The bright light of morning is filtering through my lace curtains and warming my face, pulling me from my slumber. With a groan, I yank my duvet up over my head and snuggle deeper into my pillow.

"I keep telling you to put up a blind in here, or do you like living as if you're on the surface of the sun?" I hear a graveled deep voice ask as the bed dips next to me.

I feel the covers move behind me and an arm wrap itself around my waist. I sigh contently and snuggle back into the larger warm body behind me. "I like it bright," I murmur. Feeling a tickle on the tip of my nose, I pull open my eyelids to find the pink and fuchsia end of one of my curls waving in front of my face.

"Yes I know all about your love of bright things, how else could you explain this hair?"

Swatting at the hand holding the hair, I roll over and push the blankets up to form a tent so I can see my assailant. Look back at me with a smug smile on his handsome face is my dearest friend and roommate. "Jeromy, my hair is fashionable," I argue playfully. "You should consider doing something with yours," I say tousling his sandy blonde hair. "I can see aqua or dark blue to match your eyes," I smirk, knowing that this would goad my childhood friend. Living in the Capitol had never been his dream like it had been mine, so he's more resistant to the quirks of the place. He's living here reluctantly after having been promoted to buyer and Capitol lesion, for the at the textile factory he had been working at for the last three years. While his move here wasn't his first choice, it had been a blessing to me. Just prior to his arrival I had just decided to leave my job in a fashion house to strike it out on my own. While I beleive it was the best choice for my creative self, my financil self was hurting. I was struggling to make rent despite the various side jobs I took on. Jeromy's arrival had not only helped me keep my apartment but had brought much-needed companionship back into my life.

He scoffs, "And go Capitol? No way," he grunts pushing the blanket down and sitting up.

I join him, snuggling into his side against the headboard. "Jer, you do know that at some point you're going to have to acknowledge you live and work here, right?" I ask.

"Neither of those things require ridiculously colored hair."

I raise an eyebrow and move my head to look at him, "Ridiculous?"

He rolls his eyes in exasperation, "I mean on me! I'm just...too district for Capitol fashions. Unlike me, however, you wear the fashions not the other way around," he says flip a lock of my hair at me.

"Not according to my mother," I grumble, recalling my visit home when I went to district eight to help Jeromy move. Mother spent the better part of my visit lecturing me about how she thinks I'm losing myself to the whims of the Capitol and how she should have never let me move here because now that it has its "hooks" in me I would never come home.

I feel Jeromy's chest rise and fall in a silent laugh and I elbow him. He grunts. "What! I don't agree with her, but it was funny seeing her turn all red!" he says playfully. "You'd think she's be used to it by now," he says his tone turning serious.

"She has good reasons for hating this place, I guess," I mutter thoughtfully. Dark memories threaten to push their way to the surface but I diligently push them back and change the subject. "So you came in late last night, your date must have gone well," I say with a wiggle of my eyebrows at him.

"Nah, Bise turned out to be a big dull dud," Jeromy says running a hand over the scruff on his chin.

Pushing away from him, I sit up to face him, "Yeah? Too bad, he seemed nice."

"He was nice. He was also boring. So very, very boring," he says with exasperation. "All he could talk about was fabric and in a monotone none the less!"

"He is a designer, he was probably just trying to connect with you," I counter.

"I considered that, so I tried to change the subject, but he kept circling back to wool and silk. I just, I can't do it, I can't. Textiles are my job, not my life," he proclaims adamantly.

I bite my lip in thought for a moment, "If it was bad why did you stay out so late then?"

"After dinner, we said our goodbyes, but since I wanted to give you your space so I went to a movie," he says with a mischievous smile.

Scoffing, I toss the covers back and climb out of bed. "I told you, you were welcome to join us. I want to introduce you to everyone," I say sliding my feet into my slippers.

Grabbing my hand, he stops me from fleeing the room and the awkward conversation I know he has on the agenda. "First of all, I will meet them all tonight at the event and secondly, I told you that you needed time with Peeta on your own. So I made myself scarce," he tosses back at me.

I roll my eyes at him, "It was a dinner party for six, it's not like I planned on getting him alone," I return.

Jeromy's eyebrows raise in surprise at my last statement, "So you did get to spend time alone with him?" he says sounding hopeful.

"Well..."

"You did! How was it?" he asks excitedly.

A small smile pulls at my lips, but as I replay the night before it falters. "It was nothing," I dismiss. Pulling my hand out of his, I pad out of my bedroom and into the kitchen. I'm pulling the basket out of the coffee maker when Jeromy joins me at the counter.

"What happened?" he asks softly.

I silently fill the filter with coffee grounds as I try to figure out how to explain the evening. "Dinner was okay. Food came out perfectly and everyone seems to really like. Effie brought me the lovely bouquet of flowers," I say pointing the vase perched on the breakfast bar. "I really like Haymitch. He's crass and doesn't care what people think, but I can see how much he really does care for them all," I start.

"And Katniss?" He asks knowingly.

I sigh. "She was...pleasant, I guess. She complimented the food and asked some questions, but she was pretty quiet most the night." I answer.

"But?" he asks taking the glass carafe from the coffee pot and filling it with water, then dumping it into the reservoir on the pot.

"But when I told everyone that we would be going to Gluttony for desert, things kind of fell apart. Haymitch and Effie bailed for another meeting they set up and Thom left to do some work. When Katniss realized it would just be Peeta, her and I going, she suddenly found she had a headache and ran out the apartment." I say, flipping the coffee pot on.

Crossing his arms across his chest, he gives the information a moment process before asking, "Was she just trying to give you and Peeta some space maybe?"

I consider the possibility, then shrug. "Um...I don't know. There seemed to be something else going on between them. It was super uncomfortable." I lament.

