Author's note: This one is longer. Some great things happen in this one. Let me know what you think.
Happy reading!
Chapter Seventeen
Callie pulled the string back and took aim. She let the arrow go a second too late, her arm was shaking. It hit on the outer circle. She sighed. That's where it had been landing the entire time.
Katniss asked, "What did you do wrong?"
Callie thought a moment and then shrugged.
"You overthought. You have been this whole time." Katniss explained. "Nock the arrow, take a breath as you pull back, half breath out, hold it, aim, let go, breathe out. That's it. Clear your mind. Nothing else matters but that bullseye."
Callie nodded and picked up another arrow. She took too long to shoot again and the arrow went wide once more. She groaned and picked up another arrow. She fired again. And again it went wide.
"We've been at this for almost an entire hour. You're tired. Let's just stop for now."
"I thought I was getting better." Callie grumbled.
Katniss wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "You are getting better." She pointed. "When you started this, you couldn't get the arrow very far. And now it's in the target. We'll keep working, Calliope." She gave her a squeeze. "Don't think too much."
"I'll try."
"Hey, Cal." Peeta said as he walked over. He nodded to Gale who was also finishing a session with two students. He nodded back.
Callie ran to her father. "Hi, Dad." She threw her arms around him.
"Hey, sweetie." He kissed the top of her head. "How did you do today?"
"Not so good." Callie said forlornly.
"She did very well." Katniss said. "Arrows in the target."
"But not in the center." Callie argued.
Peeta asked, "Which one's yours?"
She pointed.
"That looks good. Much better than the target at home." He kissed her temple.
Katniss smiled. "She's my last student for the day. Do you guys want to go get some ice cream?"
Callie looked up at her father. "Can we, Daddy?"
He smiled. "I guess we can. Where's Caleb?"
"With my sister. He didn't feel like being here after the whole week of it. But I'm sure he'll enjoy seeing you and telling you how excited he's getting about the mural."
"I'll lock up." Gale said. He walked toward the cage in the corner and unlocked it.
"Thanks, Gale. Calliope, you need to gather your arrows." Katniss said.
The girl walked away and Gale started locking up the bows and arrows.
Peeta said softly, "I have been thinking about your lips all day."
Katniss smiled. "Is that so?"
"Yeah. Can we hang out a little somewhere and let the kids go off in another room and let me kiss you some more?"
She laughed. "Not tonight. But Caleb is going to have some guy time with Gale tomorrow fishing. Can you come over for a while?"
"I can make that work." His smile changed as his daughter walked over. "Let's get Caleb and get ice cream. We should get Gale and Prim to join, too."
Callie nodded. "Gale, you want to go for ice cream with us?"
"Sure. I'll call Prim." He took out his phone and called his wife.
Callie said, "I want a hot fudge sundae."
"Mmm. Sounds good." Katniss said. "I would love a banana split."
Peeta said, "Just a double scoop of mint chocolate chip for me, I think."
"Prim's on board." Gale said as he hung up his phone. "And Caleb is apparently jumping up and down with excitement. I'll pick them up and meet you."
"Sounds good." Katniss said.
They walked out. Gale paused to shut off the lights and lock up.
Katniss hurried up to Peeta in the darkness and slipped her hand into his. She squeezed "See you at the ice cream parlor." She kissed his cheek and slid into the driver's seat of her car. She could feel her face turning red, but she wouldn't focus on it.
At the ice cream parlor, Callie ran ahead to look at the selections. Caleb bolted out of the car and threw his arms around Peeta.
"Hi! I love my wall! I can't wait for you to start painting. Can I help a little?"
"I'd love some help. I know a thing or two you can do. But I'll have to figure a few things out since I do most of my work when your mom is there. And she works in the afternoon."
Caleb slipped his hand into Peeta's as they walked inside. "You could come to the house after school and I could be there to help. I'm sure Mama won't mind."
Katniss smiled. "I won't mind what?"
"If Peeta comes over when you're working to paint. And I can help."
"We'll see. What kind of ice cream do you want?"
"What's Peeta having?"
Peeta placed a hand on top of his head and shook it in rhythm to his every word. "Two scoops of mint chocolate chip in a waffle cone."
