Author's Note: Hi! Here's chapter 26, enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games. Suzanne Collins is the owner of this amazing trilogy. This story is mine, although the characters are not.
Chapter 26
Katniss' POV
I wake up to the smell of fried eggs. I take a deep sniff and open my eyes. Peeta's lying next to me with his arms behind his head, looking through the window. I move closer and put my chin on his chest. He turns his head and smiles when he sees I'm awake. "Good morning Peeta." I say. "Good morning." He says with a hoarse voice. He brushes my cheek softly and I smile. I then look around and see Gale isn't sleeping next to Madge.
Peeta follows my gaze. "He's in the kitchen, making breakfast." He says. Good. I was starving. I'm not sure if it was the salty air or just me, but I was really hungry since I came here. I stretch my arms and get up. Peeta gets up as well and grabs my hand. We walk to the kitchen. "Morning Gale." I say and put my arm around his neck. He looks up from his frying pan and smiles at us. "Morning." He says. "Egg?" He asks. We both nod and he puts some eggs on two plates. We say thank you and sit down.
Not much later Annie walks in and says good morning as well. Then Madge walks in, giving Gale a shy kiss on the cheek. And, when we're all nearly done, Finnick walks in. "Morning sweetie." Annie says and smiles at him. He looks up at her and rubs his eyes and yawns. "Uhu." He murmurs and sits down. I laugh. I thought I wasn't a morning person...
We wait till Finnick finishes his breakfast. Then he's a bit happier.. and awake. We talk for a while. Then Peeta asks what we're going to do today. Gale and Finnick grin. "Well, we wanted to take you all out for dinner in a posh restaurant." They say. Madge and Annie look at each other and grin excitedly. Oh no. I didn't like 'posh'. It would mean having to use table manners and I would probably have to wear a fancy dress or something. "That's a great idea." Peeta says and looks at me.
I frown. Everyone looks at me and laughs. It was five against one, I didn't really have a choice. "But first, I was thinking we could just go to the beach and have a picnic instead of lunch." Gale then says. I sigh of relief. At least that way we couldn't go dress shopping or anything. I smile at Gale and mouth a 'thank you'. He smiles and winks. The girls pout and I chuckle.
We all get dressed, and I decide to just put on my shorts and a tank top, like I always do. We also all put on our bikini's and swimsuits. Then Gale and Annie fill a picnic basket. After a while we're all ready to go. We walk out and to the beach. It's a three minute walk, and I'm suddenly a bit jealous of Gale. He was quite lucky to be able to live in District 4, right next to the beach.
We get to the sand part and I take off my shoes. The sand feels warm and silky underneath and between my toes. We walk for another while and then put down our blanket. We all sit down and take our clothes off. Gale drags Madge into the water, and Finnick and Annie lay in the sun. Peeta puts my hands in between his. "Would you like to go for a walk?" He asks and smiles. "Sure." I say and he helps me up.
We walk up to the water and then walk past it, with the water up to our ankles the whole time. Peeta sways our arms a bit and we walk slowly, enjoying our time. After a while we look back and realize we've walked a long time. We can just about see where Finnick and Annie are laying. Peeta stops and puts his arms around my waist. He tucks a stray piece of hair behind my ear and brushes my cheek softly. His blonde hair looked amazing in the sun, as did his eyes. It was like District 4 made them look even brighter than they already were. Peeta leans in and gives me a soft, delicate kiss. When he leans back he smiles at me. "Isn't this just perfect?" He says and gestures around us. I nod and smile. He was right. This placewas perfect.
Peeta grabs one of my hands again and we walk back slowly. After a while we're back and we wave at Finnick and Annie, but they don't see us. Then I suddenly feel arms behind the back of my knees, pulling them up. I'm suddenly in the air, and I turn my head to see Peeta grinning at me. "Peeta, put me down!" I say and he shakes his head. I put my arms around his neck as he walks us deeper into the sea. After a moment I start feeling water. It was actually quite warm. I wriggle out of Peeta's arms and he lets me stand on my own.
