Like the Broken Shards of a Liquor Bottle
Insecurity was her greatest problem. And it bothered him. Every time she ever saw him talking to another girl, she'd fight with him, yell at him, tell him he didn't love her. If only he could tell her that, after all, he didn't.
He was with her for a reason, and that reason was his one true love. Katniss. They had attended school together, and after, they went to university together. They were friends. He wasn't the best of her friend; more like, they had the same friend circle. All of their friends would sit together at lunch in school and she would sit with him when they had a class together. But no, he wasn't like her best friend – he wasn't Gale. Gale and Katniss were inseparable since birth, joined at the hip, if you say it. Those two even dated for a while in high school, but quickly figured out that they weren't good for each other like that. They're like brother and sister now.
He'd been in love with her since he first laid eyes on her. His sister, Clove, introduced her to him. His younger brother had said that it was love at first site, and he completely agreed with him.
"Cato," Glimmer, his girlfriend, said, trying to get his attention. Glimmer was a slut in Panem University in her second year when he first came here. None of his friends had gotten an admission to this university, except Katniss and Finnick. Of course, apart from being an excellent athlete and singer, she had some brain in her. For the three were the only ones who knew each other here, they quickly got closer than ever. Though, Katniss was still closer to Cato that she was to Finnick. Everything had been the way Cato wanted, then something happened.
Marvel Krueger happened.
He saw Katniss fall for the green-eyed footballer right before his eyes, and he couldn't do anything. That's when his long-time friend and roommate, Finnick, entered the picture to save his ass. Finnick had been a womanizer since he was, what, fourteen? He knew almost everything about getting a woman. He advised Cato to start dating another girl in Panem. To make Katniss jealous.
With his drop-dead gorgeous being, he was able to woo Glimmer in no time. Finnick's advice had been heeded, and the two started dating.
"Is there something going on between you and Sasha?" Glimmer asked him again. Sasha was Katniss's roommate and the two often met when he was over at Katniss's dorm for a sleepover or party. Last night, when he had gone to visit Katniss, he found the two of them completely wasted, clutching whiskey bottles. Katniss was passed out cold on the floor, while Sasha was leaning against a wall, laughing quietly over something of her own imagination. He had scooped Katniss up in his arms and tucked her into bed.
He was concerned for her health. The last time she drank that much of alcohol was when she received the news that her sister had been ran over by a car. He was there in her dorm when Gale had called her to drop the bomb. He had embraced her as she drank can after can of beer and cried into his chest. It was a lot and, and believe him when he said that it took a lot to floor her. Her capacity to handle drinks was really high.
Prim's hospital bill had been paid by their social worker, Haymitch. Their mother had committed suicide after her father died. Haymitch, Gale and his family took care of her for the three days it took Katniss to get back to New York, with Cato by her side. Eventually, after multiple surgeries, a month in the ICU and lots of prayers, the girl had survived. She couldn't walk, though, for the accident had severed her spine beyond repair.
Katniss was upset that she couldn't take care of her sister well enough and that it was her fault that Prim had been crippled. Prim, however, being the ever-optimistic one, was happy to just be alive.
Once Katniss and Cato had come back to Panem University after Prim had fully recovered, Katniss's blame on herself for Prim's condition grew. She began drinking to cope with it. First she lost her father, then her mother and then almost lost her sister, who was ridden into a wheelchair for the rest of her life. Every time she felt overwhelmed (which was pretty often) she would grab a bottle of white liquor and drink. It took Cato two months to rid Katniss of her drinking problem.
About last night, he knew he would have to eventually ask her why she drank; he'd thought that her drinking habits had gone away, for good. The matter at hand, though, was Sasha. He didn't know what to do with her. Should he tuck her in like did for Katniss? Or should he just leave her here on the floor in her drunken state? Eventually, he decides on sobering her up enough so she could get herself into bed. He got a few slices of bread he had in his room and attempted to feed them to her. He had been pressing a piece of bread to her lips so she would eat, and that's when Glimmer decided to barge in.
"Sasha is a friend," he huffed, annoyed at his girlfriend's antics. "She was drunk. I couldn't just leave her lying on the floor!" Cato threw his hands up in exasperation.
