I just learned what "spooning" was today. Hehehe…
oOo
Twelve o'clock rolled around and after lunch, Katniss decided to get ready. She hadn't changed into this day's clothes, so I waited by while she showered and changed. I planned to slip out while she was talking to Haymitch and Finnick and such, so I could change and shower as well.
I heard the water putter to a stop, and a few minutes later Katniss came out of the bathroom with dripping wet hair and her new white clothes, that stuck to her neck with water from her head. She tossed the old towel into the metal box to be washed, and cast me a glance before going back into the bathroom to brush her teeth. The curtains didn't close after her, so I translated that as "you can come in, Peeta, I don't care." So I peeled myself off the wall and leaned on the door frame, though the door was replaced by curtains.
Katniss looked at me, pausing mid-brush, and her mouth practically dripping with foamy toothpaste. "Almost done, Peeta."
"I'll help make it go faster." And I walked over behind Katniss. Her eyes followed me in the mirror. I glimpsed in front of her at the sink counter, and my eyes fell upon what I was looking for: Katniss' hairbrush.
Shrugging, Kat went back to brushing her teeth, though she couldn't hide the strange look she was giving me. I didn't blame her. I was the boy who baked and painted, not the one who did girls' hair.
"Stop giving me that look, Katniss. I'm assisting you in your getting ready." I gathered up all her sodden hair and began brushing it out, splattering the floor with drops. Even when the brush bristles caught a snarl in her hair, Katniss didn't wince. Such a good girl. Once it was all smooth and shiny, I laced my fingers under her hair, dividing it into three.
Maybe being handy and careful with my fingers was a good thing after all. I subconsciously thought the way to braid in my head. Left in the middle, right in the middle, left in the middle, right in the middle. When my fingers got down to the very end of her hair, I snapped a rubber band in place. "There you go." I let the braid fall in place on her back and kissed her head.
Katniss finished rinsing her mouth out. "Thanks." And she turned around to face me. "Who knew you could do hair?"
I grinned.
"We should probably be going." She said after returning my smile. "But um…Did you happen to find out what room we'd be using?"
"Nope!" I said cheerfully. "But maybe there is a button on the side of the bed."
"That one is for emergency." Katniss seemed to question my absurd joviality. In fact, I didn't even know why I was feeling like that. I know I shouldn't be… "The red one?"
I took her hand and after returning to the room, we both knelt by the bed. Indeed, there was an unfriendly-looking red button with the words 'press for immediate aid' under it in big bold letters.
"Nope, not that one." Katniss bit her lip and searched the metal bar the button was on, for maybe another one.
"This looks promising." Not a foot to the left of the red button was a second one. It was white, and next to it was something that looked like a speaker. Under the speaker was yet another button. But there weren't any words under it. "Maybe it's room service. I am kinda hungry."
"Stop fooling around." Katniss crawled back over to me and pressed the button.
"…Says the person who just pressed the mysterious white button." I smirked at Katniss, who scowled. Ah, how I missed that look.
Suddenly, a static-y sound filled the room, coming from the little speaker. We held our breaths. After another second of static, it cleared and this time a voice came from it.
"Is there something you need?" It was the voice of the grumpy receptionist lady at the front.
Blinking in surprise, I gave a sideways glance to Katniss. "I take it this is something like the thing at the Justice Building, you know at the front. You talk through the speaker."
She raised her eyebrows at the speaker and nodded. "Yeah, that is probably what it is." Then she brightened. "Just what we need."
"Hello?" The receptionist was getting annoyed. "If you two are pulling a prank I could always send somewhere over there."
I hastily pressed the little button below the speakers. "Hi? Yeah, sorry we—"
But before I could really say anything else, Katniss gave me a slightly exasperated look and put her finger on the button instead. "We need Dr. Tyrwhitt."
A sigh. "Okay I'll send him over." Then the static filled the speakers again and it went quiet.
"Well, that was easy." I stood up and offered my hand down to Katniss.
She accepted it.
"Now we just have to wait for the doctor to come and get us." Despite my efforts to be strong, there was a lump in the base of my throat that just wouldn't go away. It wasn't as if this was my last day to see her unless the surgery goes all hunky-dory. That was tomorrow. And the chance of a memory lapse was so very slim, yet everyone was acting as though it was 4-out-of-5 probability.
I looked down at Katniss' undaunted expression as she gazed lazily towards the door, obviously occupying her with other thoughts than mine. Of course, things were different for her. It wouldn't hurt. If she woke up in the hospital thinking she was back at home in District 12, it wouldn't be too hard for her to get back into the flow of things, to not be too miffed by District 13. She would go along with things. She had everyone she needed, excluding Gale (which would be fun explaining. Not.). She would have her mother and Primrose, which is all she ever really needed in the first place. Okay, "needed" wasn't really the right word, but I didn't know what was. Ms. Everdeen, Prim, and Gale were the only people she had ever loved. Losing me wouldn't bother her. In fact, "me" didn't exist in the world where poor Katniss Everdeen woke up in a supposedly non-existed district, and learned that her best friend had died. She wouldn't even be haunted by the Games. She would get over Gale's death quickly.
