Excited to start this new chapter and their actually relationship finally! So updates haven't been as often but please stick with me. With the holidays coming, I'm gonna try and squeeze in some more chapters right before exams.
They stay there kissing for what feels like the longest time. They both get lost in the kiss, one that had been long overdue for almost two years. By the time they finally find the need to pull away for air, Madge had somehow settled herself on his lap, and his arms were tightly wrapped around her waist.
They stay like that, eyes gazing each other, before Madge finally becomes the one to break the silence. "You're not going to walk away again like you did last time will you?" She hates herself for saying this, she hates ruining the mood like this because she just wants to be happy. But somewhere in her heart she felt like it was necessary, she just had to know.
Gale chuckles, though it lacks humor, "Nope, I'm not going anywhere Madge, I'm all yours this time." The smile he gives her is enough to convince her that he means it, and Madge leans in to give him another kiss. "I am sorry Madge, for everything that happened in the past. I can't change it, but know I'm sorry."
"So what does this mean for us, what are we?" she asks, her heart pounding.
"Well, I'm hoping that this means I get to see a lot more of you. And I don't plan on kissing anyone else besides you," with a grin he leans down and pecks her lips. "I want to take things slow Madge, I don't want to ruin this again. I want this to work out this time."
"Me too," she's smiling but at the same time she feels like crying, out of happiness, of course.
He takes a hold of her hand, rubbing circles, "I really wish we didn't have all these bad history between us. I know it's not like I can change anything, but just know I didn't wanna hurt you."
Madge knew he meant it because of the intensity behind his eyes, and because she can feel his heart beating furiously against her own. "What's changed?" In some ways she knew what the answer was, but she wanted to hear it from him.
"Nothing's changed, I've just had to accept the truth instead of lying to myself. I had to stop pushing away my feelings for you even though they were there the whole time, and I had to stop being scared of what's gonna happen to us because of how different we are. I was just a stupid boy who was scared to admit his feelings, because I was scared I would never be good enough for a girl like you. I guess I just had to trust myself. With you."
This was a side to Gale Madge has rarely seen, even at the most vulnerable moments that she's seen him, he was never good at talking about his true feelings and admitting to his own insecurities. Madge knew how uncomfortable it must be for him, and it just made her appreciate the moment all the more.
"You were always good enough for me y'know. I know it sounds cliche, but I think I've know you were the one. You were the boy who came and sold me strawberries, and the first boy to really see me as more than just a mayor's daughter. Yo were someone I could talk to about anything, and you were someone I could lean on. And it was all I've ever wanted." She smiles, knowing how cheesy it all sounded, but every word of it is true. She was never one to judge people because of where they are from, despite growing up in the mayor's house. She never cared that Gale was from the Seam, because she knew he was better for her than any town boys. "And it doesn't hurt that you're kind of gorgeous." She smirks, trying to lighten up the tense mood.
It works because Gale is laughing, genuinely this time, and he leans down to tease her lips once more. "Well I wasn't the one who got all the boy at school talking."
Madge laughs along, thought she thinks he's lying. She had always been the quiet one, while all the boys probably all crushed on girls like Katniss who didn't live her life trying to hide behind a fake facade.
She bring her lips to his once more, whispering something about being happy. Just as the kiss deepens, Gale is pulling away from her, causing Madge to give him a disapproving look. It amuses him apparently because he's chuckling yet again, a sound that Madge has forgotten how much she loved. "I'd love to stay here and kiss you more Madge, but you've had a long night, time for you to get some rest."
She doesn't know how she didn't realize it, but now that he mentions sleep, Madge suddenly notices just how exhausted she really is; and when she glances up at the clock beside her, she's shocked to find out that it's way past midnight.
"You can stay the night here, of course." He adds, as if it was totally obvious, "Well, you can go home too if you want, I can give you a ride too, but I'd be pretty disappointed,"he teases.
Madge laughs, pretending to think about it for a while. "Well, I don't know if I have enough energy to go all the way home, I guess I'll have to settle for crashing then."
This brings a smile onto Gale's face, "shame, I know."
Gale quickly grabbed Madge's hand and lead her down the hallway to his room. He's thankful for the fact that he actually puts in the effort to keep it clean everyday.
"You can sleep here," he tells her, "Might not be your bed back in 12, but it's decent." She stands there awkwardly, gazing at him not knowing what to do in these types to situations.
"I'll leave you to settle down then, I'll take the couch in the living room, call me if you need anything."
"Gale you can't sleep on the couch..." she begins to argue.
"You know what I said about taking this slow and stuff," he had meant that, he didn't want to rush into anything, he cared about this relationship way too much to risk it. He knows that there were countless rumours about him in high school, but most of them had been false, and he hopes Madge knows him well enough to not believe them too.