He pulls me into his arms and kisses me. His arms hitch my legs up around his waist without any effort. I put my hands on his chest. Suddenly I feel something at the bottom of my foot. I jump and kick frantically. I then see Madge and Gale coming up from under the water. They both see my face and laugh. They give each other a high five and grin at me. "Very mature." I say and roll my eyes. Madge chuckles. We then all talk for a while and go back to Finnick and Annie. They haven't been in the water yet, so they're really warm. We sneak over to them and then give them a big hug.
Annie's eyes shoot open and she gasps. "You guys are freezing, get away from me!" She squeals. Madge and I laugh and hug her even tighter. After a while we let go and she shivers. She glares at us and slaps our arms softly. Then we look at Finnick and laugh. He's sitting there with an annoyed face, glaring at Peeta and Gale. Even Annie laughs. We sit down. Gale opens the picnic basket and pulls out a load of different sandwiches. I have about four and Peeta just raises his eyebrows and pokes my stomach. I laugh and push him away. He grins and starts tickling me.
"Peeta, come on, stop it!" I say in between laughing. He just keeps going on, and Madge or Annie or anyone don't even help. "Guys?" I say and look at them. They just grin. "You're on your own." Finnick says and bites into his sandwich. I keep laughing. I then lean in and give Peeta a quick kiss. He stops immediately and his hands rest on my waist. I lean back after a second and eat my sandwich again. Peeta blinks and rolls his eyes. Everyone laughs.
We finish everything in the picnic basket, and then decide to just lie down for twenty minutes. I put my towel down and lie down. Peeta puts his next to mine. Five minutes later, I feel fingers wriggling between mine. I open my eyes and see Peeta smiling at me. I give him a small kiss on the cheek and then close my eyes again. Peeta's thumb makes little patterns on the back of my hand and I feel totally relaxed. The soft wind blowing through my hair, the sounds of the waves and children laughing, the warm sun on my skin and Peeta's touch. It was perfect.
I think I fall asleep, because next thing I know, I open my eyes and everyone's sitting on the blanket talking. I get up and rub my eyes. "How long was I out for?" I ask as I sit down next to Peeta. He smiles and brushes my cheek. "Only half an hour. I was going to wake you up but you looked adorable." He says and grins. I roll my eyes and grin.
We get up and walk over to a little hut on the beach. We all get an ice cream, mine being chocolate flavored of course. We walk back to our blanket and have our ice creams, enjoying the beach. I accidentally get some on my nose. I'm about to wipe it away, but then feel Peeta's lips against my nose. I smile and he leans back, grinning at me. "It's handy having a personal cleaner." I say and he laughs.
We finish our ice creams and go into the water one more time. After a while we get up and dry ourselves. "It's four o'clock." Gale says and Madge and Annie grin. Oh no. This meant at least two hours of 'getting ready' for dinner. I sigh and we walk back to the house.
I'm about to go to the living room when Madge grabs my arm. "Where do you think you're going?" She asks. I shrug. "Living room?" I say. She shakes her head and Annie rolls her eyes. "Come on, let's get you ready for dinner." Madge says. "But-" "No, no buts." Annie says. They drag me into the living room and the boys look at us. "Listen, we'll be at Annie's, don't come with us. We'll be back in two hours." Madge says. The boys put their hands up. "Okay, have fun." Gale says and grins at me. I roll my eyes as Madge drags me out. "Shoot, Annie, the dresses." Madge then says.
Annie smiles. "You can lend one of mine." She says. We walk outside, without the boys even noticing us leaving, and go to Annie's house, which is just around the corner. We walk in and I realize this house is just as beautiful as Gale's. We go upstairs and walk into Annie's bedroom. Her bedroom was beautiful as well. She then opens a door and I gasp. "This can't be your closet." Madge says as we walk in. It was nearly as big as her bedroom. Annie nods. She then gestures towards a wall with a load of different dresses. "Choose one." She says. She picks one herself and I sit down.
