The next few days flew by. There was still no word on when we would be able to go home. I spent my time with Clove teaching me more on how to present myself. She covered more than I could even imagine. Who knew talking to people was such an art. The confusion was still there, but it was easier to hide and I was getting more and more used to the emotion. I barely ever found myself dwelling on the past, begging for the mask's escape.
The days when Clove disappeared, most likely to do her dirty work on my behalf, which she was hellbent on accomplishing, was spent getting to know the other tributes. I had grown 'close' to a few, but none of them to the extent of Clove. I even ran into Peeta a few times, but played stupid and kept our conversations to a minimum. The last thing I needed was to make a fool of myself worse than I already had.
He stopped me one time, telling me how he and Clove were getting to know each other more and that he wished I would be there as well. The kid seemed to want to know everyone. I didn't know if it was just his personality or if he just had that way with words. Clove tells me he's just a smooth talker, but who really knows.
I avoided Thresh and his crew, knowing that he and Peeta had become close, just in case I accidently slip something. I mainly talked to the others, keeping conversation light, only trying to be polite before disappearing to my room to mull over that day's emotions.
I was getting much better, regret wasn't so dominating anymore, but then again I had nothing to feel guilty about lately. The only problem was that one emotion that never let up. The one that made the least sense to me: my feelings for Peeta Mellark. They kept me up at night, and Clove started to notice. She disappeared more than ever lately, probably trying to push Peeta into spilling something for my benefit.
It all left me very lonely, finding myself longing for the girl to return to me spouting off her latest news that never held any interest to me, but liking her company none the less.
Nothing was really happening at the moment. Cassie, who turned out to be an even bigger bimbo than I thought, was chatting up at storm to Alex and Surge. I didn't care much, paying more attention to my orange. The damn things were stuck in my mind, and I craved them more than usual as of late. I blamed the sunrise. Something so simple, yet so beautiful for the first time.
"CATO!"
I was ripped from my thoughts of the orange. The crash of Clove busting into the dinning room caused a huge commotion. Cassie had shut up and everyone looked in her direction. I only stared at her. She found me, there wasn't anything to say. She was obviously the one with the news.
"Why are you just sitting there? Come on!" She shouted to me. As I stood I watched her eyes, I could tell something was up and it would probably be a long conversation. I grabbed the rest of my orange before walking across the dinning room to join her.
I watched her closely as I approached, feeling the weight of the orange in my hand gave me the confidence to continue. Until I saw Peeta Mellark walk in behind her.
Stopping my advance, not noticing I had squeezed the life out of my orange until I felt the juice running down my pant leg. Fan-fucking-tastic. That's all I needed, a huge wet stain on my pants infront of Peeta.
The look Clove gave me made me realize I had been standing there to long. I unfortunately dropped the remains of my orange and began to walk towards the two again, not really wanting to talk to Clove anymore. My only comfort was the uncomfortable look Peeta had on his face. Obviously he wasn't enjoying this anymore than I was. Somehow it made me feel a little better.
After what felt like forever to cross the room, I forced myself to words, "What's up Clove?"
"Hold on," she said. Seriously? You bust into a room and shout for me and then tell me to hold on? She turned to Peeta. "Would you mind giving us a moment?"
The question was directed at Peeta, who shrugged, "Of course not." Polite as ever. He looked around, trying to spot someone he could join. He sighed sending a shiver down my spine. God dammit, this kids' effect on me was getting a little over the top. Peeta walked away, joining Cassie and my old group. Something about him didn't seem right, and I no longer cared about Clove. All I wanted was to sit next to him and find out what was wrong. Dammit, the new part of me that cared was still foreign.
"Follow me." Clove stated harshly. She followed my gaze, finding Peeta at the end of it. "Now."
I didn't really have any say in the mater; Clove had grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the dinning room into the training center. She kept pulling me until I found my footing and could keep up with her. Something seemed urgent and she wanted the privacy.
She finally stopped, spinning towards me with that school girl smile planted all over her face. I was either going to be very bored or very intersted in what she had to say. She kept starring at me with that damn smile.
"What?" I finally asked.
"You aren't even going to believe me if I tell you." She exclaimed. I was scared now, gossip Clove was terrifying. I couldn't determine if it was more or less terrifying than perverted or defensive Clove…
"I was trying to pull information out of Peeta, probably a little harder than I initially meant to…" She started, she kept playing with her thumbs, but the topic of Peeta caught my interest. "But you can't blame me! No one knows how long we'll be here and you have been a wreck without me around so I kinda forced it."
