Disclaimer: I'm just playing with Suzanne Collins' characters and her world. They're hers. Not mine. Any lines from the books are hers too. It's all hers.
Lotta Love
May, Sophomore Year
"Gale, sweetie?"
Looking up from his physics homework, determining the terminal velocity of a car that for some reason is once again flying off a cliff at 88 miles per hour, Gale frowns. "Yeah?"
His mother wipes her soapy hands off on her apron and smiles. She's up to something.
"I was wondering if you and Madge had any plans this weekend," she says as she takes the seat across from him.
He already knows what she's going to ask before the question is even out of her mouth.
"Because I was thinking maybe she might want to come to dinner on Sunday, you know, so your dad and I can meet her finally."
Gale groans and lets his head flop down onto his half finished homework.
Normally it was the girl's parents that wanted to meet the little bastard that was taking their daughter out, but seeing as Madge's parents are perpetually out of town, so far at least, his mom and dad are apparently going to stand in and mortify their own son. It's the least they can do.
Actually, his parents wouldn't be so bad, it's his brothers and their surging hormones and Posy and her missing verbal filter that he's wary of. If there's a sure fire way to scare Madge off it's to expose her to a couple of prepubescent creeps and an unintentionally inappropriate kindergartener.
"If you're worried about the boys-"
"What else would I be worried about?" He mutters, turning his head to look at her. "I like her, I don't want to freak her out because Rory and Vick can't keep their eyes off her chest."
"Your dad and I will have a talk to them," she assures him. Her forehead scrunches up and her eyes widen in sincerity. "Sweetie, I know you like her a lot and that's why I want to meet her. Especially if her parents aren't around much."
Someone needs to look out for her other than her granddad and her creepy neighbor, and Gale supposes it being his parents isn't the worst thing.
Sighing, he weakly smiles. "Fine, I'll see if she wants to."
He'll have to face it eventually.
Brightening, his mother gets up and walks around the table and gives him a dry little kiss on the cheek.
"Thank you." She gives him a small look. "And you need to shave."
He shoots her a narrow little look. She never tells his dad to shave, and he's ten times scruffier than Gale. Besides if it doesn't bother Madge he doesn't see a problem with it.
#######
The next day, between second and third hour, Gale meets Madge at her locker, pressing a quick kiss to her lips before he even says hello. He's enjoying this whole dating thing.
She turns a bright pink and quickly busies herself with switching out her books and folders, battling down a smile at his attention. It both embarrasses her and pleases her and Gale likes the blush it always brings.
"So, uh, my mom was wanting to know if you want to come out to dinner Sunday?" He asks before he gets too distracted with the cut of her blouse.
Her eyes widen and she glances over at him. "Dinner? With your parents?"
"And the kids," he adds, though that's not really a bonus. More of a warning.
A moment of panic hits him. Maybe it's too early for her to meet his parents, he doesn't actually know. He's never had a girl he even wanted to meet them, let along his mother really wanted to know anything about. It's probably too early.
"She just wanted to meet you," he mutters lamely.
Madge takes a deep breath, looking terrified, and nods. "Yeah, I mean, dinner would be great." She grimaces. "Will you pick me up?"
Gale chuckles. If her getting out to his house is the worst thing she thinks she has to worry about she's in for a rude awakening.
"Yeah, I'll pick you up. We usually eat around seven so she and dad can wrestle Vick and Posy into bed for school the next day, so maybe I can get you around six-thirty?"
She nods, looking pale but pleased, then pops up on her toes and presses a kiss to his cheek. "I'll see you at lunch?"
He nods as she starts to back away, then she frowns and rubs her chin.
"Gale, you need to shave."
#######
He pulls up to her house at exactly six-thirty on Sunday afternoon, shifts his truck into park and runs up to the door.
She answers it looking out of breath and terrified. "Do I look alright?"
Spinning in place, he takes in the dress. It has a high neckline, which while disappointing to him, is probably for the best considering just who they're having dinner with. Vick and Rory have no self-control and even with his very stern talk with them the night before, and just before he left, he doubts they'll be the gentlemen his mother thinks they can be.
