Hearing all those beautiful compliments and absolutely HILARIOUS comments made me feel so happy. I'm glad you're enjoying this as much as I am. Big plans from now on, so buckle up! This chapter is in Peeta's POV again, just to let you know.
oOo
We spent the rest of the evening there at the lake, occasionally taking a half-hour to swim, but mostly laying on the shore, wrapped in each others' arms. It was amazing, and neither of us talked so the silence amplified everything. But my mind was occupied with the thoughts of marriage.
No matter how cheesy it sounded, I couldn't help but think of how my love for Katniss never wavered, only grew stronger and stronger. This was hard to tell to her, of course, because it is so cheesy. She'd smile and kiss me, saying she loved me too, but she wouldn't really…get how my feelings for her worked. Though I loved her more than anything, it wasn't just attraction (though that was part of it).
I don't know what it is about her. There's something that gets me, every time our eyes meet. I could see a reflection of me and what I feel in her eyes, and if I lost her, I'd lose myself. Like she is—literally—my other half. Like existence would be physically impossible without her.
When it became near dinnertime, it was sad to leave. Our clothes were drenched and we were starving, but Katniss seemed ecstatic. She was bouncing around on the balls of her feet the whole way home, and tried hard to keep the smile off her face. It didn't work, but I inwardly wondered why she was so happy.
We ate, and after the dishes were done, Katniss decided to go back to her house to say a quick hello to her Mother and Prim, and to get another set of clothes. While she was gone, I decided to take a shower. After pulling on a pair of pajama pants, I shook out my hair, feeling refreshed.
That didn't last too long, though, because the moment I stepped out of the bathroom, Katniss was right there in front of me, already dressed in her nightgown. I uttered a small cry of surprise, followed by a defeated grin.
"I'm back." She said, tossing the fresh clothes onto an empty chair. Though I was wearing nothing but flannel pajama pants, she seemed at ease and normal. Like I did this every day.
For a brief moment I touched my thumb to her cheek, then withdrew my hand. "It's late. We should get an early start for tomorrow." I didn't mention why.
Katniss looked tranquil for a moment, then a tiny realization dawned on her, and she flicked her eyes up to mine. "I'm really curious as to know where you went this morning. You left when I was asleep and wouldn't tell me. It's killing me." Even though the first few sentences were just playful, the last seemed genuinely curious, and maybe even annoyed.
I put my arms around Katniss' shoulders and enjoyed the presence of her warm self for a bit. "It's nothing to obsess over." That was a lie. "No need to worry." Another lie? No, that was true…
She sighed. "I'm not worrying, just curious. You normally tell me everything."
"If you're observant, I'm sure in no time you'll understand."
That made her more curious, and for a second, Katniss just stood there looking miffed. Then a sigh slid from her throat and she tugged, not unkindly, away from me. "I'll find out soon enough. We should get some sleep if you're going to need another couple of extra hours in the morning."
"Nope." Her attitude as we crawled into bed didn't affect my natural adrenaline buzzing through my fingertips. This was actually going to happen. This is actually going to happen… "I'm sleeping in with you."
Katniss sank down next to me, pressing her side up against mine. Our fingers entwined together, like always, but she didn't rest her head on my chest. A small crease appeared between her bows and I could see the barely-discernible work of her jaw as she chewed the inside of her cheek.
I leaned over and pressed my lips to her forehead. "Are you upset at me? For not telling you?"
"No, I—" Katniss topped herself in the beginning of the sentence. A tiny muscle in her cheek twitched and she was fighting, hard, with herself, though I couldn't tell what of. Her grey eyes flicked around nervously, then up to me. "Nothing. It's... Nothing."
Okay, she was just doing that to make me curious. If I asked her what, she'd want to know why I was gone, and I can't tell her that. But jeez, she knows I hate it when she does that. I groaned. "Not nice, Katniss."
She shrugged, but I could see the troubled look on her face and knew she didn't just say it to bug me. But still, the subject was dropped and didn't pop back up. In just a few seconds, she decided to snuggle down in the covers and turn sideways towards me, eyes closed.
In that precious moment of silence, I spared a minute to bend down and kiss her once, very gently on her lips. Grey eyes opened to stare at me, a small twinkle lit them. "I love you, Peeta."
"I love you, too." But she had no idea, none at all for the days ahead. If in the morning, I visit the metal smith and he has the ring done, that night—tomorrow night—it will happen. Of course, that depends on if I remain sane until then, but if I managed to get down on my knees in front of her, and take her hands in my own, I'm going to propose to her.
Propose. Marry. Engage. Wedding. Those words ran through my head again and again, and each time they touched a nerve, I grew more and more anxious. I thought I was about to explode right out of the covers, when the soft grunt of Katniss' snore brought my heart back down to my chest. She had her forehead pressed on my shoulder, and both her arms were wrapped securely around one of my own.
I wasn't going to have problems tomorrow. Because I loved her, and she was perfect. There was nothing blocking me, for it was kept away with sheer will.
Now subdued, I closed my brain up against the thoughts and breathed in Katniss' scent. My eyes slid shut once more, knowing full well this would be the last night I would fall asleep alone.
In the night, I was awoken by cries. Not horrible shrieks of pain, but stifled sobs, quiet and muffled. My eyelids peeled open dryly, and I found myself staring up at Katniss.
