Katniss

I pull up to Rue's print shop the next day. She is outside today pulling weeds around the shop.

"Hey kid." I say slinging my messenger bag over my shoulder.

Rue chuckles. "I'm not a kid."

"You are to me. You know I could do some landscaping around here to prep for spring."

"Good because my parents aren't great at this as you can see." Rue says dusting her hands off.

"Hey, do you guys have any more of Peeta's prints? I wanted to put some in my shop." I scratch the back of my head.

"Yeah, I just but some on display," Peeta says. He comes out of the shop and down the path.

"Oh," I look at Rue who is smirking.

Peeta holds out his hand for me to shake. "Hi. I'm Peeta."

I shake his hand and can feel the calluses on his palm. "Katniss" I say. Ugh my voice is hoarse.

Rue giggles in the background. I shoot her a glare. She backs away from us and takes her little bag of trash inside.

"So, you like my prints?" Peeta asks.

"Uh. Yeah. You're very good."

"Thank you." His blue eyes sparkle. "I better get going. I'm sure I'll see you around Katniss."
As soon as he drives down the road, I go inside and find Rue."

I corner Rue near the new prints on display. "Rue who is that Peeta guy? I swear I know him somehow."

"His parents own Mellark's Bakery in merchant village," Rue's mom says.

"My mom used to get cheese buns from the bakery when we were little. I haven't had one in years." I smile weakly at the memory.

"Wait, did he come to school in the seam?" I ask Rue's mom. She was a teacher back when I was a lot younger in the seam.

"He did. Even the merchant families couldn't all afford that schooling."

That's where I know him. He was in my class when I was six.

"Well I have to get to the shop and clean it up some, but I wanted another print for the space and thought I'd offer to get the outside of the shop ready for spring. It's pretty drab."

"That would be great dear. I'll give you free reign. Gardening is your domain after all," Rue's mom says.

After I pick out a new print of an array of wildflowers in a meadow, I take Rue out for lunch and to help me set up the garden shop. "Hey Rue, did you know Peeta has a vlog channel?"

I pull up to the shop and start unloading my car. I picked up some large bags of garden soil but didn't think of the unloading process.

"Yeah. I love when he bakes." Rue says. "He promised to make his cheese buns while he's at our house."

I attempt to lift one of the bags of soil, while Rue carries in the gardening tools. "At you house? What?" I say, my voice strained because there is no way I'm getting these out of my car.

"It isn't so bad. It beats being homeless," Peeta's voice chimes from behind me.

I jump and nearly hit my head on the roof of my car. "Are you following me?"

Peeta smiles at me. "No, my garden shop is four shops down from you and I saw you struggling. Thought I'd come help."

I look four shops down. His bakery is kind of tucked away in the corner. When I look back, all I can see are his muscles flexing on his biceps. I swallow.

Rue taps my shoulder and leans in close to my ear. "Katniss you're staring."

I shake my head, blush, and quickly find something to bring inside so he doesn't notice.

Once I get my supplies stacked, I take Rue back to the print shop and then come back to my shop to organize everything.

After a few hours, just as it's getting dark, I decide to close up and head home. When I get in my car to start it up it just makes a horrid clicking sound. Damn it. I try again, then lean my head back against my seat in frustration.

A tapping on my window startles me. It's Peeta.

I roll down my window. "Hey."

"Sounds like a dead battery. I can give you ride home if you want."

"No, I'm too far away. I'm about 20 minutes outside of town."

"Well you can't stay here overnight. Come on. I promise I won't hurt you or anything."

Yeah he will. He's hurting me already by making me feel things I haven't felt before about a guy. Sure, I knew him when I was a kid, but this is grown man with the bluest eyes I've ever seen, and a body that is hard to ignore. I have to call Prim or Madge as son as I get home.