Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who read, favorited, followed, and reviewed this story so far. I really do appreciate it. This chapter only has one flashback but it is long.

Hope you all enjoy this chapter and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW. :)

Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games, 4-H, USD, the state of Texas, the song 'Dancing Away with my Heart' by Lady Antebellum, or the song 'Springsteen' by Eric Church. Diaryofamonster owns Ravius. I do however own Kaylee, Volt, Patrick's personality and pretty much everything he does, and of course Gemma.

Chapter 5: Dancing Away with my Heart & Springsteen

~ I finally asked you to dance on the last slow song, beneath that moon that was really a disco ball. I can still feel my head on your shoulder, and hoping that song would never be over. I haven't seen you in ages, sometimes I find myself wondering where you are. For me you'll always be eighteen and beautiful and dancing away with my heart. I brushed your curls back so I could see your eyes and the way you moved me was like you were reading my mind. I can still feel you lean in to kiss me; I can't help but wonder if you ever miss me. I haven't seen you in ages, sometimes I find myself wondering where you are. For me you'll always be eighteen and beautiful and dancing away with my heart. You headed off to college at the end of that summer and we lost touch. I guess I didn't realize even at the moment we lost so much. I haven't seen you in ages. Sometimes I find myself wondering where you are. For me you'll always be eighteen and beautiful and dancing away with my heart. ~

~ To this day when I hear that song, I see you standing there on that lawn, discount shades, store bought tan, flip-flops and cut off jeans. Somewhere between that setting sun, I'm On Fire and Born To Run. You looked at me and I was done, we were just getting started. I was singing to you, you were singing to me. I was so alive, never been more free; Fired up my daddy's lighter and we sang oh. Stayed there 'til they forced us out; we took the long way to your house, And I can still hear the sound of you saying, "Don't go". When I think about you, I think about 17. I think about my old Jeep, I think about the stars in the sky. Funny how a melody sounds like a memory; like a soundtrack to a July Saturday night, Springsteen. I bumped in to you by happenstance you probably wouldn't even know who I am, but if I whispered your name, I bet there'd still be a spark. Back when I was gasoline and this old tattoo had brand new ink, and we didn't care what your momma think 'bout your name on my arm. Baby is it spring or is it summer. The guitar sound or the beat of the drummer, you hear sometimes late at night on your radio. Even though you're a million miles away, when you hear Born In The USA; do you relive those glory days from so long ago. When you think about me, do you think about 17. Do you think about my old Jeep, think about the stars in the sky. Funny how a melody sounds like a memory; like a soundtrack to a July Saturday night, Springsteen. ~

The memories of last night are fresh in my head. Telling Peeta I loved him was not easy but I also knew there was no sense in hiding my feelings. I wake up wrapped in Peeta's arms. Peeta is still sound asleep, snoring lightly. He looks so much more relaxed when he is asleep, he appears almost childish. As I wait for Peeta to wake up I think back to my favorite memory from the past year.

I remember senior prom, it happened only a few months ago. I really didn't want to go, dances have never been my thing. After a lot of begging from Clove and Johanna I agreed to go, but I had planned on going solo. I had just figured that Peeta would ask some girl from our class, he is the ASB president and I'm sure any girl would be happy to go with him. I didn't want to go with any random guy and most of my guy friends are taken.

I had just gotten back from picking up my dress from the boutique downtown the night before prom. After hanging up my dress, I had changed into sweatpants and a loose shirt. I went downstairs and decided to watch TV for awhile, since my parents were off on a date night and Prim was spending the night at a friend's house. After about an hour of watching re-runs of 'Jane by Design' and 'Switched at Birth' I heard a knock at the door. I was completely speechless when I opened the front door to reveal Peeta standing there with two dozen red roses. He smiled at me and then told me to look down. When I looked down there was a banner that consisted of a bunch of pictures of Peeta and I. There were big white block letters taped to the banner. It read, ' Katniss, will you go to Prom with me?' I stared at the ground completely speechless taking in the banner and the blonde boy standing in front of me without about forty dollars worth of roses.

Peeta cleared his throat, "I know it's a little late to be asking you this, the banner took forever to make but I thought you would like it. So what do you say? Will you go prom with me?"

"I- I love it, of course I'll go with you." I had said as I pulled Peeta in for a hug. We pulled back and he handed me the roses with a huge smile. I invited him in and we spent the rest of the night watching movies until my parents got home.

The next day…

After hours of getting my hair, nails and makeup done I was ready. My parents had payed a professional makeup artist by the name of Cinna to help me out. Once I got my dress on, my mom started to take pictures me. She cried about how grown up her baby was, Haymitch made comments about how I looked like I was on fire when I twirled and Prim kept telling me how beautiful I looked. After about twenty minutes of the hell that is taking pictures, Peeta arrived. His tie was made to look as if it was on fire and when I saw that I chuckled. The boy and girl on fire, that's what we were. My mom proceeded to take more pictures this time of the two of us. After about a hundred more pictures my moms finally let us go. Peeta helped me into his Jeep and we set of for the school so that we could get on the buses. On our way there Peeta turned on the radio and flipped to the country station. Immediately the sound of Eric Church's Springsteen filled our ears. Peeta and I had sang along loudly, gaining a lot of weird looks from drivers around us. The two high school seniors dressed in formal wear singing country music as we cruise down the road in an old worn down jeep, in my mind it was perfection.

