Dang, Gina! I'm rollin' these babies OUT. Just 4 more days. :)

December 21st

Peeta woke at 3:30 a.m. to shower quickly and get to the bakery by 4 a.m. and begin baking the delectable treats that would surely sell out because of all the parties and holiday gatherings going on this week. He hadn't been able to keep anything in stock past noon, so he had to call in a favor from a friend to work the register so Peeta could bake extra goodies without interruption.

Finnick had been a friend to Peeta for years. They had been close in high school and kept in constant touch when Finnick had gone off to state college, Peeta having stayed behind to run his family's bakery and attend the community college in their town part time.

Finnick was home for winter break and was excited to have something to do to occupy his time. Plus, Peeta was confident sales were going to go through the roof with Fin running the counter. The ladies seemed to do practically whatever he wanted.

At 7 a.m. Finnick showed up, ready to please with his bright, million dollar smile and wavy auburn locks. Fin knew how to make a girl feel like all his attention was focused solely on her, which was one of the reasons he could have any girl he wanted.

"Yo, Peet!" The nickname reminded him of Jo, which reminded him of Katniss, which reminded him that today was the day he needed to set things right between them. He had been holding on to her contact info for well over twelve hours, never quite having the nerve to tap the 'send' icon.

He had typed in at least nine different variations of what he wanted to say, reading them over and over until his head was swimming with a thousand assorted words, all clogging up his thought process. He eventually had to put the phone down and decided just to sleep on it and deal with it the next day.

"Hey, Finn!" Peeta called out cheerfully, excited to see his friend for the first time since summer break. The two boys bumped fists and chests, did a little jig with their feet and then laughed heartily at themselves as they embraced, clapping each other soundly on the back.

"How was school this semester?" Peeta queried.

"Good. It was… yeah, good. Better than good actually," Finn told him.

Peeta studied his friend. "Are there details to go with that statement? Or should I just guess what happened?"

"I met a girl." Finnick's cheeks tinged pink at his admission.

"I'm sure you met a girl. You meet girls every day, Finn," Peeta said unsurprised, busying himself by opening the cash drawer and making sure they had what they needed to start the morning off.

"No, not like that. I met the girl." Peeta stopped any movement he was making and turned to give Finnick his complete attention.

"What?" he questioned him unbelievably.

"I met the girl I'm going to marry," he replied instantly, as if it happened all the time and no one should be shocked about it.

"Finn, you've said yourself, like, a million times, that you're not getting married." Peeta's tone took a turn for the serious. He should have been happy for his long time friend that was more of a brother to him than his own, but his current predicament left him feeling envious at Finnick's news. It seemed too easy for him, while Peeta struggled to get this one girl to notice him, and then he screwed it all up in sixty seconds when she finally did.

"Well, I did. And it would be nice to get a little support from my best friend," Finnick's reply was laced with disappointment.

"I'm sorry, Finn. I'm just having a rough week. That's great, man," Peeta slapped Finnick on the shoulder and congratulated him. "So, what's her name?"

"Annie. She's amazing," he said, and Peeta could tell he was imagining her when he saw the far off look in Finnick's sea green eyes, and the goofy grin his face took on. Wow. Finn in love is weird, he thought.

"My parents think it's too soon, so we don't really have a whole lot of people in our corner right now. I was kind of hoping you'd be happier about it."

"I am, no, I mean," Peeta swatted a dish towel he had been holding onto the side of the counter as he thought about what to say. "I kind of met a girl, too."

"That's awesome, Peet! Where is she? What's her name?" Finnick began to bombard Peeta with questions, much the way Peeta should have done for him.

"Whoa! Slow down, buddy. She's not really speaking to me at the moment," Peeta let out slowly, not looking forward to the admonishment he knew would come when he shared how he had acted.

"What did you do?" Finnick inquired.

After filling him in on the short story, Finnick and Peeta separated to get to work when the first customer came in. She bought three dozen rolls when she only need one, thanks to Finn's charm, and she promised to send all her coworkers and friends in later today after Finn sealed their deal with a charismatic wink. Peeta was unable to focus on anything besides baking for the rest of the day since hiring Finn for the holidays was the most prosperous thing he could have done. Before he knew it, it was 2 p.m., a long day by baker's standards, and he was exhausted.

Finn had wanted to meet him later for drinks, but he declined, needing to rest and deal with this situation with Katniss.

Later at home, after he had showered and laid down to get his thoughts together and his body to relax, Peeta picked up his phone, having decided that in the next two minutes there would be a text from him in Katniss' inbox.

He settled on Hey, Katniss. It's Peeta. I want to apologize for the way I acted to you when you came into the bakery a few days ago. There was no reason for how I treated you and I just hope you can forgive me.

There. It was simple and there was no way she could mistake his meaning. Peeta would take this one step at a time, first apologizing, then daring to share the truth of his feelings.

He didn't get the chance that night, though, because he never heard back from her. He checked his phone numerous times, finally noticing the box underneath his text no more said 'delivered', but 'read'. Peeta fell into a fitful sleep, knowing that Katniss had received and read the message, but did not reply.

Duh, duh, duh…. Getting closer! Too close for my comfort. I'll have to speed this baby up on the next one. :) Reviews are always appreciated. And thank you bunches to all those who have already reviewed this fic. *hugs* If you haven't read Santa, Baby, please check it out and also review! It needs it!