"Don't look down her dress," Vick had repeated, almost like a mantra, after Gale had given him and Rory his millionth warning before leaving to pick Madge up.
"What if-"
"No, Rory, no 'what if's'. Keep your eyes up," Gale had growled. "You upset her and I'll smother you in your sleep."
Rory rolled his eyes. "Don't be so dramatic. Mom and dad have already threatened me with being 'grounded until I'm eligible for social security' so you can give it a rest. "
While Gale appreciated his parents' warning to Rory, it didn't sound like it had really struck quite the chord of fear into him they'd hoped. So before he'd left Gale had pulled out a picture of Rory, from a few years earlier, in his superman undies and a cape made from their mother's favorite nightgown, and held it high above his head. It was the single most embarrassing picture he had of his little brother and he'd use it as the ace up his sleeve for as long as he could.
"You embarrass me or Madge and I give this picture to Katniss," he'd told him. "She'll give it to his sister, and do you know who Prim is friends with?"
Charissa Shumard, that's who. Rory's crush.
Rory had nodded, a look of horrified understanding on his face. Gale wasn't playing around here, he meant business.
Still, Madge's dress, high neck line and knee brushing bottom hem, is probably a blessing. Rory's memory isn't that great.
Madge gives him a wide, worried look.
In his opinion, she always looks 'alright', better actually. Really, she could wear one of the hideous little flour sack dresses his mother makes Posy's dolls and still be gorgeous, but his telling her that doesn't seem to change the fact that she always thinks she's one bad combo away from being named 'worst dressed' in the yearbook.
Instead, he grabs her around the waist and pulls her into a deep kiss, letting his hands wander down her back and palm the fabric of the dress. She pushes his hands down and pulls back.
"You'll wrinkle it," she warns, backing up to the stairs. Dashing back up, she yells, "I just need to finish my hair."
He isn't really sure what she needs to do to her hair, it looks fine to him, but he follows her up the steps and into her room.
The floor is littered with dresses and skirts, shoes and flip-flops, almost making it look like her closet had regurgitated her entire wardrobe onto the floor and across the bed.
He's about to ask her what the hell happened, but then his eyes land on a pile of colorful bras and he finds he doesn't really care much.
Just as his mind is working through which outfits she'd worn with which bra, Madge grabs his hand and starts to tug him out of the room.
"Sorry about the mess. I just couldn't figure out what I wanted to wear."
Much as he'd like to stay and continue his mental exercise, he'd promised his mother he'd be back by seven. Regretfully, he gives the bras one last wistful look before Madge drags him from the room.
#######
When they pull up outside Gale's house, Madge feels the knot in her stomach tighten.
She isn't ready to meet his family, but it's a little too late to feign an illness, even if she's certain that given a minute or two she could very easily lose her lunch of gummy bears and chocolate covered almonds all over Gale's front dash.
It's going to be a disaster, she just knows it.
First, she hadn't been able to find an outfit, and Peeta had been absolutely no help.
"I don't know, Madge," he'd muttered after the ninth or tenth outfit. "The blue one?"
"Which blue one?" She'd tried on three.
"Uh, the…first one?"
She'd sent him home after that, mostly because he'd suggested she wear her pirate outfit from Halloween. "At least the boys will like you."
Shifting in her seat and fanning herself, she looks up at Gale.
"Are there any subjects I need to avoid?"
His eyebrows rise. "What?"
"You know," she explains, gesturing pointlessly with her hands, "things I shouldn't talk about. Religion, politics, that kind of thing."
He doesn't seem to understand though, just stares at her in confusion.
It really isn't fair, out of her family he's only had to meet her Poppa, who is sweet and can talk about anything, and Mr. Abernathy, who doesn't really seem to want to talk to Gale at all unless it's to grumble warnings at him. Gale's gotten the easy meetings so far.
"I guess just avoid religion and politics then," he finally says with a shrug.
Nodding, even though he hadn't really helped her, Madge lets him help her out of the truck and adjusts the bottom of her dress again.
They walk up the pathway, a few stepping stones so pounded down they're almost swallowed up by the dirt and sparse grass around them, to the ancient screen door, and into the house.
