Do you ever start something and then wish you hadn't but you're so far through it you can't really give up? That's kind of how this chapter has been. This chapter wasn't in the story to begin with but then there was such a great response to the last chapter and I felt bad that there was only one November chapter that I started writing this one. But it turned into a monster and I was really, really short of spare time so it was just going nowhere. I am however aware that it is the last day of November and it would feel dumb posting this in December cause I might as well have not bothered and just posted the original December chapters! so you get an extra Chapter BUT it's really really really rough and unfinished and probably full of spelling and grammar errors (even more than usual!)
Anyway enjoy and PLEASE leave a review and let me know whether it was worth the effort!
November Part 2
KPOV
What with Aunt Haze's operation and the fact that it seems to be increasingly hard to get out of Peeta's bed on Sunday mornings, it's been ages since I've been round for Sunday lunch. Even on the rare occasions when our hunger gets Peeta and I out of bed before noon, I still find myself hanging out at his apartment until the early afternoon, when he heads to the gym before going to the restaurant, and I go home to catch up on boring necessities like laundry.
But Aunt Haze has been laying on the guilt about me not visiting pretty thickly this past week, so I'm playing the good niece today to keep her happy, and hopefully shut her up. Besides it'll be good to see my younger cousins.
I let myself into the house, where I have lived on and off since I was 14 but which has never truly felt like home. I'm about to call out when I hear the raised voices coming from the kitchen at the end of the hallway. They're loud, even over the blare of the television.
I put my head round the doorway of the lounge to see Vic glued to his phone and Posy watching something sickeningly sparkly and girly, where all the female cartoon characters inexplicably have the same nauseatingly high pitched sugary voices.
"Hi," I say. They both return my greeting without looking up. "So what's up?"
"Rory's got a hickey," Posy answers, still not breaking her gaze on the television.
"A hickey?" I raise my eyebrows.
"Yeah, you know, a love bite," she explains, in case I'm too dumb to know.
"And that's why they're…?" I'm cut short by Aunt Haze's rather terse voice announcing that lunch is ready.
Vic gets up from the sofa, still texting, and heads toward the kitchen. I turn the TV off, which earns me an angry whine and pout from Posy, but I know she'd still be sat there for another half an hour otherwise.
"Katniss," Aunt Haze welcomes me, as I kiss her cheek. She looks flushed and a bit frazzled. I take some of the dishes from her and carry them to the dinning table.
"So," I say, unable to resist, as we all sit down. "Have a good night last night then Rory?"
He shoots me daggers from across the table and I know he'd tell me to fuck off his mother wasn't sat at the other end of the table.
"I'm not going to mention anything more about it," Aunt Haze says, dolloping a large mound of mashed potato onto her plate with excessive force. "He's a big boy. It's not for me to tell him who he can and cannot see. If he wants to date someone like that, then it's up to him. All I'm saying is that it's just not the sort of thing that nice girls do."
It's a good thing I'm not much of a blusher - well at least I hope I'm not, although the room does suddenly feel very warm – and that Aunt Haze can't see what looks suspiciously like a hickey on the inside of my thigh. Or guess at how tender my nipples feel today - they suffered from quite a bit of 'love biting' of a different kind last night. If, according her, nice girls don't give hickey's then I don't think I want to know Aunt Haze's opinion on the sort of girl who allows herself to receive them.
"What do you think Katniss?" Rory asks. His face is perfectly innocent but I can see the vindictive satisfaction he's enjoying at dragging me into this clearly displayed in his eyes. I guess I deserve it, I did start it, but I still narrow my eyes at him and if he were closer I'd kick him.
"In my day girls just didn't do that sort of thing, not unless they wanted to get themselves a bad name," Aunt Haze continues to mutter at the end of the table.."
"What was it mum?" Posy asks.
"Hmmm?" My aunt looks up as if just realizing she was talking out aloud.
"What name did they get? You said they got a bad one, what was it?"
My aunt suddenly looks very uncomfortable, coughs and asks someone to pass her the peas.
"So," Aunt Haze says, swiftly changing the subject. "I was surprised that you agreed to stay at the café until Easter, Katniss?
