It's her hair. It takes forty-two days of sitting right behind Katniss in the one class we share to realize it. Forty-two days of inhaling greedily the second she falls into her seat as class begins. I don't even know what it is, how to describe it, but today she flips her head back in irritation at something that's been said, and the scent wafts more strongly my way.
Linens? No, cotton. Like how a shirt smells the first time I put it on. Mixed with ... hearthfire. That's it. Maybe she sleeps on the floor? I know several of the poorer families only have one bedroom, which would likely belong to her mother.
Dark, wavy locks fall down her back, glinting with a few remaining bronze streaks from the summer sun, and I try not to picture them cascading across her arm while she sleeps restlessly on a bare wood floor. My hand suddenly has a mind of its own, flexing on my desktop as if to reach out and touch her, but I clench it into a fist and grit my teeth. It's only hair.
Some days, I swear she turns her head to the side and tilts it backward, pausing as if to see if I'm there. If maybe I'll say something to her today. But who am I kidding? She's probably just glancing at the clock, counting the seconds until she can be with Gale again.
I snort softly in disgust at the thought, and Katniss turns her head to the side, cocking it as if she's heard me.
"Fuck," I mumble to myself, as I knock my pen to the floor carelessly.
Hair tumbles down, blocking my view of her face, and Katniss leans over to retrieve the pen, placing it on my desk.
"I'm sorry, did you say something?" She looks at me briefly before turning around again, eyes intense.
"No," I whisper. "I mean, I did. But it wasn't to you." Great. Now she probably thinks I talk to myself, have conversations in my head. Or that I'm just some jerk from the rich part of town.
That night, as I toss and turn in my better-than-average bed in my own room, I can't help but wonder where she is, whether she's comfortable. When I finally sleep, dark wavy tendrils flood my dreams with the scent of smoky cotton. Katniss.