The kitchen, which is apparently where the back door opens to, is uncomfortably warm. It smells of roast and rolls, melting butter and the heat of a cooking meal that Madge has rarely had the opportunity to enjoy in her life.
Standing at the stove, just barely tall enough to see over the top of the enormous pot he's working in, is Gale's youngest brother. She remembers him, just barely, from many trips to the sweet shop. He beams at the pair when they come in.
"Madge!" He waves a potato masher, covered in lumpy spuds, at her, grinning.
Gale makes a little noise, gestures for his brother to put the masher down because he's flinging potatoes on the floor, then gives Madge a half smile.
"This is Vick," he introduces his enthusiastic brother to her.
Giving him a little smile, Madge walks over and peeks in the pot, at the half unmashed potatoes.
"I'm in charge of mashing," he explains. "Usually Gale is, but mom said I need to help 'cause he's going to be entertaining you."
If the look on Vick's face is anything to go by, he clearly thinks that isn't much of a reason for Gale to get out of his kitchen duties, but since no one is asking him he'll just do it.
"Oh," is all Madge can manage to say to that.
Gale takes her hand and gives it a squeeze. "Let's go to the living room."
Before they're able to make their escape from the heat of the kitchen though, a woman, tall in a faded dress and with her dark hair pulled back from her face, comes in, yelling over her shoulder at someone.
"Well, you shouldn't've been agitating him, Rory. You brought this on yourself."
She stops several steps in and her stern expression brightens.
"You must be Madge!" She's across the room and pulling Madge into a warm embrace before she even knows what's happening. Pulling back, the woman beams at her. "I'm Gale's mom, Hazelle."
Nodding dumbly, Madge gives her a half smile, unsure what to say to a practical stranger that's just hugged her.
"Mom, let her breath," Gale mumbles, tugging Madge back by looping his finger around the thin belt at Madge's waist.
Mrs. Hawthorne's smile doesn't falter; she just waves Gale off before taking Madge's hand and giving it a squeeze. "I'm sorry, dear, I'm just thrilled Gale finally brought you out to meet us. I feel like I've been hearing about you forever."
Madge's stomach swoops a little at the thought that Gale had mentioned her to his family, even though he'd told her as much. It's still a little embarrassing. She's certain he's made her sound much more impressive than she really is and disappointing them is a very real possibility.
"Mom…" Gale's face is a little darker and he's giving his mother a very distinctly 'please stop talking' look, but his mother just pats his shoulder.
"I hope you like roast," his mother carries on, ignoring Gale's silent pleas.
"Yeah," Madge manages to sputter out. "I can help, if you want."
Though Madge sincerely hopes she doesn't. She's worried enough about making a fool out of herself eating, which isn't something she thinks she can mess up, but she isn't certain. Trying to help Mrs. Hawthorne and Vick in the kitchen and showing just how dependent she is on the directions on the backs of the boxes most of her meals come in would just be too humiliating for words. Gale's mother would probably be trying to convince him to cut his loses early by breaking up with Madge when she realized just how completely incompetent Madge is in the kitchen.
Belatedly, Madge thinks she should've brought some candy from her Poppa's shop, just to prove that even if she can't cook anything nutritional, she can at least be useful for treats.
With a wave of her hand Mrs. Hawthorne tells Madge and Gale to go to the living room.
"You're a guest. Just relax."
Taking her hand, Gale leads Madge into a small living area. It's a bit cramped, dark despite the pair of floor lamps in the corners providing dim light, but cozy.
Sitting on the floor in front of the television, crayons scattered around her and eyes focused on the bright display just above her, is Gale's little sister.
She's oblivious to Gale and Madge coming into the living room, completely absorbed in the program, so Gale tells Madge to take a seat while he sneaks up behind Posy.
He picks her up and sets her back from the tv several feet. "Don't sit so close, Pose."
Absently she nods, as Gale steps away, over the coffee table, and flops onto the couch next to Madge. He's just put his arm around Madge's shoulder and closed the fractional space between them when a commercial comes on and Posy reenters the world.
"Gale!" She squeals, standing up and running around the table to fling herself at him. It takes her a minute of struggling with him, fighting to get on his lap, to even notice Madge right beside him.