Glimmer's demeanour changed, and she stepped closer to him, practically pressed up against his chest, and ran a hand down his spine, making him shiver. It wasn't the good type of shiver, though, it was one of disgust. She started playing with the belt-loops on his jeans in a flirtatious manner. Cato was barely able to hold back the urge to break all five of her fingers. Was she really trying to do this when he was so concerned about Katniss's well-being? She was drinking again, for God's sake!
Glimmer was almost as tall as him, where he stood with his proud 6'3". She leaned up closer to him, standing on her tip-toes, and brushed her lips against his ear. "Then prove it to me," she whispered seductively.
"Glimmer," Cato warned, quickly losing his patience. "I'm not in-"
She cut him off by crashing her artificially full, lipstick-coated lips onto his. Cato furiously snatched her hands off of himself and roughly shoved her away.
"I respect girls, but you, Glimmer, don't give me a reason to respect you," he seethed. "We're over."
If Cato's life was a cartoon, he could see smoke pouring out of Glimmer's ears and nose. Cato would've probably found Glimmer's reaction comical if he weren't already in a dark mood.
"You can't do this to me, Cato," Glimmer screeched.
Cato laughed a dark, psychotic laugh, leaned in dangerously close to her and threateningly said to her, "Yes, I can. Try and stop me." He then yelled right in her face, "Out. Now."
As Glimmer scampered out of his dorm room, Cato plopped down onto his bed. Finnick, who was on his bed, propped up on his elbows , looked at his roommate with amusement dancing in his eyes.
"Do not even start," Cato huffed, pointing an accusing finger at him. "I'm in this mess because of you." Finnick burst out laughing.
"I-really feel-so-sorry for-you," Finnick said in between laughs. "That woman-is danger…" Cato cracked a small smile, despite his mood. That's what Finnick did to him. They'd known each other all twenty-three years of their lives and Finnick knew exactly where to pin-point Cato's mood and what strings to pull to lift his spirits.
"I need to make a call," Cato picked up his phone and excused himself to the balcony.
"Dude, it's almost midnight," Finnick reminded him but he just shrugged.
"It's important." He opened his phone and dialled the number of the only person he knew would always be there for Katniss and would be able to help her in this situation.
"Who are you and what the hell do you want?!" a woman's rough voice yelled through the phone. Cato instantly recognised her. Johanna Mason, Gale's fiancée.
Gale, who was twenty-five year old, graduated from Uni three years ago, and was a wealthy lawyer now. He lived in New York with his fiancée, Johanna.
"Jo," he greeted. "Is Gale around? I need to speak to him." He said politely. Gale, Jo, Cato, Katniss and Finnick – they had all attended the same high school and were close-knitted friends. By the way Gale and Jo were, he knew he might have interrupted something. He heard Johanna sigh on the other end and call out to Gale.
A minute later, Gale's deep, husky voice filled the line. It was the same voice many girls in high school swooned over, and not to mention his looks. Many girls back then, and even now, fell at his feet for his God-like personality.
"Hello?" Gale said.
"Gale, it's important. I'm Cato, if you haven't figured out already, and before you say that you were in the middle of something, I need to talk to you right now." Cato gushed urgently.
"Alright, go on." Gale said.
"Katniss was drinking today," he got out. Sharing the news made him feel the slightest bit relieved, as if a thousand pound weight had been lifted off his chest.
Cato could practically feel Gale tensing up and his face twisting into something between a frown and a grimace, something he did every time he was extremely upset and worried.
"What?" Gale's voice was small, strained on the other end.
"She drank, Gale," he breathed.
"How much?"
"Much more than she should," he sighed sadly.
"I'm coming to Arizona by the first flight tomorrow morning," he said with a steely resolve in his voice, a resolve to help Katniss get better.
"She's passed out, Gale, what do I do right now?" he asked desperately.
"Stay with her, okay? She'll need you when she wakes up." He said in a dejected tone. "Take care of both of yourselves. Bye." He hung up then.
After he came to Panem University, Gale became a sorts-of older brother to him, too, like he was for Katniss. They would sometimes talk on the phone and Cato would seek him out when he needed some big-bro advice, but never when it came to his love for Katniss. That was, considering the fact that Gale was extremely overprotective of her and knowing that one of her best friends harboured more-than-friendly feelings for her would probably make him break every bone in Cato's body.
