Author's note: Heyya! Thanks you for all you reviews. Really. I'm shocked with the outcome. Please don't stop reviewing. I really do appreciate it. Anyways, so the only reviewer I couldn't reply to was…
GUEST from Chapter 4: You really want it to be a KatnissxFinnick? I was planning for it to be PeetaxKatniss though. How bout I just make Finnick her best friend and make him flirt with Katniss every time they're together just to make Peeta jelly? How does that sound? I'm writing a story for the summer they met but I can't post it now.
GUEST from chapter 7: It was meant as a joke but it has given me an idea for this story soooo.. uhmm maybe I'll use it in this story. On this chapter. Credit goes to her/him!
I kinda left the last update less detailed of what else happened at the party and well here it goes…
DISCLAIMER: I don't own The Hunger Games. I don't even own the DVD! They aren't selling it here. I cursed every store that didn't have it before I stormed out of the place.
Chapter 8
Katniss' POV
I snuggle further into my pillow. Finnick's bed oddly felt extra warm and comfortable tonight. Annie and I slept over here in Finnick's house. We finished cleaning at 4AM and neither grandpa nor her parents wanted us to go home at that time of the night even if Finnick insisted that he'll drop us off. We finished that late because we also had to clean the mess that we made from our little prank with Peeta and we made sure to clean Mrs. Odair's night gown. Luckily, the ketchup did come off. I kind of feel bad for what I did to him. I even wonder if he got home safely since he was really drunk last night.
I decided last weekend to move some of my clothes here at Finnick's. I know, it's like I own the house but I usually do sleep over and Mr and Mrs. Odair love having my company since they don't have a daughter. They don't mind me sleeping in Finnick's room, too. They trust me enough not to do any nasty business with him in his room.
But… I didn't exactly ruin their trust but we actually did something last night. We both got called to Seven Minutes in Heaven. Isn't it ironic he told Annie we did do it? But we certainly did not. We just don't see each other in that way.
At first we didn't do anything in the closet for 4 minutes and we had 3 minutes left until he spoke up.
"Wanna do this?" he asks me, seriously. I gag at him. He moves closer but I just can't seem to move and there's no way out for 3 more minutes.
At first, I think it's from too much drinking of those foul spirits but I was with him and Annie the whole time. He made sure to drink only 2 cups as a victory gift for winning the game but not too much so he could drive us home. He leans in closer, our noses ghosting each other. He closes the distance and kisses me.
This kiss is soft and lasts for about 5 seconds until I finally come to my senses. I push him away and he seems to be busy thinking.
"Nope. at all. I'm glad that's passed us. I just had to know," he states. "You?"
"What? You're an idiot, Finnick!" I shout. "You kiss me in the middle of a game and ask me what I think. I think that you should never do that again if you don't want an arrow through your precious face of yours."
He instantly covers my mouth with his hands and moans. I elbow his stomach causing him to make a small yelp in pain.
"What are you doing?" I hiss venom clearly in my voice.
"Shut up, Kat. This is supposed to be 7 minutes in heaven. We aren't in court shouting at each other. Let's give some people some entertainment and just act the part for once."
"Wha-" My question is cut off when Finnick kisses me again and holds my waist. The doors fly open and we break apart. It was a 2 second kiss. His lips taste of alcohol. Everyone outside starts howling for more kisses and Finnick just smirks. Bastian! He really has to keep up his image of being the arrogant self-absorbed quarterback.
I storm out of the house and onto the roof. I just need some air. It really is peaceful until that bimbo comes to destroy it.
"I thought I'd find you here," he says. "The little squirrel that you are always climbs high places."
"You have to stop making me look stupid." I tell him. I don't have time for this drama.
"Stop acting like that. It's freaking me out."
"Like what Finn? I hate drama. Stop making me look like another one of your love sick pups because you know I'm not like them."
"Fine. I'll do that when you'll stop acting like an eighty year old woman who won't get her back scratched." I snort.
"I'll do that when you stop acting like a five year old," I retort. He wraps an arm around my shoulder as if nothing happened between us earlier. I drop this silly subject of ours because it seems to go nowhere. "Where's Annie?"
"Waiting for you downstairs to cool down. She wanted to be the one to talk to you but I just had to fix this between us. She's really nice. Keep her well. You don't find people like that all the time." He answers truthfully. I'm waiting for him to drop something dirty about her in or how sexy she is in that comment of his but nothing comes forth. That's odd.
