Author's note: This one is a bit shorter than the previous ones, but it has some important stuff. Also, there's some more French spoken here. I'll post translations at the bottom. If they are wrong, let me know how to fix them.
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Happy reading!
Chapter Nineteen
Cinna was more than happy to help Katniss into a dress for the charity dinner. They both agreed on a dress that was like orange flames. He said she looked like she was on fire. She laughed and reluctantly agreed on the assessment.
He tried to refuse payment, but Katniss thrust her credit card into his hand. "Don't. You're already doing Prim's dress for prom for far too little. I will pay for this."
He grumbled and ran the card, chatting kindly and distracting her from paying any attention as she signed the slip. It wasn't until she was back home that she saw he'd given her a very deep discount and wrote on the bottom, "I'm betting on you, Girl on Fire."
She chuckled and shook her head.
Prim saw and asked, "What's funny?"
"Cinna. That man needs to stop trying to help others. He's not helping himself in the slightest." Katniss showed her the receipt. "The dress was nearly eighty bucks to start out with and he only charged forty."
"Well, I'll do what I can to actually pay for the prom dress." Prim said. "There's no reason not to." She grinned and waved her hands. "Show me, show me, show me!"
Katniss giggled and opened the garment bag. "What do you think?"
Prim held out the dress. She whistled. "Beautiful. I think I have a pair of shoes that would be perfect." She hurried into her room and came back with a pair of chocolate peep toe heels in one hand and a pair of white pointed toed ones in the other. "You should try both of these with it."
Katniss took them both. "Thank you."
"Are you going to show Peeta now or wait until tomorrow?"
"Show me what?" Peeta asked as he walked in from the kitchen, his face and shirt dusted in flour.
Katniss handed Prim the shoes once more and then took the dress out of the garment bag once more. "Is this okay?"
He smiled and nodded. "That's my favorite color."
"Is it?" Katniss looked at the dress. "I didn't even know. Cinna said I looked like I was on fire in it."
He walked forward and dusted his hands off. He cupped her cheek. "No one will be able to keep their eyes off you. Especially me. But that happened before the dress." He brushed a kiss over her lips. "Do you want some cinnamon rolls? Prim and I have been slaving all day."
"They have apples in them." Prim said. "Peeta did most of the work, but I helped put them in the oven, at least."
Katniss draped the dress over the back of the couch and followed her boyfriend and sister into the kitchen. "I'm going to need you to make more of those cheese buns again one of these days."
"I will for Christmas Day. Sound good?" He held out a plate of fresh cinnamon rolls. "I just put another batch in the oven. I always bake too much."
Katniss picked one and took a bite. She grinned. "Delicious."
Prim mumbled some sort of excuse about homework and snagged a cinnamon roll of her own and dashed out of the room.
"Thank you." Katniss said after she watched Prim leave the room. "For taking her under your wing and being a friend."
Peeta shrugged. "I like her. I really like you, too. So it's not hard to be a friend to her, but I'm working a little harder because I know how important she it to you."
"Very important." She munched her cinnamon roll silently and watched him. "You're pretty important too, you know?"
He shook his head. "Not really. Just taking up space."
"No, not just taking up space." She wrapped her arm around his waist. "You've been an encouragement to me and to Prim. You've been a great listening ear for me. And you've helped me open up a bit more. Not even Gale or Prim have ever seen me so open."
He watched her a moment and then shook his head again. "I…Thank you, Katniss." He brushed a kiss over her lips.
"We don't have to stay for the whole thing if you don't want." Peeta said as he escorted Katniss to their table. "But I would like to see how much my painting fetches in the silent auction." He suddenly froze.
"What?" Katniss looked over her shoulder. "What is Snow doing here?"
"That's my mother." Peeta said in a strained voice.
"That blonde?" She looked the woman up and down. "That two-faced bitch."
He put a hand on her arm to stop her. She didn't realize she'd taken a step toward them until she felt his touch. "I don't want you anywhere near her. I want to try to ignore her being here. There are more important things."
