A/N-THANKS FOR ALL OF THE REVIEWS! I REALLY APPRECIATE IT! Eight more reviews and I'll update tomorrow! REVIEW AGIN, PLEASE!

All different emotions overtake me at once. Extreme sadness overtakes me first. It was all in my head. Peeta never loved me. I was just a friend. That's all I was to him, or was I?

Hope fills me next as I think that maybe it was just a lie. Yeah, all just one big misunderstanding. I can't fool myself for a minute, though. He can lie well. Trust me, I've seen him do it. I don't know how, but I can just tell. I don't know how to explain it other than that.

I walk and think and try to sort my thoughts and emotions. I hear someone calling my name. I assume it's someone who cares for my wellbeing or some crap like that. I'm just not in the mood for being someone's charity case right now.

"Madge," the man is getting irritated. Oh, he sounds familiar…

"What do you want, Gale," I yell back, not bothering to turn around.

"Can you at least stop and look at me?"

"What do you want, Gale."

"What the hell, Madge? Mrs. Everdeen is worried, Prim is worried. Everyone is worried why you took off so quick."

I continue to powerwalk and don't look back. I don't want him to see the tears that are flooding my eyes. "Oh, don't start acting dumb now, Hawthorne. You know why I took off."

"Oh, so now you're calling me Hawthorne? I thought you said people should be called by their first names."

"Oh, shut up. I'm not in the mood." I still refuse to look at him.

"Anyway, what do you want me to say?" I don't answer. What? About what? "When they ask why you left," he clarifies.
"Say seeing them was too much for me to handle or some crap like that."

I realize that I subconsciously chose the meadow as my location. That makes the tears overflow. This was the place where Peeta and I spent many hours goofing around, holding hands, and just enjoying each other's company. All of that will be gone whether he comes back or not.

I don't notice I stopped in front of the meadow until Gale catches up to me. "What's wrong?"

It's surprising Gale cares, or maybe he's just trying to be polite. Probably the latter. "You know how the woods is a special place you share with Katniss?"

I finally observe Gale's face. It's emotionless. "Yes."

"This was our place." The tears tumble down my face rapidly, but I ignore them as much as I can.

"He could've been lying," Gale offers. I just shake my head.

"He wasn't lying. I can tell when he's lying."

Gale stands in silence with me as we stare at the meadow. It's quite pretty. Beyond the fence, though, is where I really want to be. All the trees grow big and tall. No Peacekeepers. No one to judge you. Just freedom.

"Do you think she does, too," he asks, interrupting my daydream. I look at him confusedly.

"Huh?"

"Do you think she has feelings for him, too?"

I think back to all the times I was near Katniss. I never really noticed what she was doing. I was too busy staring at Peeta half of the time. There were times, though, when she glanced in his direction, but I always assumed that was to see who I was staring at. She was very interested in the wrestling match Peeta was in, though…

"I never really noticed." Just because my hope is ruined doesn't mean his has to be. We stand in silence.

"Well, this sucks," I blurt out, forgetting I wasn't alone.

"What?"

"The loves of our lives," I say while gesturing between us, "are supposedly in love with each other. What sucky luck."

"And in the Hunger Games," he adds. I sit down to get more comfortable in the grass. He sits, too.

"Have you dropped hints," I ask. I'm sorry, I just have to know. I don't see Gale as a big romantic.

"Many and she hasn't picked up on one. I bet she's still clueless. Gosh that girl just can't figure it out," he says as he throws his hands up in the air.

"I hear ya. I just don't know if he's pretending not to notice to be nice, or if he really doesn't get it!" I moan as I lay in the soft grass. "I tried to tell him at the Justice Building, but I guess I was scared and now it's too late." He could come back, but then Katniss won't. He'll feel guilty when it was never his fault. He won't have the constant bubbly attitude. "Idiot," I mutter to myself.

I peep at Gale through the corner or my eye to make sure I didn't scare him off. He's still there. He appears to be deep in thought. I wait for Gale to respond, but he doesn't.

"What did you say to her?"

"Some survival tips. That kind of stuff. Reassurance. I'm scared for her, though. Did you see District 2?" Why is he trying to change the subject? Huh, odd.

"Yeah, I did. What do you think they did to get such high scores?"

"Cato, he probably relies on brute strength, mostly. Probably uses some kind of weapon. I don't know about Clove. She could be agile, and I know she has to have a weapon for that high of a score. She must be pretty good at it, too."

His logic all makes sense to me. Agility can't really get you that high of a score, and neither can brute strength.

"Can I ask you a question," Gale asks.

"What?"

"Why are you so interested with that little girl…Lu?"

"Rue?" He nods his head. "Well…I guess she's just so young."

"That's it?"

"Doesn't she kinda look like Prim?"

"I guess."

Hm…Gale is being really nice today. Huh. I never saw that coming. Maybe we're just missing our partners. He misses Katniss, and I remind him of her. I miss Peeta and he fills that empty space in my life. That makes sense. That's probably the only thing that draws us together. We've never even had a decent conversation until Peeta and Katniss left. It all makes perfect sense.

Gale stands up and informs me he has to go eat dinner. I wave as he begins to stride away.

"Okay, see you later, Hawthorne!" I just couldn't resist.
He turns around and shows a hint of a smile. "See ya, Undersee!"

"Oh, shut up," I say jokingly.

He turns back around and continues the journey to his home. He's really not that bad, actually. I was expecting a mean, stubborn, opinionated guy, but he's different.

I'm filling in an empty spot of his life, though, and he's filling mine. This is only temporary, and I'm sure he knows it, too. When the Games are over, we'll go back to our old lives.

Or what's left of it.

A/N-THANK YOU FOR ALL OF THE AMAZING REVIEWS! LOVE YOU ALL! I'll update tomorrow if I get eight reviews! REVIEW, PLEASE!