"Delly was worried. She'd got herself into a bit of a state and I couldn't really say no. She just wants a bit more time off after the baby is born and she didn't want to leave you and Peeta under staffed." I explain, feeling like I need to justify my decision.
"Peeta seems different," Aunt Haze says thoughtfully. "Since I've been back he's just been … I don't know? Just different somehow."
"I think he might be seeing someone," Rory says and looks straight at me.
I nearly choke on my roast chicken. Does Rory know? Has he guessed? Shit maybe Peeta and I haven't been as careful as we think. Our liaisons have mainly taken place after work, but there have been a few times we've taken advantage of an afternoon lull for a hurried rendezvous in the storeroom. Did Rory see us sneaking in or worse hear us?
"You know I think you're right," Aunt Haze says, mulling it over as she chews. "I think it's that girl from across the road, you know the florist what's she called?"
"Zoë." Rory answers his mum, but he's still looking at me - gaging my reaction perhaps? "I don't know, I think its someone else," he says and the cheeky git raises his eyebrows at me.
"Yes that's right, Zoë," Aunt Haze agrees, thankfully oblivious to Rory's last comment. "She's been in an awful lot recently, and she always seems to come over whenever Peeta is writing up the boards outside."
Does she? Why hadn't I noticed that? The florist, I rack my brain to think which one she is.
"Is she the red head?" I ask as casually as I can.
"Hmm, that's right," My Aunt says through a mouthful of potato. "Red hair, lots of it, pretty face."
"And really big…" Rory's gesture implies the florist also has two substantial handfuls in the chest department.
Aunt Haze shoots him a disapproving look but carries on. "They'd make an attractive couple. Poor boy, he deserves to find someone like that. She is a nice girl." I bristle at her last comment, even though it's directed at Rory. I'm not sure what about it annoys me most. Aunt Haze's unintentional patronizing of Peeta, the thought that there is someone after him, or that I have, by Aunt Haze's earlier definition, already been classified as not the nice kind of girl that Peeta deserves.
"What about Katniss?" Rory asks. Fuck he really does know! He grins at me widely, the bloody little shit-stirrer. I practically growl at him.
"He's right," Aunt Haze agrees and my eyes widen in surprise, as for a second I think she's saying I would be good for Peeta. "You deserve to find someone better than those…" her eyes dart to her young daughter as she considers her words, "well the sort of men you usually date. But then, you're never going to meet the right one if you're constantly running off all over the world. I feel dizzy just trying to keep up with of it all. I don't know whether you're in South America or South Africa. I know you think I'm a silly old woman, but it's not safe for a single girl to be gadding about all over the place. And its not just that, you'll never get anywhere in life if you're always having to start from scratch. You're a bright girl, you should have stayed on at school, but oh no, you were out of here the second you could." She pauses for breath and a bite of roast chicken but she's not done.
"I know you're still planning on going to Australia, but it's not too late to change your mind. You never know, if you gave it half a chance, you might find it's not so bad here after all and that you don't need to run off all the time."
"Mr Right could be right under her nose, couldn't he mum?" Rory says with false sincerity, to which Aunt Haze of course agrees whole-heartedly. I scowl at my annoying cousin but he just looks like he might burst a rib from having to containing his laughter.
I successfully manage to steer Aunt Haze onto the subject of Christmas and she and then Posy fill the conversation with plans and present wishlists. I'm happy to take a back seat on the conversation to avoid attracting any more attention, but I can't stop stewing over the previous conversation.
When I get back to Jo's empty house, I keep myself busy for as long as possible doing housework and laundry, but what Aunt Haze said is still bugging me.
I pick up the phone and call for some moral support.
"Hey Catnip," Gale answers with the nickname he created purely to annoy me, and which only he can get away with calling me. "You do know its still 2015 right?" I don't answer, just roll my eyes aware I'm headed towards some sarcastic comment. "Because," he continues, "I'm fairly certain I've already had my one annual phone call from you."
For some reason I'm clean out of witty responses. "I'm just calling to see what the little squirts want for Christmas this year," I lie.
"No you're not," he says, instantly calling me out.