"Clove, quit the babbling." There was a time for babbling, but it wasn't now. "What about Peeta?"
"Well, I don't know for sure." She looked nervous again. "Mainly because he wouldn't tell me everything, but I did get him to cave a little! At least before that lesbo Katniss walked in."
Katniss? Oh, that's right. The girl from District 12 that made no attempt to talk to anyone. Even I at least made an attempt to bond with the other tributes. It mainly failed, but I tried. Plus, Clove was convinced she was in love with her cousin Gale. Fucking Christ, why do I know so much about this. What have I become?
"Anyway, what I was able to fish out was that he's interested in someone."Clove shouted.
"Congratulations!"I mocked, "Isn't everyone interested in someone? I mean even me, the guy who finally learned emotion, is interested in someone."
"Blow me." She retorted. "I was prying, because that's what I do best, and I went through every single female tribute."
I only starred at her. "And?" I asked, "Like he couldn't like someone back home?"
"But he told me the person he wanted was a tribute!" Clove was way too excited. "And lets be honest, if he had no interest in me, then he is obviously into men."
I still wasn't really getting her point, aside that Peeta was into one of the male tributes. Clove was watching me with a dumbstruck face.
Oh. Well now I felt really stupid.
"There you go, big guy." Clove smiled as everything clicked into place. "Katniss busted out of her room being all emo and dyky before I could get anymore information. Peeta looked pretty embarassed by the whole conversation. I think he's still a little weirded out by it."
Wait, something didn't make sense. "What makes you think he isn't screwing with you?" I thought it was a valid question. The guy isn't exactly anti-social. Why, of all people, would he pick Clove to confide in?
"You kidding me?" Clove exclaimed, tilting forward on her toes. "I've been hanging out with him more lately than I have with you. I got you to crack like a walnut in only one day! What makes you think I couldn't crack him in three?"
Maybe because he actually has friends? I didn't say it, knowing it was only a dig on myself.
"From what I see, all sings point to you." I was still in denial, not really believing what she was telling me. She must have noticed because she started to explain. "Ever since the first time you met him, I'm sure you remember. The day you pretty much blew your load infront of everyone because he touched you; he still wanted to talk to you."
"He was just being polite." I said. The kid was nice to everyone.
"Please, he practically lit up when I asked to hang out with him." Her eyes were starting to scare me. It seemed like she was getting more out of this than I was. "Every now and then I'd get a 'Where's Cato?', 'Why didn't Cato join us?', 'How's Cato doing? I haven't seen him in a while'. Lets be honest, he wasn't in the friendship for me." She stopped.
"Actually, I feel a little used." Oh boy, the look in Cloves' eyes changed and she looked furious all of a sudden. As usual, it faded fast and her 'innocence' returned.
"Never mind that," Clove recovered. "Get your ass in there and talk to him!"
"But I don't know what to say." I answered.
"Improvise!" She was pushing us back to the dinning room, "I've taught you enough, now figure it out! I'll be close by if you need me."
We both walked back into the dinning room, I immediately froze when Peeta turned to look at me. All of a sudden I had stage fright. It was stupid. 'Cato, go slice up that dummy'. 'Cato, let him go, it's only a training!' I could have strangled a person to death without any fear of my own life, but now I was stuck at the gaze of a boy. Clove shoved me. Apparently I was losing my awareness as well; I use to be able to block attacks from behind, now I'm tripping all over the place.
I clumsily regained my composure and walked towards them, waving at Peeta. He waved back and that familiar heat began to build up inside me. He stood and started to walk towards me.
We were face to face, neither of us had said a word. I noticed his eyes drift and his nostrils flare. What? Who the hell does that?
"Do I smell oranges?" He broke the silence. I was speechless, only watching his reactions, the heat starting to ignite. That's right! I had forgot about the orange I crushed only minutes ago, my pants still sticky from the drying juice. I glanced down at my leg and instantly regreted it.
His gaze followed mine and he saw the wet streaks down my leg. If I couldn't move before I didn't know, because now I was stuck: frozen with fear. He laughed and all I wanted to do was run, hide my embarassment and pretend the whole thing never happened.
He smiled, the words escaping his mouth, "I love oranges."
A/N: Derpy derp derp. That's all I got... Loving the love by the way. Didn't think so many people would like this story. I love you all, thank you for making this story that much more fun to write!