(Hi, you'll notice that Johanna and Chuck are starting to get close, please review and tell me your opinions On them. Enjoy:-))
Chuck holds my waist protectively as we sneak into the old barn where they sell cheap liquor and do betting. We're on a hunt for apple cider and since our unusual supplier is sold out we took the risk and came here. My nostrils are immediately filled with the stench of body odour and alcohol.
As we walk towards the stall at the back of the barn, Chuck nods his head at a few people in our path. Friends maybe? Friends that got even more off the rails than he did.
"You got any Apple Cider?" I ask the old looking man propped up behind the stall.
"Yes ma'am I'll just get some for you." He says dotting off somewhere. Suddenly Chuck's grip around my waist tightens and he pulls his lips to my hair.
"Look what the cats dragged in! If it isn't badass Chuck! Thieving, gambling Chuck." A man around his late 40s sneers. He's stood on the betting stall.
"One time Wood. I came in here one time." Chuck mutters in reply.
"Who's that pretty little thing on your arm then?" He says in a dirty way.
I step out from under Chuck's arm and smile indifferently.
"The names Johanna. Victor. Mentor. Killer." I say shutting him up. I have to say when he realises who I am he seems rather stunned.
"You know what he did?" He asks me.
"Nope. I don't want to either. His business not mine." I say turning my attention back to the stall in front of me.
"Gambled. He's bad news this boy. He's dirt." He says. Chuck just about knocks me over his arm comes back to hit the man so quickly. I place my hand on his chest then look at the man.
"You're dirt too. Taking money from starving women. Starving men. You make me sick." I spit at him. He pulls his fist back ready to punch me himself. I pull out my pocket knife and hold it between my fingers tastefully.
"You gonna knife me? " He demands angrily. I just spin around and slice through the plastic can holders of our crate of beers.
"No Sir. Just opening our cans." I say deviously.
"Call the Peacekeepers. She's a physco." He spits. As Chuck picks up our cans, he chuckles gruffly.
"And that'd be a smart move Wood when your all flogging knock off booze. Good day." He smiles pulling his arm around me and leading me out the place.
"I wouldn't say it was normal to carry a knife around with you Jo." He says seriously as we walk home.
"Self defence. When you're a victor you can't even turn your back on people. That's why I hate it when people jump up on me." I say then add: "anyway how come I had to get it out in the first place?" I ask him seriously.
"Don't hate me. I gambled all the weeks takings there. A few years ago." He sighs. I don't tell him it's ok because it's not. He knows how much families struggle and he knows him much that would infuriate me.
My silence is the answer.
We huddle under my duvet with our cans once we're back at mine. The winters coming in tough now and the snow is getting deeper. More freezing children.
"We've been off work for 2days now." Chuck tells me as I take a sip of my cider and reach for the television control.
"They ever heard of shovels?" I chuckle to myself as I switch on the television.
"It's too deep and too cold. A man dropped dead with frostbite last week." He comments making the whole subject come to an end because he's right. They shouldn't be working when it's like this.
"I don't know why I'm complaining anyway. I get to have you around more." I smile slotting myself under his arm.
I begin flicking through the channels when I picture catches both our attentions. It's the mentors gossip channel. There's a picture of Finnick's lips on my neck outside a bar. I remember this night. We were both drunk.
I try but fail to change the channel before Chuck sees.
"I knew you were 'together'" he mutters but his fingertips still trail along my shoulder blade. "We're not." I disagree switching off the tele and climbing into his lap to give him a hug. Truth be told its because I'm cold but I am trying to cheer him up too.
"Then explain that. How come you two are so close." He whispers with his eyes still fixated on the screen even though it remains blank and powerless.
"We're just are Chuck. He's been there through everything with me." I tell him quietly stroking the back of his palm.
"that's more than close," he says wavering his finger over to where the television is. "Tell me," he asks in a whisper.
"We're not together so there's nothing to tell." I reply pressing my face into his chest so I don't have to look him in the eye.
"But you'd like to be?" He says in a bitter chuckle as he wipes the salvia from his lips.
"No. I like being a part of his life as a friend." I retort.
"Oh right I forgot you're not some Capitol screaming fan. There more his type." Chuck says in a way that doesn't sit to nicely with me.
"You don't know him." I sigh flopping into his chest because I'm in no mood for fighting. His shirt smells of aloe vera and I can't help wonder if his mother had bought some to heal his work cuts.
"It doesn't take a genius." He sighs playing with a longer strand of my hair in his rugged fingertips.
Chuck has workers hands. Strong, scarred and deft, his hands are the most capable I've seen in some time. They're the first set of hands that tell a story. They tell a story of strength, of fight, of capability.
"Well then you're clearly not a genius because you couldn't be more wrong. I don't want to talk about him. Drink your Cider." I grin tapping his cheek. He smirks slightly reaching forward for the TV remote. Just before he switches it on, he turns to look at me with a mischievous smile playing upon his lips. "Is it safe for me to switch it on?"
I give him a warning glare but even I cannot help smirk at his comment.
"Oh shut up and drink your apple cider." I laugh as he prods me in the stomach with the controller.
"I'll take that as a no then." He smirks reading me all to well. We both burst out laughing. His laugh settles me completely. It reminds we why I have him here. It reminds me why we're so close.