Even though Cato had never openly admitted his feelings for Katniss to Gale, he knew that the older man would figure it out sooner or later. Gale was a smart man, a strategist, a manipulator. After all, earning as much money as he did in his two year career, isn't easy.
He came back into his room, weary and glum.
"I heard everything," Finnick said to him and shot him a sympathetic look. "She'll be fine. Don't worry." Cato nodded and walked out, into the dark hallway towards Katniss's room.
He saw her on her bed, where he had put her, curling into herself with tears trickling down her face in a steady stream as she cried in her sleep. Cato sat on the edge of her bed and swept a sweaty lock of her ebony hair out of her face. He leaned down and kissed her forehead lovingly. That's when he noticed that she was burning up.
Shit. He didn't know a thing about medicine, and neither did any of his friends or family. Who would he call and ask for assistance at half past midnight? Sure, Sasha was a medical student, but she was drunk herself.
He only knew one person he could call right now. Prim. The nineteen year old was studying at a medical school despite being in a wheelchair.
But he couldn't tell her about her older sister's condition. Katniss was the only constant in the crippled girl's life, and seeing her at her lowest would truly break her. So he made up a story. He was an English Literature and Writing student, after all.
He flipped out his phone and dialled Prim's number. She answered at the last ring.
"Hello? Cato, what happened?" Prim's groggy voice ringed into his ears. He felt a little guilty for waking the girl up from her slumber, but this was important.
"Hi, Prim, sorry for waking you up," he said, "but this is an emergency."
"What is it?" her voice sounded alert now, alarmed, almost. "Is Kat okay?"
"…Yes," he lied, not wanting Prim to worry. "We were out partying tonight, and one of our friends drank too much and passed out. We got her back to the dorm, but now we discovered that she has a fever. What should we do?"
"Umm…" Prim seemed to think for a second, "Coax this girl into taking some fever reducing pills and apply strips of cold water to her forehead. Then I guess you wait for her to wake up." She told him.
"Thanks, Prim,"
"Is Kat with you? Can I talk to her?" she asked him.
"She just went in to take a shower, Prim. I'll tell her to call you later." He lied again.
"Alright, thanks Cato, bye!" she said and hung up.
He knew Katniss kept a first aid bow in her drawer, just for an emergency like this one. He grabbed the pills, some rags, a bowl of cold water and some more in a glass to swallow the pills.
He knew the way to wake up a drunk person was by massaging their feet and splashing cold water onto their face. He knew this because Katniss had been a drunken mess every third day for two months after Prim's accident. He positioned Katniss in a way that she was in his lap with her head on his shoulder and her feet supported by his arm. He quickly put some water on her face, causing her to stir. He then started massaging her feet. She let out something between a moan and a sigh, and her eyes flickered open. Cato held her cloudy gaze, and he could see the conflicted emotions dancing in her eyes.
"Cato," she whispered in a raspy voice.
"Katniss, you need to take this medicine," he told her. Even in her drunken, weakened state, she put up a good fight against him, resisting him, not taking the meds. But he was a lot stronger than her and eventually got the medication into her system. He laid her down on the bed and covered her in blankets. When he started to apply the cold water strips to her forehead, he asked her the question that had been bugging him since the moment he saw her on the floor with an empty bottle of whiskey.
"Why were you drinking, Katniss?" he asked her sternly. He could tell that she was struggling to keep her eyelids from drooping shut.
"Marv," she whispered softly and took his hand in hers. Cato felt tingles shoot up his spine at the sudden display of affection. 'Marv' was what Katniss called Marvel, her boyfriend.
They had been dating for six months now. Katniss had fallen for him hard and fast after she first noticed him staring at her. Two weeks later, Marvel asked her out on a date and took her to this fancy restaurant near the Campus. When he came to drop her off at her room later that night, Cato saw him kiss her. That night, he cried himself to sleep and had nightmares about Marvel and Katniss making out.
Despite however much Katniss insisted, he never got along with Marvel well, and neither did Finnick.
When the news about Katniss and Marvel reached Gale all the way in New York (Probably through Finnick), he was pretty upset about it. He had talked to Katniss, asking her if she was sure about getting into a relationship, while also joking that he wouldn't be there at Uni to beat up a guy who hurt her feelings like he used to, in high school.
