And here it is, chapter three! I wanted Finnick and Annie to bond a little more before anything 'key happened', so I'm sorry that there's little action here. But next chapter there will be!
6:30pm. The time when Finnick Odair would walk up her path to her home to arrive and pick her up. What would her mother think? What would her father think especially? What if he didn't like this new friend of hers? Yes, he was a tad cocky and not the most polite of people, but he still made her smile and did his best to brighten whoever crossed his path's day. They weren't even romantically involved with one another, having only known each other for less than a day they were bravely friends, acquaintances at most - and why was she over thinking this? She was going out with friends. And that was it. Nothing complicated, nothing too stressful, and yet there she was, sitting on the end of her bed whilst her stomach did somersaults, nervous beyond belief about the encounter she was about to make, in what? She lifted her wrist, looking to the watch her old friends had gotten her for her sixteenth birthday - fifteen minutes. Breathe, Annie Cresta, breathe. And usual to him, even though Annie didn't know this as she had never met up with him before, the doorbell rang, he was early. Great.
Annie was thankfully, the one to answer the door. Her new home was on the larger side, made of a traditional type of stone, greyish in appearance, with flower pots underneath the windows which her mother had bought that day. She couldn't call it home, District Four was the place she called home. But nevertheless, she opened it, smiling as Finnick stood before her, busily typing away on his phone and glancing up at her when she answered.
"So long no see, Annie Cresta. It's nice to see you again, I've not seen you for…" He trailed, quickly counting hours up in his head.
"Two hours. It's been two hours," She said with a small smile, "It's nice to see you again, too. Even though I wouldn't say it's been that long."
He put his hand to his chest and shook his head, "How quickly you dismay-"
Annie's father appeared behind her, silencing Finnick right away who, which Annie could swear, lost colour in his cheeks.
"And you must be Finnick, if I'm right? I'm Micheal Cresta, Annie's father."
"Oh- um. Hi. Yes it is, it's nice to meet you, sir."
Annie rolled her eyes and stepped outdoors, whilst her father tried to hide a laugh. "Sir? Micheal, son. Just call me Micheal."
"Um, Micheal, sorry." He quickly corrected himself.
"Well! We're off, anyway! I'll see you later, dad." Annie quickly said, closing the door swiftly behind her. Oh why did he have to do that? She was struggling for friends as it is and now Finnick looked scared to death. "Sorry about that. He's never like that, he's just…" She shrugged.
"No, no it's fine… I just don't tend to meet the father when I have only known the girl a day," He grinned, "Not that I'm saying we're together, that is. Which we're not, I'm just making it relatable."
By this point her cheeks had grown red, but she swallowed, nodding. "I understand. And again, I apologise." She said with a somewhat awkward smile.
"It's a shame I'm such a charmer." He purred, but grinned boyishly afterwards as he climbed into his car. "Climb in, I'm quite a good driver if I say so myself."
She eyed him nervously but did so, climbing into the passenger side of the car and strapped herself in. It smelt of him, and was relatively clean to her relief - remembering Tommy's car which he had only had for a month or so. It was full of wrappers and boxes, along with empty drinks bottled. She had even offered to clean it for him, which he had agreed to, but she had moved before she found the time so still owed him that favour. She missed him, his glasses making his eyes look larger than they actually were, his hair cut short and the smile he gave whenever someone, especially her, made a bad joke or pun. Finnick noticed her drift off into thought as he began to drive, seeing her become unfocused on her surroundings - did she always do this?
"Annie? You alright?"
It took her a few seconds to register that she was being spoken to, and almost jumped when she realised. "Oh, oh! Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I was thinking about something, that's all."
He raised a brow, his eyes focused on the road but it was obvious that he was questioning her.
"Tommy. One of my old friends, his car, it's filthy. Never cleaned the poor thing and he had only had it a month, I had to offer to…" Her voice grew quieter, what would he care for one of her friends, especially one that he would most likely never meet?
A small smile tugged at the edge of his lips, "Sounds like Marvel. Wait until you see his car, it's vile. It's practically growing life."
She released a quiet laugh at this, fingering the sleeve of her army-green jacket, "I'm not going to offer to clean that."
"I doubt he'd let you, who knows what you would find," He chuckled, "It wouldn't be the brightest of ideas."
She was quiet for a few moments, before looking to him with a curious glance. Outside the car, houses were slowly disappearing and benign replaced with large evergreen trees, the smell of a forest filling the car and creating a peaceful atmosphere around them.
