Hey everyone! So this is the last installment of NLYG that I have previously written. Now I'll need to do some catching up in real time, which means while updates will still come, they will probably be coming slower from now on. Try and bear with me! I want to continue this story as much as you want me to, so I'll be doing my best! Again, thank you for reading!
KATNISS
As I walk up to my house, I can see that Prim is in the backyard, still on the jungle gym. She has her knees drawn up to her chest with her chin rested on them, just staring ahead.
She must hear my footsteps as I get closer, because her head snaps around and we make steady eye contact.
"Hey," I say, and lift the bag I've been carrying. "I got something for you." Her interest is piqued; she shifts a bit so she can see me better. I lean on the slide so we can talk within a relatively close distance, and she keeps looking down at me. "Well, actually Peeta made it. I'm just the delivery boy." I shake the bag in her direction. "I don't even know what it is. I didn't open the bag. Want it?" I set the bag down at her side and can sense her fighting the urge to open it. She must be hungry by now; she never ate the pancakes I brought earlier. A few flies have found their way over to them, though, so I shoo them away.
I sigh. "I really wish you were talking to me. Because, you know, I have some big news to tell you. And it's not the same if you just stare at me blankly like you're doing right now." She continues to look at me with her jaw set; stubborn, but not as stubborn as I am. Like Peeta said, she's softer than me.
"Also, if you don't open that, I'm going to. And I'm gonna eat it. So, you better get to it," I say, raising my eyebrows in the direction of the bag.
She finally takes it and pulls it open, then lifts out a big cinnamon roll. She takes a bite while keeping eye contact with me, and then her shoulders crumple a little bit. Through a mouthful of pastry, she says, "Fine. What's the big news?"
I crack a smile. "That thing's good, isn't it?" She nods heartily, still chewing. "He knew you'd like it."
"Is the news about Peeta?" she asks. I nod. "Just so you know, I'm still mad," she tells me.
"Yeah, yeah, uh-huh," I say, giving her a sarcastic thumbs-up. "The news is that Peeta is going to ask me to be his girlfriend."
Her blue eyes widen and her face adopts an expression that I'm more familiar with: innocent surprise. "No way," she says. "How do you know?"
"I needed to Google something on his phone," I tell her. "One of his last searches was 'how to ask someone to be your girlfriend.'"
She jitters with excitement. "Katniss!"
"I know," I say.
"But you guys haven't even kissed yet," she says, taking another bite.
"Well…" I trail off, and then shrug.
"You did?" Her eyes widen again.
"After the dance. It was so sweet. And…" I don't finish my sentence; I find myself getting lost in my head over that moment all over again.
"Why didn't you tell me?" she asks.
"You and Mom were a little busy," I say snidely. "Had no time to. I wanted to, but you switched alliances on me." Her face falls, and I feel instantly guilty. "I don't mean it like that. I'm just joking, Prim. You don't have to pick sides. Let's not bring it up again." She nods minutely. "But yeah. Peeta kissed me, and I guess now he's going to really ask me out."
"You like like him," she sings. "Right?"
I can feel myself blushing and wonder if she notices. "I mean, yeah," I say. "And it's just like, nice that he's going to actually ask me. Because with Gale, I don't know, he never did." I realize that I'm talking to her like she's one of my friends my age, so I remind myself not to go into too much emotional detail. I don't want to weigh her down with all of that. "I'm really happy about it."
PEETA
I go through the next week obsessing over how I'm going to ask Katniss out while seemingly everyone else discusses what they're going to be for Halloween. It's Wednesday before I make my move, and I would have done it sooner but I kept losing my gumption. I have the perfect chance today. After I pick Katniss up from soccer practice, I have a whole plan set up.
I wait on the bleachers as usual, and she comes trotting up the stairs to meet me with her big bag slung over her shoulder. And as usual, I take it from her. I watch her eyes dart down to my lips and know full well that I had been studying hers too, so I jump at the chance to kiss her. We've only kissed a few other times this week, and each time I feel a different, new sense of exhilaration.
When we break apart, she's beaming. "Hi," she breathes.
"Hey," I say, and wrap an arm around her shoulders as we walk to my car. "How was practice?"
"Hard," she says, leaning into me. "Coach made us run suicides. Honestly, I almost committedsuicide."
