Hey guys! I'm so unbelievably sorry this took me so long to get out, but life has been BUSY BUSY BUSY for me. I've had school and work and writer's block, as well as a new relationship, so I've been a little preoccupied. So I'm sorry! But thank you to all of you that sent me encouraging PMs and reviews; I write this for all of you guys, so it was nice to hear that you were still interested in this story! I'm going to try harder to update more often, and I absolutely WON'T go another whole month without updating. I hope you like this chapter, and all the drama to come. And hopefully, I'll update I Don't Want To Forget soon as well! Enjoy!
If I had the ability to speak, I would shout "I TOLD YOU SO!" to everyone I've ever met. No birthday of mine has gone without a price.
But all words vanish from my throat as I correlate the woman in front of me to the one girl in the world that had the strength and audacity to break Finnick Odair's heart. She looks like the girl to do it, too. Though she has a kind smile paired with bright and open eyes, it always seems like the innocent looking ones end up doing the most damage. Because there was no expectation that they would.
Luckily, Finnick still has the ability to talk. "What are you doing here?" he whispers, suddenly right behind me. He doesn't sound sad or upset or even mad. He sounds incredulous. He honestly thought he would never lay eyes on her again—and I guarantee he never considered the possibility of her seeking him out.
She tucks a chunk of her dark hair behind her left ear as an embarrassed flush takes over her face. "I'm s-sorry," she stutters. "I didn't know you would be living with a girlfriend; I just figured you would still be with Peeta. I'll just leave—"
"No," he interrupts her, surprising me. And Annie. And I'm pretty sure himself too. "You came all this way; I would like to know why."
I notice he doesn't correct her about me being his girlfriend, but I let it slide. Technically, he is living with his girlfriend—she just so happens to be passed out in Gale's room, and has been there for a couple of hours.
Finnick opens the door further and wraps his arm around my waist; whether he's trying to go along with the girlfriend shtick or he just needs some support, I'm not sure. Either way, I'll be here for him.
Annie takes slow, deliberate steps into the house and Finnick shuts the door behind her. She glances around at the mess that is taking over the living room, but doesn't make any comment about it. Finnick, with me pressed into his side, leads her to the couch Peeta is still residing on, though he's no longer laying down. He's sitting up, straight as an arrow, watching Annie with wide eyes. I'm pretty sure he hasn't even noticed how close his brother and I are.
I glance into the kitchen and see Gale's face wearing a similar expression. I almost want to laugh at the unconscious similarity of best friends/brothers, but easily refrain. This isn't exactly the right time for laughing. Crying in the corner, maybe, but definitely not laughing.
Annie gives Peeta a nod and a small smile in greeting as she sits down, but almost immediately her eyes fly back to Finnick. My heart immediately clenches at her expression. She looks like I do when I look at Peeta.
Oh, fuck.
Finnick grabs a folded up metal chair in the corner and places it right in front of her before he sits down on it—pulling me onto his lap. I move my gaze to Peeta and see his eyes widen further. I give him a shake of my head and try to convey with my expression that he needs to keeps his mouth shut about it right now, and I think he understand because he gives me a curt nod and solemnly sinks into the couch.
"So how long have you guys been together?" Annie asks, slipping off her winter coat to reveal an elegant cream colored silk shirt underneath it; she places her trendy black leather purse onto her lap.
Finnick shakes his head and I feel his grip tighten on my waist. "We aren't here to talk about my relationships. Why did you come here, Annie? And at four in the morning, no less."
Her perfectly glossed lower lip is pulled into her mouth and she looks at Finnick nervously. "I'm back in Denver—permanently. And I—I, I wanted to see if we could try again. I've changed a lot since I last saw you, and I want nothing more in this world than to show you that. But I see that you found someone, and I'm happy for you. You deserve to be happy, Finny." Her voice gets sadder and sadder as the words fall out of her mouth, but she gives him a reassuring smile at the end. "I guess I should be leaving, then. I've got to get a hotel for the night."
"You should stay here." The words slip out of my mouth before I even realize what the hell I'm saying. Everyone's eyes fly to me and I feel tension fill the space. I clear my throat and continue; I choose my words carefully, as to not lie to this girl who's so devastatingly infatuated with Finnick it hurts me. "We'll crash with Peeta."
She shakes her head. "No. I don't want to impose—"
"It's no problem. I insist. Seriously."
She gives me an awkward, but appreciative smile and I get up off of Finnick's lap to show her his room upstairs. I hand her a pair of his sweats and a shirt from his dresser so that she has something to wear to bed. She tells me all of her stuff is getting into town tomorrow—which is when she's able to move into her apartment. We exchange only brief sentences, but I can tell she's a nice girl. I still can't believe she could cheat on him.
