Ok, so this is the start of the party chapters. I am going to have a couple of them so I can try to get the POV of a lot of different characters. I am also might switch between the character's POV in these chapters, though I won't do more than two or three per chapter.
Get ready for a whirlwind of events.
Chapter 11:
The party Pt. 1
Finnick's POV
As everyone arrived at my house, I felt myself get a little jittery as I waited for Annie. Glimmer and Marvel were the first to arrive and everyone else arrived a few minutes later. Annie was the only one who wasn't here yet, and it was nearly six o'clock. I was beginning to think that she wasn't going to come. I made everyone stay upstairs for a while so I could keep looking out the window, but most of them have traveled downstairs by now. Johanna was the last one still upstairs with me.
"Will you chill?" she says
"Huh,"
"She'll be here."
"How do you know?" I ask.
Just as Johanna is about to say something, I hear a knock at my door. I nearly run to the door and I fling it open. Annie is standing there, a pillow under one arm, and a small bag under the other. I can't stop the smile that crosses my face. She looks amazing. Annie is wearing a leather skirt with a short-sleeved crimson shirt with a tie at the from. I try to keep myself from looking down at her legs, but I find my eyes straying a little, but I sternly move my eyes back up to her face.
"I was beginning to think that you weren't going to show," I say.
"Yeah, sorry, my mom was just going over all the rules again."
"Got it." I realize that I am standing in front of the door. I move aside, letting Annie in.
"Finally!" Johanna screeches. She runs over to Annie and pulls her to the basement. I follow them downstair and find that Glimmer has already found my parent's secret stash of liquor. This is going to get interesting.
"New girl finally made her way here," Glimmer sneers.
"Shut up Glimmer," Johanna says.
Glimmer rolls her eyes at Johanna.
"We are playing Truth or Dare," Glimmer declares.
"Are we 11?" Gale says laughing.
"You played Truth or Dare when you were 11?" Annie asks.
"You didn't?" Madge asks.
Annie goes silent. For a minute, I forget that I am the only one who knows about the real reason she went to an all-girls school.
"I am so in!" Johanna says, pulling Clove to sit next to her on the basement couch. Clove rolls her eyes at Johanna and laughs.
Within a few minutes, everyone is sitting around the couch, except Madge, Gale, and Peeta, who pull the large ottoman right next to the couch and sit on it. Glimmer, Marvel and Cato are on one side of the couch, Clove is sitting next to Cato in the corner seat and Johanna, Annie and I are on the other side of the couch. I made sure to seat myself next to Annie, just in case.
"We need a bottle," says Madge.
"I got that covered." Glimmer grabs a bunch of cups and pours liquor into them until the bottle is empty. Glimmer takes a healthy swig from her bottle and lets out a small yell. "Let's get this started!" Glimmer spins the bottle on the open space on the ottoman and it lands on me. Just my luck. I roll my eyes as Glimmer asks.
"Truth or dare?"
"Truth," I say. I probably will do dare at sometime in the night, but I'm not ready to do Glimmer dare yet.
"How many girls have you slept with?" She asks candidly. "Approximately," She adds with a smirk, tossing a glare in Annie's direction.
"Zero," I say without skipping a beat. Everyone turns to look at me, their faces are aghast.
"Finnick, you are supposed, to tell the truth," Marvel says with a slight laugh.
"I am being honest," I say, but I can tell that no one really believes me. Annie shifts slightly beside me so she is looking right at me.
"So how do you explain all the girls that say they have slept with you?" Johanna asks accusingly.
"They lied," I say.
"Sure."
"The did. I let them go around telling everyone that I slept with them and they gave me something in return."
"What?" Clove asks, leaning forward to get a good look at me. Her eyes are full of intrigue and the look on her face is kind of intimidating.
I just wink at her and then spin the bottle.
It lands and Johanna.
"Dare!" She calls out before I can voice the question.
"I've got something soooo perfect!" Clove says with an evil smirk.
"No!" Johanna says staring at Clove.
"I dare you to kiss the guy in this circle that you like the most," Clove says.
"Do I have to?" Johanna says.
"Either that or you take off a piece of clothing," Glimmer says, taking another swig from her cup.