"Shut up," I say, rolling my eyes and clicking the unlock button so my lights flash from halfway across the parking lot.
"Season's almost over," she says, raising her eyebrows. "My coach recommended me to some schools, even though I told him how stupid that is. Even if they do think my soccer's good enough, no way any school is dumb enough to let me in with my grades."
"What do you mean, your grades?" I ask, popping the trunk to toss her soccer bag in. "You have good grades."
"Eh," she says with a shrug, plopping in the passenger's seat that she's the only passenger of. "Not good enough for anyplace special."
I scoff. "That's doubtful."
"You have no room to talk," she says. "Mr. Perfect 4.0."
"Not true whatsoever," I say, shaking my head. My mouth starts to get dry and I twist the steering wheel in my hands, trying not to let my courage wane. "Hey, are you hungry at all?" I ask.
She laughs a little bit. "Am I hungry? I'm always hungry."
"Do you wanna eat?" I ask. "I was thinking pizza. Just Little Caesar's, something I can carry out and we can eat in the car."
"Classy, as always," she says with a nod. "Sounds good to me. Let's do it."
I drive to Little Caesar's while listening to Katniss prattle on about how one of her teammates refuses to pull her weight in practice but is a total ball hog during the games, and bite the inside of my cheek the entire way. Once I pull up in the parking lot, she sighs and runs her hand through her hair that she just unspun from its braid. "God, I'll shut up now," she says. "Sorry for ranting."
"I like it," I say truthfully. "I'll be right back."
She turns up the dial on the radio so I can hear the bass of Starboy by The Weeknd from the outside of the car, and as I walk in I make sure I can still feel the marker in my front pocket. Once I'm assured that it's still there, I head inside and get a Hot N Ready pizza, then scribble what I've been planning on the inside of the box after I pay for it.
I go back outside and smile to myself as I can clearly see Katniss jamming out to what's playing on the radio now, which I can hear is Love on the Brain by Rihanna. I get in and she turns the dial down, a grin still painted on her lips. "Sorry," she says. "Love that song."
"It's a good one," I say, and set the pizza box down on my lap with jittery hands, then lift it up and set it down on her legs instead.
"Oh, hot," she says.
"Oh, shit," I say. "Is it too hot? I can…" My hands busy themselves around the box but don't lift it.
"No, no, it's okay," she says, eyeing me strangely. "What's got you so nervous?" She smirks; one side of her mouth pulls up higher than the other.
"I'm not nervous," I say. "Just… you should open it. I'm hungry."
"Oh, same," she says, then lifts the box. My heart simultaneously clogs my throat and plummets to my feet as I watch her read what I've written on the top of the box.
Katniss, I know it's cheesy (again),but will you be my girlfriend? –Peeta
Her mouth opens in a huge, wide grin, and then she covers it with both hands and lets the lid of the box gently fall to hit the dashboard. "Peeta…" she says, her voice muffled by her fingers. Her head snaps over to me, and when we lock eyes she nods wildly. "Yes," she says. "Yes, yes, yes."
Now I'm crazily smiling, too. "Oh, thank god," I say, feeling a million pounds' worth of relief lift from my shoulders. I lean across the console and take her face in my hands and kiss her with all I'm worth, and she holds me just as tightly. When we break apart, we can't stop giggling. "I didn't know if that would work again," I say.
"Zero points for originality," she says, ribbing me. "But I'll look past it, since it's pizza. I'm never gonna complain about a proposal that involves food." We laugh again and each pick out a piece of pizza.
We sit in the car and eat until we're both full and the sun has started to go down. "It's getting dark so early now," she says, looking around and raising her eyebrows. "It's so weird."
"I know," I say, unable to stop looking at her. I can't believe that this girl sitting next to me is my girlfriend now. It doesn't seem real.
She crosses one leg so her cleated foot is rested on her opposite knee, then looks over at me. "I knew you were staring," she says slyly.
I immediately shift my gaze out the windshield and away from her. "Oh, sorry," I say.
"It's okay," she assures me, reaching across the console to take my hand that'd been resting on my lap. "It just made it kind of hard for me to stare at you."
I blush violently. "God," I mutter. "Don't do that."
"Do what?" she asks, grinning.
"You know," I insist, widening my eyes. "Say stuff like that."
