Wow, real life certainly got into the way and all of the sudden it's the middle of July and summer is coming to a close end. But here is the next chapter that I basically threw together because I'm still super duper busy so don't kill me if it sucks.
Also, my laptop is from decades before Jurassic park and the keyboard is shit and the keys have a tendency to stick from all of the sugary shit I've spilled on it over the years. So even though I write on Word and reread and try to spell check, sometimes I don't catch the errors and whatnot. I'm only human and I apologize in advance.
Saturday rears its ugly head in full force. Not only has Madge called to confirm our 'welcoming party' but has texted me throughout the day with exciting little news about who has all confirmed. Peeta's name isn't on the ever growing list of people that are expecting my arrival at The Hob at half past seven. The one good thing about this is that Gale offered to come and act as my buffer. Madge was all but elated when I told her about Gale coming along with me and apologized profusely when she didn't think to invite him herself.
Gale is stretched out across my bed, tossing a stress ball into the air and catching it before it has the chance to fall onto this face. He's been in that position ever since he arrived to pick me up, nearly twenty minutes ago. But of course I'm not ready, I'm still sitting on the floor raiding through baskets and bags and piles of clothes in nothing but my underwear.
"You should just wear that," Gale suggests with a snicker.
"Shut up, it's not my fault that I want to look good tonight. If Madge hadn't put so much damn pressure on this, I'd just wear jeans and a tee shirt, but I can't do that, now can I?"
"I'm not sure why you're so worried about this; they were all your friends once."
"Yeah well that was before I was shipped off to live with my estranged uncle in the Capital because my mom went bat shit insane."
"That was like twelve years ago, they've probably forgotten all about that. Just enjoy tonight, that's all Madge wanted from this."
I give a huff of hot air, moving my fringe and obstructing my view. Gale's right, I'm psyching myself up into a bundle of anxiety. I get up and pull a pair of tight tan jeans and put them on before digging around for another minute to find a large maroon sweater with three quarter length sleeves. I pair my outfit with the old combat boots that are way past broken in.
I turn to Gale and give him a look that asks if he approves of what I'm wearing and I receive a nod. Good, now we can face the music.
Madge waves us over the moment Gale and I step through The Hob's front doors as if she's been watching the door the entire time just waiting for us to walk through.
I immediately recognize everyone that is sitting at the circular booth. Madge, Johanna, Finnick, Annie, Darius, Thresh. Though I was closest to Madge before moving, I had considered Johanna and Darius my childhood best friends. Though Annie and Thresh were even quieter than I was growing up, I was good friends with them too. I have no idea why Finnick is here, he was in Gale's grade. Maybe Gale invited him, but I didn't think they were friends; something about how Gale thought Finnick was a pompous egotistical prick.
"I'm so glad you could make it Katniss! For a minute I thought you were going to bail on us," Madge screeched as she pulls me into a bone crushing hug. I remembered Madge as being a tad bit shy in elementary school, but that must have rubbed off with age.
"Yeah, I couldn't find anything to wear, I'm still trying to organize my closet," I say lamely.
"Oh that's understandable. Hi Gale," I notice a blush creep up Madge's neck. "I'm sorry I didn't invite you myself, I don't have your number."
"No worries, Madge," Gale says kindly.
"If you give me your number now, I can make sure you're not excluded out of our next group outing?" Madge gives a timid smile.
"Okay," Gale reaches deep into his pocket to retrieve his phone and hands it to Madge so she can program her number into his phone then call her phone so she has his number as well. Madge is giddy as a school girl the entire time.
Madge and Finnick, who are both sitting on the ends scoot over to allow Gale and I to sit, that's when I notice Annie and Finnick's hand intertwined with each other underneath the table. So that's why he's there. Everyone has already ordered their drinks so when our waitress comes to take their dinner orders, Gale and I order our drinks.
"So rumor on the grapevine, you got a job down at the Wildlife Center?" Johanna says once she finished her first beer.