"Sure I am." But I know there's no point even trying to sound convincing.
"Bullshit. You'll give them the same thing you have for the last three years, a gift card from toys r us." I'd like to argue that I'll put more thought into it than that but Gale's right, I probably will get a last minute uninspired gift card for my two nieces again this year.
"So what? I can't just call to say hello?"
"You know you can, whenever you want. But you don't! So why don't you tell me why you really called?" Gales is right. We're close. I'm probably closer to him than any of my other family, including Aunt Haze. When I first moved in with the Hawthornes, Gale was why I finally came out of my room for a reason other than school and meals. He used to belong to an archery club and he talked me into going along with him one weekend. Much later he admitted it was only because his mum bribed him to, but he still managed to get me interested in doing something other than staring at my walls and listening to angsty music. We bonded first over an enjoyable rivalry in archery and then formed a relationship beyond just cousins, we became good friends as well. Although Gale was a couple of years older than me, we were on the same wavelength. He seemed to get me and vice versa. He started including me in his social group and letting me tag along at weekends. He even talked his then girlfriend, now wife, Madge into befriending me, which honestly can't have been easy. I was a surly moody thing in a pretty dark place most of the time back then.
Gale and I just aren't close in a 'we need to talk to each other all the time' kind of way. So he's right to be suspicious.
"Katniss?" Gale prompts.
"Do you think I should go to Australia?" I blurt.
"When have you ever needed my advice on travel plans?" he asks. "What's up?"
"Your mum told me that it's time I settled down."
"What 'cause you're getting really old?" he laughs.
"I know. She's being dumb right?" I say, glad he agrees. "I'm only 24. But she's all 'you need to settle down, you're never going to get a good job or meet anyone if you keep running off.' But I don't have to worry about that shit yet, right?"
His silence is deafening.
"Well?"
"What do you want me to say Katniss?"
"To tell me I'm right."
"Is that why you rang? Just to get me to agree with you so you'll feel better when you run off again?"
"I'm not running off! Why does everyone keep saying that? I just wanted your opinion that's all. I'm sorry I asked."
He sighs heavily down the phone. "All right you can have my opinion, but you're not going to like it. No you don't have to worry about that shit yet. You are still young, there's still plenty of time to work out what you want to do and get a good job. You could go back to school or retrain. And there's still plenty of time to meet someone and settle down, if you actually wanted to."
"What do you mean by that?"
I hear him take another deep breath before he answers me. "Mum's right. You are running. You've been running ever since you were 18 and you haven't stopped. Mum's wrong, reason you haven't met someone isn't because you're travelling all the time, it's because you won't allow yourself. It's why you only date assholes."
I start to protest but Gale cuts me off. "I've met a lot of them Katniss, and believe me they were assholes. I used to think you were just really unlucky, but then Madge pointed out that you pick them on purpose and I realised she was right. It's the same with your jobs. You only pick crappy jobs where nothing is expected of you and you do the same with relationships. The first sign of promotion or if someone decent is actually interested in you and you're off. You run scared." You're afraid of failure."
"That's not true."
"Yes it is. You think nothing of trekking around the world on your own, but when it comes to putting yourself out there and committing to anything which runs the risk of failure, you're too afraid to do it. Because if you don't really commit you can't fail or get hurt right? Is that why everything in your life is so transient? If you're never in one place for too long you can't risk people finding out anything about the real you? Tell me, how many friends do you have? Real friends Katniss, not just people you travel with for a couple of weeks and never see again?" Doesn't it ever get lonely?"
He pauses, then answers my hurt silence a little less bluntly.
"I understand Katniss. After you're mum…"
"It's got nothing to do with that," I snap.
"Okay. I'm just saying…" he breathes out heavily. "I don't know. I just want you to be happy and so does Mum. She worries about you when you're away. We all do."
"Don't worry about me. I'm fine," I answer sharply.
"Okay, good I'm glad," he says in a irritatingly placating tone, that he's acquired since becoming a parent. "And only you can decide if you want to go travelling again or whether you want to stay. But for what it's worth I'd like to see more of you, so would Madge and the kids."
