DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Hunger Games or it's characters as well as I do not own Being Erica. I am merely borrowing them for this story.

Chapter 5

Fate is a Sneaky Bastard

I stare into eyes blue as the sky as Delly speaks to me as we walk around campus. I'm barely listening to what she is saying as it has something to do with another protest she plans to partake in this Friday. I already know what happens, she chains herself to the door and that's when Peeta first meets strong-headed Delly. I had almost forgotten the French accent she has given she's from Montreal originally. She moved here for school.

"Katniss? Hey girl, are you listening?" I snap to it when I hear my name.

"Huh? Sorry, what did you say?"

"I asked if you were coming to the protest this Friday." I nod my head to tell her I will be there, I was there last time this happened too… what as the protest for again? Animal testing in the science labs, that's what it was. Stop animal testing. Good cause I suppose but I remember her group of protesters to go a bit to the extreme at times. I suppose that's part of the whole University experience.

"You know I will be." I try to shake my hair out of my face and forget that at one point I was going through that whole grunge phase. My hair is basically dreadlocked and the headband that is supposed to secure my hair back does a mediocre job at best. My pants are baggy with more pockets than I truly need and my shirt does little job of actually being a shirt. Ugh, I forgot the fashion sense I had back then, now… twenty-two year old me has. I'm only here for a while anyways so might as well enjoy it.

I see Peeta going to his dorm rooms and I feel my heart skip a beat. What the hell?

"Look Dell, I gotta go. I'll meet up with you in class tomorrow though. Bye!" I wave to her as I sprint across the yard to catch Peeta before he slips into his dorm house.

"Peet! Peeta, wait up!" I see him stop and turn to find where my voice is coming from. He gives me a grin and I see a glint in his eyes that I have just been noticing more recently, or at least paying attention to recently. Has he always looked at me like this?

"Ah, fancy meeting you here Everdeen. What do I say brings you here this fine afternoon?" I laugh and shake my head, swatting his arm in the process. "Ok, ok, enough with the abuse. What's up?" I stare into deep blues and lose my train of thought for a moment, trying to regain myself and remember what it was I wanted to talk to him about… shit.

"Drinks. Wanna go for drinks tonight? We don't have class until 10:30 tomorrow and don't try and say you have another class before that. I know your schedule inside and out." It's amazing how much I remember from our old days.

"Hmm… tempting but why tonight? Why not wait until Friday night when we have no classes to worry about in the morning?" I rack my brain for a response.

"Because I think we need a night out, we're almost done our final year and we haven't gotten to spend nearly enough time together like we used to. Let's go out! You never know, maybe you'll finally meet a nice person and maybe I'll finally find the courage to end things with Marvel, hm?" I watch him mull it over and I see his resolve to decline me dissolve. "Please?! Come on, please Peeta! I'll even buy the first round. Please, please, please?" I know he hates when I beg, I hate doing it but found I only ever do this with him. I know his weakness after all.

"Ok, ok wow, enough with the begging, it does not become you at all. Quite frankly it's creepy when you beg and I begin to worry if you're all there in the head. Ok. Let's meet up at seven then. I'll pick you up from your dorm and we'll walk over to the campus pub. Sound good?" I smile gratefully at him and give him an enthusiastic nod.

"It's a date Mellark. Seven sharp!" I waves me off as he heads into his dorm house and I leave in the direction of mine. The campus is big enough that boys and girls dorms are in separate houses.

At 6:50 I head downstairs to wait for Peeta, I'm a bit jittery and nervous about tonight and I'm not sure exactly why that is. At this point we've been friends for a couple years yet it feels like we've known each other our whole lives. As I exit into the cool air of the early spring night I see Peeta is already standing there waiting for me. He looks… good. Like, if I was single I would be all over that, good. I clear my throat before approaching him, pushing any thoughts I had of him out of my mind. He turns when he hears my approaching and gives me a knowing smirk.

"Always so punctual Kat. Shall we head out, the beer won't drink itself!" He holds up an arm to me and I link arms with him, not saying a word as we make the trek to our campus bar.

"She's hot and looks like she can hold a decent conversation, go talk to her." I point to another brunette who looks like she's about ready to pass out as she sways on her feet by the bar. I'm basically pointing out every girl at this point to try and hook up with Peeta. He hasn't taken the bait for any of them so far.

"Pft, yeah and I'm the queen of England. Give it up Kat, there's no one here. Let's just enjoy ourselves. Besides did you mention something about drink enough liquid courage so you could finally call things off with Marvel? What happened to that plan?" He's right, I did say that. I know I should just do it now. Previously I had wait another month before I finally did it. It ended with him locking himself in my bathroom and crying. I had to wait over an hour before he would finally come out and leave; resolving that it was truly over no matter how much he cried. I sigh and chug the rest of my beer down. God I need something harder to deal with that.

"I need more than two beers to do that and you know it. God only knows what will happen when I do end it with him. He's not the strong type, he'll probably bawl his eyes out and throw a fit in hopes that I back down and take back my words." I see Peeta scanning the room again but nods in agreement with me.

"Probably, he seems like the type. How the hell did you meet him?" He doesn't look at me as he stares across the pub, clearly something has caught his attention but he's still listening to my words so I choose to ignore it.

"Much like a night tonight. What was supposed to be a one-time thing became a three month thing and my god am I an idiot." He still hasn't looked at me and I'm a bit annoyed now. "Hey, Peeta! What's got your attention?" I see him nudge his head in the direction he is staring at and turn to try and find his line of vision.