"Uh, yeah," I answer with all kind of uncertainty. "Gale got me a job as a technician to one of the scientists there."
"That scientist would be me," Johanna says with a smirk.
I glance at Gale but he just gives me a lame shrug. "I didn't know you worked at the Wildlife Center, or that you had your PhD."
"Yeah well you weren't around to discover that I am actually a genius and basically made school my bitch. Not even my main bitch but like my side bitch or my weekend bitch. Anyways, WC plucked me out of my lab one day for an internship and I've been there ever since. When I saw that you were among some of the new technicians we brought in, I snatched you up. You're welcome in advance."
"Oh, well thanks."
"Yeah, numb nuts over here," Johanna uses her thumb to point to Darius, "was my assistant technician but got caught growing weed and was therefore sacked."
"You said that nobody ever goes to the north branch of the park since you can't get there by ATV and the higher ups are lazy asses."
"And because of that you thought it would actually be a smart idea to plant an illegal plant on government property?"
"Yeah," Darius says as if it was self-explanatory.
"God I hope you're not a dim-witted as this shit head," Johanna laughs.
"I'm not, promise."
The group asks me questions about how life has been. I give them vague answers before turning things back to them. Asking about what their life was like after I left. Johanna became a genius. Darius got fired and is actually now employed at The Hob; tonight is just his day off. Annie tamed Finnick who was the town's biggest man whore and they're expecting their first child in a little over twenty-seven weeks. Thresh, still quiet as ever, received a full ride to Panem U on a soccer scholarship and is now working on his master's there. He's just back in town to send off his baby sister, Rue, to college that is across the country. As for Madge, she's a teacher at the elementary school where we all became school, teaching fourth grade.
Our food has arrived and silence settles in while everyone's mouths are full. That's when I absently scan the room and land on Peeta who just walks through the door. He immediately spots me and smiles.
"Peeta!" Madge greets him. "I didn't think you could make it."
"Yeah, I pulled some strings," Peeta replies. "Hey, Katniss."
"Hi Peeta," I give him a smile then scoot over some to allow him to sit on the end.
"Sorry I couldn't get here any sooner though, the bakery was swamped today. I'm going to miss Rue, was the best worker I've ever had, hands down," Peeta tells Thresh.
"I'll tell her you said that."
"And tell her that if she thinks she's going to come back here during summer and not work for me, she's wrong," Peeta laughs.
Thresh laughs along with him. "I'll tell her."
A silence falls over us again and the waitress comes back to take Peeta's order but he just asks for a water with lemon. I scoot my basket of fish and chips across the table until it's in between us to offer him some of my dinner, Peeta smiles and takes a fry but nothing else.
"So Peeta," Madge begins. "We were just filling in Katniss on everything she's missed. Tell her about Bran, Sage, and Jack."
This peaks my interest because Peeta and I did our reintroductions yesterday. He mentioned taking over his father's business after his parents moved closer to the beach and his eldest brother Bannock moved to the Capitol for some office job and Rye was off being Carmen Sandiego and traveling the world. Not once did the names Bran, Sage, and Jack come up. Not that Peeta has to tell me everything; I mean I don't know the guy at all. Only that we were in the same grade and he was the youngest son to the friendly baker. He doesn't owe me any information that he doesn't want to share and the look on his face currently suggests that he really wished that Madge didn't bring them up.
"Uh, okay," Peeta says slowly. "Bran, Sage, and Jack are my children."
"Oh, I didn't know you were married," I say to take attention off of the kids obviously he doesn't want to talk about.
"Actually I'm not married," Peeta rubs his well-chiseled chin. "Well I was, but I got divorced about a year and a half ago."
"Yeah," Madge steps in. "Technically Delly got me in the divorce when they split up their friends but what she doesn't know won't hurt her."
"You were in the divorce agreement?" I ask skeptically but I can feel the tension radiating off of Peeta and I can tell that he doesn't want to talk about this topic.