I hear some giggling and laughing. I furrow further into my (Finnick's) pillows to shut them up. We slept late last night. Can't a girl get some more sleep? The laughter doubles and I just burst.
"Shut up!" I grab another pillow and cover my ears to attempt shutting the sounds out.
"Can't get comfy enough, Kitty Kat?" he asks.
"Finnick!" Annie scolds.
And suddenly the pillow wrapped in my arms starts moaning and shifting. It immediately hugs my waist and my eyes flutter open. I remove the pillow above my head and I see Peeta's sleepy form beside me. His hair is messier than it usually is and acts like nothing is wrong with how close we are or even the fact that we slept the whole night, well day, together. And the one sentence that bouces around in my head is that 'It wasn't a pillow in my arms but his waist and my head rests on his chest.' Another chuckle comes out of Finnick's mouth and I'm not sure how long I have been looking at him. This makes me jump and roll off the bed, pulling him along with me. He lands on top of me and his head drops behind my shoulder. He collapses on top of me shifting all his weight on me. He is pretty heavy. He moans again from pain and I think it's from a hangover or from the fall. I try wriggling out of him but he's too heavy to move.
"Stop moving. You're making my headache worse." he says. I squirm under him again because I can't take his weight. "Damn it! Stop moving!" he snaps, lifting his head from my left shoulder. His breath reeks with alcohol. How much did he even drink? I immediately feel heat rushing to my cheeks and I hope I don't look too red.
"I'll stop moving if you get the hell off me. You're too heavy." I reason out. I don't know why I'm feeling so defensive but something about our position makes my stomach churn.
Peeta's face turns into a tomato. I think it's the first time he realized the position were in. We're mere inches from each other's faces, our noses brushing each other.
He finally rolls off of me and stands up. I lay mortified on the ground. He stretches his back. I can't help but notice the skin that is showing from his stomach and I get a good view of his abs from on the floor. I can't seem to pull my eyes away from them. If it's even possible, I turned redder.
He looks down at me and gives me a smirk that I can only imagine he got from hanging out too much with Finnick but I don't know. That smirk makes my heart start pounding a little faster. I think he caught me staring. He bends down and offers me his outstretched hand and I stare at it and look at him in the eyes. He holds a pleased expression and I give him one of my signature scowl that I choose not to hide from Vice Principal Coin every time we cross paths.
"I can stand up myself." I tell him, looking up at him blankly which I have mastered through playing goldfish with Prim and stand up myself.
He tries to do the cool thing by scratching his back as if I haven't rejected his offer and chuckles.
"Sooo… what are you all doing in my room?" he questions, bringing his hand to his throbbing forehead due to the hangover. He drank too much.
"Look around again, drunky. You're in my room." I tell him.
"My room, sweetness." Finnick corrects. I shoot him a death glare and hold it until he looks down. How dare he try to mock of thee as I try to make blek over there look bad and how dare he insult thee of such nicknameth? I need to skip my English class. "How did you even end up in my room? Do you even remember what happened last night?"
Peeta shakes his head and holds his head again. Stupid move. I look over at Finnick and Annie as their eyes light up and now I understand why. We can use the video of Peeta's reaction as blackmail.
He crawls back into bed and wraps the sheet of blanket around him. I wanted to go back to sleep though.
"Awesome party by the way, Finn." he mumbles and says a goodnight.
'Why can't you go home? This is so unfair. I called dibs on this bed.' I think to myself.
I begrudgingly yank the pillow from under Peeta's head and throw it on the ground. I lie on the ground and do my best to get comfortable. There is no way that I am going back and lay in the same bed with Annie and Finnick around.
They just stand by the door way with an amused grin. I'm sure they love the situation we are in now.
Peeta shoots his head right up and pauses for a moment. I guess he moved to fast. He bolts right away into Finnick's bathroom and pours out all the vile in his system from last night. I'm sure he didn't get to puke while we were asleep because if he did, I would have felt the bed move but then again, I didn't even know he was in the room. I guess it was because I was so exhausted and I don't think he felt me in the same bed as him. I've been told once that I sleep like a dead person by none other than Finnick Odair.
I hop back onto my bed and wrap myself in the blankets.
"What time is it?" I mumble into my pillow. Finnick's bed smells different. It smells of cinnamon and not the usual smell of sugar cubes.
"3 in the afternoon." Annie answers, peeking out of the bathroom.
I guess she felt bad and started patting Peeta's back awkwardly and something with this interaction boils something inside of me. I push this thought to the back of my head because it really is not worth the time of day to think about so I think about what I should be doing instead.