After I get off the phone I end up going to bed early. It's pointless though I can't get to sleep. I'm still awake when I hear Jo clomping up the stairs at about 11 o'clock. From the voices and laughter, I can hear that Thresh is with her. She's been seeing him ever since the night Cato was here. He's a consultant - something to do with sports injuries and knee joints - that she had to bring in for a court case and they hit it off right away.
Unfortunately - well unfortunately for me not Jo - as well as being one of the UK's leading specialists and being seriously built, Thresh can go for hours. I have to lie in bed and listen to the two of them go at it for what feels like three hours. Even with a pillow over my head I can still hear them. I really wish I had gone to Peeta's after Aunt Haze's instead of coming back here.
I'm really tempted to text Peeta to ask if can come round, but it's late, he's most certainly asleep. He's not going to want me turning up on his doorstep at this time in the night, or rather morning. But the combination of my conversation with Gale and listening to another couple makes me suddenly feel terribly alone. I know that at Peeta's flat there's a warm bed and a warm pair of arms waiting for me, and I want it so much it hurts to think about it. For once I have to admit that Gale is right - that does scare me.
Shit. I'm getting in over my head here. I don't know what's happening to me. If I didn't know any better I'd think I was falling for Peeta. Not just I like you, you're great in bed and you're fun to spend time with. But really, truly, actually falling for him. I feel as sappy and pathetic as those squeaky-voiced, girly characters in Posy's cartoon show. What on earth is wrong with me?
When I wake I feel crap from the scant sleep I had last night, but I am beyond relieved to discover that I have my period. Not because Peeta and I haven't been careful but because the fluctuating, all-over-the-show, hormones that accompany it help explain the ridiculous emotional mess I was in last night.
It also excuses my overwhelming desire to fly across the road when I see redhead come out of her shop and start across the road to where Peeta is wiping the blackboards clean in preparation for writing up today's specials.
I recognize her now. She does come into the café a lot, I just didn't realise she ran the flower shop. Aunt Haze was right she is nice, one of those floaty-skirt, flickable hair, wholesome types.
She says something and points across the road to her shop, he nods and follows her across. I can't get a good view from behind the counter, so I casually wander over to the tables in the window on the pretence of wiping them down.
I can just see Peeta and redhead inside the open door of her shop. She shows him a Christmas wreath and he says something and she beams at him. Beams! His chin juts up and although I can't hear it, I unmistakenly see him blurt something. She doesn't flinch, not a flicker. She's still smiling. She doesn't care. She doesn't care about his Tourettes. She's nice, pretty and she doesn't care about Peeta's Tourettes. I hate her.
She holds up some sprigs of holly and points over at the café making some sweeping gestures with her hands, I presume indicating what she could do with them and where they could hang.
She turns about and picks something else up from counter behind her. Oh no bitch - you did not just pick up some mistletoe! She's holds it up high between them and she says something. He doesn't kiss her - which is a good thing as I can't honestly say I wouldn't sprint straight over there - but instead he laughs.
Not a polite requisite laugh but a proper you're really funny laugh. I grit my teeth and scowl at them. It's not like it's my laugh, a special one he only has for me, it's just Peeta's laugh. Only, I usually see him laugh like that when we're together.
Redhead is nice, she's got big tits, she's pretty, she doesn't care about Peeta's Tourette's and she makes him laugh. Haze is right, she would be perfect for him. And once I'm gone there's no reason why they shouldn't get together. I feel a queasy unease as I realise there is really nothing stopping them now. It's not like Peeta and I have expressed any exclusivity - I'm not his actual real girlfriend.
I suppose I should be happy for him, I know he's had a less than successful love life – it's ironic to think there's been someone perfect for him, right under his nose, all this time – but I'm really not that generous. I'm not that nice.
I spend the rest of the day in a grumpy mood, okay grumpy might be a bit of an understatement. In my head Peeta and Zoë are a done deal. I've pictured them together, not just doing the sort of things we do – which let's face it is mainly limited to sex – but doing all the things we don't. I've imagined them them walking hand in hand in the park, cooking together, having dinner parties with their friends. They're like one long happy TV commercial for perfect coupledom in my mind.
