Chapter 21: New Year's Fair Trade

The snow flurries get into my eyes as I hustle into the Hob a few days later. It is the day of New Year's Eve, and the weather forecasts from the Capitol promised a blizzard to ring in the new calendar year. If I hurry, maybe I can still get home in time for my kids to wake up and feed them breakfast. Thank God the bakery is closed during the holidays!

As I finish my dealings, I run into Darius again. I almost crash into him, in fact, and he steadies me with a laugh.

"You in a hurry, I take it?"

"Sorry, Darius," I apologize with a smile. "Peeta and the kids have been running me ragged lately, and I have to back to cook them breakfast when they get up. Oh!" I turn around with an afterthought after rushing past him. "And I still need to find a way to pay you back for that game from a few days ago."

Darius seems surprised and pleased that I even remembered that. "How about this? The New Year's Eve Party is happening here tonight. Why don't you come; give yourself a break? Heck, find a babysitter and bring Peeta with you! Make it a date night!"

I think about it. I sure could use a break. And though I have already apologized to Peeta for our spousal spat from a few days ago, taking him out on a date might be just what I need to really make it up to him.

"All right," I smile. "I'll check with Peeta as soon as I get home!"

However, that night I enter the New Year's Eve party alone. Peeta was really tempted to come, but said he could not ask either of his brothers to babysit on such short notice. Besides, he is busy at work on a cake to celebrate his dad's birthday, which is coming up next week.

I enter the Hob wearing a nice red dress - another hand-me-down from my mother's Merchant days. Almost immediately, I spy some familiar faces over at one table.

"Hey, Catnip!" Gale calls.

"Hello, Katniss!" Darius echoes, standing up. I give both men a hug. "Where's Peeta?"

"Oh, he was tempted, believe me, but he couldn't find a babysitter for the kids, and there's a really big cake order due!"

"Cake order? For when? It's the middle of the holidays!" Darius goggles. "Never mind. Would you like to dance?"

I'm a little taken aback, but touched too, and accept. Darius and I join the other dancing pairs in the crowd. We waltz, before the music gets progressively faster and soon we are doing every dance from the polka to the samba. We finish with a traditional District 12 folk dance.

By the time we run off the dance floor, we are sweaty and laughing. We meet up with Gale at the bar, where he produces two glasses of beer.

"On the house!"

Darius and I quickly polish off that first round. Then another. And another. By late into the evening, we are pretty inebriated.

After Darius buys me an unsolicited drink – my fourth overall, he ponders, "Now what might be a fair trade for a free shot of whiskey?"

I shake my head with a smile. "I can't even imagine."

"How about a kiss?" He leans in close to me and grins. "Tis the season, after all; I bet there are still sprigs of mistletoe hanging about."

I let out a bark of laughter and playfully shove him away. "No, thanks."

"Why not? I tell you, Katniss, my kisses are the most sought-after in the District!"

This gets my attention and I smirk. "Oh yeah? With who?"

Darius points out women to me. "Why, the flower seller with the green muffler. Oh, and the milkman's wife! I have plenty of references in these parts."

Gale begins to hoot with laughter as he rises and pays for his drink. "Keep talking, Darius! You'll never get a peck outta her! Besides, she's a married woman!" And he heads off to dance with his wife, Leevy.

Darius lays off after a while, and I leave the bar and slip just outside to be by myself. Gazing up into the night sky, I can see the stars twinkling.

"It's a beautiful night, isn't it?" Darius has joined me. I simply nod. Just then, I hear the crowd begin to roar the countdown:

"Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One!" There is loud cheering, and soon couples fall into each other's arms and kiss, as is tradition. In one corner, I can see Gale kiss a delighted Leevy.

It is a tradition to share a kiss with someone when the clock strikes midnight. I don't have anybody. And neither does Darius. We turn to each other at the same moment.

"Come here, you," I drunkenly slur. I grab at his jacket and try to pull him towards me, but stumble. Darius catches me around the waist, his arms tightening about me as he pulls me closer and into his arms.

Our faces are inches apart now. My breath catches. My eyes slowly flutter until they droop half-closed. I can feel Darius's breath on my face just before he -

Darius kisses me. Full on the lips. My eyes close completely, and forgetting where I am or even who I am kissing, whose lips I am now engaging, I enthusiastically kiss him back. Darius tongue sweeps across my bottom lip, seeking entrance.

"Mmmmmmmm..." I moan loudly into his mouth, and I part my lips for him. Immediately his tongue fires in between the split and intertwines with my own, drawing it into his own mouth. Our tongues battle for dominance. The kiss becomes more sensual, deepens, until it is hard to tell whose mouth is whose. It is as if our lips are fused together.

I drape my arms around Darius's neck, my fingers burying into his fiery red locks, playing with the strands of his hair. His hands press further into the small of my back, the digits dancing along the base of my spine possessively.

Somewhere far, far away, fireworks whizz and explode with a piercing WHEESH into the nighttime sky above the Hob. At long last, we break apart. Darius looks in awe as well as ecstatic.

"Happy New Year," he expresses.

I nod. "Happy New Year," I echo quietly.