I know it's a little late, but here is part 1 of 2 on this AU story. It's technically complete, but I've had some interest in a New Year's Eve update and some requests for a kiss. Thanks to ct522 for hopping on this in record time and fixing some stuff. Also thank you to bubblegum1425 for spotting my tense change... and then spending a BUTT ton of time fixing it all. You're both awesome! I switched to Katniss's POV for this one, just for a little diversity. Let's see what she's thinking...
Katniss' POV
New Year's Eve, Part I
It had been a week since Katniss surprised Peeta at his house on Christmas Eve. She had spent three hours meeting his family and friends, and then Peeta had driven her home, stalling in the parking lot of her apartment complex for more time with her. The evening had ended with him planting an innocent kiss on her cheek and confirmation of a real date for New Year's Eve.
She hadn't gone back to his side of town after the 25th, since her temporary job at the department store had been completed, so the only communication between them had been through text message. But that didn't mean Katniss hadn't been longing to see Peeta again.
Katniss huffed out an anxious breath as she stood in front of her closet debating what to wear. She was no good with dressing up. She would normally wear jeans and a simple shirt, but somehow she didn't think that would work for dinner out and a New Year's Eve bash at Peeta's best friend's house.
Katniss settled grudgingly on a little black dress that Jo insisted she borrow. She hadn't wanted to accept it but when nothing presented itself inside her closet she found that she had no other option. Amazingly enough, she did own a pair of black wedge pumps, a gift from her mother a few years back, to wear at her high school graduation. They hadn't been out of the box since then, and Katniss hoped they weren't as uncomfortable as they had been at graduation.
Her hair was left to tumble down her shoulders,back in flowing, loose waves and she applied just a hint of eyeliner, mascara and a peachy gloss to give her lips a sparkling sheen. Katniss glanced in the mirror, deciding she didn't look bad, but she didn't look herself either. It was a little unsettling. The fitted dress accentuated curves that seemed to have magically appeared, and Katniss had never known her legs could look like that. A small burst of confidence trickled through her but the sound of the doorbell broke her attention, and her nerves jerked to life.
Katniss used the peephole to ensure whom it was, even though she really already knew, but she needed to see him before he saw her, hoping it would help calm her jitters. But if anything, the sight of him on the other side of the entryway set her stomach more on edge. Even through the bubbled eye of the viewer, Peeta looked incredibly handsome, wearing a chocolate brown blazer, light blue button down, and dark jeans. His hair was neatly disheveled, and Katniss thought he looked just as nervous as she feels.
She saw him check the time on his silver watch and with a deep breath, Katniss turned the knob and swung the door open.
"Hi," she said, giving him a shy smile as she leaned her head on the edge of the door, keeping a rock solid grip on the knob so her knees wouldn't buckle and send her crashing to the floor in a humiliated mess.
"Hey. Wow, you look- just- wow." Peeta released a breath that could be seen in the cold, night air, and Katniss could tell he was trying to keep his eyes trained on her face. He failed at least once that though, causing her took away bashfully. The surge of desire chasing coursed through her body at his approval, an unfamiliar feeling, but she didn't find it unwelcoming.
"You look great, yourself," she managed to choke out, even though her traitorous nerves should have rendered her mute at this point.
"Are you ready?" Peeta asked as the sound of his keys anxiously clattering together rung through the otherwise soundless night air.
"Yeah, just let me grab my jacket," she responded as she retreated back inside momentarily to fetch the garment. The oversized leather coat was no where near as fancy as the dress and shoes Katniss was wearing, but Peeta didn't seem to care.
He wore an infectious smile that stayed on his lips from the time he picked her up all the way through dinner. Katniss wasn't one to smile much but looking at him made it so easy. She wasn't sure the number of times the contagiousness of his grins had spread to her own face that night.
On the ride to Finnick's house they made amiable small talk. Katniss usually loathed idle chatter, but there was such an ease with Peeta that she craved any little connection with him. They talked about who would be at the party, and Katniss was pleasantly surprised and grateful that Peeta had thought to invite Jo.
Peeta explained how he had great friends, and the party would probably be a riotous celebration, but he knew how awkward it could be when you're in a large group of people you didn't know, and he wanted Katniss to have someone around that she could be comfortable with. She eyed him admiringly from the passenger seat as he continued. "Although, you should know she is bringing a plus one… said she wouldn't take no for answer." Katniss smirked at the image of Jo putting her own conditions on an invitation.
"I wonder who? She's not seeing anyone that I know of…" Katniss allowed her voice to trail off thoughtfully, intrigued at who could possibly be coming with her best friend.
Peeta pulled the car to a stop in front of a large, two story plantation-style home, complete with columns and a large outdoor chandelier lighting up the massive front porch. The beauty of the home pulled Katniss' attention from her meditation.
"Wow," she whispered. "This is amazing."
"Wait til you see the inside," Peeta promised. He hopped out of his car and walked quickly to open Katniss' door, helping her out onto the sidewalk. On the way to the porch, Katniss felt a few cold drops on her face and paused to look into the night sky.
