A/N Hey guys, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter, I had no reviews last time so please, take a minute to review.

I absotulety love Peeta and Katniss together. I hope the next movie will be good, I think they downplayed the romance in the first one.

When I saw you coming out of that bathroom, with your long and wet dark waves running on each side of your face, I knew I was in big trouble. You were magnificent, the black lace top hugging your body in all the right places, and I realised you had changed. You were a woman. And even if I had often tried to picture what you looked like since I'd seen you last, my imagination hadn't done you justice. It took all my willpower not to just reach for you right there, and I was sure you'd seen the flash of inappropriate thinking in my eyes. Later, when I saw you were totally oblivious to the lustful glances almost every guy at the party sent your way, I realized you still had no idea, after all these years, the effect that you had.

I'm sitting on the loveseat, frowning at the unconscious figure in front of me, playing absentmindedly with my braid.

The first person to show up to the apartment after we ordered a pizza was Haymitch, the guy that used to live here. He arrived completely drunk, an hour ago, and fell on the couch, immediately snoring like a pig.

I squint at him, wishing him to disappear. He has long brown hair and a matching beard is starting to appear, making him look older than he probably is. His hair looks greasy and I don't know what to make of the fact that he stumbled in here half naked.

Gale is beside me, watching the hockey game with Finn. Haymitch don't seem to bother them. I'm almost begging for some distraction when the door opens.

A tall, lean, hippy looking girl enters the apartment. Her long brown hair is all in knots and she wears huge round glasses. Her attire is sort of peculiar, she's wearing a terribly long colorful scarf over her t-shirt that goes at least four times around her neck and her long black see-through skirt is touching the ground. She is very pretty, despite the weird fashion sense, and has the most delicate feature I've ever seen.

Finn introduces me and I'm pleasantly surprised that his girlfriend is nothing like the blonde bimbo I had imagined.

She chats with me a bit, but every couple minutes, her mind wanders without warning from topic to topic, making it difficult for me to follow. She talks loudly, gesturing a lot, and from what I get she's studying art here in Boston, and can't choose whether to choose sculpture, acrylics, watercolors or lithography as a main focus.

She's very theatrical, but seeing her exchange witty repartees and going toe to toe with Finn every time he teases her, I get why they're together.

Minutes pass. Gale is still riveted to the TV.

More people start showing up. I keep my spot next to Gale and feign to watch the game, looking at everyone from the corner of my eyes.

From what I can hear, there are a lot of Delly's friends here. Logical, since the party is for her.

I glance around the room. I tense up when I spot Haymitch is now awake, and staring directly at me.

"Hello, Sweetheart," he slurs. His voice is a bit rough and I raise my eyebrow at him. Does he think he can score with a girl, looking as dishevelled as he does?

He just stares at me for the longest time before talking again. I hold his gaze, staring blankly back at him.

He chuckles, "Had they told me a fine thing like you was moving in, I would have stayed."

"Well, since I'm taking your place; that would have been pointless," I answer matter-of-factly.

"Yes, of course. And this is your boyfriend, I presume."

Gale barely glances away from the television long enough to introduce himself. He doesn't even see Haymitch is holding his hand out for him to shake.

Haymitch observes him, an amused expression on his face, and turns back to me.

"Not very friendly, this guy," he point to Gail, making fun of him by mimicking his blank expression.

A small smile tugs at the corner of my lips. I should be annoyed at this guy, but his dry humor and my own frustration with Gale make a good match.

"All he cares about is this damn game," I complain out loud.

"I guess he would feel differently if he knew you'll be sleeping in my bed tonight," Haymitch taunts, winking at me.

I realize at once he means his old bed is now my bed, but Gale doesn't and he falls hook, line and sinker.

He jerks his head towards us, frowning nastily at Haymitch, his interest for hockey forgotten.

"What did you say?"

Haymitch and I laugh at his expense and Gale's frown deepens. I explain the joke to him and he grumbles, mad that I am on Haymitch's side.

Finn comes back from the kitchen with beers for everyone. Haymitch opens his and raises it towards me.

"You're always welcomed at my bar, sweetheart."

Gale gets up, saying he needs to go to the bathroom, but I know he's pissed.

I chat more with my new ally. He's brutally honest and a little rough around the edges. Just like me, I realize.

About half an hour later, he excuses himself to go quote "find something more powerful than beer", and I'm left alone again.

I walk towards Annie, who's opening some chips and peanuts.