Gale and Katniss had pretty big a fight over it, where Katniss yelled at him, saying she wasn't a baby and could handle her problems herself. Well, look at the irony of it all. She's handling her problems by drinking them away, rotting away in a bottle.
Later that week, though, Gale had flown all the way to Arizona to apologize to her. It was so clear that man coddled her beyond belief and couldn't see her angry with him for one freaking minute.
"What did Marvel do?" Cato asked her, but her eyes had already fallen close, and while he knew by her irregular breathing that she was still awake, she wouldn't be for much longer. He was eager to know what Marvel did to make her drink this much, though. So he sprinkled her with water again.
Her eyes shot open, and she looked around, dazed. Finally, her eyes settled on Cato, and she blinked cutely a few times.
"What did Marvel do to you?" he asked again.
"I'm sleepy," she mumbled and yawned like a little toddler.
"Katniss, tell me," he insisted.
"Sleep," she grumbled and pouted, making her look extremely adorable. Cato fixed her with a glare and she tried to mimic him, though failing miserably due to her bleary eyes. The things alcohol could do to you…
Cato eventually gave up on trying making her talk and let her sleep. He figured she'd eventually come around and talk to him, and even if she didn't, Gale would manage to coax whatever it is out of her when he came. Even if she didn't tell him, she'd tell Gale. That guy had his own way of making her talk.
Cato scooped her up bridal style along with the blankets covering her body and carried her all the way to his room while she slept with her head on his chest. He kicked open the door to his room. As he entered, he saw Finnick rise to his feet at the sight of Katniss in his arms.
Finnick started to say something, but Cato cut him off by saying, "She has a fever."
He carefully placed the girl on his own bed, and camped out on the floor that night.
He didn't sleep a wink, though, thinking the entire night of the brunette who occupied his bed and dreams.
Cato had woken up early, checking on Katniss periodically. Katniss didn't wake up till 10:30 that morning. She was disoriented and dizzy with a massive hangover. She threw up thrice within the first hour of being awake. To top it all off, her temperature hadn't reduced. Cato gave her a lot of water to drink and coaxed her into eating half a sandwich.
At exact 11:30, a sharp knock rang on the door. Katniss groaned, clutching her head as the knock intensified her headache just a tad. Cato opened the door to see a very flustered Gale with Johanna by his side. She wasn't smirking, which was her way of being serious and worried.
"Where is she?" Gale asked, panting. He looked like he had just run a mile, with his tousled hair and sweaty face.
"Come in," Cato ushered them in. They found Katniss sitting on Cato's bed with her knees pulled up to her chest and a blanket wrapped around her. Gale wrapped his arms around her as soon as she was in reach and she instantly leaned into him.
"What happened now?" he asked her softly, stroking her hair as he did.
"M-Marvel," she choked and then started to sob. "He broke up with me."
Cato stood by in the corner of the room, his eyes never leaving the mess of a girl he loved so much. He watched as she cried her heart out over the man she loved, and he really just wanted to beat that guy to a pulp.
How dare he break her heart? He didn't even deserve her. Cato thought venomously as he clenched and unclenched his fists in anger.
"That guy wouldn't see tomorrow's sunrise! How dare he!?" Gale yelled in rage as he held Katniss protectively in his arms. In his own anger, he hadn't even noticed when Jo had sat beside Katniss and took her hand in both of hers. She was currently trying to shush Gale as he voiced his murderous thoughts in dangerous whispers because his behaviour was causing an almost delirious, feverish, hung-over and uncontrollably sobbing Katniss even more discomfort.
Something suddenly seemed to snap inside Gale's head as he suddenly turned his attention away from Katniss and turned to Cato.
"Does she have a fever?" he asked the younger man. Cato looked down at his feet and wringed his hands together, suddenly afraid of how Gale will react if he told him the workings of his brain. "C'mon, Cato, ya know I wouldn't kill you, just tell me."
As Cato answered him with a small 'yes,' he felt like a small kid who got caught by his father while stealing candy.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Gale asked through gritted teeth. Cato knew he was getting angry, and an angry Gale could sometimes be the last thing you see before he punched you hard enough to make your eyes swell shut.
"I, uhm, ah…I didn't want you, you know, r-running all the way from New York to Arizona in the middle of the night. I'm sorry."