I feel my stomach drop when I lock my eyes on the person across the pub having some drinks with a group of her friends. Shit, shit, shit. Delly. I'm annoyed and worried at the same time. Wasn't I here to help make sure they didn't meet? I never thought this would happen if we went to the bar.

"Peeta come on, she looks like she's totally out of your league, plus she probably already has a boyfriend. In fact I'm sure she does." I'm lying, she doesn't. In fact he doesn't know I know her and I hope to keep it that way. "Let's go get another drink, come on." I go to get up but falter when I see he is also standing and making his way over to her… no. No, no. I try to go stop him but the air around me is getting cold again. Wait, I'm not finished! But I'm already falling back into my bed, which is where I was last heading before I met up with Dr. Haymitch. I check my phone to see if there's any messages but see it is as empty as it was before I left. I failed. I couldn't stop Peeta and Delly from meeting, obviously it was their fate to meet one another. I stare at the ceiling and decide I need to sleep, no matter how much excitement I've had this evening.

It's another three days before I see Peeta again, he's obviously avoiding me more now than he was before. I can't stand this. I miss him and it's already been another eventful night the night before, having gotten to fix a problem I had in my English class in university that year. I hadn't been able to stand up in class and read my whole poem before I was practically thrown out of class for how rubbish it was, even I agree with that. I had changed it all by reading a poem I made just a couple years ago which had changed my confidence in that class and my grade… plus it seemed my teacher had finally come to like me.

Sure it felt good, but I still couldn't stand the bout of silence between Peeta and I. In just a week I would be moving out and honestly, I wanted to see if he wanted to check out the complex and see if moving there would be something he wanted to look into. I had heard someone was moving out the following month and they had a one bedroom coming available soon. I wanted Peeta to move with me, I wanted us to continue being neighbors and staying close. I've already vented it all to Madge but she didn't have much to say, from what I could tell she wasn't saying everything she was thinking which only bothered me more.

I finally corner her after work and ask her to tell me what she really thinks, not fully preparing myself for what she was about to say.

"Isn't it obvious Katniss? Peeta likes you, that's why he's upset about the kiss but you know what's really funny about this whole thing?" I inhale deeply, taking in what she says and now becoming afraid of what she is about to say next. "You like him too. You would have to be blind not to see it, except you are! How can you not see that the reason all of this bugs you because you like him too! You get nervous at the thought about talking about him because you're scared that he's going to change his mind and reject you, deep down you know the reason he kissed you is because of feelings he has for you." I look down at the table in front of us, trying to absorb everything she says to me. She's right and that's what makes this whole thing scarier. The knots I feel in my stomach at just the thought of Peeta isn't knots but butterflies. I want him to be around because then I know he's close and I can keep an eye on him. In some sort of messed up way I've always seen Peeta as mine. How have I not noticed this before?

"I see that you're finally realizing it too, it's about damn time. Maybe it's time you tell him though, because I doubt he's gonna keep waiting for you and I know he's been waiting a while, even when him and Delly were together." My head snaps up and I'm sure my eyes are wide in surprise. She chuckles before continuing on, "he didn't tell you that the reason Delly started cheating on him was because she had found his secret keep sake box. It was filled with things from you two, concerts you went to, pictures of you, you and him, things you made each other, notes, anything that he could keep of you, he did. The boy has had a thing for you for years! You just kept pushing him to find someone so he took the hint that you weren't interested. Poor guy." I'm floored. How does Madge know all this?

"W-wait, how do you know all of this?" I never thought Madge and Peeta were that close, but maybe I wasn't looking close enough.

"We've talked, we are friends after all and we don't need you to hang out. He told me shortly after he moved back here. He wasn't going to tell you the whole thing, heaven forbid he freak you out enough that you run off and never speak to him again!" My head is reeling and I'm not sure I can handle any more surprises. I mean I just realized that I like my best friend, which in itself is a scary thought. "Now if you ask me, I think you need to march on over there and get your man before someone else does. A man as good as him doesn't stay single forever." She's right, I think back to the woman he had over previously and I know I have to go now before it's too late. I'll figure out the rest later.

I get up and grab my coat, swinging it on as I give Madge a kiss on the cheek and head out. I flag down a taxi and tell them where to go. It takes me ten very long minutes to get home. I hand them my money and don't bother waiting for my change, I need to be quick.

I climb the stairs, almost tripping up them as I go and finally manage to get to our landing. I pause for a moment to catch my breath, damn I need to go to the gym again. No the time Everdeen! I shake my head and nearly sprint to him door. I feel the nerves creeping up again but I don't let them get the best of me. I knock on the door and wait. My hands are shaking so I shake them out, hoping to stop the jitters. I hear his heavy footsteps as they approach the door. The deadbolt slides and the door opens. I let out the air I am holding as I stare into dark cerulean eyes, which look confused at my presence.

"Katniss? What are you doing here?" His voice sends a shiver down my spine and before I know what I am doing I am cradling his head in my hands and kissing him with such passion that I feel it from the tips of my fingers to the tips of my toes. He's startled and isn't responding… I fucked up. I misread the signs. I begin to pull away when strong arms wrap around my waist, pulling me closer, his lips roughly crashing on my own. He slowly pulls me towards him and into his apartment, shutting the door behind us.

TBC

A/N: So here's another chapter! I felt bad for my lack of update and I was feeling inspired. Now I apologise for all the mistakes in this, it's late (for me anyways) and I still have school tomorrow morning so as it stands I am pushing it for myself. But I had to get this out while the idea was there.

So with that being said I can honestly say I have no idea when the next chapter will be posted. I hope you enjoyed what has been posted though and leave a comment to tell me so!