"Are you okay," Peeta asks, just after lunch.
"Fine," I say shortly. I know it's irrational and entirely unfair but I'm in a bad mood with him about the imaginary things that he and redhead have been doing.
"Uh, so do you want to come back tonight? We could open a bottle of wine, cook something." I think of him and redhead in one of the many kitchen scenarios I've imagined this afternoon. She will, of course, be a wonderful cook.
"No," I snap. "I've got my period, so there's no point in me coming back."
"Oh, o-okay," His eyes screw painfully shut as his chin jerks up and I feel like shit. "I just…we don't…FUCK…we don't have to…FUCK FUCKING SLUT…FUCK."
I can't stand seeing him like this. I'm as bad as Mark causing Peeta this discomfort and aggravating his Tourettes. A large part of me feels like running straight out the door and keeping on running, but there's a much larger part of me that makes me stay. I mean to just step forward and run my hand up and down his arm but instead I end up launching myself at him, throwing my arms about him.
"FISH" I feel the jerk of his head, and then slowly he wraps his arms about me. It feels good. It's exactly what I wanted last night.
"I'm sorry," I mumble into his shoulder. "I shouldn't have snapped at you. I'm just tired and well it is bitch week," I try to joke.
"It's…it's okay" he says, his chin still jutting. "You don't have to come back. You know I don't expect …FISH…I wouldn't expect anything from you."
I know its not the way he means it but it still stings. It too closely echoes what Gale said to me last night and with my track record Peeta is right not to expect too much of me. I unwrap my arms and withdraw from his embrace. "I better, um...get back out front," I mumble, nodding towards the front of house and basically I run away.
It's so busy for the rest of the day that I almost don't have enough time to think about Peeta or what happened earlier. Almost.
It's just me out front, when Rory leaves for the day. I head back to the kitchen to find Peeta hanging up his apron. He jumps a little when he turns to discover me there. "Katniss! I thought you'd gone."
"I'm just leaving. It took me a while to clear up."
"Yeah, it was pretty busy today," he says, his chin jerking awkwardly.
"Crazy," I respond, almost as awkwardly. "I could do with that glass of wine now."
"Oh, I er…I thought that you didn't…so I made other plans." He looks truly apologetic.
"No, of course, I didn't mean come to yours…I just meant I wanted a drink that's all," I quickly backtrack verbally and physically out of the kitchen.
I go home take a long bath and try not to dwell on what Peeta's other plans for the evening involve. I'm fairly sure that it's hormonal paranoia to believe that they involve redhead but I end up imagining them together anyway, laughing over drinks in some bar or worse back at his place sharing the bottle of wine that was supposed to be mine.
It's just these stupid hormones and a lack of sleep making me over emotional I know, but I feel so rubbish I end up running to the corner shop and then eating my way through two family size bars of chocolate.
I over hear Peeta making plans the next day. "Yeah that's fine, that works for me. I'll meet you at the same time as yesterday…..Okay see you later."
I spend another sleepless night tossing and turning. I always sleep badly when I have my period, I get too hot but whilst I'm awake I end up thinking about everything that Gale said and then I can't get back to sleep.
I'm exhausted by the time I get to work on Wednesday, I haven't slept properly for days. I'm in a bad mood and I find it hard to be polite to the early morning customers.
When I head into the kitchen and see Peeta for the first time that morning I gasp. "Oh my god, Peeta!" I instinctively put my hand to his face to soothe his bruised and swollen cheek and eye. "What happened? Who did this to you?" Simmering under my concern is anger aimed at whoever is responsible for this.
"I did it at the gym. I was sparing and I wasn't FISH…I wasn't concentrating and I literally walked into someone's fist."
"Oh Peeta." I almost forget where I am as I lean in with every intention of placing a soft kiss to his bruises, until I hear a cough behind me. Rory is watching us with a very amused smirk on his face. If he wasn't sure something was going on between me and Peeta before, I just confirmed his suspicions. I pull back immediately, hastily give Peeta the three breakfast orders that were the reason I came into the kitchen in the first place, and leave, shooting a warning glare at Rory as I go.