Johanna leans over Clove and kisses Marvel briefly on the lips.
"Yes!" Clove says with a joyful laugh. "I knew it!"
"Oh shut up," Johanna rolls her eyes, and Clove and Annie start laughing.
Johanna reaches forward to grasp the bottle. It spins for a while before finally settling on Madge.
"I'll do a truth,"
Everyone thinks for a minute, as none of us really know Madge that well. Finally, Gale comes up with one.
"What is the worst thing that you have ever done?"
Madge hesitates for a minute.
"When I was seven I stole a box of cards from a store."
Marvel and Cato let out a laugh.
Madge spins the bottle this time and it lands on Annie.
"Uh, dare," Clove says unsurely. I feel myself tense next to here as I wait in anticipation.
"I dare you to sit on Marvel's lap until the bottle lands on you again."
I feel Annie shake a little beside me and I resist the urge to reach for her hand.
"And if I don't want to?"
"Off with a piece of clothing,"
Annie reaches for one of her socks, but she has barely touched them when Glimmer says "One real piece of clothing."
"Seriously Glimmer?" I say.
"Yes," she says sharply.
Annie reluctantly reaches for the edge of her crimson shirt and pulls it over her head, leaving her in a tank top.
We go through a couple of rounds until everyone has gone, but nothing too interesting happens and I start to zone out. It is only when the bottle lands on Annie again that I snap back into attention.
"Truth or Dare?" Glimmer says.
"Dare," Annie replies. An evil smile breaks out on Glimmer's face.
"I dare you to play seven minutes in heaven," She pauses as she looks around at all the boys in the circle and I feel myself beginning to panic. I don't want Annie to end up in a closet with somebody else. I mean, I know that Cato, Gale, and Marvel are my friends, but the only person that I would trust in a closet with Annie in this room is Peeta, but I doubt Glimmer would ever be nice enough to pick him. "With Finnick." I heave a sigh of relief.
Clove and Johanna share a worried glance as Annie and I walk to the closet in the back of the room. Glimmer follows us and shoves us in and I hear the lock click.
"See you in seven minutes," she sings.
The closet is dark and I can barely make out Annie's silhouette. I lean against the wall, making sure that I am as far from her as I can be in a closet this size and I fumble around for the light switch, but I can't find it. I hear Annie shift to the other wall.
"I'm glad that I'm in here with you," she whispers.
"Same. The last thing I want is one of those guys in here with you."
Suddenly I feel Annie's body pressed against mine and her arms are wrapped around me. She fits right into my perfectly, and I hug her close.
"Thank you," Annie says.
"For what?" I ask.
"For being here for me and for protecting me."
I pull away slightly.
"Protecting you?"
"You think I have noticed the fact that you move close to me every time I go near a boy, you move closer to me. You walk me to like half of my classes and anytime I start to panic around you you grab my hand,"
My cheeks flush and I am glad that I couldn't find the light switch. "I didn't realize you noticed that," I say.
"Well, I did," Annie says.
I reach my hand up and gently brush my thumb against her cheek. I can just make out the brightness of her eyes in the dark closet. Wow, she is beautiful. I feel her rise up onto her tip-toes and she presses her lips tenderly against mine. I pull her close to me and kiss her back. She is taste's sweet and...I pull away and push her gently away.
"I'm sorry, I-I can't," I say.
"Why?" Annie's voice sounds teary.
"I don't want to push you."
"I kissed you," she responds.
"I know but,"
"Finnick what are you doing?"
I sigh.
"I'm trying to protect you from me. And my friends. I don't want you to get pulled into the drama that Glimmer creates-"
Annie cuts me off with another short kiss.
"I don't care," she says.
"Your seven minutes are up! Get out of there O'Dair!" Johanna's voice shouts. I hear the door unlock but just before we leave, Annie takes my hand and gives it a squeeze but lets go of it just before we exit. Johanna and Clove are standing right outside the door.
"I swear if you put any moves on her O'Dair I will rip you to pieces!" Clove growls.
"He didn't," Annie assures them. When we sit down on the couch, Annie leans into me, but not enough that anyone else notices.
