Marvel D'onera. He was one of the few people in Panem to pretty much know everybody, or for everyone to know him, or have connections with most people within the city. His father was a worker at the local cement works, whilst his mother was a secretary for the mayor. Their house was large, a pool outback, and if there was a party, it would be his. It was also who Annie had promised herself to avoid, twisting long strands of grass together to make some type of net-like looking object in her hands as she spoke to him, the heat of the flames keeping her warm and the rest of them, too, as they spoke with one another. Tension lingered in the air like a cloud, hovering above them as they all attempted to make some poor attempt at conversation.
"So, Annie Cresta, what brought you here?" He questioned, motioning to Rue with his hand to move up so he could sit down besides the District Four girl.
She was hesitant in responding, watching him, "My father, he got a new position-"
"No, no. Here. Right now, not why you're here, as in Panem, but with us. Why did you decide to grace us with your presence?" He purred.
Her lips formed a small 'o' shape as realisation hit her. "Oh! Oh, Finnick, he invited me. Somehow he got my number and, well, here I am."
Marvel grinned, revealing his teeth, they were perfect, white and perfectly straight. He was rather good looking, Annie had to admit that. "Your number, eh? Always been keen, that one," He leaned closer to her, whispering in her ear: "I'll have to show you around one time. Where everyone lives, where I live… Can't let a pretty girl like you go wandering around in a place like this. Who knows what would happen?"
She felt somewhat uncomfortable at this, feeling his warm breath against her skin and smelling the alcohol on his breath. And this was why she should of stuck to her plan, she thought. "I… um, would that really be the best of ideas? Besides…" A small smirk appeared on her lips, she decided to play along, the drink getting to her as she usually wouldn't be this confident. "Why would a girl like me, want to go around with someone like you?"
Marvel raised a brow and leaned back, "You're missing out-"
Annie's phone rang at that point, pulling it out of her pocket and looking down at the screen. A picture of herself and Tommy appeared, a wave of happiness flowing through her veins when she saw it. So she stood, quickly, moving away from the group as she went to stand behind one of the trees.
In response to the sudden departure, Marvel shrugged, he never got shot down like that, which both Thresh and Rue laughed at.
"I think your charm's wearing off there, buddy. Never seen you be pushed away like that." Thresh told him with a grin.
He rolled his eyes, "She'll warm up to me, I'm sure."
"What about Foxface?" Rue then asked, "Aren't you and her…?
"We've not exactly made it an official thing." He waved his hand before glancing over to the rest of them. Clove was still on Cato's lap, speaking to him softly with her hands above his, his arms snaked around her waist. Finnick, however, was watching him intently. He felt protective over Annie, he had brought her here and had invited her and he felt that he was responsible for her. Yet he was impressed at the way she had shot Marvel down, knowing that she could hold her own and hopefully, would fit into their group. When Marvel returned his gaze he shook his head, taking another swig of his drink before he looked away, making conversation with Thresh to keep his thoughts away.
Annie was behind one of the trees, her phone pressed to her ear with a smile on her lips. She was mid-conversation, describing and telling him the ins and outs of her day, and especially where she was now.
"I'll have to come visit sometime. And meet this Finnick that you say is so great."
"I did not!"
"You've mentioned him a good ten times." He chuckled. Tommy was one of her oldest friends, they had grown up as neighbours, always causing trouble and after a while, everyone began to assume that they'd grow old together, married. And he denied this on countless occasions, but ever since he knew that she was moving, he realised how much he did care for her and had wished that he had admitted his feelings for her before she left.
"Yeah, well… He's nice."
He sighed down the phone, "I need to tell you something, anyway… You know-"
"Annie?" It was Finnick who had wandered over to her, Annie putting her hand to her phone as she turned around and looked to him. He looked calmer now, more himself, the anger gone from his expression.
"I'll talk to you later, Tommy. I'll speak to you tomorrow." She quickly said, hanging up and leaving Tommy with an ache in his chest. He really regretted not saying anything now.
"Sorry about that, Tommy phoned and he wanted to tell me something,"
He raised a brow, "Admitting his love to you, huh?" He teased, watching her as she put her phone away, "I just wanted to make sure I hadn't scared you off, I never go like that and… I kinda flipped. So sorry about that. She was a bit of bitch to me if you hadn't gathered."
She slowly nodded, still trying to piece everything together, "I think I did." She smiled sadly, "You alright though?"
Finnick shrugged, eventually leaning against the tree besides her. Was he alright? He couldn't exactly pour out his feelings to her, he had only known her for a day. "I'll live." An idea came to mind, "Can I show you something?" As he said this, he heard Rue call from behind them:
"You better not be doing any funny business in those trees, Finnick Odair."
