so this chapter is what i forgot to put in the last chapter, but it's necessary to the plot, so here it is.

more gale/madge interaction as well! :D

enjoy!

It felt heavy in the pocket of his jacket, the simple leather-braided bracelet with a small medallion attached. The thing probably weighed a few ounces, but felt like several pounds in his pocket.

The bracelet must have loosened and fallen from her wrist. The medallion shining in the sunlight had caught his attention. It was just lying on the bridge, right where Madge had been sitting only a second ago. He had considered calling out to her, but had decided against it. It was a gift from Beau, that much he knew. Whenever they were together, Beau's thumb constantly brushed over it, smiling up at her.

He pushed his guilt to its usual spot in the far recesses of his mind. If he gave it back now, then she'd have questions that he knew he couldn't answer.

"You're wrong!" She lifted her legs, adjusting so she could sit cross-legged in her seat. "Your Favorite Weapon is not just another stupid emo album. I mean yes it totally sounds like fits in right beside all the others, but it's more than that. 'You're as subtle as a brick in the small of my back.' That's a great line. Admit it, if your precious Hemingway wrote that you'd be all over it!"

He chuckled, taking a bite of his slice of pizza. While chewing, he considered her argument. "That song is alright. I'll give you that, but they're not even good until The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me."

Her blue eyes widened comically, her root beer caught midair in shock. "You take that back right now! Even if I have to quote all of Deja Entendu to you so you can get it through that thick skull of yours."

He smirked. "Hey!" He raised his arms, the tips of his fingers shiny with grease. "I'm not going to lie to you. I don't like any of their early stuff."

"I don't think we can talk anymore if you don't come over to the light side! That's it! I'm making you a mix!"

"Of what? I've listened to them before."

"I'm not convinced that you have. If you had then you would at least be as in love with that album as I am."

Gale laughed. Mixes were pretty serious business in his eyes, but then again Madge was a nice girl. She probably made plenty of mixes without any heavy meaning other than 'here are a bunch of songs that I think you'll like.'

Her blue eyes focused in on his. "It's one of the few albums I can listen to right through no problem." She chewed thoughtfully while simultaneously narrowing her eyes at him. "Give it another chance. I'll give you the first record, that I can understand you not caring for, but Deja Entendu is classic."

Gale relented, taking a sip of his drink. "Fine. I give up. I'll let you make me that mix or whatever." Her blue eyes lit up, she reached into her bag, grabbing a note pad. "I didn't mean right now! I paid ninety dollars for this meal!"

She flushed prettily at his words, "I just have to write this down before I forget."

He leaned forward, squinting to read her neat cursive script. There were only a few words that he could make out like, 'Cleanser' and 'Untitled 02' Probably song titles.

Madge shut the small notepad, bringing the pen behind her ear. "So how's your little sister? Is she still sleeping with your Ramones hoodie?"

The question struck him as odd, not because it was particularly peculiar, but the only questions the girls Gale usually ran with asked was whether or not he had a condom or smoke on him. Sometimes they changed it up, asking if he knew someone who could score them some weed.

He blinked away his thoughts. "She's better, still sleeping with the hoodie. She just misses me is all."

"And your other," she paused, remembering their past conversation, "two brothers?"

"Good memory, Donner. They're good. I think Rory, he's the oldest after me, hates me just a bit, but I think he's coming around. My ma said he was reading one of my books last week. He's not much of a reader so that's pretty big."

"I can imagine."

The pizza and fries they'd ordered had practically disappeared between the both of them (mostly Madge). That little woman should be a competitive eater as far as he was concerned. She'd put the entire sport to shame. The lunch portion of their time together had obviously come to an end now that there wasn't any food left between them, but Gale didn't want their time together to come to an end.

"Do you want to go to Andrew's?"

He glanced up. Great minds think alike, huh? "The bookstore?"

"Yeah or do you have something else to do?"

"No, I've been meaning to go to the bookstore. My mom hasn't sent the rest of my stuff yet so I've run out of books. Haymitch isn't much of a reader. Though there are a few books up there on camping and fishing. Maybe a few biographies."

Madge stood, wiping pizza crust crumbs from her lap. "So your genre of choice, right?"

He laughed, tugging his jacket back into place. "You wouldn't know it by looking at me, but I'm actually very outdoorsy. Ready?"

Madge nodded, standing up and grabbing her bag. "Now that you say it. I can kind of imagine it." The wind blew her hair in front of her face; Madge huffed before twisting her hair into a bun at the top of her head.

He chuckled. There was something about girls doing their hair that had always interested him. His eyes were drawn to women throwing their hair into ponytails. It always seemed so effortless; unlike the struggle he underwent each time he wanted to replicate any style his sister had seen on television.

"Have you ever gone with Haymitch? I know he's quite the outdoorsman."

"Definitely, when my dad was alive, Haymitch went with us a few times. My dad and him got along really well."

"When did your dad…?" She paused, as if thinking what words would be the most polite and least offensive.

"Die? When I was fourteen. Car accident."

"Oh. I'm sorry. " She placed her hand on his bicep.

Gale shook his head. "Nothing for you to be sorry about." He clicked his tongue, wondering if coming out and asking 'While we're on the topic of fathers, where's yours?' was rude. Ultimately, he decided it was. The walk to the bookstore was far faster than he had expected. Everything was in walking distance, a constant reminder that he was far from being in a big city.

"So I think you should read this one." He placed a copy of The Old Man and the Sea into her hands. "It's less than one-hundred fifty pages and since I'm buying it for you, you'll feel guilty and have to read it."

She tipped her head to the side. "You've thought of everything, haven't you?"

Gale nodded. "Hey! I agreed to listen to Deja now you've got to make good on your side of the deal. It's this or the short stories." He brought out the book that was hiding behind his back. "Or maybe both?"

Madge grabbed the book of short stories, their fingertips brushing against each other in the process. Her eyes flitted up to meet his. "Let's see how the novel goes first, then maybe I'll think about the short stories. Deal?"

"Fine, let me go re-shelve this. Give me that." She glanced down at his outstretched hand.

"What?"

"The book. I'm not entirely sure you won't hide it so you can get out of reading it."

"How did you know?"

"I had a feeling."

xx

It wasn't as horrible as he had remembered. He could see what she liked about the album. Maybe he wasn't as taken with it as she obviously was, but the album had some great songs; that much he could admit.

He could faintly hear the phone ringing and ripped his headphones from his ears before answering it. "Hello?"

"Hey." To say he was surprised to hear her voice on the other end of the phone would be an understatement.

"Hey, why'd you call?"

She stuttered out an answer "I-I wanted to-to".

He took pity and interrupted, "I'm glad you called."

"Yeah?"

"Maybe you can explain what exactly you are so obsessed about."

"Ah Deja Entendu."

"Yes. I've been listening to this thing for the past few hours and it's all your fault. And you will pay."

"I promise just give it one more listen, but no skips. And if you still can't understand why I like it so much then I'll make it up to you."

He grinned. He could think of several different ways that she could make it up to him.

"I'm gonna hold you to that."

"I wouldn't expect anything less."

reviews are always welcome :)