I'm so distracted for the rest of the day that I could probably walk into a fist myself without noticing, but by late afternoon I have come to three conclusions:
1. There's no point in denying it, I miss Peeta.
2. He's unlikely to make the first move again. He's been polite but distant since I shot him down on Monday.
Which leads me to 3. If things are to go back to how they were, it's up to me. I need to pull myself together, stopping acting so pathetically and take control of this relationship. Yes I'm going to leave at some point, and maybe redhead and Peeta will get together once I'm gone, but I'm going to make damn sure that whilst I'm around she's the last person on his mind.
I'm sat at one of the tables after closing time, waiting, although I have no real reason to. I could have gone home when Rory left. Peeta closes the door from the kitchen behind him and turns off the lights as he heads the front door. He doesn't notice me until his hand is on the door.
"Katniss!" he gasps when he gets over his initial shock. "You scared me, I thought you left ages ago."
"I was just getting ready to go," I answer, as if it's not a big deal that I've been hanging around waiting for him for the last half an hour. I step outside with him and watch as he locks the front door. "So, are you going to the gym tonight?" I ask casually.
"No, I think I've had enough for this week."
"Right of course." I say, looking at his bruises. "So are you headed home or do you have plans?"
"No. No plans."
I take a deep breath, this shouldn't feel so hard. "Any chance the offer of a bottle of wine and meal still stand?"
"Uh…yeah. Sure, of course," he says clearly surprised, but there's a small smile on his lips.
"Okay, lets go," I tell him, feeling a little more confident that things are returning to normal.
I press him back against the hallway wall the second we're in his apartment and kiss him hard. It's only been a few days but it feels too long since I've been kissed like this as his mouth responds to mine. I want him to remember what he's been missing too.
"I need to take shower," Peeta says, when I let him up for air. I nod, he does smell like he spent the day in a kitchen. I take his hand and lead the way, not waiting for an invite.
We strip hastily and we're soon resuming what we started in the hallway, with warm water cascading down our backs. I reach behind him to grab the shower gel and then we're soaping each other, with some areas definitely getting more attention than others.
I drop to my knees as the suds rinse from us and Peeta moans my name as I take him first in my hand and then my mouth. I moan in response, there's something about the way he makes my name sound that is beyond erotic. I love knowing I do this to him, that it's me that makes him feel this good. And gripping my wet braided hair, he tells me just exactly how good it feels until finally he warns me of his impending climax. I pull back knowing exactly what I want, and what I'm certain will have me firmly ingrained in his mind rather than any redheads.
.
.
PPOV
"I've got my period, so there's no point in me coming back."
I know Katniss apologized straight after she said it, but she still said it. Whether she meant to or not she reminded me exactly what we're doing. We're not dating. She comes back to mine a few times a week, sure we eat dinner together watch a little tv, but there's only one real reason she comes back and that's sex. I might have started to feel like there is something more to what we were doing, but she obviously doesn't. But then she hasn't ever pretended that it was more, it just seemed that recently perhaps she did. Now I know I was wrong, it was just wishful thinking.
I'm still stupid enough though, when she mentions needing a drink at the end of the day, to be filled with hope that perhaps she has changed her mind. She soon set me straight on that though. It's a drink, not me that she wants.
My Tourette's is terrible all the way to the gym. I thought it was a good idea to meet up with a regular sparing partner to take my mind of things, but it doesn't work. Luckily it's not a real match as Boggs would have probably KO'd me I'm so distracted during our fight.
We arrange to meet again on Tuesday.
This time he really does knock me to the mat. I'm not paying attention and leave myself completely open to his hit. I go down hard. He's very apologetic I don't think he really thought he'd get a clean shot, I'm not usually that slow. By the time I get home I look like I've been in a traffic accident. This week is just getting worse and it's only Tuesday.
I've already suffered through a stand-up comedy routine's worth of jokes from Rory's about the state my face, when Katniss walks into the kitchen the next morning. She looks almost angry when she sees me, but then in keeping with the mixed messages she's been sending me recently, it suddenly seems like she's going to kiss me. At the last minute she notices Rory, and comes to her senses, then she can't get away from the kitchen or me fast enough. I think that pretty much sums our relationship up.
