When I wake the next morning, Peeta is already up and getting dressed.
"Hey," I mumble. "What are you doing?"
"Hey, sorry, I didn't mean to wake you," he says, buckling his belt and pulling on a sweater. "I'm headed to Effie's. She wants me to paint her something to take back with her to the Capitol. She says she wants my work up in her home." I vaguely remember Effie mentioning this at dinner while I was mostly tuning out her discussion about Capitol architecture and the rebuilding process. I do smile sleepily at the pride in Peeta's voice, though
"Right, right," I say, yawning and starting to sit up.
"You can stay as long as you want. Go back to sleep, it's still early," he says. I shake my head and stretch out my arms.
"No, it's ok. If you're heading out I might as well go home." I change quickly into some clothes I have in one of Peeta's drawers and head downstairs with him. We leave the house and he drops me off at my door before continuing on. He walks a few paces away from me, then stops and turns around. He walks back to me. I'm confused, still standing in my entryway, wondering what he wants. He comes right up to me and kisses me on the cheek.
"See you later," he says, and then turns around and immediately heads back down the road.
I smile a little bit as I head inside. I'm hungry, so I find a loaf of bread Peeta made me a day or two ago and start to make toast. I spread some butter and jam and sit down at my counter to eat. I've barely finished eating the toast when I hear a knock on my door.
"It's open," I call out through a mouth full of my last bite of toast. To my surprise, Peeta walks in.
"What are you doing here?" I ask, confused.
"I don't really know what happened, but she wasn't there. I knocked for five minutes, and I even knocked at Haymitch's too, on the off chance she went over there and made him make her breakfast or something, but no answer."
"Huh, that's not like her," I say. "Hang on one second." I get up and walk to my backyard, which borders directly with Haymitch's. I back up and look up at his house. Since the layouts of our houses are all the same, I know what windows correspond to what rooms. I see that the window in the master bathroom is all fogged up, implying he's just showered.
"Haymitch is home," I say, "His bathroom window is foggy, I think maybe he was in the shower or something."
"Strange," Peeta says. He gets up and makes each of us a cup of coffee, putting milk and sugar in mine while drinking his own black. He and I are chatting and nursing our mugs when another unexpected knock comes.
"What now?" I ask, but before Peeta can even respond, Haymitch crosses through the door.
Peeta and I look at each other, and then look at him, and then back at each other, and back at him. His hair is bone dry, the grease he had previously washed out beginning to return.
This man has not showered today.
"What?" he asks, looking at the two of us with a sort of annoyed bewilderment. Peeta and I don't say anything, we just stare at each other. I am sure I know what this means, and I think Peeta must too because he's stifling a laugh.
"What?" Haymitch repeats, a little more aggressively this time.
"Oh nothing," Peeta says very innocently. "Just...wondering how your evening was."
"Oh fuck you, kid," he says, snapping, and I lose it and start laughing. Peeta starts laughing too, and Haymitch just scowls at us and flips us off. Effie walks into this scene a few moments later, and as if to prove our point, she looks entirely fresh and clean. If I could see her hair under her wig, I know it would be wet, or at the very least freshly blow dried.
"What's going on here?" she asks.
"Nothing, nothing," I say. She turns to Peeta, who is trying to calm his laughter.
"Peeta, dear, I am so sorry that I forgot our appointment today," she says. "I just overslept, and then felt dreadfully grimey, so I had to take a shower, and I lost track of time. It was completely inappropriate of me."
"It's fine, Effie, don't worry," he says, and I can see every single muscle in his face trying to hold in his laughter. I'm matching him in kind. I look to Haymitch and see his face is beet red. So we have confirmation.
The four of us spend the morning together, and when Haymitch and Effie eventually depart, Peeta and I laugh uncontrollably again. By the time I start to calm down, I have a stitch in my stomach. I don't remember the last time I laughed this hard. Frankly I'm not sure if I ever have. If I did it was a rarity. It feels nice.
"Oh, I am never going to stop giving him shit," I say.