"Why?" she persists, now crossing her right leg over her left so her body is faced more towards me. She pulls her hand away from mine and then touches my cheek with the pad of her pointer finger. "Because it makes you blush?"
"You're trying to kill me," I say, and turn my face towards my window.
She laughs and takes my chin in her hand, turning my face back. She pushes herself up out of her seat a bit and pecks me on the lips, dragging her hand down my cheek as she does so.
After glancing at the clock radio, she says, "I don't want to go, but I have to." She sits back in her seat. "Take me home? If I'm not there soon, Prim's gonna call 911 or something." She lets out a breathy chuckle that tells me she's not kidding.
As I back out of the parking lot, I ask, "How did she get home tonight anyway?"
"Gale dropped her off," she says, rolling her eyes. "Gave me a hard time about it at first, but at least he did it. It's getting too cold for her to hang around and wait for me. I need to get Dad to get her on the bus route." She nods to herself. "I have to remember to talk to him about that."
When I pull up to her house, I see that almost every light in the house is on. I glance over at Katniss and she that she has her eyebrows raised, probably wondering about the lights, too. As I'm looking at her, she looks at me and her dubious expression changes to surprised bashfulness with pink cheeks and everything.
"Thanks for today," she says quietly, leaning towards me. I nod, and see movement out of the corner of my eye. I follow it and see that the curtains of their front window have been pushed to the side and Prim is standing halfway in the window, looking out and watching us.
"We have an audience," I say, tipping my head towards her house.
She follows my eyes. "Oh, god," she says. "She's gonna ask for every single detail." She plants one hand on my shoulder as she kisses me goodbye. "Might as well get in there and start spilling. I'll text you."
"Bye, Katniss," I say, and stay parked in the driveway until she's safely in the house. As she opens the front door, Prim jets away from the window and meets her, then stands in the doorway to wave at me as I back out. I wave back, and then drive down the street to my own house.
I walk in and can hear the TV as I kick off my shoes. When I walk past the living room, I see my mom and dad sitting on the couch and chair, respectively, watching some sort of game show. "You're home late," Dad notices, turning his head to look at me. Mom keeps her gaze on the screen.
"Yeah," I acknowledge, placing my hand on the stair railing as I start to ascend.
"Where've you been?" he asks.
"Um, just out," I say, shrugging, stopped in my tracks.
Now Mom turns her head. "That's vague. You had to be doing something," she says. "Sneaking around somewhere?"
"I wasn't sneaking," I say. "I was with Katniss."
Dad nods, but dropping her name just makes Mom more confused. "Who's that?"
"His girl," Dad says, raising his eyebrows.
Mom looks at me with wide eyes. "Your girl?"
"I…" My weight shifts as I stand in the same spot for longer than anticipated. "Yeah, she is."
"You have a girlfriend." It's more of a statement than a question, but still sounds completely incredulous at the same time.
"Yeah," I say, trying to sound nonchalant.
"When do we get to meet the lucky lady?" Dad asks, making my gut twist.
"I have no idea," I say. "I mean, it's still really new… I don't know. It depends."
"This is the singer girl, right?" he says.
"Yes," I say, hearing my tone change. I don't want to talk about this with them. I want to go up to my room and relive everything that just happened today, not suffer the third-degree burns that I'm getting from my mom's eyes on me.
"We're gonna need to meet her soon," Mom says. "If your taste in girls is anything like your taste in anything else, we're gonna have problems."
"Mom…" I say, frustrated. "She's not…she's not like that. She's nice. Can I go now?" I ask.
"Don't you want some dinner?" Dad asks.
I shake my head. "I already ate."
"He already ate, after I made enough for three." Mom shakes her head. "You could've called and told me. Picked up that damn nice phone we bought you and put it to some use."
"I'm sorry," I say, one foot up on the second step now.
"No, it's okay, you have bigger things to worry about now, right?" she says scathingly. "Your girlfriend and all."
I chew the inside of my cheek and don't know how to respond. Mom finally turns back around to the TV and Dad gives me a small wave, so I take that as enough to get out of here. I hurry upstairs, shut myself in my room and collapse on my bed, and let the smile return that had been plastered on my face in the car.
The next day at lunch, Katniss is sitting at the table before I get there.