I have 2 more hours to pick up Delly at the airport so I do nothing as an effort to get ready.
She really is the sweetest person alive next to Prim. Finnick is right. I need to keep her.
I hear Peeta heaving everything he has in his stomach again and he forgot to close the door. I can smell the odor of vomit and my nose scrunches up in disgust. This is why I don't drink anything with alcohol in it at formal parties we attend with Grandpa.
I can't take Peeta heaving anymore and I shout, "Shut the damn door, Mellark!"
I sniff my pillow again. The smell is addicting that I can't get enough of it.
Today, even though I slept late and was kissed by one of my best friend, I felt contented. I was well rested and wasn't visited with horrible nightmares of my parents. A small smile breaks out of my lips and I stretch.
I haven't slept this long without nightmares in years. It felt good. I think I even had a dream with Prim and my parents in the lake house we have. But I only think I did have the dream. I'm not sure.
The feeling of happiness is welcomed.
Peeta comes out of the bathroom a couple of minutes later and flops down on his belly beside me. He smells like vomit and cinnamon? The source of the wonderful smell is from him. Wait? Wonderful?
I kick him with my better leg off the bed. His land makes a big thump and I think he fell face first. He groans and I snicker.
"My bed." I mumble to no one in particular.
Annie joins me on the bed and Finnick dangles by the edge of the bed where Peeta lays muttering to himself. Annie to my left and Finnick to my right.
"You smell real bad, man." Finnick states the obvious. Peeta sniffs his armpits and Annie laughs quietly.
"Yeah? Well, I feel like shit too." Peeta says, casually eyeing me. He flops back on the bed next to Finnick. I look over at Annie and she gives me a knowing look. We both stretch out innocently without the two men beside me having any idea what will happen. We take our time stretching for a good 30 seconds, taking up as much space as possible. Annie gives me a small tap on the stomach signaling we should do it now. We both sit up and Finnick and Peeta have their eyes closed without any much thought of our little plan. We sprawl our legs out. Me near Finnick's shoulders and Annie near his waist.
I blink at her and she blinks back at me telling me she's ready. I kick Finnick real hard on the back and she kicks him on the tushy. They both fall off with a loud groan. Me and Annie laugh real hard and occupy all the space on Finnick's bed. I guess 5 people can actually fit on it. Once we collected our breaths, we look down at Finnick and Peeta who stare at us blankly. Before we know it, they both pulls us down and I land squarely on Peeta's chest and Annie falls near Finnick's face. We laugh again. I should have seen this coming from the moment I saw their pokerfaces.
I think I haven't laughed this much without Prim here who usually brings this side out of me.
"So who kicked me on my butt?" Finnick asks.
"Me." Annie squeaks out. Aww! She sounds like Prim.
I realize that I'm still on top of Peeta.
"You really do need a bath." I tell him, trying to hide my embarrassment and how heavy I am on top of him. I roll off and lay next to him, breathing in deeply.
"Finn, lend the poor boy some of your clothes. I can't take his stench." Annie chimes in, playfully.
We again laugh at that. I haven't seen this side of Annie either. I think she's warming up on all of us.
~EATING SUGAR CUBES ON CATCHING FIRE INSTEAD OF POPCORN~
After taking a quick shower at Finnick's house, Finn dropped Annie and Peeta home while I walked by myself. Lonely, as I can be.
I just got tired of talking and laughing too much. I'm serious. Those people are just so giddy and full of energy you just might burst. Their laughs and smiles are too infectious.
When I do get home, I find Prim curled up in the couch with the ugliest cat in the world, Buttercup.
She brought him home a couple of days ago and I just lost it. She begged me not to drown him. I mean, do you still call this a cat? All it does is hiss and scratch. Sure, I'm glad that Prim has a new companion to be with when I'm either at school or with Finnick and Annie but I swear it's as if it was sent down from heaven just to make my life a living hell.
On Tuesday morning, it tripped me on my way down. If Prim wasn't there I would have shot its eye and cooked it for dinner.
"Hey, little duck!" I greet her, kissing her on the forehead. "Oi! Get ready now. We have to pick up Delly soon."
When I say that, she instantly jumps up on her heels causing Buttercup to fly out of her lap and land on the floor by her sudden movement without it getting ready to land gracefully on its paws like most cats do. She bounds up the stairs past me, forgetting all about Buttercup and I laugh at this.
She always gets easily distracted at times.