"What is it?" Peeta stopped beside her, a quizzical expression on his face.
"It's snowing," Katniss replied, scrunching her face as she held her hand out to capture a lone snowflake drifting towards the ground. "I hate snow. It's cold, bitter, and biting, and it makes you a prisoner to the indoors."
Peeta huffed out a quick laugh as he considered her words. "I guess, if you want to look at it that way."
"How do you look at it?"
"The simple cycle of life, I suppose." Katniss stared at Peeta's handsome face, cheeks and nose tinged pink with the frosty chill of the air. "Parts of it may be ugly and even dangerous, but once it's gone it gives life to everything else. So it's kind of a necessary evil, if you will, that leaves behind something good in its wake." His explanation opened Katniss' mind, so often narrowed by her life's experiences, and a smile crept involuntarily onto her lips. She shook her head in surrender.
"I've never met anyone like you," she admitted.
"I hope that's a good thing," Peeta countered as he took the few steps up onto the porch as Katniss followed his lead.
"It is," she whispered decisively to herself as Peeta pushed open one side of the large, black, double doors. With a hand at the small of her back, he ushered her inside ahead of him.
Katniss and Peeta were the first to arrive, which made Katniss less hesitant about meeting Peeta's friends, since it seemed she would only have to do it one by one instead of in a large group. Within the first thirty minutes she had met a handful of people, her favorite being Annie, Finnick's recent fiance.
Annie was beautiful and quiet and a little quirky. Katniss liked that about her, and Annie didn't look her up and down at first glance with critical eyes, which bonded Katniss to her immediately. Katniss was lost in conversation with her when she heard a commotion at the front door. A few explicit, but complimenting, words were strung together with a loud whistle, and she knew who it was immediately, since Jo never went anywhere quietly.
Katniss briskly made her way to the foyer of the house from the kitchen where she had been engrossed in discussion with Annie, curiosity from earlier rising again as to who could be with her friend. She stopped abruptly when she saw her two best friends together.
"Gale is your plus one?" She snapped at Jo, her tone laced with cynicism.
"Hello to you, too, Kat," Jo smirked. "And, yes, Gale is my plus one."
"That a problem, Catnip?" Katniss turned a glaring eye to Gale at his use of her hated nickname.
"No, it's not a problem at all, it's just surprising," she sputtered, trying to recover from the shock of seeing them together. Katniss motioned for Jo to follow her into a little alcove off to the side of the foyer, leaving Gale to wander into the living room and introduce himself.
"Why didn't you tell me you were coming? And why in the world didn't you tell me you were bringing Gale as your date? I shouldn't have to find that stuff out from Peeta, you know," Katniss reprimanded with a tone befitting an elder sister.
"I just found out myself that I was coming. Your boy messaged me yesterday, and I asked Gale today. It's not a big deal, right? You don't like him, do you?" Jo asked, eyeing her cautiously.
"Ew, no. He's been like a brother to me for years. He'd probably be just as grossed out about it as I am, anyways." Katniss gave an involuntary shudder at the thought of them together.
"Oh, Kat, sometimes you are so brainless." Katniss narrowed her eyes at her friend and wondered exactly what she meant, but Jo took her mind off the comment with another question.
"So you don't mind if I start something with him?"
"God, no! I mean, I'd be totally supportive and happy for you if something came of it, but I was just confused is all. You never said anything about him that way."
"I guess I was just waiting to see if I had a chance," Jo admitted in a vulnerable way, which caugh Katniss off guard because it was very unlike her friend to lower any walls.
"Well, have at him. He'd be stupid not to want you." Katniss' approval lit Jo's face into an audacious grin that caused Katniss to pity Gale momentarily. She wasn't sure he knew exactly what he was getting himself into.
Katniss and Jo left the alcove and walked into the living room where the festivities were beginning to take place. Peeta was nowhere to be seen in the large gathering, but Gale seemed to be listening, unamused, as someone named Marvel, a high school friend of Finnick and Peeta's, cracked a joke that only Marvel seemed to get.
Katniss watched Gale excuse himself and walk over to where she stood with Jo and Annie, who had just been introduced.
"Ladies," Gale said in a smooth voice and slowly drew a drink from his beer as he glanced around the room. Katniss noticed his eyes land on hers a few times and an awkward feeling in her gut rose to the surface. What was it Jo had said earlier? Something about being brainless when it came to Gale?
Katniss chewed on her lower lip thoughtfully as she considered what it meant. Does he have feelings for me? She looked to Gale once more, but just behind him a flash of blue caught her attention. Peeta's eyes seemed to be able to mesmerize her out of any comprehension, but the look in them as he approached was one of annoyance instead of the exuberance she had found in them earlier.
Katniss felt their shoulders touch as Peeta filled a vacancy in the group next to her and handed her a beer. "Thank you," she said as she took the offering. "Peeta this is my friend, Gale. Gale, Peeta." Katniss introduced the two, not completely unaware of something that felt like tension between them. Katniss had been hoping for Gale's approval of Peeta, but now that the two were face to face she felt anxiety creep in. What if he hates Peeta? What if Peeta hates Gale? She didn't want to lose Gale as a best friend, but she wanted to see where this could go with Peeta. I hope they can be friends.
