The dance ended with our lips meeting. Cameras flashed and the music picked up speed. Quaid and I met our 'biggest fans since the beginning', the head Gamemaker, and everyone else involved with the Games. At one point in the night, someone gave me a glass half filled with a brown liquid. As the mystery liquid touched my tongue, I spit it back into the glass. A few people laughed and one girl with green dyed skin told me it was alcohol. That is something I won't try again.
It was just past four in the morning when I arrived back in my suite. Quaid suggested that we go to the same floor, and I accepted his offer. We rode up to floor 10 together, me holding on to him. To the untrained eye, it might have looked like I was a staggering drunk. But, I was just staggering around because of the lack of sleep I put upon myself. Quaid led me to my bedroom and laid me down on the mattress.
"Goodnight, Jada." He kissed my forehead and he moved towards the door.
"Wait!" I call out. He turns around, staring at me in complete darkness. "Sleep beside me. Please? I don't want to be left alone."
"Anything you want, darling." He crosses over to my bed. We don't even change out of our clothes we wore for the interview. We slip under covers and he places an arm around me. I nuzzle my head to his chest. I feel like I am in the arena again. My mind lets me fall asleep safely in the arms of my love.
When the morning arrives, I find myself in an empty bed. I rub my fingers around the mattress and only feel the warmth from where Quaid was sleeping last night. I sit up, looking around my room. The sun shone through the windows and spilled into the room. Did he leave me?
My bathroom door swung open and I saw the wheat golden hair I've known to love. A towel was wrapped around his waist and his hair was freshly blow dried. His toned muscles were showed off to me as he made his way towards the bed where I was sitting. He parked himself right on the edge of the bed, pulling me closer to him. "Morning, sweetheart."
"Morning, honey." I reply. I am sitting on his lap with my fingers through his hair. I ignored the fact that he was, besides the towel on the lower half of his body, naked. I kissed his cheek and buried my head into his neck. He smelt like fresh roses. I'm sure I smelt like body odor from sleeping in my dress.
Quaid didn't care. Actually, I don't think he'd care if I was covered in dirt. He still would love me anyway. He kissed my exposed shoulder and worked his way up to my lips. As we kissed, I forgot about everything. It was almost as if we were back in the arena. I looked into his emerald eyes. The perfect emerald. He had the best eyes I have ever seen. He poked my side.
"Shouldn't you be getting a shower, Cowgirl? I think you need one." I let out a laugh as I stood up. I walked into my bathroom, undressed, and stepped into the warm water. I let the water get my body soaked and the automated shampoo clean my hair. When my shower finished, I stepped out and got blow dried. I wrapped a fluffy towel around my body and made my way back into my room.
The rest of the day was slow moving until two o'clock for final interviews. I was parted from Quaid one last time to get dressed and ready for my last appearance in the Capitol. When I entered the Remake Center, Eleora had a familiar outfit ready for me. A simple sundress in a pattern of a Holstein, sparkly flats, and white leggings.
It was my chariot ride dress.
"Excited to wear this old thing again?" Eleora asks me, her deep purple hair bouncing.
"Yes and no." I reply, turning to her. "Why am I wearing this?"
"The Gamemakers and President Rector requested it. Since you and Quaid are from different districts, we wanted to show off your special attributes. Hence the reason you are wearing your chariot ride outfit." She explained, handing me my dress.
When I was dressed, I couldn't look at myself without seeing twelve year old Stiles beside me. The grass woven into my braids didn't smell like home anymore. I felt like a completely different person. I am not the fifteen year old girl from District 10. I'm a stranger in my own skin.
Two o'clock rolled around and I was on stage before the interviews started. Dusk Shine was getting her make-up pressed on her face and her starry dress flashed under the lights. I sat on the loveseat and Quaid took his place beside me. He was wearing his gem tux from the chariot rides and I couldn't look at him without seeing Flitter.
"How are you feeling?" Dusk asks.
"Nervous." I say.
"Don't worry." She reassures me. "This is just like the interviews before the Games. Only, this time, you're with Quaid and not by yourself. Just stay loose and you'll have fun up here, I promise."
Quaid's hand weaves itself in mine and all I can do is smile. His perfect emerald eyes kept me from losing my mind. I felt safe in his arms, just like in the arena.
In ten seconds flat, we are on live T.V for all of Panem to see. Dusk introduces herself, gives her opinion on this year's Hunger Games, and turns the attention towards us. She asks about, pretty much everything. I speak only short responses, but I know I have to speak more than just one sentence or two.
"Now, when was the moment you realized you were in love with her?" She asks Quaid.
There is no hesitation in his voice. "The moment we were paired together in the Training Center."
"And you, Jada?"
"Well, I believe it was when he covered my ears from the chainsaw attack." I referenced to Camilla and her monstrous ways with that weapon.
I knew what question was going to be asked next.
"When the announcement was made that only one victor could be crowned, I saw complete fear in your face, Quaid." She starts. "What was it like to offer up your life in exchange for hers?"
Quaid sighs and looks right at me. "It was the only thing I could do. She has a family to go home to. She has a best friend to return to. She has everything I wish I had. And, if my fate was to die in the arena for her, I would accept it." Sighs of sympathy ripped through the audience.
"What about you, Jada? What was going through your head when he said 'Kill me'?" Those weren't his words. Regardless, I answered the question put upon me.
"My mind was racing. I couldn't believe he wanted me to kill him. I couldn't do it, but I knew I had to if I wanted to go home. I couldn't bear the thought of losing him." I say, holding onto his hand.
"Now, this is what is going through everyone's mind at this point. Where are you two going to live?"
I haven't thought of that. I love District 10 with all my heart, but if I have children, I want them to have a better chance than I did in the Games. But, if I live in District 1, I'll be away from Hadley, Jace, Jetta, my parents, and the farm. I look at Quaid, and he returns my stare. Where are we going to live?
"We'll decide after the Victory Tour." Quaid answers. That's good enough for me. It gives me time to live in Victor's Village with Annabelle and my family, and decide where I will live.
The interviews wrap up and I am on my way to the tenth floor with Quaid. When we reach my room, we lay in the bed like we did the night before. It was only four in the afternoon and we just lay in my bed. We needed time to discuss our living arrangements.
"Where are we going to live?" I ask. Quaid's emerald eyes look into me.
"I want you to live with me in District One. You'll like it there, sweetheart. Plus, we'll be in the Victor's Village living in the same house. Would you like that?" He starts. Tears form in my eyes.
"I'll just be so far away from my family." I whisper.
"You can give them your house in Victor's Village and you can call them. They have phones in those houses, right?" I nod in response.
He kisses my forehead. "I don't mean to rush you. Besides, the Victory Tour isn't for about six months. You can decide then." He wraps me in his arms and doesn't let go.
I kiss his lips and he kisses back. All this time, I thought the Games would chew me up and spit me out, leaving nothing good from it. I did get something good. I got Quaid Ethers, the boy who would take his life for me and let me live. I got my life, along with a boy who loves me and cares for me. That is something that is hard to let go.