A/N.

Heyyyy guys! I am SO sorry that there was a little wait on this one, I was really sick over Christmas :( Enjoy!

Chapter 5 - July Part III

Gale arrived at 8 o' clock sharp, just as he had said. He had a small bouquet of white roses in his hand, and he was wearing a slightly over-enthusiastic smile on his handsome face.

"Hey Katniss! You look great, like really good. Tonight's gonna be awesome," he rambled, and Katniss cringed at how excited he sounded. She had been going back and forth ever since she had decided to write her letter to Peeta. She had no idea whether she wanted to go out with Gale or not, and she certainly didn't like him in the way he seemed to like her. Eventually, she decided it would be rude to cancel at such short notice, so she would just have to grin and bear it.

"Um, thanks Gale. You look nice too," she replied, trying to give him her most convincing smile. But she was pretty sure it came out as more of a grimace.

"Should we go?" he asked.

"Yeah, sure," she replied, her bad mood getting worse by the second. She had even phoned Finnick before Gale had arrived to see if he could cheer her up, but even he couldn't put her in a better mood right now, which was extremely rare. He had soothed her and told her it would be alright, but it didn't help at all.

What if it's awkward? What he does what Cato did to me?

They walked to the restaurant in silence, except for the occasional attempt at small talk from Gale. Their hands brushed against each other, and Katniss couldn't help but notice how there was no jolt of electricity when she touched Gale, unlike when she touched Peeta. She couldn't wait to get her date over with so that she could write the letter. Katniss had no idea what she was going to write, but she knew that she needed to do it.

When they reached the restaurant, a waiter showed them to their table, and they ordered their drinks and food. The meal was good, and full of laughter and easy conversation. Then Gale started to ask some questions.

"So, uh, who's this Finnick dude that you're always hanging out with?" he stuttered out.

"Oh, Finnick's the best, he's been my best friend for about a year now. He's kind of a ladies man, but he's harmless really," Katniss smiled while she was talking, as Finnick always brought a smile to her face.

"You two seem awfully close," he replied, sounding jealous.

"We are. Not that it's any of your business, though." Katniss shot back, her anger increasing. Who the hell did he think he was, making comments about her personal life. Her friends were her own business, and certainly not Gale's.

"So what age is your sister? She seems.. Nice." Gale asked, and Katniss felt her face flush in rage. But since they were still in the restaurant, she didn't want to cause a big scene. Gale had only met Prim once, and Prim didn't like him. She hadn't shown it at the time, being as polite and well spoken as she always was towards everyone, but as soon as the door had closed behind him, she had laid in.

"Katniss? I don't like him. Something's just not right about him. He's too.. Shifty. And he clearly has a thing for you. Please be careful." she had said, sounding about forty years old instead of fifteen.

"Hey! I'm supposed to be the grown up here, remember? I don't like him like that anyway, so calm down. Gale's harmless." Prim nodded, but she still looked unconvinced.

"You mean Prim?" she replied, emphasizing her name, "She's fifteen."

"Must be annoying having to look after her all the time. Someone as hot as you could have a lot of fun without something like that holding them back. Too bad." he said casually, as if it were the most obvious statement in the world.

"Excuse me? Prim's my sister. I love looking after her, and I don't need dickheads like you saying that she's holding me back." Katniss spat, getting angrier by the second.

"Woah! I was just saying!" he replied, looking wounded. Katniss didn't care.

"Whatever. Let's go, I told Prim I would be home by 10."

They walked home in an awkward silence, walking side by side but with about two feet between them. When they got to Katniss' building, Gale followed her right up to the front entrance. He fixed his steely grey gaze on her lips, and leaned in. Katniss quickly put her hand on his chest and pushed him away.

"Tell me, what part of this date even gave you the tiniest inclination that I wanted to kiss you? Seriously?" she shouted at him.

"Oh, come on Katniss. You think you can walk around being a sluttly little tease, but when it comes to the real thing you're just a prude. Huh, no wonder you're a virgin." he spat, with a rueful smile on his face.

Katniss gave him a hard slap across the face and entered her apartment, loudly slamming the door in his face.

Later that night, Katniss threw on some sweats and grabbed a notebook and a pen. This was it. She sat at the kitchen table, and stared at the blank page. She had waited until Prim had gone to bed to do this, to avoid being bombarded with questions.

Peeta.

I'm not really sure what I want to say in this. I hope you're OK. How is your mother? Tell her I say hello. Prim is fine, she's fifteen years old now. I'm doing a nursing degree, just like I've always wanted to. Did you keep painting? I hope you did, it would be such a shame to waste your talent. I wish you could meet my friend Finnick. He's like my brother, and you would like him. A ladies man, but a sweetheart under that. And Prim has a crush on him!

Katniss knew that she was tip-toeing around what she really wanted to write. This was a lot harder that she thought it would be.

What I really wanted to say is that I miss you so much. I think about you every day. It may sound weird, like I'm some kind of stalker, but please tell me that you miss me too. If you remember me. I haven't had the best of luck with guys recently, to say the least. Some really bad things happened, and I just wanted to hear from you. You always knew how to make me feel better when I was down. Please write back to me. Please explain to me why you had to leave. It hurt. A lot. I know your mother didn't like me, but it wasn't bad enough to make her take you out of the country, was it? Just please write me one letter, or give me a phone call or something, I miss you so much.

I know this letter isn't much, but I'm desperate. Please, Peeta, let me know that you're OK.

Love, Katniss.

She knew the letter was a little desperate and short, but she was emotionally drained from just writing it. She scrawled his address on the front, and decided to post it first thing tomorrow morning. She needed this. She needed him.

And she was going to find him.

A/N.

Phew! I've been waiting to write the letter since I started this story, so that was fun. I know it was kind of short, but you know how Katniss is. I didn't want to over do it! I hope you all had a good Christmas to make up for mine, cause I was really really sick :( but I got loads of new books to read so yay!

I hope everyone has a good new year, and I think the next chapter and maybe the one after that will be in Peeta's POV.

Keep reviewing pleeeeaaaasssseee! It makes me so so happy :)