"You better be." He says and then hauls the poor girl up into his arms. "Let's take her to the hospital."
Cato paced the hallway of the hospital as he waited for Katniss's medical examination to end.
"Would you stop that?" Jo snapped at him from her seat. "You're making me more anxious."
Just as Cato was about to pass a smartass comment, the doctor who was treating Katniss came by.
"How is she?" Jo and Gale lunged at the doctor before Cato could even breathe.
"She has a fever, for which I've given her some medicine, but the rest is fine," she said.
"Thank you, doctor," Jo said and walked into the room. "You guys stay outside." A few minutes later, she came out with her arm around Katniss's shoulders to help her walk.
"Now, Catnip, I want full story about what happened between you and Marvel, okay?" Gale said once Katniss had been settled onto her bed in her dorm room with a mug of tea.
"Yeah," she nods. "Um, so, when I came to my room yesterday after my classes got over, my roommate, Sasha, she told me that she had seen Marvel hooking up with some random girl in a closet. I didn't believe her at first, but then I got a call from Marvel and he told me-" she sobs once but continues anyway. "He told me that we were over and that he didn't want anything to do with me anymore."
Gale was seething, Cato could see it, but he surprisingly kept his cool and asked Katniss, "When and how much did you drink?"
"Uh, after Marvel's call, I drove to the local store and got the whiskey, and drank it, but I don't remember how much I drank."
"Katniss, you are not to drink again, you get it?" Gale placed his hands on her shoulders and shook her a little.
"Yes," she whispered softly.
"What? I didn't catch that?"
"Yes," she said a little louder.
"Good." Then he turned to Cato. "Your Christmas break starts in two days, right?" Cato nods. "Johanna and I will be staying at a hotel near campus for the next two days while you attend your classes and then we'll take you home with us. Any problem with the plan?" both the younger people in the room shook their heads and Gale sighed in relief.
Over the next two days, Cato and Katniss took their remaining classes. Gale and Jo took them out for all three meals of the day. After their school let out for Christmas, Gale and Jo put the two of them on the first flight back home. Finnick came home along with them.
Prim and Haymitch greeted them at the airport. As soon as Katniss caught sight of Prim, she ran into her sister's outstretched arms, kneeling in front of her wheelchair with tears in her eyes.
"I missed you so much, Little Duck," Katniss exclaimed.
"I missed you too, Kat!" Prim's arms tightened around her sister's neck. When they finally broke their embrace, Katniss turned to Haymitch.
"Hi, dad," she said and flung her arms around him. Katniss's mother had died when she was eleven and a few days later, she met Haymitch. Somewhere around her sixteenth birthday, she started calling him dad. The old man was the closest thing she had to a father, a drunken one, but still a father. Cato sometimes even suspected that Katniss's drinking problem had come from Haymitch's.
Even though both the Everdeen girls were now over eighteen and didn't need a social worker for themselves, Haymitch had grown so attached to the girls that he quit his job as a social worker and legally adopted the girls on Katniss's eighteenth birthday. He now owned a small restro-bar by the name of 'Love Laughs and Liquor.' Katniss would take over the place after her graduation, and Prim, who's studying at a medical school, would become a doctor.
Cato was a little afraid about Katniss taking over the restro-bar, because you would never know when her drinking problem would get out of hand and having alcohol in close access could be a little risky.
He broke out of his thoughts when Haymitch hugged him.
"How're ya doin', ma boy?" Haymitch asked him in a drawl.
"I'm fine, Hay," he replied. Haymitch held him at arm's length with his hands on his shoulders. "You've grown up a lot. Tell me, Cato, have ya told my daughter how you feel 'bout her?"
Cato was dumbstruck for a moment, shocked that Haymitch knew about his adoration for Katniss. "Am I that obvious?" he asked the old man after recovering from his shock. Haymitch just nodded his head and grinned.
"You're good for her," he patted his shoulder. "C'mon, let's get you guys home."
Cato smiled a little as he entered Haymitch's restro-bar with his younger siblings, Clove and Caleb. His parents were already here and waiting for them. It had been decided that Gale's family and Jo, Cato's family and Katniss's family would celebrate Christmas Eve together at Love Laughs and Liquor.
Cato had the perfect plan for tonight. He was going to confess to Katniss about his love for her. Hopefully, if he's lucky, she wouldn't sock him in the face.
