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XXI. Althea Yule

Althea Yule is a conniving, manipulating and overly expressive bitch, who can't - or more like, refuses - to keep her mouth shut. All throughout dinner, she would not stop garbling about how crap the other districts have been, and I can't help but think, 'How the heck do Cashmere and Gloss deal with her never-ending bullshit?'

My jaw clenches and unclenches. On my left side sits Althea and on my right, sits Gloss. Cashmere sits on the other side of Althea. Dr Audrye stands in the corner of the room holding a purse, which undoubtedly has syringes and sedatives just for me. She sends me a warning glare and I'm forced to keep my mouth shut. All I can do is shovel food in my mouth to avoid speaking to Althea Yule, which is still almost impossible.

Her Victory Speech mostly consisted of how much she enjoyed murdering the tributes in the arena. It was the same throughout almost all the Districts, as she had successfully claimed the most number of kills. It took Joseph, Dean and Shelley to hold me back, as she discussed with the crowd with how Maxwell's death was a dignified one, yet a pitiful one nonetheless. The words came flowing out of her mouth like verbal diarrhoea and all I could do was glare at her with hatred. Gloss had sighed irritably, confessing that she'd completely blown them off when he had written the cards out for her, and Cashmere cradled her head in her hands, just as annoyed.

"Does anybody else hate her as much as I do?" I grumble under my breath. Amphitrite kicks at my shin from across the table and gestures for me to shut up. Cashmere smirks, while Gloss lets out a bark of laughter, quickly covering it up with a cough.

Cashmere places her hand over my knee, sympathetically. "Try dealing with her as a mentor."

The grimace that pulls at my lips is unavoidable. I can only imagine both Althea and I either on the verge of tearing each other's hair out, or her flirting with me constantly. Either way, it would have been a rather horrible experience.

Dinner passes by rather uneventfully. It's silent, and I'm almost certain that everyone in the room is absolutely done with Althea's behaviour.

I find out that District Four holds a party for the Victor every year. It's held in the Justice Building and the place has completely transformed into something so different, that it looks similar to the insides of a few mansions in the Capital. The four of us - Gloss, Cashmere, Althea and I - sit by the bar, side by side. The girls sit together and engage themselves in what seems to be a one-sided conversation, and it's just my luck that Althea sits right next to me. Gloss set four glasses of wine on the table in front of us and says, "My shout."

"Mate, are you okay?" Gloss asks.

I purse my lips and answer with little hesitation. "Did you ever have nightmares after your Games? I mean… I'm just trying to find someone else's perspective since you went in as a Career. Still though, you were only fifteen - probably only a few months older than I was."

He takes a long drink and his Adam's apple bobs up and down. "Almost every night. Everyone gets nightmares. I don't doubt for a second that even Brutus has had at least one bad dream about his Hunger Games, or at least, a consequence of it," he laughs bitterly.

"You volunteered, right?"

"Correct."

"What is this? An interrogation?" he jokes.

I shake my head. "No, no. Like I said, I want another person's perspective."

"Yeah. I understand."

"Why'd you volunteer?"

Gloss stares at me for a few long seconds, as if scrutinising the insides of me. He exhales deeply. "Do you love anyone?"

I frown, confused. What would this have to do with my question? "Of course: my sister, my friends-"

"No," he interrupts. "I meant, do you love anyone?"

It takes a moment to sink in what he means; Am I in love with anyone? As I ponder over the question, I realise that I have had a few crushes, which is normal. I have to admit, I did like Marlene - not all that much, but still, a little in a more-than-friends way. I've liked a few girls from school who aren't that bad. "No," is my reply.

"When you do, you'll realise that you'd do anything for her." His eyes glaze over, as if reminiscing or as if his head's in the clouds. "Vanessa was and still is beautiful, but there was one imperfection. She had a congenital heart defect - a hole in her heart, you could say. In training, she wasn't up to par and she grew tired more easily. Our families were one of the richest in the District, but that doesn't mean we could afford a high quality surgery for her. In fact, my father spent most of his earned money to plan Cashmere's arranged marriage. I mean, of course none of us liked it, but at least the guy was a decent boy."

"She's married?" I blurt out without thinking.

