Chapter 8

The Boys

…

"Put that beer down! Now!" I yell from the booth across the bar that I'm cleaning. I do not get what causes people to shove trash and popcorn into the booth cushions. After three years of this I have not come up with one plausible answer. I don't hear the refrigerator door open or the sound of glass hitting the wooden counter so again I shout out, "Put it down!"

I hear Gale snort probably nearly spitting out his drink as Rory whines, "Com'on Katniss, just one."

I turn to shoot him a glare, "You are under age Rory Williams Hawthrone. You are no allowed to drink, especially in my bar. You should be pleased that I'm even allowing you in here, especially allowing you behind the bar. So put it down."

"But Katniss," he whines like a child, but I cut him off with another deathly glare causing him to shut up and set down the beer. Only if looks could kill. Continuing to clean I listen to make sure Rory doesn't pop open a beer because everyone knows Gale doesn't give a shit and will allow him to do whatever he want. Besides not caring if Rory drinks or do any of the crap that Gale and I did when we were his age, he's really a great older brother. Probably after another half an hour of cleaning I give in saying, "Let's go."

Gale grunts taking his beer from the counter and following me to the door with Rory in tow.

Lights out and doors locked we make our way outside and up the steps to my flat. And even though its early June I am more than happy to be inside even if I was only outside for just a minute as the nights seem to be getting chilly. Inside the guys seem to halt moments after stepping inside.

"Where are you sleeping," Rory ask.

"Here."

"Oh, okay," he says confused, "And us?"

Crap, I think, why did they have to just show up? If they had given me some warning I could have thought something up, sent them to Haymitch's or Marvel's even.

"Ah," I say making it up as I went along, "Gale you get the spare bedroom and Rye… you get the couch. And don't complain, I could have thought of something better if you had given me some warning you were coming."

"Ahh," Rory groans, but without a word Gale walks over and plops himself down on the couch.

"I'll take the couch, Rory," Gale says, "I won't fit on that twin bed."

"Yes," Rory says a little more enthusiastic about the sleeping arrangement now than before. And as Rory makes his way down the hall to the guest bedroom he stops. "Hey, Katniss, why aren't you staying at Peeta's? I mean that's when happened last time we just showed up, you went there and we took over this place."

Crap. Um. What do I do? Lie. Yeah, lie. That'll work.

"Um," I say not really sure what's going to come out of my mouth, "He has some stomach bug and… and for the last week has banned me from his place, kind of all contact with him actually. You know Peeta always… always being over precautious, doesn't want me to get sick… you know?"

Rory gives me an odd look like he's confused on what I am talking about. "Oh," he says, "But we saw him on our way to the bar and he looked fi-"

"Pretty gruesome," Gale interrupted before shooting Rory a look that I did not catch, but it made Rory change his mind instantly.

"Yeah," Rory says, "He looked-" He trails on only to stop after a minute when Gale interrupts. "Go to bed Rory." So giving us each a polite nod goodnight Rory disappeared down the hall.

Once I'm sure he is no longer is hearing distance I give Gale a smile, "Thanks."

He turned one. "No problem, Catnip." Then kicking off his shoes and lying on his back he said, "Goodnight."

"'Night," I replied before heading to my room. Gale and Rory knew something and I wasn't sure what and at the moment I had no urge to find out what or discus my love life with them. So I striped out of my clothes and crawled into my bed.

…

"I got one!" Rory yells.

"No you don't," Gale and I call back in unison. And then a minute later, Rory mumbles to himself mostly likely not wanting us to hear, but at the same time not truly caring if we did, "No I don't."

This has been going on for about the last several hours. Every time Rory has seen a ripple in the water or has felt the slightest tug on his line he had shouted, "I got one," and less than a minute he would mumble how he didn't have one. He wasn't that great at fishing, too impatient, but at least he was trying. Gale and I on the other hand had sat here in silence only saying a word when we would yell at Rory telling him to basically shut it cause he was scaring away all the fish. In addition we had caught a total of three fish between the two of us. Gale and I could sit and fish for hours in silence like we did on weekends back in the Seam when we went fishing in the river at the west end of town. Now feeling Gale nudge me with his elbow I looked to see him counting down the fingers on his right hand.

And when his pinky when down he shifted in his seat causing the boat to barely shake and Rory to jolt up from his spot yelling, "I've got one!"

With a grin, Gale then stood up in an angrily manner. "Sit down asshat, no you don't." And as the end of Rory's line surfaced there was nothing, but the piece of chopped squid on his nook. Letting out a disappointed sigh he sat down onto the bench.

"This sucks," he grumbled, "I don't get how you two enjoy this. Uh... I'm give up."

So watching him place his fishing pole into one of boat's holders he then laid down across the bench on his back pulling his baseball cap over his face.

"You're awful," I say in a low whisper to Gale as he retook his seat beside me.

"No, I'm not," he said in protest, "I'm just playing big brother."

"By tormenting your little brother?" I question.

He nods. "Yeah. I mean I wouldn't be able to pull this off with Vick, that kid is too smart and I couldn't do a thing like that to Posy, she just too innocent and adorable, you know? But Rory, I can pull this shit with him. It's in the contract of brothering. Plus to my defense the kid should know better, on the drive down here I gave him a few pieces of laxative gum from Vick's Boy Scout packet and all he said was, "I think I drank too much." He had nothing to drink all day. He's just really stupid sometimes."