Her face softened. "I could run home and get my bow."
He chuckled and relaxed a little. "I don't want you arrested." He rubbed her arms. "Have I told you how pretty you look tonight?"
"Maybe once or twice. But you can always say it again." She brushed a soft kiss against his lips.
"Well, aren't you the perfect couple." Snow drawled.
Katniss took a calming breath and shared a significant look with Peeta before she turned to her former boss. "Hello, Snow."
"Miss Everdeen. Why don't you introduce me to your companion?" He said smoothly as he slipped a protective arm around the waist of the blonde at his side.
"I think you have a little bit of an idea since you're standing there with his mother." Katniss squeezed Peeta's hand as he slipped it into hers.
The blonde at Snow's side smiled kindly. If Katniss hadn't seen the scars across Peeta's back and heard his stories, she would have been fooled. And her choice of companion also told her of the woman's true self. No one would be seen with Snow unless it benefited both parties. Katniss had heard rumors for years about his black market dealings and drug affiliation. He hid it well by contributing to charities and showing a kindly face to a majority of the public.
The blonde held out her hand. "Maureen." She said. "You can call me Mo."
Katniss gave her a deadly smile and refused her hand. "I have plenty of things I could call you, lady. But if you will excuse us, I'd like to have a look at the silent auction items. It would be a better use of my time than talking to someone as low as you." She pulled Peeta away. She rubbed his arm as she stepped closer.
He slowly loosened his grip on her hand and kissed her knuckles. "I'm sorry I dug my nails into your hand."
"I'm sorry I didn't just walk away." She stopped in front of a painting. She stood there silently for several moments, still rubbing Peeta's arm "I am dating an insanely talented and attractive man."
He chuckled and leaned into her. She could still feel the tension in his body. She was sure it would stay there until well after they were home. And she was certain she wouldn't simply be able to kiss it away this time.
A kind looking young woman bounced up to them with a large smile. "Hi, Peeta!"
He smiled back and relaxed a fraction more. "Delly, hi." He leaned in and gave her a warm hug. "The place looks great."
She giggled. It was high and girlish, but happy. "Well, I can't take all the credit. There was a team of us." She turned her open gaze to Katniss. "Hello, you must be the new girlfriend. Peeta hasn't spent nearly as much time wasting time hanging around us." She giggled again and held out her hand. "I'm Delly Cartwright."
"Katniss Everdeen." She shook Delly's offered hand. "Lovely to meet you. Peeta talks all the time about his charities, but rarely ever talks of the people he works with."
Delly shrugged. "Oh, I'm no one special. The kids are the ones that matter." She looked over Katniss's shoulder. "I need to go mingle. Have fun and bid on a couple things, please."
Peeta was definitely much more relaxed after the other woman walked away.
Katniss squeezed his hand. "You look better."
He smiled. "I feel better. Not completely, but I'm good for now."
"Good. She has a good effect on you." She leaned forward and wrote a bid.
"I could paint that for you." He said.
She shrugged. "For the kids."
He smiled gratefully. "Thank you."
They wandered through the rest of the items, both of them placing bids on a few things. Katniss giggled as the pair of them leaned over the same dinner-for-two offering. They kept up-bidding each other by just fifty cents each time until someone else finally walked over and they stepped away.
"You know, we could just go to that restaurant." Peeta said as he pulled out her chair. "Et je vais commander tout en français."
She grinned. "How do you say, 'That is a good idea?'"
"C'est une bonne idée." He took his seat and kissed her hand. "Another good idea is to ignore everyone else until after dinner. And then we'll go home." He leaned in and whispered, "Et se déshabiller."
"I don't know what you just said, but it sounds like c'est une bonne idée."
He chuckled and kissed her hand once more. "Oui."
Transaltions:
Et je vais commander tout en français. = And I will order everything in French.
Et se déshabiller. = And get naked.
Oui. = Yes.