"Are you Gale's girlfriend?" She asks, eyes narrowed as she clings to Gale tightly, her cheek to his shoulder and her head tucked under his scruffy chin as she observes Madge.
Madge nods.
Posy frowns. "So you kiss and stuff?"
Gale pokes her in the side. "Posy…"
She sits up and puts her hands to her hips. "What? Do you?"
Before Madge can answer though, Posy sticks out her tongue in disgust.
"That's icky," she tells them, scrambling from Gale's lap and back to her coloring on the ground.
Gale rolls his eyes, looking a bit relieve, though whether because Posy has dropped her questioning or because she still thinks kissing is icky, Madge isn't sure.
A second later Posy is back, shoving a coloring book into Madge's lap.
"You can color with me," she tells Madge, forcing a crayon into her hand. "Use blue, it's Gale's favorite."
Exchanging a look with Gale, a little smirk, Madge scoots to the edge of the couch and puts the book on the coffee table and carefully begins coloring the generic looking little flower on the page Posy has apparently assigned her.
After finishing several pages, Madge hears the back door open in the kitchen and a deep voice rumbling warmly. A few minutes later a man Madge recognizes from when her car had broken down comes into the living room, covered in dirt and oil, smiling into the living room.
"Daddy!" Posy jumps up and races to him, throwing her arms up as she lunges at him. He catches her and swings her up, laughing as she makes a delighted noise.
With Posy on his hip, Mr. Hawthorne turns his attention to Madge and Gale.
"Good to see you again, little lady."
Madge can't help but grin back and hope her face isn't flushing. Gale's dad is an older, still painfully handsome, version of Gale and for some reason that embarrasses her. "Good to see you too, Mr. Hawthorne."
He makes a face. "Call me Asher, Madge."
Setting Posy down he excuses himself to go get cleaned up for dinner. Apparently he'd been out with his dad, Gale's grandfather, fixing a tractor.
"Normally Gale helps, but we gave him the day off," he explains to Madge as he rubs at a streak of grease on his face.
"I thought you were going to take Rory with you today?" Gale asks, a bit accusingly.
His dad chuckles. "Have you tried to pry him out of bed in the morning on the weekend? I gave up."
With that he disappears to the back of the house, to where presumably the bedrooms are, leaving Madge and Posy to their coloring and Gale to watching.
#######
Gale's mother calls them to dinner less than ten minutes later.
The table is heavy with food. Roast, rolls, vegetables, and Vick's mashed potatoes, all set out carefully across the small table in the dining room.
Gale's other brother, Rory, who Gale has warned Madge about ad nauseam, is looking sullen as he finishes setting out plates and utensils before slouching into a chair beside his dad.
Dinner goes well enough. Madge manages not to accidentally spill food down her front or knock anything over, though she nearly panics when she thinks she's smeared gravy on Mrs. Hawthorne's tablecloth.
"That's been there," Gale tells, his hot breath on her ear as he whispers when she shoots him a panic stricken look. "Posy used to wipe her hands on it all the time."
They talk about classes, Madge's job at her Poppa's shop, her car, fishing…
"Oh, I've never been fishing," she tells them when Mr. Hawthorne mentions a trip he and the kids are planning to take in a few weeks, out to a pond in the middle of his own dad's land.
"You should come," Vick says instantly. "Fishing is fun."
"Yeah," Posy agrees with a serious nod. "You get to poke the hook in the little fishies and worms and then daddy cooks for us and we make s'mores and I found a turtle once…"
She rambles on, mostly to herself, as Madge tries not to think about poking little fishies with a hook.
"You should come," Rory, who'd been quiet up until that point, pipes up. He grins. "It'll be fun."
Gale and his dad both give Rory suspicious glances, but don't say anything.
"If your parents don't mind, you really should come, Madge," Mr. Hawthorne finally says. "Even if you don't want to fish, you and Hazelle can sit on the banks. We're usually done by noon."
"Oh, I'll ask." Though really, she doesn't have to. Her father will say yes when she talks to him on the phone tonight and her mother thinks Madge is old enough to make her own decisions, which Madge is inclined to agree with. She's been taking care of herself, mostly alone, for years now. If she should ask anyone it would be Poppa, and he's never told her no. If she wants an excuse she'll have to talk to Mr. Abernathy. 'No' is his favorite word when it comes to Gale, though Madge has no obligation to listen to him.