"Hi," she says excitedly, as I sit down. She holds one of my hands where it sits on the seat between our hips and keeps it. It makes eating a little difficult, but it's a hardship I'll gladly endure. "So, listen to this. I was just talking to Madge, and she heard that Clove is throwing her annual Halloween party this year." I look at her confusedly, unable to match her excitement. "Oh, right, you don't know," she says. "Clove is this girl in our grade. She couldn't throw her party last year because she got into some trouble with, like, sexting and stuff. So her parents sent her to a private Catholic school for a year. But she's back now. And she's gonna throw it. I went my freshman and sophomore years, even though it's pretty much only for upperclassmen. It was really fun. And I know it'll be even better now."
"Why?" I ask.
"Because I have you," she says. "Do you want to go with me?"
The key words in her sentence: with me. She's not just inviting me along to the party, this is the first thing that we'll do as a couple. The fact isn't lost on me, but still the idea of a party as big as this one sounds is daunting. At my old school, that was never my scene. "I don't know," I say unsurely.
"You don't have to," she says, stroking my knuckles with her thumb. "If you don't wanna go, we won't go. We can do something else. I just wanted to ask."
I study her face, seeing the excitement from a few seconds ago disguise itself as acceptance. I can't bear to take it away from her, so I decide to step out of my comfort zone. "No, no, I'll go," I say, trying to sound as convincing as possible.
"Really?" she asks, perking up again.
"Sure," I say. "Why not?"
"Oh, good," she says, sneaking a kiss on my cheek. "It's this weekend, on Saturday."
We talk about what ideas we have for costumes, and she tells me that she's already decided to be a flapper. "I know it's cliché and dumb," she says. "Believe me. But I like Daisy Gatsby, so sue me."
I giggle. "I'm not judging," I say. "It's better than a nurse or a cop."
She raises her lip in disgust. "Oh, ew. But what do you bet we'll see like, a million of those at the party?"
I nod. "Definitely."
I can't think of something to be yet, but I'm sure something will come to mind before Saturday.
KATNISS
After school on Friday, I'm walking to meet Peeta when Madge and Jo intercept me. "Katniss," Madge calls out, sounding excited. They catch up to me and I stop walking, and we lean against the wall near the front doors of the school. "Finally."
I give her a confused look. "We've hardly seen you all week," Jo clarifies. "Been with your man. It's almost like we don't exist anymore…"
I scoff and roll my eyes. "Oh, come on. That's not true."
Madge giggles. "It's kinda true."
"Are you going to Clove's party tomorrow?" Jo asks. "I was gonna ask you earlier in the week, but I never got a chance."
"Yeah," I say. "I am going."
"As what?" Madge asks.
"With who?" Jo asks. "Peeta, right?" Her face turns sour. "I mean, obviously…since you haven't brought it up to us."
"I mean, you guys will be there…" I say, clasping my hands together. "It's not like I won't see you."
"It's okay, Katniss," Madge says. "We pretty much knew that already."
"I mean, I was kind of hoping you'd let us know sooner so we or sure wouldn't have to worry about picking a three-way costume," Jo grumbles.
"Well, we didn't," Madge says.
"Nothing could beat our Mean Girls tribute last year," Jo says. "But I was still trying to think of something the three of us could be."
"Me and you are already being The Shining twins," Madge says, looking at Jo confusedly. "I told you Katniss was going to go with Peeta."
"Yeah," I say. "Don't worry about including me. I'm gonna be a flapper."
Jo nods, but doesn't look happy. "Even though we go together every year."
"What is going on?" I ask, trying to lay everything out on the table. "You were never this mad when I dated Gale. What is it about Peeta that makes you so jealous?"
She looks at me defensively. "I'm not jealous," she says.
"You seem like it," I say.
"Well, I'm not."
Madge sighs. "She just misses you, Katniss. We both do. You're with Peeta a lot, and when you're not with him, you're taking care of Prim. Which I get, but still." She touches my shoulder. "We're best friends. We just miss having you around."
"You give a shit about this guy," Jo says. "I can tell. And I think that's great. But when you were with Gale, I don't know, I don't really think you gave a shit, so you were with us way more." I giggle. "What? It's true."
"You really like him, don't you?" Madge asks, eyes glinting.
I blush. "Yeah," I admit.
"Knew it," Jo says.