It was easy to imagine what it would be like if that were the case. We might pass by each other in the hall. Her mesmerizing gray eyes would slide over me without a second glance.
Him. She would think. Why is he here? He just makes things worse. The boy with the bread needs the leave my life, for the better of everyone. Just thinking of Katniss thinking that made me depressed. He's just another person to be in debt with. He doesn't owe me anything, so why is he even here? How untrue and understated that thought was. I owed her my life, times ten. Anything, everything. Just to have her in my arms at night cost me all I had and more, but it was worth it. It always was.
"Peeta?"
A gentle voice brought me back down to earth, hard. The landing almost felt painful, actually. I forced myself to lock gazes with familiar silver eyes, which looked mournful. Not as sad as I felt, obviously, but close.
Katniss cupped her hand to my check, and with she wiped her thumb under one of my eyes. To my immense surprise, it came back wet. Katniss' eyes were shining too. "I'm sorry…"
Even though she was roughly half a foot shorter than me, Katniss wrapped her arms around my shoulders and put my head on her shoulder. I put my arms around her, too. But she didn't say anything else but my name. Just my name.
For a while we just stood there, embracing each other while silent tears made tracks on our cheeks. Our bodies pressed together, not in crazy teenage lust (shut up), but in friendship. We held one another tightly, and spoke without words. "I'm sorry." "I love you." "Thank you for being in my life." Shallow phrases that only meant something when not spoken at all.
Her hand stroked my hair gently, switching things around. Normally it was me who had Katniss in my arms, trailing my fingers across her head, whispering words of comfort. Even though it was odd being cared for instead of being the one who cared, I liked it. This truly meant everything in the world to me. Though, the precious moment was too brief before a knock was delivered on our door.
We leaned back away from one another and wiped our eyes. Since it was utterly pointless trying to make it look as though we haven't been crying, I just took a deep breath, put on a hopefully bored face, and opened the door.
Like we expected, Dr. Tyrwhitt was standing in the doorway. His inquisitive light eyes darted to my face and behind me o Katniss'. After giving her a succinct nod, he looked at me again. "Is everything going well?"
No we called you because we wanted you to stand there and stare at us while we cried like babies. Of course. I blinked and stepped aside for him to come in. "Katniss is ready to get transferred to a different room to…er…say goodbye. Just in case it really is goodbye." No isn't the time for pessimism, Peeta. I had to remind myself when I added that last sentence.
"Ah, yes." He stepped into the room and put on his, proud-professional-doctor-with-an-important-patient look when his gaze fastened on my uncertain wife at the other end of the room. "The room is ready, though I should remind you two again that the likelihood of something that extreme actually happening is very, very slim. I would say nonexistent, but anything's possible."
If that was supposed to make us feel better, Dr. Tyrwhitt failed miserably.
Katniss straightened out her plain-Jane white cotton shirt and turned to me to straighten out mine, purely a nervous habit. "Ready, Peeta?"
I took her hand from where it was at my collarbone, and wound it comfortingly in mine. "Don't be nervous, love. It'll be fine."
I could just tell she was about to say, "Look who's talking." But she didn't. Instead, Katniss squeezed my hand back and we both followed the doctor out the door.
Though no words were exchanged between Katniss and I, a reassuring pressure could be felt through our laced fingers. Kat stood close by my side as the doctor led us through the halls.
"I had forgotten what the real world was like." She joked, motioning to the place outside her madman cell. "Being cooped up in that room for days at a time made me realize what I was missing."
I couldn't help but smile. "If this hospital is the 'real world', I feel for you. When you get released, you and I will go outside and get some fresh air. Real air."
Katniss made a noise of longing, but didn't say anything because we both noticed that the doctors' head turned a fraction in our direction. Not a lot, but enough to see the look in his eye. Too bad we didn't understand what it meant before he turned his head back away.
A few more minutes passed before Dr. Tyrwhitt stopped at a door. "Here we are…" And he opened it, beckoning us in.
This room was—thankfully-different than Katniss'. It had an array of white couches and plastic chairs, around a small coffee table. In the very corner shoved behind a long white curtain was yet another hospital bed. Maybe it was a good thing that was there, just in case.
I stopped in front of one of the couches and bent down to give Katniss a gentle kiss on the forehead. "I'm going to go find Haymitch and them, now, Katniss. Try not to freak out, okay?"
"Okay…" She smiled weakly up at me and after returning my light kiss, she sat down.
"See you in a few." I promised her, and walked out, intrusting the doctor with my life.
oOo
"My life" meaning Katniss, of course. well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter everyone! Hehehe….spooning….