Hellooo! x

This chapter is a little short, but I've been very busy with all this college stuff. Sorry! I'll try to make the next one longer. Enjoy!

(Peeta POV)

I still can't get this smile off my face. I haven't been able to since I saw the way that she looked at her ring. Not even when she sneaked me out of the house through the front door while her uncle slept on the sofa or when I ran back to the bakery. I even woke up smiling. Which might have been okay if I didn't share a room with my annoyingly condescending brother. But it didn't matter because even he couldn't wipe this stupid grin off my face. Since Mother is out and Father has caught a cold, there is nobody to tell my brother that he needs to be here to help me, so he leaves me to handle the bakery by myself. It is only fairly busy, but at least I can close early since it's a Sunday.

The door opens, and I hear someone's shoes clicking against the floor as they walk toward the counter. I dust my hands off on my apron hastily and yell that I will be out in a minute, but the person doesn't respond. Somehow I always manage to get the most quiet and rude customers, and it's usually pretty awkward. I sigh as walk into the main room, but I stop short as soon as I see who it is. She looks up from her phone and rolls her eyes, and I realize that we're both thinking the same thing: Of all people.

"Hello, Mrs. Everdeen," I say quietly.

"Peeta." She nods curtly without even looking at me.

"Can I help you?" She looks up at me as I lean against the counter. "I mean, what are you looking to buy?"

"Oh. Well." A slight blush appears on her cheeks. "I just came to get some bread to eat with dinner... I thought your father would be here."

"He usually is, but he got sick." Her face softens a bit at this news. "It's really just a cold, but he can't be around the food until he's better. Wouldn't want to get a customer sick."

"Right, right." She clears her throat. "Well, then I'll take a loaf of bread please."

"Which kind?" I ask, gesturing to the different kinds of bread in the sample case.

"Surprise me."

I look at her for a moment to see if she is serious, but her face never changes. As soon as I realize this, I nod and choose a loaf of bread with raisins and nuts in it. I know that Katniss likes this one, and she told me that it was her uncle's favorite once. And that he would come to the bakery to buy this specific bread every time he came to visit them. When I glance up, I see that Ms. Everdeen is looking around, so I pick up a couple of cheese buns. They are Katniss's favorite, and Prim can try one too if Katniss is willing to share it with her.

"No, wait." She sighs in frustration. "I only wanted one loaf of bread."

"I know. These are on the house." I look up, and she furrows her eyebrows. "Comes with the bread."

"Right." She rolls her eyes and pulls out her wallet. "Then take the extra as your tip." She searches through her wallet for a moment then curses under her breath. "Prim... My daughter must have taken my money out of my wallet for lunch."

She sighs and drops her wallet back into her bag. She shrugs sheepishly and mutters some kind of apology before turning to leave.

"Wait! Ms. Everdeen!" She turns back around and looks at me as I rush toward her with the bag in my hand. "Here. You can take it. I'll pay for it."

"No, I really can't-"

"Please." She eyes me suspiciously. "It's really not a problem."

"What's your deal, kid?" she snaps. "You think I'll let you seduce my daughter in exchange for free bread?"

I almost smile at her ridiculous question, but it occurs to me that that won't exactly ease her nerves. She stares at me through narrowed eyes as I try to choose my words carefully. It's obvious that I'll only have one chance to change her mind.

"Ms. Everdeen, I know that you don't like me, and I don't blame you." She quirks her eyebrows like she wasn't expecting that, and I take a deep breath. "But Katniss is a very special girl, and she deserves to be happy." I smile as I look down at the bag in my hands. "I never seduced your daughter. I told her that I love her, and she's been smiling ever since. Hasn't she?"

When I look up, she seems both surprised and confused. Even in this condition, I know that she's too stubborn to back down.

"I guess I'm just concerned about what will happen when you break her heart, and that smile disappears."

"I see." I can't help but smile again as she stares at me intensely. "Then I guess my only choice is to never break her heart."

A staring contest begins. It is impossible to tell just how much she hates me right now. I even wonder if I've made things worse, but I try to hold onto the hope that I may have changed her mind. I hold out the bag again. She takes it out of my hands without looking away or saying a word. The silence is only broken when she turns to leave and her heels smack against the floor. I take a deep breath and try one more time.

"Ms. Everdeen," I call out. She stops but doesn't look at me. "I know that my mother was never very kind to you, and I know that things didn't exactly end well between you and my father." I look down, knowing that my father wouldn't want me to be talking about this with Ms. Everdeen of all people. "But I promise that I'm not like either one of them. I'll do anything if you just give me a chance to prove that to you."

"You're their son," she says quietly almost like she was talking to herself. "All of you teen-aged boys are the same anyway."

"No, we're not." She finally turns to look at me, and I smile a little. "I'm just as similar to a typical teenage boy as Katniss is to a typical teenage girl. Think about it. Katniss wouldn't try so hard to be with me if I wasn't worth her time, and we both know that for a fact."

"Katniss is young. She's naive."

"She's not naive, and you should know that better than anyone."

I can see by the look on her face that I've struck a nerve. I don't know how or why, but I have. She doesn't say anything else- and I keep quiet as well- as she heads for the door again without another word. Everything is uncomfortably quiet after she leaves, and it takes me a moment to force myself to return to my work. The entire time, I hope that I haven't made things worse.

More from Ms. Everdeen in the next chapter! ;) Please review to tell me what you think - I love hearing your opinion!