"What are they like, your friends?" She asked.
He sighed, "Hard to summarise in a few words." He smiled, "You've obviously met Clove, then there's Cato - bit of a bastard, don't tell him I said that, but he's alright. As long as he likes you then all's good-" He glanced to her quickly as they began to drive down a worn down dirt road, "Not that I'm scaring you. Just thought it was better to know. Then there's Peeta, most innocent one of the lot, too innocent for his own good, but he's lovely. And then there's Katniss…" he swallowed, "She's alright, too." He mumbled, deciding to skip her, "Rue and Thresh are twins, don't look alike but god they do like to annoy you - work together those two, quite a bit of a laugh. And Foxface, a red head, quite shy, like you. But she's interesting to talk to. Marvel, too. Bit of a dick, but-" He shrugged, "Can't please them all I suppose." He chuckled.
Annie listened to him intently, trying to imagine the group of them as he spoke. So, avoid Cato and Marvel and try to make friends with Foxface. But she couldn't be picky, she knew that. If she wanted to fit in here she knew that she had to make more than just two friends, especially when one of them was burdened with the task of showing her around earlier on that day. Yet, she hoped that he didn't mind.
"They don't sound too bad, then." She told him softly, her nerves soon taking the better of her again. She was already in his car, barely knew the guy, and yet she was meeting up with him and his friendship group, a good start to a new place but not what she had expected, and even though she would be in the company of quite a few, she didn't know any of them well. This was where she craved the company of Isobel, or Jackson, or Jasmine and Tommy with his dirty car. They never made her uncomfortable - which she couldn't fault Finnick with either, mind you, he was doing his best to keep up conversation between the two of them and he definitely wasn't the most awkward of people to be around - but her old group of friends knew her, they had inside jokes and met nearly everyday, apart from Wednesdays, in which she would go out by herself with a bouquet of flowers, but quickly shoved those thoughts aside as she didn't want to dwell on that, especially not now.
"Wait until you meet them. You can judge them then." He grinned. At this, Annie nodded in response, watching the road as they continued down it.
The trees around them looked to be hundreds of years old, towering high above them in shades of green and brown - all of them mighty looking and looking as if they should belong in District Seven, not here. She didn't expect there to be any forests, instead she expected there to be forests of concrete and brick, not this. It, however, was a welcoming site. The smell of pine needles lingered in the air, the dark roots of the trees ploughing into the ground - it would be a good place to play murderer here. Despite her age, she loved to be out in the woods. On hot summer days her and her friends would take to the woods, playing murderer - a game which involved one person counting to sixty in a prime location, such as a bridge in her situation, whilst the others ran off and hid. Then after that, the 'murderer' would come find them, and once found, they would have to be caught and then become the murderer too. She used to play it for hours back in Four, the coast being a perfect place to play, scrambling over rocks and through long grasses, she remembered those memories fondly. A smile appeared on her lips as she thought about this, and Finnick soon enough noticed, sighing gently - he assumed she was thinking of happier times, ones where she was at home.
"You'll like it here, you know? They're good people. You'll fit in, especially if you've managed to put up with me for a day. I'm the worst of the bunch." He told her gently, pulling her from thought once more as he pulled up his car.
She turned her head, watching him, "I'm sure you're not…" She paused, "I just miss home, that's all. But I'm sure I will. They sound nice."
"They are. Just a little on the annoying side sometimes." He informed her as he opened his door, which Annie did as well, the pair climbing out and Annie waiting as Finnick locked it, shoving the keys into his jeans pocket shortly after. "Well, here we are. Well, over there-" He pointed forwards, to a small clearing Annie could just make out through the trees. She could see flames flickering already, the area glowing with reds and oranges as voices drifted through the trees, a body of people sat around it as they laughed and joked with one another. Seeing this, she felt very 'un-welcomed'. She didn't know these people and they all knew one another, and well at that. So she looked to Finnick, a small frown between her brows and as she opened her mouth to speak he spoke her thoughts.
"You'll be okay, I promise. They won't hurt you, or whatever you're worried about," He waved his arm as if displaying invisible words, "It'll be okay. I know you're new, and you barely know me, or Clove, and at all with the others, but they're nice. I promise."
She took in a deep breath and nodded, "Okay. If you say so." She mumbled, the pair of them making their way over after that.