Clove POV
I wake up after a deep sleep completely enveloped in Cato's arms. He's still sleeping, so I lay there quietly just listening to the sound of his breathing.
I begin to remember the events that went on last night. Cato and I were talking about how our lives would plan out. How we wouldn't go into the games, how we would live in a nice house, just the two of us, and live long happy lives. And then he took out a ring and he-
Whoa, whoa, whoa! He proposed. He proposed. I look at the ring that is sitting on my finger now. It means I'm engaged. I'm engaged! The vicious, sadistic Clove that everyone else knows me to be, is engaged. To be married. Not that I regret my decision for a minute, but wow! I really did not expect this to happen to me at all. Who would have known that me, of all people, would be engaged to marry. AT SEVENTEEN.
I'm beginning to calm down after my little shock when Cato wakes up. His blue eyes open and when they focus on me, he smiles.
"Good morning," he says.
"Hm, you too." I take a quick look at the clock. There's about half an hour until training starts. "We better get up before we're late to training." I start to untangle myself from him to get up, but he quickly wraps his arms around me and pulls me closer.
"Noooo," he complains in a whiny voice. "Can't we just lie here in bed all day?"
"No. Do you want to get a big punishment from your trainer?" I question.
"Not really. But I don't really care, as long as I can spend the day with you," he says.
"Okay, that sounded really cheesy," I say with a laugh.
"But it's true! Come on! Can we just skip today?"
"Think about it Cato. If we both skip today and show up again tomorrow, people are going to suspect things," I say, trying to be the rational one.
"So? Let them suspect. We are engaged now after all," he says with a laugh and smiles at me.
"True," I reply, giving a smile back. "So you really want to skip? Even if you get punished tomorrow with extra laps or ten extra minutes of keeping a push-up position?"
"I'm up for it if you are."
I think for a minute, trying not to give in, but there's no way I can tell him no when he looks at me like that, so I do. "Fine, fine. We can skip. But just this once!"
"Just this once," he agrees. He flips me over to the other side and I let out a small squeek. He kisses me lightly until I wrap my hand around his neck and bring him deeper into the kiss. We sit there for about ten minutes until we finally pull away to gain more oxygen. That's probably the good thing about training. You can go longer without needing as much air.
We go on like this, just laying in bed for about an hour until we figure we better get up and do something. We quickly change and get ready for the day and head down to the kitchen for some breakfast.
No one is home besides us. Cato's parents must be at work and Chloe is most likely at school.
Cato wouldn't want anyone to know this, but his mother taught him to cook and he is actually a pretty decent chef. He whips us up some waffles and we completely drown them in syrup. After we finish eating, we wash the dishes in the sink, which did involve us splashing each other with the water.
He picked me up when we were done and twirled me around. When he set me down, he kissed me and said, "What would you like to do today, future Mrs. Cato Wenson?"
Wow. It makes it seem even more real when he says that.
"I don't really know. I don't think we can really go into town without anyone wondering why we aren't at training."
"True," he says. "Why don't we climb up the mountain today? It won't take all but an hour and a half to climb, it's away from everyone, and we can spend the day up there. What do you say?"
"Hmmm...okay. As long as aren't up there too late. I don't want to climb down the mountain in the dark," I say. I know it may sound silly, considering that I've been trained and I know how to climb down a mountain in the dark, but I don't want to be in one of those situations unless I absolutely have to.
"Whatever you want," he responds. Wow. He's being really sweet today. I mean, I see why. He's overflowing with joy after last night. But I didn't expect him to be this cheerful.
We grab our hiking shoes and fill up a couple backpacks with things like rope, water, and food for the hike and head out the door. It's a good thing the entrance to the mountain is in the opposite direction of town, otherwise we would have to go through all the people wondering why me and Cato were skipping training and a possible and probable punishment not only from our trainers, but also the mayor and peacekeepers.
We start to head towards the mountain and as I look up at it, I realize how tall it is. But there are caves throughout the entire figure and we will probably only be traveling up about a third of the way up.
We reach the bottom of the mountain and find the easiest place to start our route. A lot of the mountain is ledges that you can walk on, but it still has it's areas where you need to rock climb, otherwise your journey is over before you even reach the end of the first quarter.
