Hey all! Sorry it's been forever since I updated. But I promise to start updating more regularly now. Hope you like this next chapter Even though it is short. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games.
I couldn't sleep last night. I kept having dreams of Mom crying at night. It was hard to think about her being alone. The screaming, whiling, and the silence was all I heard day and night. Once in a while, she would be in a good mood, otherwise she would never say a word. In one of her good moods, she met Snow and the rest was history.
Waking up in a fright, I noticed that it was five in the morning. Great. My Saturday sleep-in was ruined by a stupid nightmare. There was no use going back to bed though. Getting up and ready for a morning run, I washed up, brushed my teeth, and threw on some jogging clothes for a long morning run. Those were my favorite part of the day. Grabbing my keys from my backpack, I headed downstairs and out the unusual quiet house while braiding my hair into it's usual side braid.
Running is one of my favorite outlets besides hunting and archery. I can't really go out hunting anymore since Effie won't allow it. However, I do go to this really nice archery place that's outside of town. I spend my Sundays there just letting loose and gathering my thoughts. It's great not to have to think about Mom, Prim, and high school. I can just be me there.
45 minutes into my run, and I find myself at Capital Center. Town Hall is here, all the main shops are around, and some of the wealthiest people live in different gated communities around here. Since it's after six in the morning, the usual busy and loud street is very quiet except for the newspaperman setting up his stand and the first few people getting their stands together for the Fall Market. I run pass the area where the market usually is and find myself at the huge park that's part of the town square. Most people come to this park for every occasion. Especially when it's nice out.
I made my way out of the park after spending a few minutes running through it and found my way to the nearest bunch in front of a few storefronts. I was dead tired from running at this point. I had to get that nightmare out of my system if I was to have a decent day today. I patted my pockets in hopes that I had some money for a cab or at least my phone, but I was out of luck. I forgot to pack it again. This was just great. All I wanted to do was take a shower at this point and go back to sleep. But now I had to wait for someone to pass by me so I can borrow their phone to call Effie or wait for one of the stores to open up. Which meant I had to wait for another hour for them to open.
"Katniss? Is that you?" I lift my head up to see Delly smiling at me. Compared to my sweaty self, she looked very cleaned up and proper this morning with her blue sundress under her fall jacket.
"Delly. Um, hey." Was all I was able to mange.
"It looks like you went running. Was it a good one?"
"Sure. I guess you can say that." We were silent for a minute before she continued to talk.
"You look tired," she said eying my appearance. "How about I buy you some coffee and you can call someone to pick you up? I'm not sure you will make it back home by running."
I was so grateful. I readily agreed and followed her down the street. She talked the whole way to our destination about how she was planning to where the most perfect dress to the party next week. She was even going to get her hair done as well. When I asked her about if she found an outfit for the Homecoming dance, she freaked out and squealed. I'm guessing that was a yes.
We finally reached our destination and was greeted by a long line of people standing outside of a shop. It smelled like a…oh duh…of course Delly would take me to Mellark's. It was the only place that was open at this time and that had the best baked goods and coffee in town. With the line as long as it was, it looked like at least a twenty-minute wait just to order. Delly grabbed my hand and headed through the shop and to the table marked "reserved". I didn't even know Mellark's had reserved tables.
"I didn't know Mellark's had a reserve section." I told Delly. She giggled.
"They don't. But Peeta puts it up every morning so I could have some place to sit and wait for him. He is always busy at this hour." Delly explained. A few moments later, a waiter came over to our table with coffee. Delly thanked him and ordered a glazed donut and a bowl of fruit while I declined any food. I didn't have money with me and I wasn't going to have Delly pay for my food as well. She basically begged me on the way over here to let her treat me to at least coffee. I didn't want to be a taker, especially since I didn't know her.