"Please, Madge?" Posy gives her a pathetic little pout and Madge knows she's done for.
Fishing she shall go, whether she really wants to or not.
When they finish dinner, despite Mrs. Hawthorne's protests, Madge and Gale help clean up the kitchen, drying dishes and putting away the leftovers before Madge realizes how late it's gotten.
"I'm sorry, Gale," she tells him once they've said their goodbyes and are out the backdoor. She hates him driving home in the dark.
He shrugs, gives her a smile. "It's fine."
Opening the driver's side door he helps her in before sliding in beside her and starting the truck up.
"See?" He says, almost more to himself than to her. "That wasn't so bad."
Madge nods. It had been downright pleasant.
She was full and tired and had plans for a fish fry to look forward to, not a bad end to her weekend at all.
With a grin, Gale leans over and presses a kiss to her lips, dessert still clinging to his tongue.
Even though they're still in his driveway, only a few yards from his backdoor, Madge leans into him, deepening it.
Madge isn't quite sure how they end up with her back pressed into the rough material of the bench seat of Gale's truck, the buckle for the middle seatbelt lodged into her hip and Gale's hands half-way up her thighs. All she knows is that the moment she hears a soft 'tap, tap, tap' on his door window is that Gale's dad has probably gotten more details about Madge from a few seconds of watching her and his son groping one another than he had through all of dinner.
"Mr. Hawthorne!" Madge almost screams, pushing Gale back so roughly he jerks up and hits his head on the top of the inside of the cab and curses.
It takes him a second, but after rubbing his head, his eyes widen and he turns sheepishly to the window, his color darker than Madge has ever seen it.
"Oh, shit," he swears as his dad gestures for him to roll down the window.
His expression is unreadable, though Madge suspects it's furious. His mouth is a flat line and his eyebrows are high on his head.
"Hi, dad," Gale mutters as the window creeps down.
"You know you're still in the driveway, right?" His dad asks, expression unchanging.
Gale nods.
His dad sighs and reaches across Gale to Madge, a paper in his hand. "Posy wanted me to give this to you." He gives Gale a stern glare. "She wanted to bring it out herself. Be glad your mother told her 'no' so she could get her in the tub."
Madge thinks she may burst into flames. She's never been so embarrassed in her life, and after she'd made it through dinner without them hating her.
Tears begin to well in her eyes and she almost crumbles the picture Posy had colored her in her hands as she looks at Mr. Hawthorne.
"I'm so sorry." It was bad enough he'd see, but if poor little Posy had come up…"Please don't be mad. We won't do it again."
His expression softens on her. "Young lady, I'm not anymore mad than I am ignorant." He gives her a small smile. "Just…give be a little more aware of your surroundings, okay?"
Nodding tearfully, Madge tries to sink into the seat.
Mr. Hawthorne leans against the side of the door. "Madge, honey, I'm not mad."
Maybe he isn't, but he's got to be thinking all kinds of terrible things about her, and that's just as bad.
Miserably, she nods again and hears him sigh.
"Gale, you've got thirty minutes." He taps the side of the truck with his hand.
#######
The ride home is silent and when they pull into Madge's drive she covers her face with her hands.
"Gale, I'm so sorry." Things had been going so well and damned hormones had gotten the upper hand.
"Why are you sorry?" He frowns deeply. "You weren't exactly in on it alone you know."
"Yeah, but he saw my underwear and-oh, god, Gale, he probably thinks I'm some kind of gussied up tart!"
Gale's jaw drops. "What?"
Heart pounding, Madge begins to imagine all the things Gale's parents are going to think of her. They'd been so lovely and now they were going to think she was just some stupid girl trying to sleep with their son.
"Madge you aren't gussied up." Gale tries to comfort her, attempts to pull her into a hug, but a wave of horror washes over her.
"Did I not dress up enough?" Of course she hadn't. This dress was atrocious, and her shoes were too plain. She should've worn more makeup and done something nicer with her hair. "He'll think I'm a cheap tart!"