Madge stands for a moment and holds some dresses up against herself. She then decides to go with a light purple one, without straps. It ends just above her knees. I look at Annie's dress and see she chose a blue one with black straps and a black line at the bottom. It also ended just above her knees. They then both looked at me expectantly. "What?" I ask. Madge sighs and pushes me into the closet. "Can't I just wear my shorts and a t-shirt?" I try. They both laugh. I sigh and look at all the dresses. There were so many to choose from. I look at Madge and shrug.
Madge stands up and examines them all again. She then hands me five different dresses. "Try them on." She orders and walks out of the closet, closing the door. I sigh again and try on the first dress. It was a white one with lacy straps. I walk out and snort. "I don't think so." I say. They look at the dress. "It's actually quite nice." Madge says and Annie nods. I shake my head and walk back in, putting on the next dress. This one was quite similar to Annie's, only it was gray. I walk out and Annie shakes her head. "You look too gray. Your eyes are gray so you need something colorful." She says and Madge nods. I shrug and walk back in.
I try on a pink dress without straps. It was very tight and I could just close the zip at the back. I walk out and breathe out slowly. "This is lovely." Madge says. "I can barely breathe." I say and Annie laughs. I walk back in and try on the next one. It's a black one and ends under my knees. I walk out and they both shake their heads. "You look really old." Madge says and I stick out my tongue.
I go in and try on the last one. It's a red one with thin, little straps. It ends just above my knee. It had little glitters on it which made it look like it was on fire if I twirled. I look in the mirror and see it looks very tight. It feels perfect though. I walk out and Madge and Annie grin at each other. "Perfect." Annie says. I smile. They order me to take it off and I put my normal clothes back on.
Then I have a quick shower while they talk about make-up or something. When I'm shampooing my hair, Annie knocks on the door. "Don't forget to shave your legs!" She says and opens the door a little bit. I see her hand put a razor on the floor and then she closes the door again. I laugh and shave my legs quickly. I then get out and dry myself. I put on my clothes again and walk out.
I sit down next to Madge. Annie does her own make-up in record time and then sits down in front of me. "Okay, so I'm just going to give you a bit of mascara, eyeliner and a little bit of green eyeshadow. You won't need any blusher, I got a feeling your cheeks will be red enough tonight." She says and I chuckle. "Great. Now just close your eyes." She says. I close my eyes and she starts working.
After a while she leans back and tells me to open my eyes. I open my eyes and see her grinning at me. I turn around and nearly gasp. How could some make-up make my face look ten times better than it is? I turn around again and look at Annie. "Thanks Annie." I say and give her a small hug. She smiles. "Your welcome." She says. Then Madge stands up and stands in front of me. She nods approvingly. "Can I do your hair?" She then asks.
"What's wrong with my braid?" I ask. "Nothing, but didn't Peeta once mention he loved it when your hair was down?" She asks. She had a point, he did say that a few times. I nod and she smiles. She gently takes my hair out of its braid. She then starts brushing it. After making sure all the knots are out, she lays it on to my shoulders. She then stands in front of me and makes some little adjustments. She frowns. "What?" I ask. "I can't do anything with your hair, it's already done." She says and I laugh.
I watch Annie and Madge do their own hair and adjusting their make-up. Then we decide to put our dresses on. I gently pull it over my head, making sure I don't 'ruin' my hair, as Annie said. I flatten out the dress and look in the mirror. For some strange reason I really like this dress. I walk out and Annie and Madge smile at me. "You look really great. Peeta won't be able to keep his hands off of you." Annie says. Madge snorts. "He never can." She says. I slap her arm softly and then smile at them. "Thanks. You both look great as well." I say. "Ahw!" Annie says and gives me a hug. Madge stands up too and puts her arms around both of us, squishing me a bit.
Then Annie leans back. "Shoes." She says and pulls us into the closet. She opens a big drawer and I suddenly see hundreds of shoes. "Shoes." Madge whispers with desire. I chuckle as Annie hands me a pair of high heels. "Will these fit you?" She says. "I think so, but I won't be able to walk on these." I say and look at the height. Annie puts on some high heels herself, which are higher than mine, and so does Madge. They turn around and walk like they're on the catwalk. I laugh and shake my head. "Oh, no way. I'm not walking like that." I say.
They laugh and I put on the high heels. I then stand up slowly. I make a few steps and realize it's not that hard. I walk around for another while. Madge looks at me and shakes her head, looking at me with a hurt face. "Katniss, you're walking around like you're in the woods." She says. I roll my eyes. She shows me how to walk properly and I try it as well. After a while I get the hang of it. "Very good!" Annie says and smiles. Then Annie looks at the clock. "Shit, let's go, or we'll be too late." She says and grabs her keys. We walk to Gale's house and open the door without knocking.
We walk into the living room and find Finnick sitting on the sofa, wearing a light blue shirt, with buttons down the front. He's wearing black pants and black shoes. I also notice his hair is different. I look to the right and see Gale adjusting Peeta's collar for him. I smile and Gale notices us. He elbows Peeta and Peeta turns around. He's wearing a white shirt, with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He looks at me and his jaw drops. I blush as he walks over to me slowly. He puts his hands on my waist and puts his head against mine.
"You. Look. Gorgeous." He says and I smile. "You look pretty handsome as well." I say and he grins, with a faint red tint on his cheeks. He gives me quick kiss. Then I turn around and see Finnick and Annie holding hands, talking and laughing. I look to my right and see Madge blushing. Gale's smiling and whispering something in her ear. Then he gives her a kiss.
"Shall we go?" Finnick says. We all nod and walk to the garage. We get into Gale's car and ride to the restaurant. Peeta smiles at me and leans in to whisper something. "I love it when you have your hair down. You look wonderful." He grins and brushes my cheek. I smile and give him a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you." I whisper back. After another twenty minutes we're there. Gale parks the car and we all get out. Peeta holds my hand and we walk towards a fancy looking restaurant.
We walk in and I notice everyone looks very posh. I also notice their aren't any tables or chairs. We walk over to some doors and I realize they're lifts. We get in and go up for what seems like ages. When the doors open again, we walk out and into a round room with windows as walls. You could probably see whole District 4. You could also see the beach, and the city looked beautiful. It was starting to get dark already, so all the lights in town were going on.
We walk over to a man with a book in his hands. "Table for six please. Next to a window." Gale says and grins. We all roll our eyes as Gale chuckles. We walk over to the table. "Well I thought it was funny." Gale murmurs as we sit down. I sit next to Madge and she sits next to Annie, and the boys sit across from us. I look out of the window. It really was beautiful.
We order some drinks. Then we look at the menu. "I think I'm going to have the pasta. It's supposed to be really good." Finnick says. Madge orders some fish-special, and so do I. Gale and Annie order the lasagna, and Peeta orders pasta, like Finnick. We talk for a while and have a good time. Then our dinner comes. I take a bite of the fish and gasp. Finnick grins at me. "District 4 has the best fish in the whole of Panem." He says and Annie nods. It was amazing. It had so much flavor, and was so tasty.
"Is it nice?" Peeta asks and I nod. "Do you want to try a piece?" I ask. Peeta thinks for a moment. "Sure." He says. I smile and cut a piece. I put it onto my fork and slowly lift it up to Peeta's face. He opens his mouth and I put it in. He closes his mouth and I pull my fork out. He chews and he rolls his eyes dramatically. "This is amazing." He says and I nod. I give him another piece and he grins. "Thank you." He says.
Suddenly it's very dark outside. The sky was black and you could see the moon and the stars. A waiter puts some candles on our table and the lights dimmed a bit, making the place look very romantic. I saw Madge blush as Gale said something. I smile at her and she smiles back. We finish our dinners. Then it's time for desert. Gale orders us all a 'chocolate extravaganza'. I didn't know what that even meant, but it sounded good to me.
A few minutes later the waiter came back with 6 bowls. He put one In front of me and I gasped. It was three different kinds of chocolate ice cream with whipped cream and chocolate sauce on top. There were also some strawberries. I look at Gale and mouth the words 'you're amazing'. He grins and grabs a spoon. I grab a spoon myself and dig in. God, it was heavenly. I'm finished as first and sigh, putting my hand on my belly. Peeta chuckles and finishes his own as well. After a few moments everyone's finished.
Suddenly the music gets a bit louder. It's a slow dance. Peeta stands up and puts out his hand, towards me. "May I dance with you?" He asks. Oh no. Please, no. He sees I'm not answering and pouts. I sigh and put my hand in his. He grins and drags me over to the middle of the room. "Peeta, everyone's looking at us." I whisper, looking around. We were the only one's 'dancing'. He shrugs. "I don't care." He whispers as he puts his hands on my waist.
I put my hands around his neck. "I'm a terrible dancer, Peeta. I'm sorry if I break your toes with these heels." I whisper and he chuckles. He brushes my cheek softly. He spins us around a bit, but mostly we're just swaying from side to side. I lay my head on his chest. This was one of the best nights of my life. It was just perfect. I look around and see Annie dragging Finnick over as well. I see Peeta putting his thumbs up to Gale and he smiles. He stands up and grabs Madge's hand. Madge looks up with bewildered eyes. Gale says something and she nods. They get up and dance as well.
We slow dance for another while. Then the song ends. Peeta gives me a soft kiss. Then some dance song comes on. I walk back to the chairs, but Peeta grabs my arm. "Come on, salsa with me!" He says and moves his feet in a way I never could with these shoes. I laugh and shake my head, but he pulls me closer to him and instructs me to move my feet like his. After a while I get the hang of it a bit. I see Madge showing Gale what to do. Then I see Finnick and Annie flying around the room, looking like they do this everyday. They were brilliant. Peeta and I dance, and Peeta leans me back, with his hands behind my back, holding me up. He gives me a quick kiss and then pulls me up again, twirling me into his arms.
We dance for another while until the song ends. We laugh and people actually clap for us. Well, probably for Finnick and Annie. They smile at the people and we walk back to our seats. Gale pays the bill, even if we all try and pay with him. "Don't worry, I'm practically rich now." He says and grins. We roll our eyes and then walk outside.
We get in the car and drive back home. Peeta holds my hand and we get out. Finnick, Annie, Madge and Gale go inside, but Peeta pushes me against the car softly. He leans himself against me and gives me a kiss on my jaw. "I love you. You're a brilliant dancer. And you looked beautiful tonight." He whispers huskily. I smile and brush the hair out of his eyes. "Thank you Peeta. I love you too." I whisper. He puts his arms around my waist and gives me a long kiss.
"Get a room or something." Finnick yells. We lean back and see Finnick standing in the doorway, shaking his head. We chuckle and walk inside. We all get our pajamas' on and I give the dress back to Annie. She looks at it and then shakes her head. "No, you keep it." She says. "Annie, I can't keep it, it's yours." I say and push it into her hands. She sighs. "I never really liked it, it never suited me. It looks brilliant on you, please, keep it. I'll never wear it anyway." She says and gives it back to me. Before I can say anything, she walks out of the door and into the living room. I sigh and put the dress down.
I do my teeth and go into the living room. Madge and Gale were already in each others arms on the mattress. Finnick and Annie were still doing their teeth, and Peeta was waiting for me on the mattress. I lie down next to him and he pulls me into his arms. I snuggle into his chest. Finnick and Annie walk in as well and lie down. "Goodnight everyone." Madge says. We all say goodnight to each other and Gale turns the light off. Peeta gives me a small kiss on my cheek. "Sweet dreams." I hear him murmur as I quickly fall asleep.
Author's Note: Hello! Hope you liked the chapter. Next chapter will be up by tomorrow, Wednesday or Thursday. I'm not really sure when, sorry! Don't forget to review :)