"Where's Gale?" I ask, thinking I should go and try to smooth things over before we are at each other's throats again.

"He went with Finn on the roof."

"The roof?" I ask, surprised.

"Yeah, you didn't see it yet?" I shake my head, "Come," she adds.

She guides me outside the apartment and point to the emergency exit down the hall.

"You go through this door, climb two flights of stairs, a weird narrow ladder and you're there. The view is not much but we can see some buildings and the sky. The access is not blocked on the weekends because the super is cool and he keeps it open. I go up there sometimes to paint."

I make my way in the direction of the roof, climb the two flights of stairs, and I'm almost at the top of the ladder when I hear Finn and Gale talking.

"Man, could you keep an eye on her for me?" Gale's voice asks, filled with worry.

"On Katniss?"

"Yeah."

I stop dead in my ascension. My jaw tense up, and my knuckled grip the bars tightly. I'm fuming, how dare he ask Finn to report on my behavior, to spy on me?

"I mean, just tell me if something's wrong," Gale adds.

I backpedal, going back down the ladder. I'm so pissed at him.

As I go back, I start hearing voices coming from downstairs too. Two people are talking at the foot of the staircase. I recognize Peeta's voice. The other one belongs to a girl.

I don't mean to eavesdrop, so far it hasn't been working for me, but I can hear everything they're saying effortlessly because of the sound echoing on either side of me.

"Are you okay, you seem distracted?" The girl asks.

"Yeah, no, I'm just, I don't know," Peeta sighs before continuing: "I'm just going to miss you."

"Oh Peeta, I'm going to miss you too."

It falls silent. I'm pretty sure they're kissing down there and I don't want to intrude. But I just can't see Gale right now, and I can't stay on this ladder forever, so I finally step back onto the stairway and make my way down towards them as loudly as possible.

The girl, Delly I'm sure, has her arms around Peeta's neck, as they meet my gaze.

They separate a bit and Delly looks at me questioningly.

Peeta steps in: "Err— This is Katniss, our new roommate."

"Hi Katniss, I'm Delly."

"Nice to meet you," I try to smile, but I'm still raging inside about Gale. I'm afraid I don't make a good first impression. "Anyway, she's leaving for France," I tell myself. I quickly excuse myself and make my way back in the apartment. I go directly to my room and close the door behind me. I find my huge headphones in one of my boxes and lie on my bed. I hate parties. I hate Gale. I hate the world.

I listen to one of my alternative/metal mix eyes closed for a while. I like to listen it while I'm angry, but I admit it does not help calm me down. I'm startled when my headphones are ripped from me and open my eyes. It's Gale.

"Babe? What are you doing in here?" He asks.

"Leave me the fuck alone," I curse.

His demeanor changes from curious to annoyed. "What the hell happened to you?"

"What happened is my boyfriend his asking people to keep tabs on me," I hurl at him, unable to keep it in anymore.

He softens up, probably realizing he's in the wrong. "Katniss, I meant it in a good way."

"So, there's a good way to spy on people?" I spit at him.

"I meant it like he would keep an eye out for you, to see if you were okay," he explains but I don't buy it. It wasn't formulated that way.

"You don't need Finn to check if I'm okay, you can just ask me. No, you wanted him to check because you don't trust me."

He grabs in face in frustration. "I trust you, Katniss, I just, I don't understand why you're doing all this."

"Because I want to." It's as simple as that. I want to do this internship. It's a good opportunity and I want to be able to take it without apologizing to anyone.

"And that's always enough, isn't it?"

I narrow my eyes at him; he better take that back. "What are you implying?"

"Nothing. Nevermind. We fought enough already, you want to do this, fine." He sighs, looking defeated.

"Fine,"

We say "fine", but we're both bitter, and we fall asleep our backs to each other, not talking. "What a nice way to spend our last night together," I think sarcastically.

The next morning, Gale tries to mend bridges and my anger falters, knowing he has to go soon and that despite everything I'm going to miss him. When he starts kissing me, I let him. There's something desperate in his kiss I've never felt before, and I feel guilty again, for causing him stress and anguish.

"God, Catnip, I'm going to miss you," he whispers.

"Me too," I answer, forcing myself to open up to him.

We make love that morning, but before long he has to go and my heart does pinch when he kisses me goodbye. I tell myself again the time apart is only a handful of weeks, and that Gale will be alright. Will I be is the real question.

Please review.

Elmo13