Laughing I elbow Gale. "You're awful."

…

"Hey," I hear someone say into my ear in a soft tone causing me to jump banging my head against the top of the refrigerator.

"Ahhh, fuckkk," I mutter clutching my hand to the back of my head, "Ah, god that hurt." Putting my head down and backing away from the refrigerator, I grab the bowl of red and green grapes before slamming the door shut.

"Dam you Gale," I say placing the bowl on the counter, rubbing my skull. God it hurt. He let out a laugh reopening the refrigerator and grabbing one of the power drinks I had lined up along the inside of the door.

Opening the bottle, he stood in front of me. "So why are you up?"

"Couldn't sleep," I say sitting myself down on the kitchen floor with the bowl of grapes between my legs. "No shit, Sherlock," he says sitting beside me on the floor with his legs out in front of him, "What's the real reason you're up?"

I shrug my shoulders not really sure why I was awake. Nightmares… Peeta… too much tea… Cato… shit… shit… and more shit.

Unable to decide I just shrug my shoulders again. Gale nodded not pressing any farther. So as I picked out the red grapes from the bowl popping them into my mouth, Gale drank Vitamin Boost or whatever it was called while every now and then snatching one or two three grapes from the bowl. Sitting there in silence Gale nudged me with his elbow, "I might go back."

"To the Seam," I ask confused, "I thought you guys were going back tomorrow anyway."

He shook his head. "I think I might do another tour." And at that moment my heart stopped a little. He was going back. Gale was thinking about going back to the marines.

"When?" I ask not sure what else to say. It wasn't like I could talk him out of it; he was just as stubborn as I was.

"End of summer maybe, early fall," he says, "I'm not sure, I'm still thinking about it."

"And Madge," I ask knowing she was the only one who could change his mind. He pops another grape into his mouth. "I don't think she's too open to the idea, but she hasn't come out and said anything yet… You know after what happened last time."

I nod my head. I knew what happened last time. It happened about a year ago, just before he returned home for good. It had been after serving in the marines for about a little more than three years that Gale had been promoted again. I think it was First Sergeant, all I knew was he worked hard and moved up the ranks fast. Anyway he was being sent on some mission that still to today he is not allowed to discuss. But anyway, two weeks in they lost contact with base and a week following Gale along with the rest of his men were pronounced missing. It took a hit on all of us. Madge became more quite than usual and basically disconnected from society. Hazel was on edge whenever the phone rang and became a little too protective, afraid of what would happen if she let the boys out of the house. The kids weren't any better, especially Posy. Me, I kind of stopped eating. That really got Peeta, I'm pretty sure he thought I was going to die. And I'll admit there was a good chance as I probably lost twenty some pound. Well, Gale was missing for three months. I had to say the moment I received the phone call that he was alive was one of the happiest moments of my life.

"Yeah," I reply, "Madge will kill if you decide to drop off the grid again." Then without thinking I added, "Peeta too, he could deal with me last time." And the moment I had mentioned Peeta's name it was as if I had opened a doorway for Gale.

"Right, Peeta," Gale said picking up a few grapes, "What's up between you two, Catnip?" I look down at the bowl, "I'm sure you know Gale by the way you cut of Rory a few nights ago."

"Yeah," he said nodding, "We stopped by the bakery before coming to the bar. The moment we stepped in Peeta stepped out. Eric said something about a break up."

"Yep," I say popping the "p."

"Um, well," he says, "Want to elaborate?"

"Not really. But I guess I'll share," I say taking in a deep breath, "You know how Peeta likes honesty and how he is when he feels like someone's lying to him." Gale nodded. "Okay," I continue, "Well, about month and a half ago we were going on a date when we got a call from Marcus telling us to get to the hospital. Well at some point in the night he gave me his jacket and… and well a ring box fell out."

"He was going to propose?"

I nodded, "Yeah. And well you know how Peeta gets really… invested in things. So I thought it would be nice not to tell him I knew, I mean Marcus told me about this big gesture he had planned and I couldn't just ruin it. I thought he would propose in a day or two. But weeks went by and nothing. He didn't even hint at it. Basically I couldn't take it, the guilt. So I broke down and told him." I pause for a moment, taking a breath, preparing myself for what comes next. "I told him and he… and he gave me the ring and said, "I guess I'll see you around.""

I felt tears escape my eye as Gale's arms wrapped around me, pulling me into his chest. "Screw him," Gale says rubbing his hand up and down my arm, "No, forget him."

"I wish," I mutter against his chest, "But I can't and it's over and I kissed a guy and… it's all just screwed." He doesn't saying anything and I'm content with this silence as he rubs his hand up and down my arm. It isn't till, I'm not sure actually when, at some point that Rory comes into the kitchen and sits down beside me, resting his head on mine.

"Are you guys having our annual five year pow-wow without me," he asks poking me in the side.

"Yeah," I say, "You missed out on my love life."

"Ah, we talked about that last time," he says sarcastically, "I would have suggested we talk about football or hockey." And at this I forget about Gale's and mine take and fall into an uncontrollable laughter.