We arrived to the school and as Peeta helped me out he pulled me into a hug. He whispered in my ear, "You look beautiful, girl on fire." I remember his words sending shivers down my spine, the good kind for once. We loaded on to the buses and spent the two hour drive talking with friends and taking pictures on our phones. When we finally arrived at the grand ballroom that the school had reserved, everyone practically jumped off the buses including me. The first part of the night was set aside for dinner and dessert. The rest of the night consisted of dancing and the announcement of the prom king and queen. Peeta dragged me out to the dance floor for the last slow song. 'Dancing Away with my Heart' is playing through the speakers as we twirl around. As the song was coming to an end, Peeta surprised me by leaning in and just barely brushing his lips against mine, so quick I'm not sure whether it was a kiss or not. That was the night that Peeta truly danced away with my heart.

I snap out my thoughts when Peeta kisses my cheek. His voice is thick with sleep, "whatcha thinkin' bout?"

"Prom… I'm really glad you decided to ask me." I say as he plants several more kisses on my cheek and jaw.

He smiles, "I'm glad you said yes; you were the only person I wanted to go with. "

Peeta and I decide to spend the day looking at apartments in San Diego. We were both lucky enough to be accepted into the University of San Diego. We were starting there in the fall, and after a long discussion with both of our parents we were given permission to share an apartment. Our parents made this decision before we began dating but they hadn't changed their minds yet just told us to remember what we were there for. I believe Haymitch worded it like this, 'you are there for a degree in education Katniss; not a degree in anatomy… or chemistry. You both keep those hands to yourselves.' That statement had resulted in a fit of laughter from everyone around us. We go on a bunch of different sites and eventually find two apartments that are close by to the campus and within our price range. We click to make a reservation to tour the apartments, we set the reservation dates for the same weekend we will be in San Diego to finalize some things at USD and to see Eric Church in concert. The concert tickets were a gift from my uncle who lives in California, I had mentioned how obsessed I was with Eric Church and how me and Peeta loved his songs one day while I was video chatting with him. A week later there were two tickets for the concert and two round trip plane tickets in the mail along with note from my uncle about us staying with him that weekend.

"Two more weeks till the concert, you excited?" Peeta asks as he shuts down the computer.

I laugh, "There floor seats Peeta, right next to the stage. Of course, I'm excited!"

Peeta gives me a serious look, "should I be worried that you're going to leave me for a bad ass country music star." That sentence is enough to send both Peeta and I into a fit of laughter.

When we finally stop laughing I bring myself closer to Peeta, "He is a bad ass when it comes to country music but you will never lose me. I'm pretty sure we made it clear we want to be with each other last night, Peeta. I meant what I said last night, I do love you."

Peeta leans in to give me a kiss, "and I love you."

After an hour of eating everything we could find in the kitchen, Peeta and I decided to call up Kaylee and see what she was doing. Kaylee answered right away and sounded really overly excited on the phone as she agreed to meet us at the shopping center near Peeta's house. We leave for the shopping center as soon as I hang up the phone. Kaylee only lives five minutes away from there so she is bound to be there when we arrive.

When we get to the shopping center we see a hyper Kaylee standing near her car bouncing excitedly on the balls of her feet. We make or way over to her and the three of us go inside, happy to be out of the sweltering mixture of heat and humidity. I turn to Kaylee who is practically skipping along, "what has you so excited?"

Kaylee smiles even bigger, " do you remember Obsidian Kimbra?" I nod my head in answer and she continues, " I ran into him earlier today when I was at the college getting my transcripts , well we got to talking and he asked me out. Oh and I found out he is transferring schools too to the same place I am; looks like you and Peety-boy won't be as alone at USD as you thought."

"You're transferring there? I thought you said you were going to transfer to a school out here." I say surprised but I can't keep the smile off my face. It will be nice to have two more familiar faces around. She tells me all the reasons behind her transferring and then goes on to tell me all about Obsidian.

Once Kaylee finishes her story Peeta decides to pipe in, " What is my brother going to think about you going off to California… with a guy no less." Peeta says the last few words in a dramatic way, making me laugh.

Kaylee laughs a little too, "Don't know but he has been spending all his time helping Gemma with her 4-H shit. Don't get me wrong I have nothing against 4-H, I just have something against her."

Peeta and I laugh because well… everyone hates Gemma. Peeta's brother is blind to how awful she is because chances are he's getting laid and that's all he cares about right now. When he dates he tends to end up whipped and does everything his girlfriends want him to do. It's pathetic really, but it makes for a good laugh for everyone else and usually leads to a lot of jokes at his expense. When Kaylee waves her hand in front of my face and asks me what I was thinking about I snap back to reality.

"She shows goats right? At the county fair, maybe the goat will shit on her shoe or something." I suggest.

"That would be amazing, or maybe she'll get wrapped up in that leash thing and fall in the pile shit face first." Kaylee says.

Then gets all three of us get an amused look on our faces as we all think the same thing, I wonder if she leads Patrick around with a leash like she does her goat.

That's chapter five, hope you all liked it. It is my longest chapter so far… I think. I know the ending of it has nothing to do with Katniss or Peeta but I absolutely love that line. X) Next chapter has some action between Katniss and Peeta, a very interesting cat-fight between Gemma and Kaylee, and maybe some revelations from the very interesting and confused brother of Peeta Mellark, and possible even some flashbacks.

Also… go read Diaryofamonster's story, it's called 'Last Chance for Happiness'(/s/7994446) and it is the sequel to my completed Clato story, 'True Love, Never Forgotten' but you don't have to really read mine to understand hers. So go read people. :)

Again, Thank you all for reading and DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW. ;)

Love you all. – THGgoddess4ever :)