Chapter 2: Surprises
Cressida POV
A week after I got back, Peeta had asked if our house would help us throw a barbecue in Katniss' honor. Of course, Heather and Sae said yes. The only catch was that we had to keep it a surprise. I chuckled. Keeping a surprise from a two time Hunger Games victors would be difficult indeed. Heather and Sae would be part of the cooking crew. One of my jobs was to collect flowers. As I was beginning a garden in front of my yard, that was a nice pretense.
The morning of the barbecue I actually was planting some of the flowers that had been taken out of the meadow when I felt something nudge me on the leg. I jumped and turned. Buttercup was staring at me. "Are you locked out?" I asked him. I reached out toward him, but he backed away. I went over to Katniss' house and knocked on the door. There was no answer. Buttercup was still watching me. Suddenly he mewed and pounced at something to his right. He was in hot pursuit of something on the ground, but I didn't see anything. Maybe he spotted a bug.Someone chuckled and I looked over at Peeta's house. Pollux was in the front yard luring Buttercup in with a flashlight. He would sometimes zig-zag the light at odd intervals as he was drawing Buttercup toward the house. As Buttercup's feet skidded to a stop after running to the side, the rest of him flopped over. I couldn't help but laugh. Buttercup pounced on the little spot of light that finally landed on Pollux' shoes. He whined as Pollux picked him up. To my surprise, Pollux didn't get a claw across his face. "Nice tactic." I commented. Pollux nodded his thanks. He closed the door. A few minutes later, the door opened again. Pollux came out with a note that he pinned to Katniss' door.
Sae and Heather came over to help Peeta prepare the food and set up the house when they got off work. It seemed like half of the district was invited. "Ok, everyone!" Peeta said calling everyone into the living room. "Katniss will be home in about ten minutes, so we should all hide." Sae hid in the kitchen, Other people hid in closets and in the bedrooms. I went to hide in the downstairs bathroom, but Peeta beckoned me to stay in the living room.
"She likes talking to you, so you're a nice distraction. Besides, you and Pollux haven't had a chance to hang out much." Peeta explained. Seconds after I had plopped myself on the couch, Katniss walked in the door.
"Peeta?" She called.
"Yeah?" Peeta asked from the kitchen.
"When did Pollux become friends with Buttercup?" She asked suspiciously. Sure enough, Buttercup was curled up in Pollux's lap. Unbeknownst to her, Pollux had been befriending Buttercup to lure him to Peeta's house. Peeta bit his lip. He knew Katniss was on to something. Pollux grinned and began signing toward Katniss. I translated:
"Buttercup reminds me of the twins Castor and I had. I just couldn't resist playing with him as you were kind enough to leave the door open for him."
"I - left the door open? I'm sure I locked it this morning." Katniss said confused.
"The back door, hon." Peeta said. "Buttercup wandered over here for a bit of fun."
"Haha. Fun the whole day?" Katniss said rolling her eyes. She had Buttercup in her arms as he jumped off of Pollux's lap after he realized Pollux's hands were occupied with signing rather than stroking his fur. "And how did you guys entertain him? I'm sure you didn't have a flashlight party the whole time I was gone."
"Nope." Peeta grinned. That opening was brilliant. "This party's just beginning!" He said loudly. Katniss groaned seconds before people started coming out of nowhere.
"We can still pull surprises on you, sweetheart!" Haymitch chuckled as he stepped out of the wine closet. He uncorked a second bottle of wine and set it on the table. Sae and Heather set out a buffet of roast venison, fresh vegetables, and a wide sampling of dinner rolls with varying spices and oils baked in. About 40 guests sat around two long picnic tables in Peeta's back yard.
"And what would a party be without a cake? Peeta, bring it on out!" Haymich called as the sun was nearly down and the dinner platters inside were well cleaned out. We were all nearly bursting with food, but Haymich and Peeta had reminded the crowd to save room for cake. Peeta brought out a large platter. Everyone was held in suspense. Haymich took the lid off as Peeta got down on one knee in front of Katniss. Everyone gasped and stared at the magnificantly frosted and shaped cake. The cake was a ring frosted to look like a real silver ring with a glistening diamond at the top.
"Katniss - our lives are truly ours to live now. Will - will you live your life with me? Would you marry me?" Katniss was speechless. We were all holding our breaths.
"Do I have to eat this cake or somehow wear it around my finger?" Katniss asked after a long pause. She grinned a bit and winked at him. Peeta stared at her blankly. "Of course, Peeta!" She laughed. Everyone cheered. Peeta reached into the frosting and pulled out a real ring and after wiping it off, put it on Katniss' finger. Heather and I were screeching and the other guests were laughing or crying or both.