Luckily, there is a small area near us where we can start our expedition on a ledge. We travel up the ledge, Cato in the lead, for about ten minutes for we reach a rock climbing area. We both take hold of the rocks and hoist ourselves onto the semi-steep rock, making sure not to cut ourselves on anything sharp.
While I am climbing up the mountain, I try to focus on where I put my hands and feet and Cato who is a little ahead of me, and who keeps checking to make sure I'm behind him. I don't want to look down. It's not because I'm afraid of heights or anything, but if you were scaling the side of a mountain, you'd be a little uneasy, too.
We were almost to the next ledge. Cato was just fixing himself up onto it and I was only a couple feet below him. I reached up to the next rock to latch myself onto and tried to fix my foot on another rock, but the rock tumbled down, causing my feet to fall. And just like that I was dangling off the side of a mountain.
Cato POV
I had just gotten onto the top of the ledge when I heard a rock tumble below me and Clove scream.
"Clove!" I shouted. I looked down and saw her dangling off of two small rocks. "Hang on!"
I have to act quickly. I attach myself with the rope to a sturdy rock nearby so I don't fall and reach down to grab her. She grabs onto my hand and I hastily pull her up, trying not to hurt her in the process. With her help, we both manage to get her on top of the ledge. I envelop her in my arms before I do anything else. I almost lost her.
"Are you hurt?" I ask her.
"Just a couple scrapes. Nothing a bandage won't fix," she says. I let her go, grab my backpack and pull out a couple bandages to use on her scrapes. She didn't lie. They weren't bad, but it still worried me. I shouldn't have suggested that we come up here. It's too dangerous.
"We should head back down the mountain," I say, not wanting to take anymore risks.
"What? No!" Clove protests.
"Clove, you almost died! I don't want to risk that again!"
"So? I'm a big girl! I can take care of myself! And I want to finish what I started!"
I realize that we are on a mountain and that sound can travel up here. If we don't stop screaming, someone could hear us.
"Do you really want to continue?" I ask, lowering my voice.
"Yes."
"Fine. But when we reach the closest cave we are stopping there," I say, trying to compromise.
She takes a second to reply. "Fine."
I let her go ahead of me so I can keep an eye on her. Luckily, there is only a ledge that we need to travel and it only takes us about ten minutes to reach the cave.
Clove and I take off our backpacks and get out some food and water. The climb has tired us and we need to regain our strength.
"Do you ever wonder what it's like outside our district?" Clove asks suddenly.
"What?" I ask.
"Do you ever wonder what it would be like to live in a different district? We've lived here our whole lives. Don't you ever think about how the other districts live?"
I give it a thought. "You know, I've never really thought about it. What makes you ask that?"
"I'm tired of this place. I want to see something new, unfamiliar. Here, I see the same old buildings with the same old people and I'm tired of it. I want something fresh. I want to see other places."
I never knew she thought that way. I had never really given it much thought, but I can see her point. I see how she's gotten bored of this place, doing the same things almost every day, seeing the same things and the same people. Her life has become somewhat monotoned. I take her hand and kiss it.
"You'll see other places, Clove. I promise you."
She looks at me. "We both know you can't promise that, Cato. We can't leave and move to another district. The Capitol would never allow that to happen."
She's right. I can't promise that. But I do know one thing. "I can promise to try."
She looks at me and gives me a smile. I love her smile. It's not one she shows everyone, only me and my family. Around everyone else, she always has the smirk that always sends the girls, and even most of the guys, the other way when she's near them. It makes me glad that I'm one of the few people she can be herself around.
We spend most of the rest of the day up on the mountain, staring at the district and making conversation. When we finally head down, very carefully, the sun is setting and we make our way home without being noticed. Thankfully, my parents aren't home yet, so we can change into regular clothes without them wondering where we were. After dinner that night, we head back to our room and crawl into bed.
We lay there in each others arms, remembering the day, knowing we'll have to go back to our regular lives tomorrow. But in this moment, neither of us care. Clove begins to fall asleep, and I follow close behind her. And the last thought that is in my mind before my mind cuts out is, I can get used to this.