Disclaimer: All stories are individuals of themselves and are unrelated to each other.
Gale watched as that filth from the scum pressed his lips against those of Madge Undersee. It didn't matter that Madge was from the Seam, she was different, she deserved better than those perverted guys that only wanted someone to kiss.
"Enjoying the show?" Madge called out, realizing Gale had been watching. He blinked once, dropping his gaze. She pushed the boy in front of her out of the way and made her way over to him. "Listen I know you get your kicks from watching things like that but…"
"Why are you with him?" Gale asked, narrowing his eyes at her.
Madge paused for a moment before saying, "I'm not."
"Then why are you kissing him?" Madge was unable to answer that question. Maybe the pressure from Katniss in the Games finally got to her, maybe she was tired of feeling lonely. "You're better than that, Madge." With that Gale walked away, leaving a dumbfounded girl watching him trail down the hallway.
That was on her mind the rest of the day. You're better than that. No one had ever said that to her. Sure, guys said lots of things, but never anything like that. It was always about her waist or her hair but never about her. She never had a good personality, never had any real options.
So after school she marched to the Hawthorne house and pounded on the door. "What did you mean?" Madge demanded once Gale opened the door. He raised an eyebrow before she continued. "About me being better than that. What did you mean?"
"You know what I meant," he replied.
"The rumors aren't true, you know," she suddenly said. "About me. They're not true." The rumors about her and the slagheap, how she took a new guy every night. Everyone thought she was a slut from the Seam but she wasn't. "I don't know what I did today, kissing him like that, I'm not usually like that."
"You don't have to explain yourself to me," Gale said. "I get it, you're lonely now that Katniss is gone and…" he trailed off as her face crumpled. He opened the door so she could come in, and after a bit of hesitation she did so. Her footsteps were nervous. No matter how many trades she made with the Hawthorne's, she had never been in their house.
"You wouldn't understand," she tells him as she studies the piano in the sitting room. "You've never been lonely a day in your life." Too many siblings, too many friends. People weren't intimidated by Gale because he was the mayor's son, his good looks wouldn't allow it, nor would his charisma.
He watched as she circled the room, unsure of what she wanted to look at. "Then tell me what it's like."
"That wouldn't make you understand," she grumbled. "It would just make you pity me and I don't need that."
"What is with you and pity?" Gale laughed, and then groaned. "I swear, you think the whole world wants to offer you charity! Sometimes peoplegenuinely care, Madge."
She spun around to face him, "Do you?"
Gale nodded once before saying, "Yeah. I do." They stared at each other for a bit, her blue eyes meeting his gray ones with such an intense gaze she had to look away.
"I should go," she said quickly, starting toward the door. "I don't even know why I'm here," Madge went to pull her hand through her hair but Gale grabbed her wrist.
"Will you come back?" The words confused her, so she let them hang in the air for a bit. "Tomorrow?"
Why he asked, she never knew. Why Madge nodded yes, she couldn't figure out. How she ended up at his house the next day was a mystery. But she did, and every time he asked if she'd come back she said yes. Because he cared, he really did, and she wasn't going to pass up someone like that. Someone who asked what she wanted. Someone who made her feel less lonely.