A smile spread across his lips, "Actually, maybe another day. They'll assume things."
"Another time, then." She returned his smile, "I'm glad you're okay though. I'm here to talk to if you ever want that." She told him as she made her way back up to the clearing, in which Cato watched her curiously. Since when did Finnick go off to see if others were alright? Only if truly cared about them, and he had only known this girl a day. But he soon shrugged it off, returning his attention to Clove who had pretty much fallen asleep in his lap. Finnick was warmed by this offer, realising how sweet she actually was. It seemed as if she put everyone else's intentions above her own - if only she wasn't so shy. Yet he promised himself that he would work on that, it was usually the quieter ones who got into arguments or got picked on here, but still, she had turned Marvel away and he was impressed by that.
The evening grew on after that. The fire began to burn itself out, the dying embers laying defeated on the pebbles below the burnt wood. The group of them continued to speak, eventually going around the group turn by turn and admitting something which none of them knew about the other. Marvel admitted that he had had at least five girlfriends in the past six months, not admitting every single name, but they could guess them. Rue admitted that she had taken up dance, which the group smiled at - they could all picture that. Thresh, well, he didn't really have much to say - he was an open book and they all knew that. Cato admitted that he looking for scholarships in the District Two to the groups disappointment, as harsh as he made himself look like, if he did leave, one of their closest friends would be gone. And then it was Finnick's turn, who everyone knew, was full of secrets.
"Well, as you know, me and Katniss broke up the other day. And she has already moved on, again, sorry for the outburst." He paused, lingering, "Well, I suppose I need to as well. And well, I may have found someone, but they don't know that yet and I'm not entirely sure either. I don't want things to be too… soon." He was looking to Annie as he said this, who was leaning against Thresh - his arm wrapped around her as they joked around. The pair of them had found that Cato had bought a bottle of vodka with him, so of course, for the past half an hour had being shots and now were slightly too tipsy to really join in. Annie was oblivious to this, only listening in briefly and not really thinking about it too much. But did Finnick mean her? Surely he didn't. He didn't know her, at all. All he knew were the basic things: address, where she was from, number, her father - to her disgust - and a few other odd things, about how she loved the ocean beyond anything else.
Clove was awake at this point, frowning slightly at Finnick. She had sobered up to an extent, having a bad headache as she leant against Cato's chest. "Since when do you like anybody? You tell me everything, and you've never said that."
Finnick shrugged, "Do you have any secrets worth my time? He asked, "Because if you don't, then I don't give people the pleasure of knowing mine."
"Now I think that's got to be one of the most intelligent things you've ever said. And that's coming from me." Cato chuckled.
"Stupid. One of the most stupid things you've said." Clove grumbled unhappily.
Finnick rolled his eyes, and soon his attention went back to Annie, who was sitting too close to Thresh for his liking. "So, Annie, what about you?
"What about me?" She asked, out of it as she looked to him utterly confused.
"Any secrets?" He laughed, he assumed that she didn't drink, Thresh looked fine and compared to him, she was gone.
"Oh, oh…" She thought for a few moments, looking down, "Um, that when I was younger I used to pretend I was a mermaid? And that I could speak to dolphins." She paused, "Not that I was a weird kid or anything, Tommy used to say he could fly."
His name struck a nerve inside of him. Why did everything go back to him? Why was she constantly speaking to him or about him? Maybe… No. It couldn't work, could it? He was in Four and she was here, surely they couldn't be together. But he couldn't be sure that they weren't - he hadn't asked her if she had a boyfriend or not and neither had anyone else. But he felt unusually hurt by the thought, a heavy, aching feeling forming in his chest. He hadn't fallen for her already, had he? "A weird child then." He said, trying to grin, breaking himself out of thought. "Not surprised." He added with a playful wink.
Cato was laughing at this, "And I had finally thought we'd stumbled upon a normal one."
"Hey! I'm normal!" Clove pouted, Cato raising his brow in question, "Okay, maybe not."
"I am normal… see…" She stood, a little dizzy on her feet, "I mean, I don't have wings or whatever, do I?"
Finnick shook his head, chuckling, "Sit down, love. You'll fall over."
"No I won't… I'm perfectly fine…" She tried to take a step forwards, in which Thresh pulled her back down, forcing her to sit on his lap. "Why hello there…" Annie purred, looking up to Thresh with a dozy grin.
Definitely not jealous, Finnick. Definitely not.
So here it is, Chapter 5! As you can see I'm updating fairly quickly, again, got lots of time to kill, and I have a lot planned for this so want to get into it. If you have anything you would like to read, or have included, then I'm all ears! Thanks for reading!