~Chapter 7~
A/N: Hey you guys and girls! I hope y'all have enjoyed this story so far! Hey, I'm trying to do this little vote thing to find out whether I should upload and complete Come Morning Light or Jabberjay first, so if y'all don't mind, please review or PM me and tell me what you think! Majority vote only! Thanks so much, and as always, I do not own the Hunger Games or any of its characters, only my own such as Maysilee Mellark, Tommy Odair, Kale Hawthorne, and some of the other characters that have already appeared or will make an appearance in a later chapter. Read and review and, of course, enjoy!
Ring! Ring, ring!
I am woken by the very annoying sound of the telephone ringing.
"Peeta..." I groan, rolling over on my stomach and flipping my pillow over my head.
No answer.
"Peeta..."
Only silence.
"Peeta!" I hit my pillow over where his head should be, but unexpectedly hit the mattress instead. I have to think a second before realizing I slept in and I'm alone. He must have left for work and decided to let me sleep.
Then, the phone appears in my consciousness again. It continues to ring for five minutes before I finally decide to pick it up and end this now.
"Hello?" I say irritably.
"Um... Did someone get up on the wrong side of the bed?" a familiar voice asks.
Who is this?
"Uh, yeah, after you woke me up. Who is 'you' anyway?" I ask.
"Catnip, you can't recognize voices? Gosh, that war did screw you up."
I gasp into the receiver. My hands sweat uncontrollably, and in a matter of seconds, the phone has slipped from my hands and landed on the floor with a clatter.
I can hear wondering calls at first on the other line, but after a couple of seconds, it turns to cries of panic. "Catnip? Katniss? Katniss Everdeen-!"
I snatch the phone off the ground, hold it for a moment, then hang up. I can almost see Gale, sitting in District Two, wondering why the heck the phone is beeping in his ear and saying, "Please hang up or try again."
I almost smile at the thought, but give up, laying back down in bed. I am just on the verge of sleep when the phone rings again.
I yank it off the hook on the side table and punch the talk button, holding the phone to my ear. "Hello?" I exclaim.
"Katniss! Oh, you're okay! I thought-"
"Look, Gale, please just leave me alone. Really. I think it's better. Better for both of us now," I say softly, my voice lowering to a whisper on the last sentence.
"Katniss, I just want to talk to you. Please. Just a few minutes, I promise," Gale pleads. I can practically see his eyes, watering as he fights the tears of longing.
I pause, not speaking, not moving, only staring into space.
There's a growl on the other end. "He's there, isn't he?"
This snaps me back to reality. "Yes. I mean, no! No, he's at work. I just-"
"Katniss, please. I'm coming over. I'm on the train passing through Eleven now. I'll be there in a few. Love you."
The phone hangs up, but I utter a quiet, "Love you, too," anyway.
An hour later, the doorbell rings. There's no question who this is.
I open the door, and am immediately crushed to the hard, muscled chest of a hunter; held tight by the scarred fingers that can set the most intricate of snares. "Katniss," he whispers.
"Gale, I-"
"Oh, Catnip... I've missed you so much."
"It's only been two weeks, Gale," I laugh into his chest.
He laughs, and raises my chin. Our eyes lock, and he leans in. His lips are inches away from mine when I press my hands against his chest, pushing him back.
"Gale... not here," I whisper.
"Katniss, it's just a kiss," he laughs.
"I know, but the door's open, and if Peeta comes home early..."
"Alright. You'll have more time to hide me. Okay, come on then." He leads me to the guest room, a place that I haven't set foot in for years. He shuts the door, then turns to face me. He spins me around and pins me to the wall, pressing himself against me before kissing me. I don't resist; his lips are too wonderful.
He breaks, his hands resting on the sides my rib cage, my arms around his neck, and our faces only a short distance apart.
"You're going to hate me for this," he says.
"For visiting me? I think not," I reply, leaning forward quickly to close the gap, but his hands hold me back when I'm three quarters of the way there.
"Katniss. You know this isn't just a good old innocent visit. We aren't catching up. Katniss, you're getting married!"
"Gale... I already am."