As the night wore on, Katniss watched the two men closely. Peeta and Gale seemed chummy enough for her, and she relaxed at the thought that this, being with Peeta and not losing Gale's closeness, would work out.
The rest of the evening was comfortable and fun, and Katniss even admitted to herself that she could see being friends with Peeta's friends. Finnick was as entertaining as they came, lively and boisterous and the exact opposite of his sweet, shy fiance. Marvel was goofy, but Katniss thought she could get used to him and didn't mind him as much as she thought she would. She didn't get his jokes at all, but that must be part of his charm, she thought. He wasn't rude or arrogant, so he didn't rub her the wrong way.
Marvel's girlfriend, Glimmer, was another story. Peeta said the buxom blonde didn't hang out much with their group, but Katniss had noticed her giving Peeta a few once-overs, and it was enough to set her blood boiling.
Katniss continued to glance at her watch as the time drew closer to midnight. She hadn't been to any New Year's festivities before, but she knew exactly what happened at twelve o'clock sharp - a kiss to start off the coming year. She had been feeling her heart stuttering in her chest since ten o'clock, well really since Christmas Eve, but the anticipation that he might kiss her was putting her brain on overload. What if he doesn't? What if he does? Both possibilities terrified her enough to have had to rub her sweaty palms constantly over the hips of her dress, both in an effort to dry them and tug at the rising fabric.
"Are you alright?" Katniss' belly fluttered when she unexpectedly felt Peeta's warm breath in her ear. He smelled like cinnamon, mint, and beer, all three mixed into an intoxicating scent that had her ready to pounce on his plump, inviting lips. Calm down, she scolded herself, as she realized she hadn't taken her eyes off of those lips since he had asked her a question just a moment ago. What was it again?
"Hey?" Peeta leaned in and reached around to her lower back and began to rub gentle, soothing circles. Katniss couldn't take the close proximity and remain neutral anymore. For most of the night, she and Peeta hadn't engaged in any touching other than the rubbing of shoulders in a tight space or the brushing of fingers when he would hand her a new drink or dispose of her old one.
She touched her cheek to his, tentatively at first, unable to stand not touching him. But when he drew her closer by wrapping his arms tight around her waist and resting his face in the crook of her neck, taking a deep breath of her, she wound her arms around his neck and pulled herself flush against him. Katniss had never been this bold but she wanted to take a chance and open herself up to this amazing boy, who felt solid and warm and right. She didn't want this night to end, even when Finnick announced that there were only five more minutes to midnight and everyone gave a shout of excitement.
Peeta released his hold on her and at once she felt cold and empty and alone. "I'll be right back," he assured her with a sensual smile and a glint in his eye, but it did little to soothe her longing. Her whimper of protest made Peeta chuckle. "Don't move. I promise I'll be back in three minutes and…" he glanced at his wrist, "...thirty two seconds." Without hesitation Peeta leaned in and placed a quick kiss to Katniss' cheek, and then took off for the kitchen to pitch their beer bottles into the trash.
Katniss rooted herself in place at Peeta's promise and eagerly watched through the kitchen's large archway, her eyes never leaving his fantastic form, where she could see him dumping their bottles and clearing away some of the trash that had built up on the bar.
"Sixty seconds!" Finnick declared to raucous cries and hollers. Katniss fidgeted but never moved, trying to be patient with Peeta's absence at this exact moment of time. His eyes connected with hers, and he moved quickly back through the group to her. Katniss exhaled a short breath in relief. "Did you think I wouldn't make it back in time to kiss my girl?" He grinned as he challenged her, and the blush on her neck crept up into her cheeks. At least now she knew there would definitely be a kiss.
Finnick began the countdown and everyone joined in. Around five, Katniss allowed her eyes to close in anticipation of the touch of Peeta's soft lips.
"Three!" They all chanted simultaneously.
"Two!" Almost there. She could faintly feel a small whoosh of air and heard a quick grunt from someone near them, but her focus stayed on the countdown, her belly alive with expectation.
"One!" The lips she felt on hers were rough and tight and way too agitated. It was not at all what she pictured Peeta's and her first kiss to be like, and she hoped the rest of them wouldn't be like that. Maybe we just need practice, she thought to herself as the kiss ended.
Katniss opened her eyes to a gleam of silver staring back at her instead of the blue she had expected. She raised her hands to her mouth in shock, comprehending the reason for the abrasive, harsh kiss. She observed an angry, shocked Peeta lying on the floor, staring up at the man who had just stolen his New Year's kiss.
"Gale!" was the only thing Katniss could deliver before Peeta was up and dragging her best friend back down to the ground.
Well, I did notsee that coming! Actually I did, ever since my friend posted a guest review that there was no kiss, and she hates flappy bird, so I had to get back at her. She hates me now, but she will love me for part 2. Please review! I'll write part 2 faster. :) Was it expected or were you guys shocked? I want to know! Pbg