"Yeah, you know how when you get a divorce you have to decide which one of your friends you get to keep as a friend. Since Delly is my best friend, she got me in the battle."
"Oh," I state. "This fish is really good," I then say to talk about anything else.
"It's what I normally get here, but I don't know how you can eat it with ketchup when there is tartar sauce right there," Peeta points to the black plastic container that looks like mayonnaise with mixed relish in it.
"I'll stick to ketchup."
"You and your food choices wound me," he says softly with a shake of his head.
To please him, I forgo the pile of ketchup on the side of my basket and dunk my fork of fish into the dish of tartar sauce and pop it into my mouth with a greasy smile. Peeta laughs and steals another French fry.
We stay until ten. Talking about everything but staying clear of Peeta's private life, mine too for that matter. Every time someone asks about what Capital schools were like, I give a shrug and tell them something completely generic. After that we say our goodbyes and Madge says that this should become a weekly thing but I'm not sure how I feel about that. I mean, everyone was nice and I liked reacquainting with old friends again. Gale was right and it wasn't as stressful as I made it out to be in my head, but I still don't want to devote all my weekends to drinks at The Hob with them.
As we head to our cars, Peeta touches my elbow and motions me to wait until everyone is ahead of us.
"Sorry that I didn't tell you I had kids or that I was married last night," Peeta rubs the back of his neck.
"I'm sorry that Madge made you tell me about them when you didn't want to."
"It's not that, it's just that whole area is a mess and Delly and I aren't on best terms right now, we didn't have a smooth divorce and it was hard on the kids, especially on Bran because he's older and knows that his parents hate each other, so I hate talking about it. Brings up unhealed wounds," Peeta tries to explain.
"How old is Bran?"
"He's turning nine at the end of the year."
My eyes widen as I do the math. Peeta gives a nervous laugh and says, "Yeah Delly and I were sixteen when he was born. It was the talk of the town; teenage pregnancy. But we got married right away, before he was even born. Things were good for a year or two then for a year things were rocky and Delly found out she was pregnant again and everything was fine when Sage was born. So when things started going south again, we thought another baby would fix it. Shit fit the fan only days after Jack was born and I filed when we was like three weeks old and it took six months for the divorce to finalize. I got full custody."
I'm amazed how much information Peeta offers me as we stand on the sidewalk outside of The Hob. Gale is waiting for me in his idling truck but I haven't moved from the cement. I want to know more, Peeta's life has been far more interesting than the rest of them, I don't dare ask because I don't want to seem nosy.
"Must be hard raising three kids while managing a bakery," I say.
"Well someone has to do it," Peeta says with a sigh.
"You're a great Dad," I say even though Peeta could be the world's shittiest parent for all I know, but somehow I doubt that.
"Thanks. I'll call you, maybe I can enlighten you even further to the world of good food," he smirks.
"Lean Cuisine and ketchup is good food, I don't know what you're talking about."
"I'm going to have fun teaching you."
"So you're going to teach me. Are you a great teacher too?"
"The best."
Peeta and I match with our large grins just as Gale impatiently honks his horn, signaling my time to leave. Once I get back into his truck I find him staring at me with a knowing smirk.
"What?" I snap defensively.
"Jesus Catnip, you've been back to 12 for like seventy-two hours and you already have Mopey Mellark doe eyed and swooning like a middle school girl," Gale laughs speeding through a green light.
"Shut up, Peeta wasn't doe eyed nor was he swooning," I grumble.
Gale pulls up in front of the stairs that lead up to my apartment door. I jump out without waiting for Gale to cut the ignition. It doesn't seem like he's going to though. He rolls down the passenger window and hollers after me, "Just be careful with him, Kat. I know how you Everdeen women handle a vulnerable man's heart!"
I don't bother turning back as I stomp up the steps like a child while giving him the bird. Gale doesn't know what he's talking about. Peeta was just sharing information with me that I would have known if I had never left. We're friends and that's what friends do right?