The dinner went pretty well, with jokes and love and laughter and, of course, liquor. Haymitch really was one strategic man. This place had the perfect name.
After everyone had dinner, Cato went over to Katniss. He stood behind her chair as she talked to Prim about college. With a gentle hand on her shoulder and a soft whisper of her name, he called for her attention.
"Can I talk to you for a second?" he asked her. Katniss looked up at him with eyes that held so much despair in them that it broke his heart. For a moment he considered not telling her about his feelings, since this young woman in front of him was definitely not over her ex-boyfriend. But he had suppressed his feelings for so long, loved her from afar for too long (seven years, to be exact), he just couldn't hold it in anymore. For the most part, he knew she would reject him, but he knew better than to let this get in between their friendship.
"On the roof?" Katniss pointed her index finger towards the ceiling in a joking manner and gave him a cheeky smile. It was a forced smile, he could still see the sadness in her eyes. If only he knew how to suck that emotion right out of her soul…
"Earth to, Cato," he heard Katniss chuckle and she waved her hand in front of his face, so close that he could see the fine lines on her hand.
"Yeah," he blinked. If only she knew what her hand so close to his face was doing to him. Something was stirring in the pit of his stomach and he felt tingles go up his spine. "On the roof," he confirmed suddenly with a sharp nod of his head.
Five years ago, when Haymitch opened this place, the roof of this building became the official hangout place for the group of teenagers. As Cato walked out into the biting cold December air with his dream girl on his arm, he couldn't help but smile. Seeing this old spot again brought back so many bright memories that he closed his eyes for a minute and relived them all one by one.
Katniss finally pulled him over and they sat on the edge of the roof with their feet dangling outwards, gazing at the busy street below. Cato hesitantly takes her cold hand in both of his large ones. He looked at her intently and began speaking.
"Katniss, I know this might not be the right time to do this, but I just can't hold it in anymore…" he breathed deeply once, gathering all the guts he had in himself to pour his feelings out to her. "Kat, I-I love you."
There, you did it, Cato. Was it too hard, now?
To his astonishment, Katniss started laughing. Like, genuinely laughing. "Oh, Cato, I love you too, Big Bro!" she exclaimed through her laughs.
Big Bro? does she think of him as a brother?
His face fell and his eyes grew dim with sadness. When Katniss met his eyes, her laughs dulled and a look of horror crept up on her face.
"Wha-When, h-y-you meant in t-that way?" she asked him, stuttering.
"Yes," he whispered softly, just loud enough for Katniss to catch it.
Everything was dead silent for a minutes, just the slight swoosh of both of their breaths. Cato could not meet her eyes, afraid of what he'll see…
And then there was the noise of a bangle clanking against the concrete ledge of the roof, and Katniss's hand was abruptly yanked out of his at an inhuman speed.
And then the bloodcurdling scream from Katniss.
Cato watched in horror as the love of his life plummets down two storeys from the roof of Love Laughs and Liquor after losing her grip and slipping off the ledge.
He couldn't move. His body seemed to be frozen in place. Her limbs were bent at odd angles and a pool of blood was collecting around her head like a crimson halo. The sight of her broken body snapped him out of his daze.
"Katniss!" he screamed. "I'm coming!"
And just like that, he was racing down the stairs and out the door of the restro-bar, screaming her name as he does.
There was a crowd surrounding her when he reached her. He shoved people away and out of his way in order to reach her. He took her in his arms, and that's when he felt it.
A broken shard of a liquor bottle, protruding out of her back, piercing right into her heart.
Her eyes were open when he reached her and she was still alive, but just barely.
"Tell my family I love them, okay?" she croaked out to him. She placed a bloody hand on his chest and moved to rest her head on his shoulder.
"Goodbye, Cato. Never forget me." Her beautiful grey eyes fluttered shut and she breathed her last breath.
Cato held the dead girl in his arms as he sobbed and pleaded with her to stay with him. He checked her pulse, but it wasn't there. In haste and panic and fear, he ripped the glass piece from her back and plunged it into his own heart.
He felt no pain, the physical pain was nothing compared to the pain he felt with the realization that his love was dead. He collapsed beside her and took her into his arms. The last thing he ever heard was the distinct blare of an ambulance.