There's a moment of silence between us, and then Jo speaks up again. "We were about to go to the mall to find some last-minute costume things. Do you want to come with?" She pauses for a minute before saying, "You better not already have plans."
I glance behind me and see Peeta sauntering toward us, fixing his backpack straps. He waves when we lock eyes, and I wiggle my fingers back at him. "I'll go," I say. "Just…give me a minute." I trot away from them and meet up with him halfway, and hold onto either of his arms. "I'm gonna go to the mall with Madge and Jo," I tell him, and skim my hands down his arms to hold onto his fingers. "I know we were supposed to ride home-"
"It's okay," he says lightly. "Go. I'll be fine riding by myself this one day." He rolls his eyes at himself. "I finally won't have to share the snacks."
"Whatever," I say. "Save some for me. Maybe you can come over later."
"Okay," he says, and lands a kiss on my cheek. After he pulls away, I take his face in my hands and plant a kiss on his lips, and when I look at him again his cheeks are a brilliant red.
"I'll text you," I say, and then wave at him before heading back to the girls.
"Jesus, get a room," Jo murmurs, and bumps me with her shoulder as we head out the doors to Madge's car.
When we get to the mall, we ride the escalator upstairs and I'm headed towards the costume store, but Jo gets distracted by the enticing Victoria's Secret store instead. "Come on guys," she insists, pausing in front of it. "Let's go in."
"Jo…" I groan, and drag my feet.
"I just want to look!" she promises, and pulls us both inside by our arms. She scurries ahead and Madge gets caught talking to a salesgirl, so I find something to occupy myself while they both take their time. I stop at the big, rectangular table that's covered with folded underwear, and spend time holding up various pairs that look barely like scraps of fabric, let alone anything that would sufficiently cover anything on my body.
As I'm widening my eyes at an unbearably tiny thong, I hear a voice behind me. "We actually have a sale going on right now, 5 for $27.50, if you're interested." I turn around and see a smiling, eager-looking salesgirl. "What size are you?"
"Oh, god, I don't know," I say, and drop the underwear. "I was just-"
"A small," I hear Jo say, appearing out of nowhere.
"Jo, no," I hiss, gritting my teeth. "I don't need…"
"Come on, Katniss, just one," Madge says, appearing alongside us.
Jo wiggles her eyebrows. "You might want them."
I turn my back on the girl helping us, but she stays put. "What do you mean?" I ask, knitting my eyebrows together.
"You…and Peeta…" Jo sings, and Madge giggles, which only encourages her. "I've seen your underwear before and they're pathetic. So boring. You get them in packs from Wal-Mart and share them with your sister."
"I do not," I say under my breath.
"Basically," Jo say. "You need one pair. One. One that you can feel good in, and that you're going to want him to see."
I widen my eyes and glance between them. "Why are you talking like I'm going to be sleeping with him tomorrow?"
"You can't plan these things," Madge says. "You never know."
"I do know," I say. "And it's not going to be anytime soon."
"So save them," Jo says, and catches the attention of the girl again. "She just needs one. One pair that her boyfriend will really like. What do you think?"
I'm about to drown in my own shame. I'm glad the lighting in here is dim, or else they'd all see how red my face has turned.
"Oh, I have the perfect pair," she says, wiggling her fingers over the folded piles. "Here. Take a look at these." She holds them up. "You seem like a pretty modest girl, and this is a mix between safe and sexy." It's not a thong, but they still don't look like they'd cover that much of my butt. They're pink and sparkly with a white lace waistband, and I know I'd never buy them if not for these three pressuring me.
"I don't know…" I say.
"She'll take them," Jo says, and snatches them from the girl. "Thank you so much." Before I can say anything in protest, she hurries to the checkout counter and buys them for me, then shoves the tissue paper-filled bag at me once she's paid. "Enjoy," she says saucily.
When I get home later in the evening, I exchange a few texts with Peeta telling him to come over whenever he wants so we can watch a movie. My dad is working third shift and Prim is at a friend's house for a sleepover tonight, and my mom is locked up in her room as usual. The house is quiet, and having him here will definitely make it feel less creepy.
