to talk to, to share everything with. When I was with her, I could go for hours without thinking about Katniss or how I had no family left. Lucy filled my hours when I wasn't working with happiness, and I actually started to enjoy living here. We would meet after my show everyday when she was also done with her work; A memorial to honor every person who died in the Hunger Games. I loved the idea, and even helped her a little with the designs. Every name, under all the districts would be etched into a beautiful stone wall, and it would be set in a garden in the middle of the city. We would hang out, talk, go to the park, bake, or go on what she would call 'adventures' through the city together, which usually ended up being something ridiculous that we would laugh about all the way home. Most nights I ate dinner with her and her father and brothers, and they quickly became my adopted family. I would even teach her little brothers how to bake sometimes, and her father and I would have lively conversations about opinions on various things. For certain, I was closer to them than I ever was with my real family, and I felt like I finally belonged somewhere.
After about a year and a half of being friends, I realized that I felt something more. I started falling for Lucy. She was beautiful, kind, intelligent, and she made me happy again. I didn't show my feelings for about three months, but since she knew me so well she was getting suspicious. But one day when I walked her home after work, we got to her door and I kissed her. She looked startled when I pulled away, and I felt like I made a big mistake. What if I just screwed up our friendship? I can't take it back, and I don't want to lose her. But then she grinned at me.
"So that's why you've been acting weird." she says, and before I can reply, she kisses me back. I thought my kisses with Katniss we amazing, but it's nothing compared to this. With Lucy, it feels so right, and I know she's the one for me. Our kiss sends a warm feeling through my whole body, and I feel like fireworks are going off in my head. And I don't ever want to go back to not having this.
Lucy and I have been dating since that night of our first kiss. I thought it would be hard to make the transition from friends to more than friends, but it wasn't. At that moment, I finally got why Katniss chose Gale. There's a certain appeal to dating your best friend; you know each other so well already that you don't have to waste time on the mundane things. I'm with someone that I know loves me as much as I love her, and that there is no trickery this time around, unlike with Katniss. I know Lucy so well that I could tell if she was faking it, whereas I really didn't know Katniss at all beforehand. I finally realize that Katniss and I were never meant for each other, because she was always meant for someone else. And I put myself between them, making the journey harder for all three of us. And in the end, they are together, and I was the one left in the cold. But I don't regret it anymore, because without it, I would have never met Lucy. And now I can't imagine my life without her. Everything happens for a reason.
So the day that Haymitch called me and told me that Katniss and Gale were married, I could only feel happiness for them. I still miss Katniss, but I'm in love with Lucy now. I still don't feel any need to go back to District 12 though, because my life is here. But I would like to be friends with her again. We can at least be that, and that will finally be enough for me. But I'm not ready yet, as cowardly as that sounds. When I tell Lucy that Katniss and Gale got married and I've decided I want to be friends with Katniss again, she kisses me and smiles.
"So are you going to District 12 to make amends?" she asks. I think for a moment, contemplating.
"No." I reply, "Not yet anyway." But I will one day, I promise myself.
Yeah I made a happy ending for Peeta, because I truly don't hate him. I just love Gale too much to be a Peeta fan, besides the fact that Katniss and Gale are a better couple anyway. But now my viewers, I have a serious question. Do you like the story about Lucy? Because I had an idea to make a story about it this summer, which would go into detail about her training, Cecilia, and even rebel Peacekeeper Paylor. What do you think?