Chapter 21

"No, Madge. Listen, I know it probably seems like I'm jealous because he loves her. That isn't it. Katniss and I are not, and have never been a couple. It's just not that kind of relationship. But she is my best friend and I worry that she'll lose focus on what she has to do in order to come home."

"I understand. I just didn't want to interfere if there was something there, you know?" I tell him with a bit of relief in my voice.

"You, Madge Undersee, are an interference only to my thoughts. And I can't say that bothers me all that much." He says flirtatiously, once again leading me down the gravel road.

"So are you going to tell me where you're taking me?"

"Nope. But we aren't far now."

We fall into our comfortable silence and continue walking. We're deep into the Seam now. All I can hear is the gravel crunching beneath our feet and the sound of crickets chirping in the night.

"C'mon. We've gotta leave the path if we want want to get where we're going."

We walk through grass until we reach a treeline. Gale leads me into the trees and after walking amongst them for a few minutes we end up in some sort of clearing. He takes us right to the middle of it and lies down in the grass.

"Gotta lay down to see it." He says, patting the grass next to him.

I lay down, curious what he's up too. It only takes a moment to realize what I'm supposed to be seeing. The sky is covered in a blanket of stars. Thousands of them.

"Wow, I've never seen so many stars at once before."

"I thought you'd like it. Can't see anything like this from town, ya know?"

"I love it. "

We're laying side by side on our backs, looking up at the most magnificent sky I've ever seen. Gale reaches over and takes my hand in his.

"I can't believe this is real. All day I knew I would be bringing you here. Thought about it all day. Now that we're actually here I just can't get my mind to believe it." He says softly.

"I can't believe it's real either. But I love it. It's beautiful here." I say in nearly a whisper.

"I love what you did with the sunflower. When I saw you at the check in stations tonight it was the first thing I noticed." He says as he turns on his side to reach a hand up and touch the flower in my hair.

"I wanted you to know how much I liked it." I reply as I reach up to touch the flower too.

"It's perfect. You look beautiful." He says, taking his hand from my hair and placing it on my waist. My breathing quickens at his touch and then he pulls me to him. We're face to face and so very close. I think my heart may beat right out of my chest. His dark, mystery filled eyes are looking right into mine.

He leans in and kisses me, pulling my right up against him, arm still wrapped around my waist and his hand coming to rest on the small of my back. I'm floating and everything is spinning. The feel of his lips against mine is like nothing I've ever felt before. Eventually he pulls from the kiss but keeps me in his grasp and pull close to him.

"So, I've gotta ask. What's the deal with Tripp Krull?" He says with a little bit of a teasing smile.

"I don't know. Nothing on my part but I don't know why he suddenly seems so keen on speaking to me." I say frowning.

"Oh, I just figured he was one of your many admirers, maybe even your boyfriend?" He teases.

"Me? Many admirers? I think you must have me confused with some other girl Gale Hawthorne. And I certainly don't have a boyfriend."

"Well, I know one thing. I certainly used to have you confused with someone else. Or at least confused with who I thought you were. You are nothing like what I imagined." He says as his fingers stroke down my cheek.

"Is that a good thing? What did you imagine?"

"You just seem so real. Like there's a side of you that you keep all to yourself, that the rest of the district never gets to see. And I'm so intrigued." He says with a slight nod.

"Well, not a lot of the people in this district have bothered to get to know me. And even if they did I don't know that I could necessarily trust them enough to be myself around them. I'm usually only myself when I'm alone. There's a lot of rules and expectations when you're the Mayor's daughter."

"These rules, do they allow you to have boyfriends?"

"I can date whomever I want." My mind is racing. He is about to ask me to be his girlfriend! We're laying so close together that I'm sure he can feel my heart racing but I don't' care. I'm not embarrassed at all that he makes me feel this way.

"That so?" He says. And that's all he says. I swear he's smirking. He knows that he's driving me insane and he's eating it up, loving every second of it.

"Yep." Is all I offer him in return. Two can play this game.

And with that he again leans in, pressing his lips to mine in slow kiss. His one hand still resting on my cheek and the other still holding me at the small of my back as it pulls me into him.

"So what if I wanted to date you? What if I wanted to be your boyfriend?" He asks between kisses.

"I would love that." Is all I can manage to say. I'm so entranced by his kisses, so filled with that blissful, floating sensation.

"That's exactly what I was hoping you would say and that's exactly what I want." He says now peppering my face with small kisses as he whispers into my ear. He places kisses all down the side of my face and along my jaw. My hands slide up his arms and rest around his neck. I'm laying on my back now and he's hovering just above me, only inches from my face.

"I could stay out here like this all night." I whisper, as I look right into his eyes. He leans down for another kiss and then pulls me up so that we're both sitting now but keeps me close to him.

"Can I make a confession?" He asks and then continues without waiting for a response. "I saw you at school looking for me this morning. I knew that's what you were doing but I just watched you."

"If you knew I was looking for you, why did you let me keep looking? Why not just come over to me?" I'm confused.

"Wasn't sure I knew what to say. When I kissed you the night before, I did it without thinking. All I knew in that moment was I just had to kiss you; that I couldn't leave without that. I wasn't sure how you would feel about it and part of me was worried to see you the next day."

"You thought I didn't want to kiss you? You do realize that you're one of the most sought after boys in the whole district right? I mean seriously, have you ever had a girl that didn't want to kiss you?" I'm shocked that he would even think I'd be opposed to his kiss.

"But you're different than just any girl in the district. And I don't mean just because you're the Mayor's daughter. You just seem different, like there's more to you."

"Well, for the record, it was all I could do not run down the road after you and kiss you back." I say, making my own confession to him.

He doesn't say anything just leans into me again and kisses me. There's so much emotion in his kiss. In our kiss. It's like we just found something wonderful and can't get enough of each other.

Eventually, he breaks our kissing, presses his forehead to mine and says "C'mon, I've kept you out late enough for one night." And then he kisses the tip of my nose.

I groan and put on my best pouty face. Going home is the very last thing I care to do at the moment. I want to stay, to make this floaty feeling last as long as possible.

"Aww, don't look at me like that. You can't stay out all night. School tomorrow, remember?" He says, smiling and kissing my face.

"Fine. But I'm leaving under total protest, just for the record."

"Your objection is noted." He teases and pulls me up to my feet.

We walk in our comfortable silence, hand in hand back towards town. As we near my house I pull him around the side of the house and lead him to the back porch. I can't kiss him goodnight the way I know I want to if we stop on my front steps. Can't have the Peacekeepers seeing me kissing at this hour. Especially with my father out of town.

"Guess this is where we say goodnight." He says as we stand at my back door.

"Guess so." I whisper.

He leans in, towering over me as we stand there. His hands find my waist and pull me close to him. He kisses my forehead and then slowly places kisses down my cheek. When his lips find mine I instinctively wrap my arms around his neck and lean into him. I do not want him to leave. I do not want this moment to end. I want to feel like this forever.