While I wait for Peeta to get here, I sit on the edge of my bed and stare at the tiny, pink Victoria's Secret bag that I threw on the chair in the corner. After looking out the window to make sure he's not pulling up, I walk over to the bag and pull the underwear out. I hold them up, shaking my head and how tiny they seem, and then rip the tag off. Feeling paranoid, I pull my curtains closed and then take my leggings off, then replace the underwear I was wearing with the brand new ones I just got.
They're more comfortable than I imagined they would be, which is nice. I'm nervous to look at myself in the mirror, I've never worn something like this before, but I make myself. I stand in front of it and graze my eyes up my body until I can take it all in. They don't look bad, not at all. They're actually pretty cute. They're really low-rise, not comfortable to wear under jeans, but I'd be lying to myself if I said that these weren't something I would want Peeta to see someday.
I do a spin and look at my butt in them and am pleasantly surprised. Just enough is peeking out where the fabric ends, and that fact makes me look curvier than I actually am. I can't help it; I smile at my reflection after giving myself another once-over. Wearing these makes me feel good, so I keep them on while I clean some stuff up from my bedroom floor and tidy up my dressers.
While I'm lost in my own world, I vaguely hear a knock on the door from all the way downstairs. My heart drops to my feet and all the blood rushes to my face, and I immediately freeze up.
"Hold on a sec!" I shout down, after cracking my door open. I shuck the underwear off and fumble for a clean pair of leggings, which I yank on haphazardly because of the hurry I'm in. "Coming, coming."
I get to the bottom of the stairs probably looking discombobulated, but when I open the front door Peeta is smiling all the same. "Hey," he says, and I open the door wider so he can step in. "What took you?"
"Was finishing up something," I say, and suddenly realize that I left the underwear lying in the middle of my floor. My stomach is still jumping, and remembering that only makes it worse. "Um, so…what movie were you thinking?"
He starts in on a long tangent, but it's hard for me to listen because those little panties are all that I can think of. When he's done talking and I didn't hear so much as a single thing he said, I say, "Okay, so let's go up to my room. I have some DVDs up there. I just…" I position myself in front of him on the stairs so I'll get through the door first. "Come with me."
"I've been here before, you remember that, right?" he asks, a joking tone in his voice.
I struggle to laugh. I push open the door to my room and hurry to pick up the underwear before he can see them, then shove them into my top drawer and slam it shut. Crisis averted.
"What's going on with you?" he asks. "Did I come at a bad time, or…?"
"No, no," I say, finally feeling more relaxed. "It's fine. You're perfectly fine. I'm okay. Just, you know…" I flop down on my bed and leave my legs hanging off the side. "Just ready to relax and watch a movie."
He sits down next to me. "Same here. Been a long week."
"For sure."
He runs his fingers tentatively through my hair and I close my eyes from his touch. I can feel that my t-shirt has ridden up a little bit from my pants, but I don't bother with adjusting it. I feel comfortable around him.
"Do you know what you're going to be for the party yet?" I ask, opening my eyes to look up at him. He's been studying me while my eyes were closed, but now he darts his gaze away from my face.
"I think so," he says. "I think I'm gonna be Waldo. You know, like, Where's Waldo?" I giggle and lightly roll my eyes. "Geeky, I know. But it was a simple find; I just had to get the striped sweater and some glasses."
"I can't wait to see you in those glasses," I say, laughing.
"Yeah, I look really great," he scoffs, and shakes his head at himself.
"I'm sure you do," I say, then sit up. "Do you wanna pick a movie?"
We end up watching all of Radio, and I get sleepy once it nears the end. I can feel my eyes threatening to close, and my head falls to rest on Peeta's shoulder once I can't keep it upright anymore.
When I hear the credits rolling in my subconscious, I lift my head and blink my eyes to reorient myself. "Oh god," I say, pointing my toes in a big stretch. "I fell asleep."
"Yeah, you did," Peeta says, chuckling. "It's okay, though. It's kinda late."
I look at his eyes for a moment and then divert my attention to the placement of our bodies on my small bed. It's only twin-sized, so there isn't much room for us to stretch out, and no matter what way we turn our bodies would be touching somehow. With the way we're sitting now, our hips are pressed tight up against each other with his left arm wrapped around my shoulders to keep me close. One of my feet is resting between both of his, which has intertwined our ankles, and I feel a swell of something I can't name rush up my body when he takes one of my hands in his own.