I end up brooding about it all day until I realise how damn melodramatic I'm being. Sure Katniss is leaving at some point, but there's no point sitting around whinging about how hard done by I am and feeling sorry for myself. Any relationship could hit a bump and end suddenly, this is no different. The sex is great, probably the best I'm ever going to get, so I should just make the most of it. I'm not in any hurry to make the first move again, I'm not sure my ego can take anymore rejection, but this is Katniss we're talking about and if she wants me she won't be shy about coming forward. And if she does, I'm not going to turn her down. I'm just going to enjoy this whilst it lasts. No expectations, no melodrama, just no strings attached incredible sex.
It's been a long day, I'm completely whacked and by the time it comes to lock up all I want to do is go home and crash. I'm just heading to the front door when I see a movement out of the corner of my eye that startles me.
"Katniss!" I gasp when I get over my shock enough to register that it's her and I'm not about to be robbed. "I thought you left ages ago."
"I was just leaving," she says and I can feel the disappointment tight in my chest. She's not waiting for you, stupid.
She asks if I'm headed to the gym and tell no, that I've had enough this week. Enough of everything really, I just feel like crawling under a stone and staying hibernating for a while, although I don't tell her that part.
"Any other plans?" She continues.
"No." Is she fishing? It seems like she is. Don't get your hopes up Mellark stay calm don't show her what a hopeless case you are.
"Any chance the offer of a bottle of wine and meal still stand?" She asks.
Although I was hoping that was where the conversation was headed, it is still a shock. "Sure, of course." I think I just manage to succeed in acting casual and not showing her how embarrassingly happy I am.
Katniss is pretty quiet on the walk home, she just asks me a few questions about Zoe from the florist shop for some reason. I don't want Katniss to think I'm one of those guys that judges girls solely on their looks, so I give her the polite answer and tell her Zoe is a nice girl, rather than I think there's something oddly canine about her features. Katniss looks away with scowl on her face, so I get the feeling I've said something wrong anyway. Katniss doesn't talk again for the rest of the walk and I'm starting to think the whole evening is going to be a disaster until we reach my place.
I've hardly closed the front door when she kisses me. For a second there's a stupid sense of disappointment knowing that she's here just for that and not for anything else. Then I tell myself to stop being so ridiculous and I kiss her back. I've missed her, and it feels good to have her in my arms again and suddenly I don't feel so much like talking either. I do remember that I smell like I've been cooking today's special 'beer battered cod' all day though. Katniss doesn't wait to be invited into the shower, instead she takes my hand and leads the way as if she lives here.
She unbuttons my shirt and helps me take it off, running her hands over my chest and down to the button of my jeans with a look of admiration in her eyes like I'm something special, and which almost makes me forget I'm just a pathetic sap who is hopelessly hung up on her. With our clothes shed we step under the warm water. It feels good, but nowhere near as incredible as the feeling of her lusicious ass under my palms. She helps herself to the shower gel, squirting liberal amounts in to her palms before rubbing and smoothing it over me. Our bodies slip together as we kiss hungrily again and she's soon just as soapy as I am. We take our time making sure we're thoroughly clean before letting the water rinse us clean. Her palm slides between us, cupping and stroking my balls and I groan into her mouth. She seems to take it as encouragement, repeating her actions as her tongue moves with mine. I close my eyes giving everything over to the sensation of her here with me and then she's gone. Pulling away from the kiss and dropping to her knees.
I thrust into her hand as she strokes me and teases me, tasting me with her tongue. Then she takes as much of me as she can into her hot little mouth. I moan her name loudly, my fingers splay out on the tiles behind me, trying to find something to grip on to. My eyes want to slide shut but I can't stop watching her. I moan something incoherent about how incredible it feels and she hums, her eyes fluttering shut with a look of pure satisfaction before opening them again to look up at me. After that I can't seem to keep my mouth shut. I think I simply repeat how amazing she feels but she seems to appreciate it. My hand somehow makes its way to her braid, gripping it tightly in my fist, but she doesn't complain. She looks almost as turned on as I feel.