"No," she says blushing, "but I mean I should sleep on the couch, I mean this is your apartment, and I'm already crashing -" She gets cut off by his lips crashing onto hers, not that she minds, of course.
"Madge, this is my apartment, so I get to decide what happens. And I say that you need to get a good nights sleep."
"But-"
"It's alright, really. You keep forgetting that I grew up sleeping on straw mattresses in the Seam, one night on the couch isn't gonna hurt." He almost finds it cute how much she's willing to argue about this, come to think about it, this girl always had a ways of speaking for whatever she believed was right.
"Fine," she finally gives in, "but just this once."
"Mhmm," he replies, leaning in for one last kiss before telling her good night. "See you in the morning Undersee." He still likes calling her that, it reminds him of the old days, back when everything was never so complicated, and also because of her reaction to it every single time.
"Goodnight to you to Gale," she replies. Gale thinks to himself that he really likes to sound of his name coming from her. God, he's turning into such a sap, how was one girl able to do this to him, and how is she only becoming his now. It's still strange to him even now, that he's never admitted his feelings until recently.
Hearing footsteps shuffle around, and eventually die down, he assumes that she has finally fallen asleep. He himself goes to find some blankets and a pillow, and set up the couch for the night.
Despite the hours, Gale doesn't feel fatigued at all, and after a while of lying down, unable to sleep, he reaches over to the communications tablet quickly clicking the buttons that would connect him with his mother. Seeing as it is close to morning, and district 12 is in a different time zone than 2, Hazelle is most likely awake by now, preparing breakfast for the kids or something.
After two rings, Hazelle's face appears on the screen, "Gale? What are you doing calling in so early, is something wrong?" she sounded worried, and Gale immediately reassured her that all was fine with a "No ma, everything's fine, just couldn't sleep so I thought I'd drop you a call. It's been a while hasn't it?"
Gale sees Hazelle studying him through the screen, "You seem awfully happy, something happened didn't it? Did Madge finally come around."
"Aw ma-" Gale starts, hating that his mom saw through him already.
"Don't even deny it, it's all over your face." She was teasing him now, and Gale could not help but roll his eyes.
"Fine, and yeah I talked to her. It was sort of weird, some stuff happened to her earlier and she apparently just needed someone to talk to. She was hurting and I guess one thing led to another and we ended up talking about us. I think I might actually have a chance with her this time, I don't know, I guess it's funny how things work out." He tries to keep the story as simple as possible, he didn't need his mom knowing all the details.
"See, what did I tell you," she was beaming now, "You look happy Gale, happiest I've seen you since you got to 2"
"Well, things aren't really official ma, I told her I don't wanna rush into things. We're both still settling into our new lives, and I don't wanna mess anything up." Especially for her, now that he thinks more about it, she just went through a guy like Toni.
"I trust you to make good decisions Gale. Oh and don't overthink things, that's always been your problem. Remember that sometimes you have to just let things be." Her conversation was interrupted by a distant "mom", and Gale recognizes the voice of Posy. Soon, her face was emerging onto the screen, and when she sees him too, she loudly screams his name.
"Shh-" Gale whispers to her, Madge was just down the hall, and he really didn't want her waking up, or his family seeing her just yet.
"Wait, is someone at your house? Is Madge-" Hazelle starts to ask and Gale replies with a nod.
"It's not what you think, she's just had a hard day and I let her crash, it's not a big deal." he explains quickly.
"Who are you guys talking about?" Posy wonders out loud. Gale goes to tell Hazelle not to tell her in fear that the little girl would scream again, but too late.
"Madge? Princess Madge? Is she where you are Gale? Say hi to her for me, tell her I miss her!" the little girl was yelling again, practically jumping up and down now.
"Yeah Pose, I'll tell her," he glances back towards the hallways, "You know what guys, it's late here for me and I really should try and get some sleep, I'll see you guys soon okay?" He finally decides that he can just talk to them another time, seeing as he's not gonna get much talking done now anyways since Posy will most likely launch into a long story, which he doesn't mind, of course, but maybe for another time.
"Aww Gale."
"Bye darling," says Hazelle knowingly.
"Love you guys, bye." And he clicks the conversation closed. He lies back down on the couch and tries again to get some rest, with his head still full of thoughts about the blond down the hallway.
Wow this chapter was really fluffy, but I guess that's nice every once in a while. I love Hazelle, and I think she loves the idea of Gadge, haha.
So next chapter will have Madge helping Gale sort out some of his problems for a change, can anyone guess?
I hoped you liked this, what did you like and dislike? and tell me if I make mistakes so I can change them, I'm not the best at proofreading sometimes.
thanks and review please
And happy holidays