I look up at him and with our close proximity, our noses are only inches apart. I lean closer and kiss him, resting one of my hands flat on his chest as I do so. My heart is beating so hard that it feels like it might burst through my chest, and with my luck he can probably feel it, too. His lips are soft and plush; pliant against mine when I press into him. His hand that had been holding mine swipes some hair away from my face as we still kiss, and then maps out over my neck. His thumb rests over my pulse point, and his fingers on the base of my skull.
He never touches lower than my shoulders, and that doesn't go unnoticed by me. It's obvious that we're going by my pace, and I'm perfectly okay with that. That's something that I never had with Gale; everything was always about what he wanted. Now, it's exactly the opposite.
I move my lips away from his mouth and redirect them to his jaw, then to the space between his earlobe and neck, and then his throat. He makes a soft sound, and I can feel the buzz from it hit my lips, and it makes me smile.
Just seconds later after I've buried my hands in his thick, blonde hair, my phone rings on the nightstand behind me. It makes us both jump and pull away from each other like we've been caught doing something wrong, and I notice that I'm not the only one breathing heavily.
"Hold on," I say, holding up a finger absentmindedly. "Hello?"
"Hi." I hear Prim's small voice on the other line, sounding sleepy and young.
"Hey, Prim. What's up?" I ask, sitting up fully and trying to smooth down my hair. I straighten my clothes and can feel my eyebrows furrowing, wondering what she could be calling for.
"Can you come get me?" she asks. "I wanna come home."
"I, um…" I look back at Peeta, who must be able to hear her voice through the phone, because he nods. "Sure. I'll be there soon." I hang up the phone and pull on a hoodie from the floor, then stand up from the bed. "You don't mind driving me?" I ask. "I have no idea why she wants to come back."
"It's totally fine," he says, now standing too. "She needs you, and I can help. So why wouldn't I?" He smiles at me and then follows me out of my room.
In his car, I reach for his hand over the console and we keep our fingers laced together while he drives. It's not far to Prim's friend's house, and when we pull up in the driveway I can see her silhouette standing in the window, already waiting.
I get to the front door and once it's opened, I'm met with the weight of my sister against me. She wraps her arms tight around my waist and I touch the back of her head while talking to her friend's mother. "Is everything alright?" I ask.
She nods. "Everything's fine. Prim just got a little homesick."
I look down at my sister and she tips her chin up to look back at me. "I wanted you," she peeps.
"Okay," I say, and pet her hair. "We'll go home." I thank the woman and then keep my arm around Prim as I lead her to Peeta's car.
"Peeta's here?" she asks, her eyes lighting up as she opens the back door of the car.
"Hey, Prim," he says, looking back in the rearview mirror.
"Hi!"
"Was the party lame?" he asks, waiting to back out until she buckles up. Once she does, he reverses out of the driveway with expert ease.
"Yeah," she says, a bit shy now.
"She probably heard that we were hanging out, then got jealous and wanted to join us," I say, turning around and smiling at her to let her know I'm joking.
"No…" she says, but smirks.
"Right to bed when we get home," I say. "It's late."
"Is Peeta sleeping over?" she asks hopefully.
He and I exchange a knowing, if not a bit bashful, glance. "No, I uh, I have to get home," he says. "Thanks for the invite, though."
He pulls back up into our driveway, and I wait until Prim has gathered all of her stuff and is in the house before leaning down through his rolled-down window to kiss him. "You're picking me up for the party tomorrow, right?" I ask.
He nods. "I'll be here at 7. Be ready, flapper."
I snort. "Hopefully I can find you, Waldo."
"Dumb," he says. "Didn't even try."
"Shut up," I say, and rest my arms on the top of his car as I keep my head level with his. I glance toward my house, where I can see Prim peeking out of the curtains in the living room to spy on us. "I better go," I say, and kiss him again.
When I get inside, she storms me before I can even take off my shoes. "You were kissing Peeta," she says excitedly.
"Yeah," I say, and pull off my hoodie to hang it over a hook. "And?"
She shrugs, but is almost buzzing with excitement. I watch her for a second, and then roll my eyes and laugh at her. "Shut up, Prim," I say.
"I didn't say anything," she says, in a singsong tone.
"It's bedtime," I say, and push her in the direction of the stairs. "Up. Up. Time to go to sleep."
