I eye Haymitch. I don't understand. I inch over beside him.
"What are you thinking."
"There's no one better at handling me." He jokes
"Seriously, are you going to leave Twelve?"
"No, she works in the Capitol comes to Twelve on the weekends. Perfect for me. I do love her." He tells me.
I choose to let it go. Johanna is laughing hysterically. The restaurant host ushers us to a table. Effie orders a round of champange, I don't refuse. We order a starter of calamari. We eat our selected meals and toast to the upcoming nuptuals. Johanna Slaps the table.
"Let's go see some titties. Joint birthday/ bachelor party!"
We walk to Eugene's Caberet. Jazz music is playing inside women are dancing on tables adorned in tassles. The air is thick with smoke.
"You and Katniss have to take one shot!" Johanna hollers over the music.
We don't argue. Johanna orders five shots of whiskey and we toast to twenty four years of Johanna. Johanna orders lap dances for herself, Haymitch, and me. Katniss shoots me a scowl and I decline the dance. Johanna and Haymitch are lead off to a back section. I sit back into a booth and Katniss excuses herself to the bathroom. Effie and I sit watching the dancers, Effie sips a cosmopolitan. Songs pass and Haymitch and Johanna return from their dance. I rise and look for Katniss. She's at the end of the bar a man blocking her path chatting her up. Anger shades my vision. Blood floods into my appendages. I storm up to them.
"We got a problem?" I ask.
"Nah my friend I was just wanting to meet "The Girl on Fire"."
Thoughts of Johanna and Finnick being bought and sold. This man was trying to have a night with the girl on fire.
"She's still stunning despite the scars." He says scanning her up and down. "A complement of course."
Cato's face flashes before my eyes. Lizard mutts, seeking to devour Katniss. Hunting her. I look in her face she says nothing. I grab his head and slam it onto the bar pinning it there.
"I'll fucking kill you, understand? You watch the Hunger Games? Keep it in your pants you Capitol sweet tart. Got it?"
Haymitch is pulling my arm.
"What's wrong with you that man owns the place!"
I push Haymitch off.
"Fuck off."
I storm out onto the street. Katniss running to catch up.
"Coming to corral the mutt?" I hiss I know this made her anger.
" I could've handled the pervert… but thank you. I know you wouldn't let anyone hurt me."
"What are we doing? Who thought we could take a vacation? We can't be humans yet!" My head is pounding.
"It's okay, Peeta. Let's go back. Have a you and me party." She smiles at me.
I try to calm myself, I take deep breaths like my therapist said counting one in… two out.
"I would love that."
We stroll hand in hand back to the resort.
"Who wants room service?" She picks up the phone and orders us hot fudge sundaes, a fruit platter and apple cider. I poke at my ice cream when it arrives. Still down. Katniss dribbles fudge down her breast.
"Oops" She says impishly
I laugh and strip off her shirt licking up the fudge running down her chest. She takes a handful of ice cream and smears it across my face.
"Oops" She says this time laughing.
I laugh and pick up my bowl.
"Come here kitten."
I chase her with the sundae. She slips in the kitchen. I scoot to a stop.
"Ooops!" and dump my sundae on her. She grabs a handful off her stomach and throws it at me. I prat fall on top of her and begin eating ice cream off her as she laughs.
"Delicious" I plant a kiss on her lips. We roll around on the tile kissing throwing off our clothing. We make love in the sticky mess. Then we shower off and I fuck her there. We slip off into bed.
"What happened in here!?" The sun is up Johanna still in last nights clothing stumbles around our kitchen. "I thought I got crazy last night. You beat up the bar owner and trash your hotel room. NICE!"
"Hi Johanna" we call from the bedroom.
"We gotta go get a present for Lil' Finny"
We dress and leave. Johanna is wearing oversized sunglasses hiding her bloodshot eyes from the world. The girls troll the boutiques looking at clothes, I stroll along the canals gazing into the iridescence. The world seems so simple, the children smile and skip along the boardwalk. Their happiness I envy. Their lives ahead, they are granted a youth. Mine was stolen when my name was drawn from a bowl. I killed before I had my first kiss.
"Ready!" Johanna sings skipping her brown locks flapping with each step. She's so good at playing down the horror which she has endured. She copes like Haymitch, booze, random sex, and crassness. Deep inside her there is abyss. Lost in an arena. Laying in wait, axing down competitors in silence until nothing remains. Eventually her darkness will take her down, unless she emerges and takes it in the open. We meet Haymitch and Effie at Annie's home. A simple single story cottage on the edge of a bayou. I feed trepidation entering after my behavior in thirteen. Annie greets us with a smile. Her mother ushers us in taking her gifts.
"Say hello Finnick" She turns looking at the bronze haired green eyed boy. He waves a chubby hand at us.
Johanna stops in her tracks she exhales audibly.
"He really is Finnick." The boys eyes glisten, although young his personality lights the room. She drops to her needs in front of him and holds out her arms the boy crawls to her and she holds him up.
"Hello Finnick!" Tears begin to stream from her eyes. Her dear friend lives again. Annie stares taking in the moment her mother strokes her back.
"Happy birthday big boy." Katniss says sitting beside them.
"How are you Annie?"
"Good she replies."
Her mother had bought a cake for the boy iced but not decorated.
"Do you mind?" I asked. She shook her head and I entered the kitchen. I found cream and sugar to make icing, used blueberries and raspberries for dyes. I carefully wrote "Happy Birthday" across the middle. I then drew tiny seashells with the icing and toothpicks. I mixed a lighter blueberry icing and spread it around the edges creating an oceanscape. Annie cried when she saw my creation.
"Finnick would love it."
We spent the afternoon with them. Annie's mother prepared crawfish, cornbread, and potato salad. We placed a candle on the cake and sang to Finnick who giggled.
"Such a ham, like Finnick." Katniss says.
Annie opens the gifts to Finnick. Johanna got him a little flannel, and a plastic trident. Katniss got him a stuffed sea turtle. I painted him a portrait from the baby picture they sent to us. Haymitch and Effie bought him a little fishing pole, a hat, and a little lawnmower that blew bubbles when he pushed it. We left as the sun was setting. Annie grabbed a hold of me as we left and hugged me tightly.
"Make it count" She whispered in my ear. "He saved you. Make it count. Don't let him die in vain. Do something!" She began to sob. She turned her attention to Katniss.
"He never should have gone in with you! He wasn't ready! Didn't he live violently enough! Why! Why! Why!?" Her mother pulls her away.
"She gets like this sometimes. Finnick's death seemed pointless to her."
-"He was supposed to die with me!" She's screaming within the house.
"This was a mistake." Johanna said.
"We should go." Haymitch herds us out.
Katniss watches her eyes sullen.