"Do you think they are an item?" he asks gently.

"I'm not any clearer on that today than I was the day he boarded the train to go back to twelve," I sigh.

Jeromy blows a long breath and runs a hand through his hair. "He went to dessert with you?"

I nod and reach over to take two mugs off a shelf over the sink.

"Well, he didn't bail with her, that something. How was it?"

"Nice, mostly. He was a bit distracted at first, but once we got a latte and a piece of cake, he seemed to relax and we got to do some catching up. I just wish we had had a little more time." I respond.

"Did you at any point talk about them the internship or about your uncle?" he asks.

I shake my head and let a shameful, "No," fall from my lips.

"Tova! I thought at least you'd tell Peeta. You know the longer you wait the bigger the chance is that it's going to come up and bite you in the ass," he warns.

My throat tightens as the secrets force their way up, trying to invade my consciousness but I push them away. I have far too much on my mind and too much to accomplish this morning to dwell on my bad choices. I give Jeromy a curt nod. "I'll deal with it," I promise him.

Jeromy stares at me for a moment, sizing me up. "It's your hide if you don't," he finally says dismissively. Grabbing the fresh pot of coffee he quickly fills up our mugs and hands one to me. "So, let's see, I've gotten the dinner and dessert play by play and I've adequately guilted you into doing the right thing, so it time to get to the important stuff... How'd he look?" he asks with a wink of the eye.

I bite my lip and feel my cheeks begin to glow red. Taking a sip of my coffee, I leave the kitchen, and my impatient looking roommate, and head into my workspace.

Following me, Jeromy unceremoniously drops himself into a club chair in the corner and perches his coffee cup on his knee. "Well?" he asks dramatically.

Approaching a mannequin I currently have draped in a dark midnight blue suit coat, I run my hand gingerly over the soft fabric. This is Peeta's coat is for tonight's reception. I have a few minor tweaks to complete before I head over to start prep later this morning. I pick up a measuring tape but pause, before laying it along the arm of the jacket. "He's even more handsome than I remember," I finally manage to say, peeking up at my roommate.

A warm smile schools Jeromy's features. "And you still have feelings for him?" he presses.

I close my eyes and picture Peeta's handsome face smiling at me and feel a familiar flutter in my stomach. When I first meet Peeta our relationship had been purely platonic, but over the weeks of his recovery, my feelings shifted, though at the time I failed to recognize the signs until till it was too late to do anything about. I still remember the moment the realization hit me. I was standing on the train platform watching his train disappear into the distance, the still lingering warmth of his peck on my cheek under my fingertips when it all came crashing down on me like a wave. I cared about him, maybe even was starting to love him, and he was gone. I was a wreck for weeks after he left. When his first letters arrived and we started talking on the phone, I clung to the hope that he might also be feeling the same way, but the words never came and slowly I began to think that we would never be anything more than just friends. Then, I read in the paper about the upcoming district conference and my hope reignited. I contacted Effie Trinket and inserted myself into the planning committee. Now he is here, my chance is here, and I'm scared to death.

"Yes," I finally admit.

At this Jeromy's warm baritone laugh fills my workroom. "You have to tell him this time Tova. If you don't go for what you want and he leaves again, you're probably going to get another chance," he says.

I open my eyes and look over at my friend, "What if what I want is something he can't offer me?" I ask softly.

He considers me over the brim of his cup for a moment. "I don't know if there is a single person on this planet who will not grapple with that question at least once in their lives. Love isn't for the faint of heart."

I try to imagine the conversation with Peeta and groan. Flopping down into the chair next to Jeromy I bury my head in my hands. "Are you sure you're gay? It would be so much easier if I could just date you," I mutter between my fingers.

Jeromy responds with a ruckus laugh. "Your mother would be thrilled if that were the case wouldn't she," he cackles, eluding to my mother desperate hope that he and I would someday marry. "If I were into skirts we would have been married years ago and you would have missed out on the life you have here, a life you really love," he smiles as I continue to mope. It's not that want Jeromy in a romantic way, but because things with him are just so easy and natural, I long for that with someone I can be romantic with. Putting his cup down on the floor, he levels his gaze at me, "Look, fate can be a bitch sometimes, but at least we were dealt the hand where you and I get to be best friends," he says sweetly.

I feel tears prick my eyes, "No, we get to be family," I say reaching a hand out to him. Taking it, he pulls me from my chair and onto his lap. "Yes, you're right, family. I'll always be here for ya Tov. And for the record, I think your great love is still out there waiting for you," he says kissing my temple.

I cuddle into him, soaking in his warmth and support. "Peeta?" I ask, my voice small.

He shrugs, "Don't know, you'll have to find that out for yourself," he says poking me in the side.

I wiggle as he makes contact with a ticklish spot. "I guess I better finish the jacket then," I say a smile finally finding it's way back to face. Jeromy give's me a long hug before pushing me out of his lap and towards the mannequin.

"Damn right! This isn't just for Peeta, but for the dollar, dollar, so snap to it," he says snagging his cup up. "Speaking of money I best get myself in gear, need to call the factory this morning. I want to be done early today so I can prepare to be your dashing escort this evening," he says with a bow.

I give him a smirk and wink. "I'll be back here by four thirty to get ready myself. We need to be in the car and on the way by six," I tell him.

He pauses for a moment next to me as I start measuring the sleeve. "Yes, yes, you've given me the schedule four times. I'll be ready," he says planting kiss to my cheek before disappearing down the hall.

"By six Jeromy, no later," I yell before turning back towards the jacket and start pinning up the sleeve. My mind wonders to my conversation with Jeromy, but as the possibilities begin flooding my mind I reach over and turn on my music player to drown them out. There is only one thing I need to think about right now and it's this sleeve.