"I don't need an overprotective big brother, Gale," Katniss huffed. They were on the same shift again, and while Gale wasn't shadowing her this week, he'd sought her out as soon as she'd arrived at the hospital.
To warn her off Peeta Mellark.
"I know that, Kat," he said, and Katniss cringed. She hated that short form, and virtually everyone here used it—or worse, called her 'doc'—regardless of how she introduced herself to them. Everyone but Peeta, she realised. Huh. "I just don't want you to get hurt. He's the type of bloke who jumps from one sheila to the next," Gale continued.
Katniss stopped, shaking her head. "Not that it's your business," she prefaced, "but he's a neighbour, and a friend." She was attracted to Peeta Mellark, that was certain. But the day they'd spent together hadn't crossed that line.
He'd taken her to the beach which was, as Gale had alluded, packed with tourists and weekenders enjoying a balmy late spring day. But after a little while of ooohing and ahhhing over the white sand and crystalline blue water, Peeta had taken her hand and led her away. When she'd pouted about leaving so soon, he'd merely grinned.
A twenty minute drive into the low mountains Katniss hadn't even known were so close to Panem, along the amusingly named 'Tourist Road', and they were in a forest. Not quite like the boreal forests she loved so much back home, but close enough to make her ache. And so incredibly beautiful. "Reckon this is more your speed," Peeta had said, smiling that broad, dimpled grin that messed with her insides.
He couldn't have known how right he was, how back home Katniss spent most of her days off hiking. And she hadn't realized how much she'd missed it, how homesick she was for the cool shadowy green of the woods, for the scents of damp earth and decay.
It was cooler in the woods, Peeta had pulled one of his own sweatshirts over her head and held her hand as they set out along a gentle hiking trail. They'd spent hours wandering the paths and chatting about nothing in easy companionship. He'd told her about his brothers and their families, his parents who lived a few hours away, the little nieces and nephews he clearly adored.
Katniss couldn't reciprocate, it was still too hard to talk about Prim and she was never going to talk about her parents. Instead, she'd told him about the lake she'd loved as a child, about fishing in its murky waters and cooking walleyes over a campfire. She hadn't mentioned that her father had been the one fishing with her, that her family had spent many Sundays swimming in the icy water and picnicking on its shore, and Peeta hadn't pushed. Instead, he'd kept their banter light and fun, for which she was grateful.
There was a lookout, natural flat rocks rather than the wooden decking she was accustomed to back home, and they'd spent a long time gazing out over the brilliant green landscape in silent awe.
He pointed to a haze in the distance. "Bushfires," he said. "Getting bad already and it's not even officially summer yet."
"You're going to be busy," she'd guessed, and he'd nodded.
"Always busy in the dry season. But it's getting worse."
He'd taken her to a little restaurant after, a casual place with a large deck overlooking the valley, and they'd had hamburgers with French fries, which he'd called hot chips, and glasses of bold Australian wine.
Then he'd driven her back to Panem and taken her, of all places, grocery shopping. She'd tried to protest that she didn't need his help but he just grinned cheerfully and pushed her cart, her trolley, adding packages of something called Tim Tams to her purchases.
He dropped her, and her grocery bags, at home long after dusk. She'd thought he might kiss her then, hell, she'd wanted him to kiss her. Instead, he'd toyed with a piece of her hair that had fallen out of its braid. "I'd like to take you out, Katniss," he'd said softly. "On a date."
"This wasn't a date?" Her voice had been embarrassingly breathy.
But Peeta had smirked. "This was friends hanging out. When we're on a date, you'll know it."
And then he'd left.
In the midst of all of the strangeness and confusion of her first couple of weeks in Australia, that day with Peeta had been an oasis. But it hadn't led to anything more. And even if she'd maybe slept in his sweatshirt, she wasn't going to overthink it.
"Reckon Lover Boy's not looking at you like a friend," Gale interrupted her thoughts, and Katniss groaned.
"I'm an adult, Gale and so is he. If we choose to do adult things together it's nobody else's business."
"He's not an adult, he's a big kid," Gale sneered. "He's not capable of an adult relationship,"
"And I'm not looking for a relationship." She shrugged. "Frankly, I'm not sure I'm capable of an adult relationship either. You know what it's like, all doctors do. No room for emotional attachment in our lifestyle. A little fun, a little release. No strings."
Gale stared at her with something bordering on disgust. "In med school, sure. I'm long past that now. Aren't you?"
It hit a little too close to home. Prim had asked her something similar, a few months before she'd died. "Why are you so resistant to dating, to forming real relationships?" her little sister had asked. "When I'm gone, who will you have left to love?"
Katniss couldn't risk loving anyone new. They all left, eventually. She wasn't strong enough to lose anyone else that way.
"I guess I'm not," Katniss said.
Gale's words stayed with her all day, not the part about Peeta, she didn't care that he was a ladies man, her past was the same, they were birds of a feather as far as she was concerned. But the rest of it, about having outgrown those no-strings affairs. Gale wasn't much older than Katniss, despite his serious demeanor. And Annie, who was the same age as Katniss, was married and was having a kid.
If Prim were here, if she'd had a chance at a normal life, would she be married now? Would she have started filling Katniss's yard with little nieces and nephews? Katniss was pretty sure she would have. Prim had been all of the light and love in their family. She'd been the one to bounce back, after. But Katniss herself would probably be in exactly the same place.
Well, maybe not Australia.
But unattached, unencumbered, unbeholden to anyone else? Damn straight.
Maybe Peeta was just what she needed. A fun guy, a no-strings romp, or three. He definitely seemed interested. And she could set the parameters right off the bat. Casual, no-drama fun.
She'd almost talked herself into calling him when her phone rang. For a heartbeat she thought it was Peeta.
It was not.
"Kat," Annie drawled down the phone, "I've been an awful person, leaving you all alone in this crazy place. You're going to fire me as your friend," she joked.
Katniss laughed. "No, you're still on the books," she teased, and Annie giggled. It was good to share an old joke with an old friend, nice to know she was just across town instead of halfway around the world.
"Still," Annie said softly when her giggles faded away.
"You've been busy, Annie," Katniss said. And it was true. Not only were they on opposite shifts, but Annie had worked all weekend. Being hugely pregnant hadn't slowed her down a bit.
"I know. But I'm off tonight, and Finny is finally home." Annie's husband had been a child actor in Australia, appearing in some wildly popular soap opera. Now, he did mostly voiceover work, which had him away in Sydney for days at a time, and spent the rest of his time doing motivational speeches and volunteer work. In the nearly two weeks Katniss had been in Panem, she'd yet to see him. "Come for dinner," Annie continued. "Finn's having a couple of his friends come by too."
"Yeah, okay," Katniss agreed. Brawny blonde beefcakes could wait.