The shock on his face is indecipherable. Is he happy for me, is he angry, is he going to start raging against Peeta? I just don't know with Gale. "When...?"
"About a week after I saw you in the woods at the party," I answer.
His face turns ten different shades of red, and finally it turns a light pink, and I can tell he's blushing under his tan skin. He pulls me close, and whispers in my ear, "Well, let's make it unofficial, shall we?"
He yanks my hair tie out and lifts a strand out of the wavy mess. He slowly begins to braid it.
"Katniss," he sighs heavily before continuing. "I've seen other girls since I left. But I never liked any of them. It was usually a week long relationship, tops. All I've done is sit around, trying to not think of you. It doesn't work."
"But you've seen other girls. That must count for something. I know that you like to gush about me and all, but that's a little over the top. Look, I've seen you on the news making out with that girl... What's her name? Amy? You must've liked her, or you wouldn't have been doing that," I argue.
"That's the whole point, though, Katniss! That was after I left, when I was doing nothing but thinking about you! You are my life now, only you! Not those other girls!"
"Why did you date them, then?"
"Because! Don't you get it? I went out with those other girls because I was trying to get over you. Trying to feel something again. It never worked." His voice cracks on the last sentence. I know he's telling the truth. "I love you, Catnip."
I search his eyes for anything, anything that would give me doubt of his love for me. There's nothing. "I love you, too," I whisper.
He pulls me tighter against him and kisses me with as much enthusiasm as he can muster up after his emotions got mixed up.
I kiss back, putting in the same amount of force as him, or at least trying. But not exactly succeeding, I'll admit.
"Come here," he says, pulling me over somewhere else while cupping his hand over my eyes. He sits down on something, and picks me up with one arm, his hands still blocking my sight. He sits me on his lap, and when he uncovers my eyes, I see we're sitting on the love seat in the guest room.
"What's up?" I ask.
He looks at me, and puts his hands on either side of my face. I look at him, wondering what brought him to doing this. "I want you to know..." he trails off.
"Go on. You can tell me anything," I whisper, wrapping my arms around his neck.
Gale takes a deep breath. "I don't love you, okay?"
It takes me a minute to grasp this. I sit there, smiling and wrapped around his little finger like a servant, and then he turns on me. I back up. "Well, I guess-"
"Wait," he says softly, his hand wrapping around my forearm. "I love the old Katniss. Catnip, not the girl on the fire. Not the Mockingjay. Catnip. Katniss Everdeen. I don't like the Capital mutt version of yourself. Listen to your heart. Let me love the real you," he pleads.
"How?" I ask.
"Can you be Catnip? Just for one day? Please?" he looks in my eyes, and his glisten with saltwater tears.
"Yes," I whisper, and kiss him as encouragingly as I can.
"Wait." he pushes me back again. "That's the Catnip that misses me. Do you miss me?"
He smiles and I grin, nodding hugely.
"Alrighty, then. Continue."
And continue we do. We kiss each other until we have to stop for the sake of breathing. Then we begin again. My fingers linger on the back of his neck, his on my back. We kiss and don't stop until I give a small yawn on his lips.
"Tired?" he asks.
"Yeah," I murmur.
"Here," he says, slumping against the back cushion of the love seat. He pats his lap, and I lay my head there, letting him pull my hair back from my face and play with it, twisting it into knots that may be more intricate than Finnick's were. "Go to sleep, baby... I've got you. Close your eyes, sweetheart."
My eyelids flutter slowly a few times. My hand reaches up to hold them open, but his wraps around my wrist.
"Go to sleep, Katniss."
I nod, and let him knot my hair, let the gentle pull of his fingers lull me to sleep.
He shifts slightly a split second before I doze off, and I catch his face, opening my sagging eyelids and looking in his eyes. "Stay with me. Please," I whisper.
He smiles at me, and leans down to whisper something in my ear. "Always, Catnip."
Then my eyes close for good and I'm seeing his face in unconsciousness.
A/N: Hey, you guys! I hope y'all enjoyed, and as always, read and review! And remember: may the odds be ever in your favor!