A/N: So it seems a lot of you were excited about the kiss at the end of last chapter. We'll see some of Katniss's thoughts on it in this chapter. There is also a scene in this chapter that is slightly inspired by a scene in the film Bridesmaids. Hope you like it.

Chapter 5

Tuesday

I am woken by the sound of the shower in the ensuite bathroom and someone singing badly within it. I groan as I pry my eyes open and see 6am blinking back at me on the digital alarm clock. The other side of the bed is empty and cold and I curse Peeta Mellark for waking me up at the crack of dawn. Why is he up so early? I roll over and try to cover my ears with my pillow. Hopefully I will be able to block him out and fall back to sleep.

However I have no such luck. 10 minutes later he reappears from the bathroom fully dressed and drying his curls with a green hand towel. He sees my current position and realises I am awake.

"Morning," he says chirpily as he tosses the towel onto a nearby chair. He stretches his back out and clicks his joints. I groan at the sound. Clicking joints is a pet hate of mine. "I have to say it was nice sleepy in a real bed last night. I slept like a baby!"

I turn to scowl at him.

"I was sleeping peacefully as well until you decided to serenade the shower head," I groan. "Why are you even up this early?"

"I always get up this time. Baker genes I suppose. Never got over having to get up at 5am. And besides life is too short to stay in bed all day," he replies.

I don't like spending all day in bed either but 6am is pushing even my limits. Peeta sees my annoyed expression and laughs.

"I see you don't agree," he chuckles. "In that case I will leave you to it. I'm taking my sketch pad into the grounds so I won't disturb you any longer."

At first I am glad that he is leaving but this short conversation has made me more alert and I know I won't get any more sleep this morning. I sigh as I move up into a sitting position.

"I'm up now," I say annoyed. "Since it is your fault, you are making me breakfast."

Peeta grins and tells me he'll get started while I hop in the shower and change. I curse him again once he has left the room. No one should be that cheery this early in the morning.

20 minutes later I am downstairs in the large kitchen as Peeta serves me bacon and eggs. The kitchen is fancy with all the latest kitchen gadgets and I watch Peeta use them effortlessly. I don't even know why my aunt and uncle have so many. They never use them. Turning the oven on is a challenge for them.

Peeta serves up his own helping and we both wordlessly tuck into our meal. My taste buds immediately come alive with the juicy taste of bacon. I taste a hint of mustard which gives the bacon an extra kick. Peeta may have his faults (number one at the moment getting up at the crack of dawn) but cooking is definitely not one of them. I continue to savour my breakfast before deciding to bring up last night.

"How do you think last night went?" I ask curious for his opinion.

Peeta puts his fork down and shallows the remains of his eggs before answering.

"Pretty good. Your family love me and you really pulled off the loving girlfriend near the end," he replies.

I blush remembering the kiss last night. It was good. But I am still confused about how it made me feel.

"We need to talk about that kiss though. It kind of threw me off. I didn't know you were willing to go that far to convince them," he states.

"You didn't like it?" I ask, and for reasons I can't quite pinpoint, a little hurt.

"No it was good," Peeta replies reassuringly and I feel relieved. "I just think we should maybe limit them. Kisses like that blur the lines between what's real and what's not."

He is right but I can't help but replay the kiss over in my mind. The taste of champagne on his tongue. The way his hands felt tangled in my hair. My heart picks up a little at the memory.

I hadn't expected to do it but Gale was just getting under my skin and I just reacted. I have always had a habit of acting before I think. But even later I still don't know what to make of it.

I know why I did it, to prove something to Gale, but I am still unclear about my feelings the kissed caused. I have never thought about kissing Peeta before. I have always seen him as a brother and thought kissing him would be incest.

But I had enjoyed the kiss. There is no point denying that. I wouldn't be opposed to another. What does that mean? Could I really see him as something other than a brother?

Maybe I am over thinking this. Maybe Peeta is just a really good kisser.

"I agree that we need some boundaries. Gale was just being an asshole and I just wanted to shut him up," I eventually reply.

I don't bring up my conflicting thoughts about the kiss. He would probably think I am insane for thinking them. Bringing it up will just make everything even more awkward than it already is.

"I figured it was something like that," Peeta replies. "Small pecks on the cheek and lips are fine, but anything deeper than that and I think we are crossing a line."

"No, I agree. We don't want things to get awkward," I reply.

Peeta nods his head in agreement and we move on to discussing the various other activities this week.

I am relieved after we have had that discussion. If we don't have any more kisses like last night's then I don't need to confront what they mean to me.

By the time we have finished breakfast it is still too early for most normal people to be up so we both decide to head outside for some air. Peeta brings his sketch pad while I decide to go for a walk. I leave him by the edge of the woods, looking out over the house, as he immediately begins sketching what's in front of him.