As soon as I show her where the bathroom is, in case she's forgotten after all this time, I dart back down the stairs and find the boys huddled in the kitchen. As I take my first steps onto the linoleum, their eyes shoot to me, each of them wearing hard, angry expressions.
"Are you fucking insane?" Finnick quietly sneers at me, his green eyes flaming. "What the hell are you playing at? She broke my fucking heart, Katniss! Do you think I want her under my roof—in my bed! And what about your sister?"
I feel guilt infiltrate my being, both at the mention of Prim and his broken heart, but I try to push it away so I can explain my actions. "It just slipped out! But I don't regret it." The guys' angry expressions just fill with confusion. I let out an exasperated sigh. Men. They don't see anything. "Did you see her? Did you see how sad and desperate she looked? She's still in love with you, Finn, and I think you need to hear her out." I don't really understand why I'm fighting for Finnick to give her a chance to explain herself, but I am. Maybe it's because I want him to be happy, and though he never talks about the time he shared with Annie, I know he was never happier than when he was with her. Or maybe it's because I know what it's like to lose someone you care about. I don't know. I take a deep breath as my eyes linger on Gale and then Peeta before I clarify. "Look, I'm not claiming to be an expert on your personal situation, but I do understand how cheating can be unforgivable. But I also understand how true love makes things that seem unforgivable forgivable."
Finnick's anger evaporates in an instantly and his entire body sags; I notice Gale do something similar out of the corner of my eye. I take a few steps towards Finn and place my hand on his cheek and tilt his head back up so his eyes meet mine. "I know that you still love her, Finn. As much as you don't want to." He gives me a sullen nod. "But let's go to bed, alright? We'll figure this whole Annie situation out tomorrow." His eyes look so empty; so I attempt to lighten the mood. "Okay, boyfriend?"
He gives me my favorite half-smirk and my hand falls from his face to his forearm, where I grab it and pull him out of the kitchen. I see Peeta follow us back up the stairs and into our room. The boys throw themselves onto the bed and begin to remove their jeans as I creep into the closet and quickly dress into some sweats and a baggy t-shirt of Peeta's, out of sight from the wandering eyes of Finnick. When I peek back out, they are both in their plaid boxers and thin, white undershirts. God, they really are brothers.
I jump onto the bed, into the space between them, and three of us slip under the covers.
"This is kind of weird," Peeta exhales as I curl up against his body and close my eyes.
"Or it could be hot," Finnick quips. "Kitty Kat just needs to lose those sweats and it would get real sexy, real quick."
I chuckle at his words, too tired to chastise him. It's not like he actually means it.
"If you touch her in her sleep, I will kill you," Peeta threatens as his face burrows into my neck.
"Got it."
But I reach my hand out and move it around until I find Finn's; I give it a reassuring squeeze. His life is going to be fuckville tomorrow. It's the least I can do.
"Katniss," Peeta warns, his gruff voice in my ear.
"Relax, baby," I tell him, rolling my eyes internally. "I'm not going to leave you for Finnick. Correction—for anybody. So take a chill pill."
He huffs out a sigh of annoyance, but he doesn't rebuttal. "I really wanted to give you some birthday sex."
"You still can. I can just watch," Finnick chimes in.
"Shut up," we say in unison.
When I wake up a few hours later, I'm sandwiched between two sexy men. It's basically every woman's fantasy. Peeta's hand is dipped into the front of my sweats, resting on my pelvic bone and Finnick's hand has a death grip on my upper arm as his face is pressed into the pillow. I turn my head to the side and kiss along Peeta's jaw, trying to wake him up for the day. And the drama. When he starts to twitch, the sleep leaving his limbs, I move the arm Finnick has a hold of and begin to shake his side.
The boys wake up simultaneously; Finnick removes his hand from me and Peeta tries pulls me closer to his body. But I pull away and scamper out of bed.
"What about snuggling?" Peeta calls as I move to his dresser and begin to pick out some clothes for him to wear.
"Yeah," Finnick agrees. "I want to snuggle."
"Silence—both of you," I tell them as I grab a Phoenix Suns shirt and pair of grey sweats for my man. It's not like we are going to leave the house today. We might as well be comfortable as we watch the clusterfuck. "Finnick, we can't snuggle because there are two other ladies in the house that would much rather do that with you, plus Peeta would chop your arms off. And Peeta, we can't snuggle because we have to make sure a cat fight doesn't ensue between said ladies fighting for Finnick's affection."
I turn back around to the two of them, my eyebrows raised. Finnick nods at me and darts out of bed. I throw Peeta his clothes and Finnick grabs some for himself—though they aren't really similar sizes. Where Peeta is all stocky and muscled, Finnick is thinner and toned. But that doesn't really matter right now.
"When can we have belated birthday sex?" Peeta asks as he slips his shirt over his broad shoulders.
"Later, Horn Dog," I say, rolling my eyes. Jeez. These boys and their one track minds.
The living room is cleaned and back in its former glory when the three of us mosey downstairs. Peeta presses a small kiss to my forehead and heads straight towards the kitchen cabinets, where he begins to collect the ingredients for waffles.
Finnick joins Prim and Gale at the table while I sit myself on the counter, only a few feet away from Peeta and his workstation. I notice Finnick's inability to look at Prim in the eye, and I immediately doubt my decision to let Annie stay over. I don't want Prim to get hurt in all of this.
"I think I need to talk to her alone," Finnick speaks, breaking the uncomfortable silence, only filled with the sizzling coming from the waffle iron.
I feel myself nod. Of course he does. In the end, we can't really play a part in his relationship. I mean, it is his.
"No."
My eyes fly away from Peeta's soft hands mixing the batter, and land on my baby sister; her thin arms are crossed over her chest.
"I want to hear what you have to say to her," she says, her voice even and curious.
Finnick watches her for several moments before he reluctantly nods. "We'll sit in the corner of the room, I suppose. So you can overhear our conversation."
She gives him a small smile before she stands up and retrieves a bottle of water from the fridge.
Noticing Peeta's almost done with the waffles, I jump off the counter. "I'll go wake up Annie," I tell everyone. Finnick looks at me, the features of his beautiful face warped with discomfort. Peeta turns his body in my direction and we meet in the middle—sharing a sweet, short kiss.
I rap a swift knock onto the wood of Finnick's door, hoping Annie's already up. I hear a rustling of movements before the door is opened slowly. Annie is dressed back into the clothes she came here with, her black purse thrown over her right shoulder.
"Peeta made breakfast. Waffles," I say, trying to sound enthusiastic and not at all awkward. I'm pretty sure I fail.
Surprisingly, she gives me a warm smile. "I love waffles."
She looks so happy and I can't help but be honest with her. The words fall out of my mouth before I can think about the repercussions. "Finnick and I aren't together." Her smile fades instantly, but I see a spark in her eyes. She's hopeful. "I'm with Peeta. But he is dating someone in this house."
The spark in her eye dims slightly. "I always knew he would eventually admit his feelings for Gale," she jokes.
I laugh, shaking my head. "They do make a lovely couple, don't they?" She nods, chuckling with me. I like this girl. "He and his girlfriend have been dating for about a month, though."
She nods again, more stern. She understands. But wish she didn't. I wish things were easier.
Together, we walk down the stairs to the kitchen in comfortable silence. However, the comfort instantly vanishes when we reach the others. All eyes, except Peeta's, fly to us—concern and anger in their gazes.
Let the awkward breakfast begin.
"Can you hear anything they're saying?!" Gale whispers loudly into my ear.
I shake my head. Not even a syllable.
Three of us (of course, not the mature Peeta) are blatantly staring at Finnick and Annie as they sit in the corner of the living room. We're smushed together at the kitchen table, with Prim sitting on Gale's lap. Gale tears at one of the leftover waffles, ripping off large chunks with his teeth and chewing them nosily.
"I heard 'us' and 'maybe' and then something that sounded like 'cactus'—but that can't be right," Prim whispers to Gale and I. I shrug my shoulders. Sounds legitimate.
I can see Finn's face redden more and more by the minute, but I have no idea if it's because of anger or something else. Embarrassment, maybe? But why would he be embarrassed?
Finnick runs his left hand through his hair then stands up; Annie follows. She smiles up at him, her sparkling teeth shining at him and I see a smile tug at his mouth. She squeezes his bicep then lets her hand fall and turns towards the door. She waves at the three of us in the kitchen before she exits the house, shutting the door behind her quietly.
My eyes fly back to Finn, curious to see his expression, but his back is turned to us. With his hands on his hips, he leaves the room, walking as quickly as he can up the stairs. Huh. That was weird.
"He just needs to some time, Prim," Gale says, his voice soft and caring. I glance at my sister and see her face etched in curious sadness. She mumbles in agreement before she leaves the two of us and heads back into her and Gale's room, slamming the door; I cringe.
I look to Gale, and find him staring at me. I realize how close we are and feel a flush take over my skin. Peeta wouldn't like this.
He has that expression on his face. The one I know so well. His forehead is furrowed, he's biting the inside of his left cheek and his eyes are wide. It's his "I need to say something" face.
"What?" I ask, afraid of the answer.
His grey eyes fill with sorrow instantly, and his eyes dart to his closed door briefly before returning to me. "He's gonna choose Annie."