Buttercup trails behind her, not to fail to recall hissing at me first.
She comes back down with a pink beret on top of the blonde mop of hair of hers and a matching pale pink skirt and a white ruffled blouse.
She's about to pick a pair of doll shoes by the front door when I stop her dead on her tracks.
"Primrose Snow Everdeen." I call her with all the seriousness I can muster, motioning for her to come forward with my pointer finger and give her a mock glare. She slowly walks forward and I narrow my eyes at her.
"Yes, Katniss Snow Everdeen?" she mocks. I bend down on my knees and tuck in the back of her shirt back into her skirt and tell her my usual line. "You better tuck in that tail, little duck."
She giggles, giving me a small "Quack." She skips to get a pair of white doll shoes.
We walk out hand-in-hand to the garage and I shut the door before Prim remembers about Buttercup and decides to bring it along.
I hop into the driver's seat of grandpa's Nissan Frontier and Prim decides to hop onto the front seat. I got my license since a week after I arrived which was a good thing but I always preferred to walk to school with Prim and Grandpa was usually not around. He was usually at work and if he wasn't, he was here at home. And since he is the principal, he goes to school early so we can't just tag along with him.
I give Prim a glare and she looks at me innocently.
"Back." I command her. She narrows her eyes at me in disbelief.
"I can't believe you, Katniss. I'm 12 years old already. I'm a teenager and I have the right to do anything I want as long as it abides the law. This is a free country." she whines.
I stare and wait for her to move to the back. She looks forward and crosses her arms, refusing to look at me. I blow out a puff of air. Sometimes Prim can be so stubborn.
"Fine. I can also play this game and we both know how stubborn I can be." I say and add, "I am not driving until you move that pretty little body of yours in the back seat."
She gets up from her seat and a triumphant grin breaks out through my face.
"Yeah, no kidding. Even if you don't try to be, you already are." She mutters under her breath as she passes through the center. She hits me on the head with her hip and I immediately back-up from the garage to the streets causing Prim to fall face first on the seat.
She kicks the back of my seat and laugh.
"We're even." she says.
"No! You hit me twice." I argue but I don't hit her back. "You bumped my hip with your head and my foot accidentally hit the gas so it's not my fault."
"You are such a bad liar, Katniss."
"Am not."
"Are too!"
"Am not."
"Are too! I can see it in your eyes."
"You're the bad liar. You can't even see my eyes or give a good reason." I roll my eyes.
"Yes, I can totally see you and stop rolling your eyes at me. There's this thing called mirrors, Kat."
"Baaah! You know I'm just teasing you." I tell her, looking at her through the rearview mirror.
I can tell that she is thinking of what to say next and a flash of pain crosses through her features but disappears as quickly as it featured.
"What's wrong, little duck?"
"Nothing."
"We tell each other everything. Come on. Tell me." I probe her gently.
"How can you tell there's something wrong?"
"I can see you. There's this thing called mirrors, Prim." I mimic her and I get a laugh out of that and she grows sad again. I really don't like to see Prim sad and just drop the subject. She'll tell me eventually. We don't keep secrets but I will tell Prim about Peter someday. Just not now, she's too young for that icky stuff.
After that, our conversation just ended and I'm worried. Prim's never this quiet but I don't push her to talk. I understand she just needs to think things through.
We finally arrive at the airport and just on time when Delly steps out of the front doors with about… five luggages in her cart.
She's only going to be here for a week and she brings 5 huge luggages. Who brings that much clothing to a vacation that would last only a week?
Prim runs off and when Delly sees her, she holds her hands out and embraces herself for what I call a Prim-hug. She gives these bear-like hugs and even though she is smaller than you, she is clearly stronger than you when it comes to hugs.
Delly kisses both her cheeks and they both bounce up and down in their heels. I can actually hear them start shrieking and giggling. Prim is now planning away what we'll be doing the whole time Delly will stay.
Sometimes, I forget that Delly is a year older than me.
As if noticing me for the first time, Delly rushes over to me and hugs me. She starts jumping up and down again while I'm forced to jump with her and place a tiny smile on my lips.
Yup! Nothing has changed. She still is Delly Cartwright.
Author's note: I'm really sorry for the late update. Like super late. Exams just won't stop and I usually visit my sick grandparents so I don't have much time to write.
You don't have to use GUEST as a name and actually use any name you want. It'll be much easier to call you out so please... I hope you can use another and any name you like to make it easier to give you a message in the A/N above. NIGHT, BABES! ;D