Clove's POV:
Annie spins the bottle and it lands on Glimmer.
"Truth or Dare?" Annie asks.
"Dare, I'm not a wuss."
"I dare you to jump into the lake with your clothes on," Katniss says.
"What lake?" Gale asks.
"The one in the forest. C'mon, let's go!" Katniss drank almost half of her cup of liquor when Annie and Finnick were in the closet and she is practically buzzing. I am pretty sure I am the only one who didn't drink anything while they were in the closet, except I am wishing now that I had. As we leave Finnick's house and head down the street to the woods I begin to stress. When we walk down my street, Glimmer gets on of her heels stuck in the cracks.
"Ugh, this place is a dump!" Glimmer scoffs as she pulls her heel out of the crack.
"You might want to take those things off when we go into the woods," I say.
"And why would I listen to you?"
I roll my eyes. Katniss turns into the woods a few feet away from the inconspicuous path that leads to my house, and for a minute I almost think that we are going to miss it, but then she turns down my path. It is only 7:00 so the sky is still bright enough for me to make out the entrance to my house. Katniss, Gale, Madge, and Peeta walk past my house without noticing it, but when Marvel walks past, he points it out.
"What the heck is this?"
The other four double back and the group soon surround my house. I can feel the color draining from my face.
"Looks like some sort of shelter," Katniss remarks.
"Let's go in!" Johanna calls.
"No!" I yell without thinking. Everyone turns to me.
"Why not?" Madge asks.
"Well, you just shouldn't go into someone's house," I realize what I said a moment too late. "Or like their shelter. We just shouldn't go in."
"Whatever spoilsport. Let's just get this whole lake dipping thing over with," Glimmer says.
As everyone continues on to the lake, I begin to relax, thinking that my slip up went unnoticed when Cato grabs my wrist, pulling me back to him. Johanna turns back to ask if we are coming and Cato yells back that we will be there in a minute.
"I suppose you know these woods pretty well," Cato says to me. There is a small scowl on his face.
"What is that supposed to mean?" I ask defensively.
"You live there, don't you," He gestures to my house. "That's why you never let me walk you home. And why you were so mad that I followed you even after that creep attacked you"
This is the first time since Cato followed me that we have talked about it. He showed up at the café the day after it happened, but we both just ignored that it ever happened. He's come to the café every day since, after football practice and we just hang out and talk. And he eats waffles. If there is one thing that I have learned about Cato, it is that he loves waffles with sliced strawberries, light sugar syrup, and whip cream. But after going two weeks without talking about him following me, I was beginning to think that we were never going to talk about it. This whole thing foils my plan.
"Clove," Cato says. I realize that I have sort of zoned out.
"No, it isn't," I say.
"You're lying."
"No, I'm not."
"Donuts or waffles," Cato asks randomly.
"Donuts," I respond without thinking.
"How long have you lived there?" He asks it so quickly I barely comprehend the question before responding.
"Two years," I say. "Damnit!"
"Clove!" Cato says scoldingly. "You can't live there."
"Let's go you two!" We hear Johanna shout and Cato and I begin walking toward them.
"Why can't I live there?" I ask as we duck under a tree branch.
"Clove it is tiny," He says.
"It's larger under the tree," I protest.
"It goes under the tree?" Cato says. I feel a surge of pride at the tone of amazement in his voice.
"Yeah."
"You still can't live there. What happens in the winter?"
"I have a large stash of blankets."
"You can't live there," He says for what feels like the hundredth time.
"Well, then where am I supposed to live?" I say exasperated, but I keep my voice low as we approach the rest of the group. Glimmer has taken off her shoes and is tying up her hair when we get there.
"You could live with me," Cato whispers in my ear.
I hear a loud splash as Glimmer jumps into the lake.
What do you guys think of Pt. 1 of Finnick party? What do you think Clove is going to say to Cato's offer to live with him? I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and I will definitely try to get Pt. 2 up soon. Also, I will admit, I have never actually played Truth or Dare or been kissed so I am just writing off of what I have read it is like in books and fanfics. How did I do? Also, sorry for how long this chapter was, I just couldn't stop writing haha.
Stay happy, healthy, and safe,
-Jewel.