"Let's kiss - there are no cameras watching!" After what seemed like ten minutes, they finally surfaced for air. Most of the women in the crowd 'awwed' and were misty-eyed. Marriages were up now that the revolution was over and people were more hopeful about the future. I briefly wondered if marriage was in my future as we congratulated Peeta and Katniss.
Pollux POV
Peeta and Katniss' real engagement was the talk of the town and eventually the rest of District 12 for two weeks. That also meant Peeta basically lived at Katniss' house and Katniss basically lived at our house. Sometimes I felt like the third wheel, but I would find something to occupy my time like learning about new filming techniques or following up on some old piping projects from my other job. It was still fun hanging out with Peeta (and by extension Katniss), but I was happy when the film crew was given a two day assignment in District 6.
"We're sending a massive supply of bicycles out to the districts." The manager of the bicycle factory said. "Dunno why the Capitol was so stingy in forbidding the ordinary citizen to have one." He shrugged. "Now, you've ridden before, correct?" He asked Cressida who nodded. He picked her because she wasn't suited up in camera gear like myself and our newest cameraman, Mark.
"Yeah. When I was eight." Cressida quipped. "I think I can still go a few paces for you, though." I chuckled to myself. Always being humble. I thought with a smile. She hopped on the bike and slowly started pedaling.
"Where do you want to go?" The manager asked her.
"Oh - down the street, I guess." Cressida said shrugging. She started down while Mark and I followed. I pulled glasses that gave me a view of what my cameras were seeing and it was a good shot. I pulled them off of my face as Cressida started down a hill. "Oh - haha - I didn't know about the hill - AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" She yelped. I was vaugely aware of someone else yelping as I ran to help her. She swerved to try and stop herself and ran headlong into some trash cans outside of a warehouse. At the sound of the bins tipping over and her falling off the bike, all I could think about was her injuring herself on discarded bits of dirty metal that were now strewn on the ground.
"Whoa! Whoa - you ok there?" The manager asked. Cressida was on the ground but sitting up. Thankfully she didn't look too injured.
"Um - I think my pride is injured more than anything else." Cressida said trying to laugh. I helped her to her feet and instinctively pulled her close to me.
"Well - uh - I guess you won't be letting your boss on a bicycle any time soon, will you?" He asked me. I chuckled and shook my head.
"May I add that citizens would do well practicing well away from the main streets." He added.
"Thanks." Cressida said. "I think that's a wrap." She sighed. "Good thing that wasn't live."
"Yeah, or else you'd be the talk of Panem for a bit." Mark said. "Um - Pollux, I think she's ok, man." I realized I was still holding her tightly. I know. I signed. I probably looked as embarrassed as I felt. I let go of her and insisted she turn around slowly so I could make sure she wasn't injured. Nodding, I picked up the bike to wheel it back a short distance to the factory. I rode bikes with Castor well into high school, but I didn't want to hop on and ride it back in case Cressida thought I was trying to show her up.
Cressida POV
Wow! Yeah - that was SUPER EMBARRASSING! I agreed with Mark. If that was being broadcasted live, I probably wouldn't be able to live that down. As we went around District 6 and filmed other modes of transportation they were making accessible to the districts, I noticed Pollux was being somewhat protective of me. Not in an overbearing way, but I noticed that he would hold my hand when we would first go into a factory and he would put an arm in front of me when we went by moving machinery to make doubly sure I was a safe distance away. I guess he was more shaken from my fall from the bike than I was.
Heather was watching me edit the footage on my portable computer in the living room a day or so after we got back. "Nice one, Cress." She chuckled watching my spectacular fall. "Aaaaaw! This is from Pollux's camera, right?"
"Yeah." I said hoping my face wasn't as red it felt.
"He's helping you up - go to Mark's footage!" I clicked around on the screen. "Cress, he's totally smitten for you!" She squealed. "He's all protective for the rest of the time!"
"Who's smitten?" Peeta asked from the kitchen. He was over teaching Sae how to make some dinner rolls. I was obligated to show him the clip of my bike fail. "Yup. He only talks about you almost all the time at home." he added grinning.
"WHAT?" I yelped. Peeta was laughing so hard he had to sit down on the other couch.
"Seriously, it wasn't obvious to you?" Peeta asked once he got his breath back. I paused.
"I know he's a good co-worker - but - I guess we never discussed feelings much." I admitted.
"Well, anyone would know he's practically screaming it from the way he treats you." Peeta said grinning. With that, he went back to the kitchen leaving me to ponder my thoughts. I will admit, confirmation from several people that Pollux probably liked me was a pleasant surprise indeed.