"I want that, too." Caleb ducked away with a laugh.
Katniss relayed the order over the counter and placed her own. "Still want that hot fudge sundae, Calliope?"
Callie beamed. "Yes, please."
Katniss made the order for her and Callie, too. "Prim, Gale, make your orders. This is on me." She pointed at her friend. "And don't you dare try to argue your way out of it this time."
Gale shrugged. "Fine by me. Two scoops of vanilla in a sugar cone, please."
Prim said, "I want the entire ice cream counter. But I think I'll just have a hot fudge sundae like Callie." She winked at Callie.
The girl smiled. They each got their ice cream and took a seat in the back.
"You're so boring, Gale." Katniss said. "Vanilla ice cream."
"I always get vanilla." Gale said, taking a deliberate bite.
"I know, but you should branch out." She chuckled. "How's your sundae, Callie?"
"Delicious. Thank you." Callie rested her head on Katniss's shoulder a moment.
"You're welcome." Katniss turned her head and kissed the top of her head. Then she froze and looked around the crowd. That was a dumb move.
Prim said, "I'm going to need more ice cream." She reached across the table and took a scoop of Katniss's banana split.
"Hey, back off." Katniss laughed. She reached across and took a bite from Prim's sundae.
Prim popped Katniss's hand with her spoon. "Never mess with a pregnant woman's food."
Gale smoothly took his wife's spoon and scooped a large glob off Caleb's cone and ate it. He grinned and winked at his nephew who glared at him and then giggled and leaned over to lick Gale's cone.
Gale jerked his cone away. "Hey!"
"You started it." Caleb said.
"Prim started it." Gale said petulantly.
"Now it's time to stop it." Katniss said. "We need to eat our own ice creams."
"Okay, Mom." Prim said with a laugh.
Katniss smiled. "Caleb, tell everyone about the mural."
Caleb took the cue and dominated the rest of the conversation. Katniss and Peeta exchanged fleeting glances. She wanted the night to be over. She wanted to be alone with Peeta for more kisses like all the ones they had shared the past week. Maybe even longer ones this time. And maybe…
Caleb yawned.
"We should probably head home." Katniss said reluctantly.
"Same here." Peeta said.
"Do we really have to?" Callie asked.
"Yeah, we have to. Come on. Thank you for the ice cream, Katniss."
"You're very welcome." Katniss said.
They walked out.
Caleb asked Gale, "When are you coming to get me tomorrow?"
"Bright and early." Gale assured him. "About 6. I have the bait all ready. And you and Aunt Prim made the sandwiches. It's going to be great. And we'll catch enough for supper."
"Will we have enough for a big fish fry?" Caleb asked.
"I hope so. But if not, we had fun and we can figure something else out for dinner."
Prim whispered something in his ear.
"You sure?"
Prim nodded. "Peeta, you and Callie are welcome to join us for supper tomorrow night. I'll text Annie and invite them, too. We'll have a party. I really like hanging out with everyone." She smiled sweetly.
Peeta and Katniss had slowly moved closer to each other as the others talked. Even Callie was in the middle of it. Prim had her arm wrapped around Callie's shoulders.
"I'll call Finnick tonight. Finn and Cal have been wanting to hang out anyway and their place is much cooler, according to my daughter." He chuckled.
"Text me." Katniss said. She called for Caleb. They all parted soon after.
"When can you come over?" Katniss typed out the text. She looked at it. She locked her phone and watch at the baking competition she'd chosen without seeing it. She opened the phone again and sent the message and stared at the screen.
His reply popped up just a moment later. "Just dropped Cal off at the Odairs. Be there in a bit."
She hurried to the bathroom to look at her appearance. She took out her braid to redo it. But she decided to leave it loose. She combed it with her fingers. She was still running her fingers through it when there was a knock on the door.
She opened it and smiled shyly. "Hi."
"Hi." He stepped inside and closed the door. "Is it kissing time yet?"
She laughed and nodded as she wrapped her arms around his neck and stepped into his waiting embrace. She walked backward with him to the couch. She pushed him down and sat on his lap. She broke the kiss and smoothed her hand down the side of his face. "I like this."