PEETA
Getting ready for the party is easy. All I have to do is throw on a pair of jeans, my red-and-white striped sweater that I bought from Target, nerdy-looking glasses, and a Waldo-like hat. I look in the mirror once I'm all dressed and raise my eyebrows at myself. I could've picked something less lame, that's for sure, but I'm stuck with this now.
When Katniss comes out of her house, I can't take my eyes off of her. She has on a short, black dress with fringe hanging off of it, fishnet stockings, black pumps, and a feathery headpiece to top it all off with. She's wearing red lipstick and a lot of bronzer, which makes her gray eyes stand out even more than usual.
Instead of walking to the passenger's side like usual, she comes to my side and gestures for me to roll down the window. "Hey," she says, and I can hear annoyance in her voice. Suddenly I'm suddenly nervous that she's going to cancel our plans and that, even more, all of this was a huge joke and she never planned on going with me in the first place.
"What's up?" I ask. "Is something wrong?"
"I…" She sighs, popping her weight to one side and glancing back towards her front door, where I now see that Prim is waiting. "I hate to ask you this. But I just found out, and…" She throws her hands up. "I don't really have a choice, I guess. My dad just sprung this on me. I have to take her trick-or-treating. It shouldn't take that long. Do you want to come with us? You don't have to. You can wait inside, if you want, until we're finished. I just had no idea I'd have to take her, my dad just left for work and like, I get it, but he never tells me anything ahead of time and I had no time to plan, and-"
"Katniss," I say calmly, cutting her off. "It's totally fine." I turn the car off and glance at Prim, and see that a huge smile has made its way to her face. "I'm cool with going with you guys. I miss trick-or-treating anyway." I get out of the car and call out to Prim, "Hey, where's my candy bag?"
She dissolves into a fit of giggles and beside me, Katniss's relief is almost palpable. "You're too big to trick-or-treat!" Prim tells me. She's dressed up like Little Red Riding hood, complete with a cape that flounces around when she jumps. The costume looks homemade, which I'm guessing is Katniss's doing.
"Way to crush my dreams," I say, pretending to sock her on the shoulder. She just laughs and looks to Katniss for validation, which she gets in the form of a forced-looking grin.
"Well, come on then. Let's get going," Katniss says. "I don't want you out past dark."
"Why?" Prim asks, as we walk down the driveway.
Katniss wraps one arm around her sister's shoulders. "It's not safe," she says.
"What's not safe?"
"Prim," Katniss warns. "Go up to that house. Their light's on, ring the bell." We wait at the end of a yard as Prim bounces up to the first house. Her voice saying 'trick or treat!' can be faintly heard from where we stand, and we watch the older couple hand her a few treats. "Thanks for coming and not making a big deal out of it or anything," she says to me as Prim surveys what candy she got.
"Why would I make a big deal?" I ask, as Prim runs up the path to the next house.
She shrugs. "I don't know. Gale would've."
"Oh," I say. "Him. Well…"
"I know, I know, you're not him." She scoffs. "Not in a million years." She stands on her tiptoes and gives me a chaste kiss, which makes my heart start pounding.
"Plus, I know the feeling," I say. "My older brothers got tired of taking me when I was around ten. After that, Halloween was always pretty boring. So I'm glad to make it fun for her."
"She's definitely having the time of her life," Katniss says, linking her arm with mine as we walk behind Prim on the street one over from ours. "She couldn't give a shit that I'm here. She's just happy that you came."
"Oh, I know," I say, and she bumps me with her shoulder.
After we walk around half our neighborhood, Prim starts lagging and becoming more interested in looking in her candy bag than finding more houses to walk up to. Katniss directs our route back home, and I wait in the car while she walks Prim inside and gets her set up for the night.
Once she comes back outside, I can see the TV playing Hocus Pocus on their small-screen TV. "Mom's home and everything, but…" She cranes her neck to get a last look at her sister. "I don't know. Should I feel bad?"
"Do you want to stay?" I ask.
"No, not really," she says. "I'm excited for this party." She's quiet for a moment, and then Prim walks up to the window and blows out a kiss. I watch Katniss return it, and then wave and smile at her little sister. "Okay, she'll be okay. We won't be that late. I told her that." She turns to me now. "Let's go."