He shoots me an annoyed glance and continues on with his story. "Cash isn't married. After she won her games, she threatened our father that she'd disown him, and the marriage, consequently, was called off. Anyways, Vanessa… Her heart was failing and she was going to die. The doctors predicted it'd be only a year. I might've been fifteen but I just knew she was the one for me and I couldn't let her just die at that age. So, I volunteered. If you remember, I was actually labelled the leader of the Career pack in my Games, so I had the upper hand. I won and… I thought nothing could ever go wrong again with Vanessa's surgery, which was conducted by Capital doctors. Life would've been perfect but… you know."

I nodded curtly, taking a long drink of the alcohol as he trailed off. I understood completely; Snow had forced both Gloss and Cashmere into prostitution. Joseph had once told me that the Capital paid a lot of money to have both of them for the night. The thought of incestuous relations purely for the enjoyment of the Capital, absolutely sickened me to the core.

Gloss tapped his fingers against his glass of wine as he stared off into the distance with his jaw clenched. My eyes snapped to the golden band around his fourth finger. "You're married?"

"Yep," he replied, eyeing his ring proudly. "As of two months ago."

"Congratulations," I offered with a grin.

"Thanks, man. Snow wasn't really happy about it but he managed to let it slide, since I've returned so many favours."

My grin instantly turned into a frown at the mention of Snow. He continued on and I didn't bother interrupting. "I know what you're thinking - what Vanessa thinks of how I have to fuck the Capital whores, right? I can tell you, she wasn't happy about it at first. Whenever you find that girl of yours, she won't either. But Vanessa realised that it was to protect her and my family. She hates it but she knows I have to do it. Ever since you came into the market… I'm sorry, man, but I'm going to be blunt and honest. They'd want you more - men and women, alike. I'm positive that we'll both have customers for our services but a few of mine will most likely leave for you."

He gulps his drink down quickly and leaves without another words, leaving me frowning at an empty space.

"So do you have a girlfriend, Finnick?" The most recent Victor turns to me and bats her long eyelashes.

I don't know if I do it out of instinct or if I've grown to embrace the person I've been forced to become, but I allow myself to smirk at her. Cashmere excuses herself, despite my fruitless, subtle gestures for her to stay. Althea Yule smiles slyly, pressing her body against mine. "I'll take that as a no," she purrs into my ear.

Snaking my arm around her slim waist, I place the glass of wine back down on the table and run my nose down the crook of her neck. "Would you like to dance?"

It doesn't take a genius to know that the corners of her lips turn up into a smile. While I don't particularly like Althea - heck, she's one of the most despicable devils on earth - I think it's perfect to start fresh. Kind of. Doctor Audrye has constantly pestered me about at least, attempting to let go of the past and to pull myself together. Maybe it's the wine I've drank or the unstable state I'm currently in, but I'm determined to try.

I lead Althea to the dance floor and circle my arms around her waist as hers slither around my neck. "So how's the Victor life treating you so far?"

"It's been perfect," she gushes, ecstatically and her eyes light up. "The money and the glory I've received? Absolutely amazing. And plus, I live right next to Gloss." She giggles as she ends her sentence.

I hold back my grimace and can only imagine how irritating it must be for Gloss to live next to her. She'd probably be attempting to sneak glances at him through the window or something perverted. Does she not know about his marriage?

We dance for who knows how long, and I don't find it all that torturous. Althea can be pleasant company sometimes - when she's not attempting to shamelessly seduce me. We manage to strike up a few conversations during the party and by the end of the night, I'm sweating buckets.

To both my dismay and pleasure, the trio leaves for District Three. And as they do, I force myself to let go. I find that the art of letting go is a slow and arduous process. It involves effort and determination, and after a long year and a half, I've fought to build that effort and determination to let go. It's going to take a while, but I'm beginning to understand why Doctor Audrye is so frustrated with my behaviour and why Annie Cresta is so sick of me. I'm letting go to become someone I'm not.

A/N: How'd you guys find the bonding time between Finnick and Gloss? :) In case you don't follow me and haven't received an email, I've just posted the first chapter to Gloss' story! YAY! :D The story's called Reaching Impossibility. Go to my profile and go check it out! I hope you enjoy both this chapter and Gloss' story so far :)