Katniss and Clove: Chapter Fourteen
Loads of Tributes use the roof of the Tribute Centre at night, but the careers own the rooftop, like everything else. Individuals who like to think of jumping off the building, which is the tallest in the Capitol and couples who hope to turn their furtive glances of the day into something more romantic in the night.
That's why I asked Katniss to meet me in the morning, early, still dark, if I play my cards right I may be able to share the sunrise with her. I arrive first, recon the area, there is no one else on the roof, I wait patiently in the shadows on the off chance someone else appears. When she arrives I reveal myself immediately but I don't speak. I am taken by her presence, her beauty. I want more than anything to kiss her. Everything about her is desirable, she is a compelling alloy of delicate, strong, fierce and vulnerable and I want to possess her.
We stand looking at each other, she considers in what ways I may be a threat to her, now or later. I consider whether I might not just come clean with her; about being a double agent and about my infatuation with her. I would not suggest that I have found myself in this situation, aside from my strong attraction to Katniss, every choice I have made has been deliberate. Unwise likely, absurd perhaps but they were mine to make. I don't want to leave this life without having expressed my desire for this woman.
"Do you think you can win, Katniss?" I don't know why I started here, but I have to start somewhere. "You want to tell me I can't?" she fires back, already defensive. "No. I came to tell you that I can't." I turn and walk toward the rail, the city lights are various colours and blinking away, it's a pleasant distraction. "I don't trust you, Clove." I find her honesty refreshing, I wonder if she can appreciate mine. "No." I acknowledge, "Until now I haven't behaved toward you with absolute integrity."