"Me too." He tangled his fingers in her hair. "Is this okay?"
She nodded and pressed her mouth to his once more. She moved her fingers over the planes of his face and over his shoulders and down his arms. She pulled out of the kiss, sucking on his lip a moment.
He moaned. "Katniss, you are doing some awful things to me."
She smiled and brushed one more kiss over his lips and moved away. "I'm sorry."
"Why do you always apologize?" He slipped his hand into hers.
She fought the urge to remove her hand from his and curl into a protective ball in the corner. "I just don't know how to…" She took several breaths. "Look, I have never, in my life, been as content as I am when I am with you. But then I think about Cato and I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop."
"I will never hurt you physically. And if I hurt you any other way, I promise it's not intentional. We're friends. Friends look out for each other."
She smiled and kissed him again. "Thank you."
"You're welcome."
They shared another kiss and then she moved away again. "So I heard you in the shower the other day. When I stayed there."
"Oh, god." Peeta chuckled nervously and covered his face as it grew red. "I tried so hard to be quiet."
"You mostly succeeded. I only heard because I happened to walk past when you let out your final…utterance." Katniss rubbed his arm. "I want to tell you something."
"Tell me anything." He turned and gave her his full attention.
"When I had coffee with Annie the other day, she suggested I needed someone to relieve my own sexual tension. She suggested anyone but you. She thinks commitment is too important for you. And I agree. But there are different types of commitment."
"There are."
"You don't have to say yes, but I'd like to change things up a bit. Kissing you is great, but as you said, it's getting uncomfortable. Kissing you makes me want to explore more and I know it arouses you too. But the scary thing is, as you know, it hasn't been a good experience for me. So I want to sleep with you, but I'm terrified to."
He watched her a moment as he processed what she had just said. He nodded. "There are many things we could do. It doesn't all have to be the traditional way at first. Or ever." He reached up and cupped her cheek. "And if you really are ready to explore that, then I will gladly help you out. You say when. It can be today, it can be tomorrow, we can never talk about it again and I'll pleasure myself in the shower for the rest of my life."
She laughed. "Thank you."
"You're very welcome. So, what do we do now?"
She looked him over. "Would you mind…? Can we just lay here on the couch and watch TV for a while?"
He smiled. "I like the sound of that." He stretched out and opened up his arms for her.
She lay beside him and pulled his arms around her. "This is nice."
"So nice." He relaxed.
"So do you want to buy condoms or should I get on the pill?" She asked suddenly.
He stuttered a moment before he said, "What would you prefer?"
"I don't know if I want to start taking something. But it could be easier, I guess. I'll think about it, weigh my options."
"You do that."
She looked over her shoulder. "Did I just completely freak you out?"
"No. Not really. I just haven't thought about the purchase of condoms in nearly a decade." He sighed. "I feel like such a loser."
"You're not a loser." She rolled over in his arms. She stroked Peeta's face. "You're not. And I'm not either. And we may feel like losers because of our pasts, but that is definitely not who we are. You're a young widower whose daughter and business were more important than sex. And I'm… Well, I got caught up in a bad relationship and I'm still recovering. You've seen it."
"I have. And every time you flinch or shrink away from me, I want to go back to that day at the camp where he stood there with you and drag him out by his hair and hit him and make him feel worthless the way he did to you. It's not fair, Katniss. It's not fair that he's living his life and you're still so much in that past."
"I'm fine, Peeta. I appreciate the sentiment, but you can't do that."
He smoothed a hand over her back. "Did you ever try prosecuting him for raping you? What's the statute of limitations on that? He deserves some sort of punishment for what he did to you all those years."
She silenced his rambling with a kiss. She rested her head against his. "I never looked into it. And all the evidence is gone. I don't think I can make it through any sort of proceedings for that anyway." She brushed a kiss over his lips. "I don't want to talk about Cato with you anymore. Not today or the next time we see each other. I want to forget that he exists when I'm with you."
"He won't ever go away completely."
"No. But we can make him leave at least for a while." She kissed him again and wrapped her body around his. And this was how they spent the rest of their brief morning together.