Delly and I continued to talk some more about school and life. It turns out she is part of the Debate Team and does competitive ice-skating as well. We learned that we both don't know how to cook to save our lives and that our shared favorite movie was Kill Bill. Delly didn't strike me as the type to watch that kind of movie, but she was a huge fan. I could see why Thresh liked her. She was easy to talk to and very relatable as well. She was very sweet and she didn't seem fake like Glimmer and her friends. I could see Delly and Thresh dating and secretly, a part of me really wanted it to happen. God I'm starting to sound like my sister.
"So Delly, do you talk to Thresh at all?" I asked her, curious on what would happen. I watched as Delly went from overly chatty to completely shy and beet red. I smirked. So she liked Thresh. He had it really easy for him then.
"Well, we talk in Chem Lab some times. He is super nice and quiet but overly intimidating. But I guess you have to be like that when you are overly popular like him. I don't see him ever talking to me outside of class though."
"Thresh is cool. He was the first person to befriend me here. I think you two would be good friends if you talk to him like you do me." I told her, hoping she would catch onto the bait.
Our waiter interrupted us again and handed Delly her glazed doughnut and to my surprise, handed me a Cheese Bun.
"But I didn't order anything." I told him.
"It's on the house. You're lucky too. This was the last one." He gave us a smile and walked away to another table that was sitting down.
"I see Peeta worked his magic on you." Delly said with a knowing smile.
"Guess so…he told me yesterday he would save me one but I was sure he had forgotten."
"Peeta never forgets. Especially something important." She took a bite out of her doughnut.
"Yeah but remembering my favorite pastry isn't all that important."
"To him it is."
We talked for another hour while drinking our coffee and eating our pastries. Delly invited me to hang out with her tomorrow for a girl's day to watch Kill Bill. I wanted to say no at first but then I thought about how nice Delly had been to me today and how great our conversations have been even though she was the one doing most of the talking. After saying sure, she jumped from her seat and grabbed me into a huge hug. It looks like I said the right thing.
"Morning ladies. How were your pastries?" I turned to see Peeta stand next to our table, giving us a smile.
"Perfect as usual. Look who I bumped into this morning." Delly said looking over at me. Oh no, I hated being in the spot light like this.
"Did you like the cheese bun?" Peeta asked me.
"Yeah…thanks for remembering."
"It's no big deal. That's what friends are for…right?" He hesitated. Peeta a friend? I'm not sure about all of that. But he has been just as nice to me as Delly has been. I gave him a small smile and nodded before grabbing my cup of coffee and taking a sip from it.
"Right, well, yes okay! Wonderful! So is there anything else I can get for you? On the house." I heard Peeta say.
"Another doughnut would be nice. What about you Katniss?"
"A bear paw." I said all too quickly. Delly giggled and Peeta had a huge smile on his face. It was genuine; much like the smiles Prim gives me when I say something that makes her smile.
"Sure thing! Be back in a few." Peeta went back to the kitchen and I excused myself to the bathroom. I had to pee so badly after all the coffee I had. On my way to the bathroom, I heard something get knocked down harshly onto the floor along with some harsh whispering.
"Stop giving away food you fool! Money don't grow on trees!"
"Mom, they're paying for it, I swear."
"What about that cheese bun? I saw you hiding it. Don't you walk away from me! Get your ass back here and answer me!"
"I took it out of my pay, okay? Dock me $2.00 or whatever. It's not like we are going poor."
A loud and sharp slap echoed in the hall and a deafening silence fell upon the two people. The lady grumbled and walked away while the other person was silent. Foot steps were heard coming towards my direction and Peeta appeared from around the corner, the rift side of his cheel was red with a slight hand print on it. He was shocked to see me and I was shocked that I was so frozen in my spot. I knew I recognized his voice but what made me just freeze up and not help him? I couldn't wrap my head around that.
"You didn't hear-"
"No, I just got up for the bathroom."
"Oh, okay. To your right."
"Thanks." I started walking to the bathroom but then something told me to stop and speak to Peeta again.
"You know…ice brings the swelling down along with some ointment if you have any." I told him. He didn't look at me but he did nod his head and headed back to the front.
I guess Peeta and I aren't that different after all.