Once again sorry for the late update. Enjoy!
Chapter 24: A New Touch, A New Feeling
Katniss' POV
Arriving to our manor, I head out of car immediately. Peeta calls after me, but I ignore him. I don't want to hear him right now. I stop in front of the door and sigh. I completely forget that me and Peeta will be sharing a room. Haymitch leaps up the steps, and grabs my arm. He makes me face him, "Sweetheart, can you explain what just happened?" I huff, and break his grasp on my arm. "I'm not sharing a room with him." Before Peeta says anything, Haymitch speaks, "Uh, I don't think so. You don't make the rules around here, Girl On Fire. You both will share a room, whether you like it or not. I don't care if you and the boy are sleeping on the floor. That is your business." I shake my head at his stubbornness. I turn to Peeta, "You are not sleeping with me." He sighs and says, "Katniss, this is not necessary." I turn away and give him my back. Disrespect is the last thing I can care about right now.
We enter the manor. It's as beautiful inside as outside. I storm up to our designated room. Before I can close it fully, Peeta comes in. I yell at him, "I don't want to see you!" He acts strangely calm, "But I do. I want to see you all the time. I want to be with you. I want you all for myself. When you do these things, it hurts my feelings. It hurts to know you want to push me away." I speak back to him, "Well you don't act any better now do you?" He sighs and says, "Okay, you're angry. I understand. If you don't mind, I'm… I'm going to…" He takes long looking at me broken, but gives me a weak smile, "To shower. I'm going to shower." I answer rudely, "Fine do what you want." He shakes his head and leaves to the restroom.
As he takes his shower, I take the decency to change out of my dress. I find a comfortable nightgown and change into it. I don't believe he will out in a little time. Oh, Peeta, the boy who can stand a stubborn, irritant, arrogant, and selfish girl like me. I sigh. I need to give him a break; he's was just jealous of Finnick. He had every right to be mad. Finnick was flirting with me at the beginning.
*Flashback*
"Finnick Odair." Finnick says. Peeta shakes his hand. He grabs my free hand, and lift it to kiss my knuckles. Instead of feeling like I'm going to faint of happiness, I feel like I'll faint of disgust. He says, "And you must be the lovely, Katniss Everdeen." I say, "Yes, I am." He asks us about our liking of his district. I look at Finnick, and notice he's not even paying attention to Peeta, but me. He asks Peeta, "Peeta, would you mind if I have a dance with Katniss?" Peeta hesitates on his answer. Please say no, please say no… "No, but you would have to ask her." I look at him in disbelief, as he lets go of my hand. Finnick holds out his hand to me, "May I?" Well there's no escaping this. I answer with a fake smile and a nod. I make sure I send Peeta a nasty glare, that practically tells him that I'm going to kill him later.
We begin to dance to a slow song in the middle of a crowd. He says, "You look lovely tonight, Katniss." I sneer, "I'm not sleeping with you." He laughs, "Wow you can't even take a compliment. Say what makes you a feisty woman?" I answer, "People like you. Don't try seducing me." He chuckles, "Okay, you don't need to act like this." I ask, "Oh really?" He pulls me closer to him in an aggressive manner, "Katniss this is not why I invited you to dance with me." I growl, "Then why?" He smiles and loosens me up, "I want to be your friend." I frown, "We can't be friends. I'm in big trouble with Snow, and if he found out we were friends he'd-" He cuts me off, "Annie." I dance in confusion, "Annie Cresta?" He nods and continues, 'I love her. But I keep her safe, by being Snow's man whore. But we can be friends really." I begin to understand Finnick. I soften, "It's hard to be in love, is it?" He nods as I send a peek to my man. He speaks to Haymitch. Finnick jokes, "Ugh, how does Peeta stand your attitude?" I laugh, "It's his best quality." He winks and says, "I bet you like his other should stay with him" I throw my head back in a laugh. I answer, "You're an idiot." He smiles, "So friends?" I nod, "Friends."
The song ends and he takes me to Peeta. Peeta is really tense when I get there. Finnick tells me to stay in contact with him and he leaves. I can already tell Peeta is not in the best mood, and I know he became jealous of Finnick.
*End of Flashback*
Oh my poor baker if he only knew I was thinking of him every moment. I get off the bed and look out to the porch, and feel the ocean breeze. I hear the bathroom open and Peeta's heavy footsteps. He calls my name, "Katniss?" I say, "I'm here," I turn to him ready to go to bed. I look at the beach again, and I know what I have to do to make up the horrible dinner. I turn and ask him, "Peeta?" He turns his head quickly, "Yes, Love?" I smile slightly at his choice of words, "Would you like to walk on the beach with me?" He nods and says, "Of course."
We head to the door and look around the hallway. No sign of Effie and Haymitch. We walk quietly down the stairs and rush to the back door. I take Peeta's hand and run to the beach before they find us. We make it far enough at a safe distance and break into a walk. Peeta caresses my hand and says, "Love, I didn't mean to get you mad this night." I smile and say, "You boys are complicated." He chuckles then stops in front of me. He takes me by surprise, and kisses me. I savor his kiss, salty from the sea breeze. As he lets go, I say, "I'm yours. You know you have my heart." He nods and bites his lip, "I just feel like I'm gonna lose you any moment." I comment, "Wow, you're sensitive." He chuckles and pulls my waist to him, "No, I'm in love." I smile and kiss him. I've never had a more blissful moment. He's everything I ever wanted, and why not become his girl. He's always dreamed of it. And I believe Peeta is the one I should be with. I bravely say, "Peeta, I want to be yours." He chuckles saying, "You already are." I shake my head, "No, I mean like yours." His eyes widen in understanding.
"Are you sure?" he asks. Always the gentleman. I nod and say, "I love you and you love me. What is wrong with taking our love for each other further?" He shakes his head and grins, "Nothing! Nothing at all! I just… I just thought this moment would never come." He picks me up, catching me off guard. He spins me, his laughter ringing through the breezy night.
Without waiting any further, he picks me up and sets off back to our manor. We enter the manor quietly and head up to our room,. As soon as we get past closing the door, Peeta locks it and turns immediately to begin kissing me. I eagerly returned his kisses. He picks me up and drops me on the bed. He kisses me once more and asks, "Do you love me?" I respond, "With all my heart,"
So here was Chapter 24. A confusing chapter to write, but I have the rest of the story planned after this chapter. I just wanted everyone to be familiar with what happened between Finnick and Katniss. Thank you for the followers, readers and fellow lovers of the Hunger Games in general. I owe my inspiration to Suzanne Collins. Please Review! Favorite! Follow!