"Absolutely. He never gets to live this down," Peeta confirms. I know Haymitch knows we will unceasingly tease him about sleeping with Effie, that's why he looked so sour the whole morning. But just as I said to him the other day, if Peeta and I were sleeping together I know he wouldn't shut up. It's how our weird little family shows love.
Over the next few days, our lives are good. The four of us eat meals together every day. Peeta and I watch our mentor and escort closely and it is clear that whatever is going on between the two of them was not a one time event. We see them slip in and out of his house together when they think no one is looking. Effie is taking a lot of showers, which she claims is just because of the coal dust still lingering in the air infiltrating her pores, but we know it's more of the fact that Haymitch's house, even in his efforts to clean it, is still just a lesser degree of disgusting.
We take Effie into town a few times and she sticks out so much it's comical. She walks the cracked roads with high heels, exchanges money for food at Sae's stand with a gloved hand, moans about the mud from the spring rain damaging her clothing. But she seems happy, like she's genuinely enjoying herself. She jokes more freely than I've ever seen her, and she can even laugh at herself a bit, which was never the case before.
Honestly, even the people of 12 seem to find her strangely endearing in the same way we do, though they don't find her use of the word "quaint" when describing the District to be as much of a compliment as she seems to think it is. There is definitely some initial mistrust on behalf of the people of 12 towards her, and I can't say I blame them at all; they watched her reap their children for years. I think them seeing how much we like her though - three of the very people she reaped - and also seeing that, while still very Capitolite, she's toned herself down a bit and has good intentions has helped repair that relationship.
In the evenings, we eat together at one of our four houses in Victor's Village. Haymitch convinces us to share some sort of drink most nights. We talk, we laugh, we watch TV and make fun of the programming, much to Effie's chagrin. I honestly think that this is the happiest I've felt in a long time. I don't think I've had this many good days in a row since I lost Prim. I still wake up screaming from nightmares almost every night, but having Peeta there to bring me back helps so much. Him wrapping me in his arms, placing his lips on my forehead, using words the way he does to remind me that I'm safe - all of these things make it more bearable.
When Effie's last night in 12 comes, I am genuinely sorry to see her go. She seems to be feeling the same way, as she's been a bit weepy the whole day. We're all gathered at my house after dinner, and Effie keeps professing how much she's going to miss us.
"You should stay here, Effie," Peeta says. "We'd love to have you with us all the time."
"Oh my dear boy," she says, sniffling. "You are so, so kind, but I couldn't. I love my work in the Capitol. I really do. I'll just miss my Victors!" She starts tearing up again, and that's when Haymitch stands up from his arm chair.
"That's it," he says, and then he scoops down and picks her up in his arms, then sits them back down in the armchair and pulls her onto his lap.
"Haymitch, the children!" she exclaims, but she's giggling.
"I literally could not give a single shit, Effie," he says, but the look in his eyes is unlike any I've seen on his face before. I realize for the first time that, at least for Haymitch, whatever fling he's been having with Effie this week isn't just two people getting drunk and fooling around. There are real feelings there. I wonder if she knows.
At the train station the next morning, Effie gives each of us a teary farewell. She starts with me.
"I'm so proud of you, dear," she says, holding my face in her hands. "You've been through so much and you've fought and you've won. You are stronger than you know. Don't forget it. But don't forget to be a lady too, whenever you can." I laugh and wipe a tear from my eye before pulling her into a hug. When we part, she moves on to Peeta.
"Peeta, my sweet boy, you are just so good. You've kept this goodness through all they put you through, and it is simply remarkable. Your soul is the best of our's, Peeta Mellark." Peeta looks deeply touched by this, and pulls her into a hug as well. I think they whisper something to each other, but I can't quite catch it.
When Peeta releases her, she goes on to Haymitch. She takes a deep breath, trying to compose herself before beginning her goodbye.
"Well, Mr. Abernathy -" she starts, but Haymitch cuts her off.
"Shut up, princess," he says, and he kisses her straight on the mouth. It takes a few minutes for the two of them to break apart, and when they finally do the train is preparing to depart. Haymitch helps her up into the train car while Peeta loads her bags quickly.
"Stay well, my Victors!" she calls, waving, as the train rolls away.