"Madge!" Gale grabs her by the shoulders and steadies her, makes her look him in the eyes. "Madge he isn't going to think anything bad about you, okay? They like you."
"They liked me before-"
"And they'll like you still," he assures her. He rubs his thumbs over her shoulders and sighs, lets his eyes drop to his lap as he thinks. Finally, he sighs. "Madge, do you know how many girls I've dated and taken to meet my parents? Officially meet them, not just run into out shopping."
She shakes her head, unsure what he's getting at.
"Zero, none, not a single one." He looks up, through his dark lashes. "You are the first one I've brought home. They aren't going to think anything bad about you. Me maybe, but not you."
"You?" Her nose wrinkles up. "Gale, you're their son. I'm the one they'll come down on."
Gale snorts. "Madge, I have a reputation, and they aren't completely oblivious to it. Even if they know at least half of it's bullshit, that still leaves another half they've got to question."
Madge shakes her head. "Gale…"
"Madge," he takes her hand and rubs his thumb over her knuckle, "I'm the bad influence. They know that and we know that, even if I'm trying really hard not to be."
She almost points out that he's not a bad influence, but clamps her mouth shut. Only a few weeks ago she would've agreed with him. Now though, she can see he's got a good heart, he's just ruled by a bit of a forceful spirit. He doesn't think things through all the way and it's led to a lot of missed opportunities for the both of them.
He arches an eyebrow, almost daring her to question his logic, and since she can't get her thoughts into words she can't.
A little grin twitches up at the corner of his lips. It slips off almost instantaneously and a long, low, agonizing groan rolls out of Gale's chest as he turns back to his steering wheel and leans forward, letting his forehead come to a rest against it before sighing. "Do you have any idea what kind of embarrassing conversation I'm going to have to have with my parents when I get home?"
Madge grimaces. She can guess.
"You haven't known true horror until you've had to hear both your parents use the words 'condom' and 'sex' in a conversation pertaining to you."
Silently, Madge hopes that Gale's parents will have let the situation die down before either one of her own parents are able to return home for any extended amount of time. She neither needs nor wants any kind of sex talk from them.
"Text me?" She tells him, squeezing his hand. "Let me know how bad it went?"
The tiny grin reforms as he leans in and catches her lips in another kiss, and for a second Madge almost forgets the white hot embarrassment she'd felt only a moment earlier. If they're going to get in trouble for something she almost wants to do the something she's going to get in trouble for.
She jerks back though, when she sees the reflection of her neighbor's front porch light in Gale's window. Even if Gale's parents forgive them, Mr. Abernathy wouldn't be quite so understanding of teenage hormones.
Giving Gale one last peck, Madge scoots away and out the passenger side door. "Text me when you get home, let me know you made it safe."
He waits for her to get up the porch, open the door and wave to him as she shuts it, before he backs up and drives away.
#######
Gale pulls back into his driveway, parks and digs his phone out of his pocket, quickly texting Madge to let her know he's made it.
She' probably already in her pajamas, a pair of running shorts and a ratty t-shirt and he shakes his head to clear the image from his head. It had been remembering her pile of discarded bras that had dulled his normally sharp senses earlier, made him miss his dad sneaking up on them. He needs to be completely focused when he goes in to be lectured on what is and is not appropriate to do in the driveway by his mom and dad.
He almost laughs. This will mark the first time he's been lectured over something he hasn't even done yet. As annoying as that is, it also gives him a sense of moral satisfaction, which is a wholly foreign feeling.
Half a second later Madge texts back, tells him goodnight, good luck, and to let her know what happens.
She's probably going to sit up, watching crappy late night television until he texts her, or more likely, calls her to let her know what his parents say.
He hadn't just been trying to comfort her when he'd said they wouldn't think anything bad about her. Honestly, he didn't think they would. Madge is impossibly sweet; they'd seen that first hand. Plus, Katniss, who doesn't seem to like anyone, had vouched for her.
"Madge is nice," she'd told Gale's mother. High praise coming from her.
Banishing visions of lacy bras and tiny running shorts from his head, Gale opens his door and steps out, takes a deep breath.
He's going to have to face it eventually.