She was sitting up in bed, legs tucked under her hastily, her hands covering her mouth. Tears were streaming under and around the cupped fingers, twisting in the dim light to illuminate themselves. Katniss looked as though it wasn't a nightmare, though. She would have shot immediately out of bed and would have been up against the wall or on the floor, but not still in bed. She looked as though she had already been awake but just had a really horrible thought.
Immediately, on instinct, I reached out my arms to her. "You're okay, Katniss." My mouth immediately murmured the words comfortingly.
To my relief, Katniss didn't flinch away. But she didn't crumble into my chest either. The most she did was stare down at me in upset confusion, and didn't pull away when I tugged her into my arms.
She wasn't sobbing loudly or breathing raggedly, or anything like that. In fact, her crying was dying down to just streams of tears instead of rivers.
I held her like a small child, cradled kindly against my bare chest, gently wiping tears away with a fingertip. "Are you okay? Was it a nightmare?"
Her mouth opened and closed again, a few times, then she swallowed the hindrance holding her back. "Not-not a nightmare, Peeta." Her eyes widened, shining and hoary in what little light we had. "A dream. I—" Katniss just now looked more confused than ever, and bent her head down to slowly put her face in her hands. "It surprised the tears right out of me."
For some odd reason, a funny image popped up in my head and I forced it down before I could laugh. Something tells me this wasn't a very amusing sort of "surprise the tears right out of her" kind of thing. I touched my finger to her jaw line. "Are you going to tell me?"
Something—possibly fright—appeared in Katniss' eyes and she immediately opened her mouth to say "no". But she didn't do that. Again, that troubled 'battle-with-yourself' look appeared on her face and she weighed silent the options unknown to me.
A pause.
"I don't think I can. Not—" Katniss bit her lip. "Not yet, anyways."
Not yet? Something inside of me told me it had something vaguely to do with marriage, or another something along those lines.
Katniss closed her eyes again, determined to go back to sleep without anything said. But just as the both of us began drifting off, I felt the shift of Katniss' hand. It brushed mine, barely noticeable. But it was impossible to not notice it when she curled her hand protectively around her stomach.
Something inside my chest gave a shudder, and I was momentarily brought away from my tired state, just to cover her hand with my own. It flinched once under mine, unsure, but relaxed. For a moment I could feel, without even opening my eyes, that Katniss was looking at me. But I didn't need to know when she reached over to kiss me.
It was automatic, kissing back, but it was brief and full of fatigue. Not a minute after she pulled back away and held my hand to her stomach with both of her own, I fell into a sleep, dreaming about children with grey eyes.
I wasn't the first to wake in the morning. It was 10:00 (to my complete surprise), and my eyes opened to a plate and mug of cider being pressed into my hands. For a second I had to blink and comprehend the food being forced upon me, then I squinted up to Katniss, who had her own food and was sitting on my legs, eating it, watching me with an amused glint in her eyes.
It seemed as though something changed in the night, switching an unknown switch in her. She was dressed, showered, sipping hot apple cider, and smiling. All before I woke up. And what was with breakfast in bed? I had a sudden image of our places switched, though I doubted Katniss would wear hair curlers anywhere but in my mind.
"What's this?" I motioned to the steaming breakfast in front of me curiously.
"Breakfast."
Well, duh. "Since when do you fix me breakfast in bed?"
She took a bite of a piece of bacon that had the crap cooked right out of it, all crispy and brown. "I'm going to be busy today. With Mother and Prim, and maybe even Haymitch. I owe him a visit." Katniss blinked, realizing it as she said it, an afterthought, but shook it away. "Anyways, Mother is going to be at work, but Prim wanted to do something with me since we barely ever see each other anymore."
"Ah." That was perfectly fine with me. And this bacon was amazing, I realized.
For a few minutes we sat there in bed, chewing, until our plates were empty.
Katniss set our dishes down on the nightstand and shifted into a more comfortable position on my lap. "Also, I thought you might want a little extra time doing your secret whatnot in town."
A guilty smile crept up onto my face and I felt myself reach out to her. Confused but nevertheless okay with it, Katniss let herself be tucked under my chin and in the circle of my arms.
"It'll be worth it, I promise." I mumbled against her skin, lips pressed to Katniss' neck.
She said nothing, but the silence around her was no longer cold and confused. Just silent.
We sat like that for a few minutes, unmoving and warm, until Katniss decided she should go meet Prim at her house. To my knowledge, they weren't going to be in town when I was, but just in case, I was planning on making my trip short.
The second she was gone, my heart resumed its place in my throat and I got right down to business.
This was going to be incredible.
oOo
Ooh, it's the next chapter! The proposal! HAHAHA I'm so excited. :3 it's going to be amazing, really. I have it all planned out in my head and it's going to go soooo well. Thanks to everyone who has read, reviewed, enjoyed, etc my story; Rachel, Michelle, Rosa, Sophie, Dasha, Ashley, Ronja, Ali, um…Izzy? I'm not sure if you're still reading… Never mind. I totally don't know a lot of your names, but we talk often, so you know who you are. But anyways, thanks to everyone and I love you guys, and so on and so forth. :DD Happy March 27th, guys!
But I would like to give a universal birthday wish to one of my best friends ever, Michelle. You people would know her as MountainAir, but it was her birthday on the 25th, so if you happen to think of it, in your review, you can tell her happy birthday, and I'll make sure to pass that on to her. :D
IMPORTANT!
I need your help! On my profile, I put up a survey of an engraving on Peeta's-Katniss' ring, what it should say. I'm not updating until I know what to put on it, and I want to know what you think. Take the survey!