I warn her when I'm close to losing it, although honestly I'm hoping she won't stop. She does though leaning back a little on her haunches she continues to work me with hand. I try to pull back to make space between us but my back is already against the wall and she's so close.
"Fuck Katniss!" I blurt as I come over her near perfect breasts.
Ragged, I collapse against the tiles as if someone just let the air out of me. She stands with a self-satisfied smile and then I watch as she palms her breasts, rinsing my come from her. If it was possible so quickly, I think I would climax again from the erotic sight.
She leans forward pinning me back to the wall, which is probably a good thing as I think my legs might be about to give in and kisses me with that talented little mouth of hers. I'm pretty sure I can feel her smirk.
I slide my fingers down her body between us. But she catches my hand before I can head further south than her stomach.
"Wash my hair for me?" she requests.
I nod. I'm fairly sure I'd do anything for her right now.
She turns about so I can loosen the hair from her wet braid. Weaving my fingers through it until it falls in wet strands over her shoulders. I grab the shampoo and massage it into her hair, then turn her about so I can rinse it under the running water.
She leans forward resting her forehead on my shoulder and I step us both under the water a little more. She wraps her arms about me as I run my fingers through her hair washing away the shampoo bubbles. Somehow this, being stood together, our bodies pressed close, her arms about me feels almost more intimate than what we've just done.
She doesn't let go of her hold about my waist, moving with me when I reach for the conditioner. She makes a mellow contented noise as I massage it into her hair and scalp and she nuzzles into my neck and places small kisses to my wet skin. Finally her hair is rinsed and we step out the shower.
There's a heavy kind of silence as we look at each other, wrapped up in bath towels and I'm almost going to say something that will stupidly reveal my true emotions when she speaks first.
"I'm famished. Didn't you promise me wine and food Mellark?"
I grin and nod, thankful that she spoke before I said something that would ruin everything.
.
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KPOV
I open the wine whilst Peeta starts on the dinner. He says he just making a simple pasta. When I ask if I can help he says I don't have to but when I insist he gives me some fresh herbs and a little round bladed, two handled knife to chop them with. Peeta stirs my contribution into the sauce at the last minute, whilst I pour us a second glass of wine.
"Table or sofa," he asks, picking up the two bowls of pasta.
"Sofa?" He nods in agreement and I follow him with the two glasses.
We eat, watch a movie and generally slob on the sofa.
When I wake I'm on the bed, on top of the covers still fully dressed. The light from the bathroom is spilling into the darkened room. I stumble into the bathroom drunk with tiredness rather than the wine. I squint against the harsh light and head straight to the toilet.
When I look up from my seat I see Peeta, paused mid-cleaning his teeth looking at me in the mirror with a shocked expression.
"What have you never seen a girl pee before' is what I mean to say to him, but really all that comes out is a unintelligible mumble, as my head lolls forward too tired to hold itself upright.
He seems to be tactfully rinsing his mouth and splashing water on his face when I turn about from flushing the toilet.
I join him at the sink and hipcheck him out the way to wash my hands. When I look up he's still watching me. Not with shock this time but with another emotion something, that if I wasn't so tired, might scare me but which just makes me feel warm instead.
He leaves me to finish up in the bathroom and I use his facewash to scrub off the days make up. He's already in bed, bare chested with a bent arm folded behind his head by the time I've finished.
I strip down to my panties and then pick up one of the t-shirts draped over the arm of the chair Peeta dumps his semi-clean clothes on at the end of the day. I slip it on. It still smells of laundry detergent, but also undeniably of him as well. He turns the bedside light off as I slide into bed beside him. He unfurls his bent arm to wrap it about me as I snuggle in and lay my head on his chest. I feel him place a kiss to my hair almost at the same time that I press one to his bare skin. And then we both close our eyes.
So there you go. I might come back and tidy this up - (or I may not get the time) but would love to know what you thought.
And thank you so much for all your reviews on the last chapter, you asked for another November chapter and you got it - sorry it took so long.
Thank you for reading
D