The woods are so peaceful at this time in the morning as the wildlife is only just beginning to wake up. I follow the well worn paths listening to the bird song and enjoying the soft breeze. I have often come here with either Madge or my dad and have spent many hours exploring all the mysteries the woods have to offer. Maybe it is because I am here with Peeta but I begin reminiscing about my many childhood memories here. I find the tree that Madge and I used to climb when Peeta was attacking us with a water gun and the fallen log Prim used to pretend was her pet horse.

I have never given much thought to having children but if I do I hope they have a childhood like mine. Playing outdoors and making up imaginary stories. I don't think I could bear it if my children stayed inside and played video games all day.

An hour later I make my way back out the woods and pick up Peeta on my way. He has filled endless pages with his sketches while I have been wondering and her greets me cheerily. We walk in a comfortable silence back to the house.

We are about 20 meters away from the entrance when a small blonde tornado hurtles towards us and flings her arms around Peeta. She may be 24 but Prim can still act like a girly teenager when she wants to.

"I can't believe it actually happened!"she squeals still clinging onto Peeta. Peeta looks at me over her head with an amused smirk on his face. His arms go round her middle to return the hug.

"It's good to see you Prim. I wouldn't dare date Katniss without your blessing," he replies with a smile.

Prim finally lets him go and pulls back to look at him.

"It's just so exciting! I always knew Katniss liked you. She's always moaning about you and I just knew it because she was hiding her real feelings for you," she says.

Peeta looks at me with his eyebrows arched. I furrow my eyebrows and shake my head.

"Oh really?" Peeta says looking at me. "Didn't know I was such a drag."

I scowl at him and he laughs. I then turn my attention to Prim.

"I am not always moaning about him!" I declare. "And it's nice to see you too. I haven't seen you in 2 months and I don't even get a hello!"

Prim rolls her eyes.

"I'll get to you in a minute. What I really want to know is what made Peeta attracted to you," she replies.

Peeta just laughs and wraps an arm around her shoulder.

"Always straight to the point Prim. Come on, let's see if there is any breakfast left. You can grill us later," he replies as he walks her back to the house.

I give him a grateful smile and follow behind. Having Prim here has made me nervous again. She is the most likely person to put 2 and 2 together and realise this is fake. However as I watch Peeta walk her to the house I remember how good he is at this and tell myself that everything is going to be fine.

Today we have the dreaded dress fittings for the bridesmaids' dresses. Glimmer has already shown me a picture of the hideous fuchsia pink monstrosity. I am not looking forward to spending a whole afternoon talking about necklines and skirt lengths.

To make matters worse the men are all staying behind to go on a hunting expedition in the woods. Uncle Haymitch has arranged for them all to go shooting and there is a rumour that there has been a stag running about. I think the whole thing is extremely sexist. I have been hunting since I was 8 and would be better than most of the so called men going. I tried to beg my uncle to let me go but he told me it was more than his life worth to allow me to miss the dress fitting.

I have been sulking ever since and now sit in one of the chairs in the entrance way in a huff as I wait for Glimmer and watch the men boast about what they will bring down today. As I watch, Gale pulls a face at me as Plutarch brags about almost bringing down a deer. From the way he talks it's obvious he doesn't know a lot about hunting and is merely trying to sound impressive.

Gale's actions confuse me. Pulling faces is the type of thing he would have done when we were dating. He was annoyed at me last night so why is he acting like my friend now? I shake my head to rid these thoughts. I am not going to waste my time analysing everything he does.

Peeta comes over to me and crouches in front of me placing a gentle hand on my knee.

"Cheer up. At least you will get free champagne at the store," he jokes.

I scowl. Any attempts of humour aren't going down well with me at the moment. Peeta ignores me and just smiles.

"I'll try not to embarrass you with my hunting today. I always remember when your dad took me and my brothers hunting as kids. He abandoned the idea pretty quickly when it became clear none of us could sneak up on game," he jokes.

This makes me even angrier. Peeta's right. He is horrible at hunting. Too noisy and no aim. I should be the one going not him. Still sensing my annoyance he goes to kiss my cheek.

"There may be a cheese bun in it for you if you refrain from killing Glimmer this afternoon," he whispers.

I don't want to but I find my lips quirking up into a small smirk. It will take bribery for me not to strangle Glimmer today. Satisfied that he has cheered me up a little Peeta pats my knee and goes back to join the rest of the idiotic men. They all leave soon after and Glimmer finally makes her way down the stairs heavily made up in skinny jeans and low cut top. I sigh before getting up. I just want to get this over with.

There are nine of us in total attending the dress fitting. Glimmer just had to have six bridesmaids. Alongside Prim and I, there is her Maid of Honour, Cashmere, who she has known since kindergarten. The rest of the bridesmaids are made up of 3 of her sorority sisters from college, Enobaria, Cecelia and Octavia. All the other bridesmaids are just as silly and spoilt as Glimmer and I already have a headache from all their shrieking about the wedding. Aside from the bridesmaids both Effie and Cato's mom are also attending. Effie is already freaking out about us being behind schedule as she rants at the driver to go faster. I just try and make myself invisible as I let them all ramble on.

We are greeted at the expensive bridal boutique by the owner and designer, