Katniss woke early the next morning, she hadn't slept well; she was nervous and excited about running away with Gale. She could hardly believe she was going to do it, soon she'd be free of the Capitol's grasp, she would no longer be a piece in their games. But what if they got caught? A whole new host of possibilities arose in her mind, but she banished the thoughts, things couldn't get much worse than they already had, surely? Then her mind settled on something else… Peeta. She wondered what would happen to him after she left, she chewed on her lip, concerned. Finally she decided to go and visit him.
When he opened the door he smiled at her and she was glad that he had obviously forgiven her for what had happened. After they'd exchanged greetings and had moved into the house he asked her why she'd come over. Now she was there she couldn't really remember, "I don't know, I just felt like seeing you, I wanted to check everything was okay… with us?" He looked at her for a moment, wondering what she meant by 'us', then, as if reading his mind, "we're still friends yeh?"
He'd been hoping it was a bit more, but he smiled at her and nodded, "Yeh, of course we are, I know it wasn't your fault." Katniss nodded too, smiling back at him, but there was a distinctly awkward air to it, Peeta sensed this, "Is that all that's up?"
Katniss bit her lip, trying to find the right words, "I just… I just wanted you to know that I really do care about you Peeta, I'm glad we're friends. We've been through so much and it really means a lot that you've been there for me. I just wanted to tell you." She looked away, embarrassed.
Peeta smiled back at her, stepping forward to take her hand, "I know." He told her gently. She looked up into his bright, friendly eyes and hugged him tight, realising she would miss him. She was glad she'd come to say goodbye.
"Well I need to get going, hunting to do and stuff." She said, pulling away.
Peeta nodded, "Bye Katniss."
"Bye Peeta." She replied sadly, then kissed him gently, before running out the door back to her own house. Upon closing her front door she let a silent tear slide down her cheek, knowing that would probably be the last time she saw the boy with the bread.
Peeta placed his fingers to his lips where she had just kissed him, wondering what had caused the short exchange. It was odd behaviour for her, but then Katniss was always surprising him. He allowed himself the hopeful thought that maybe this was a step in the right direction of her falling in love with him. Maybe.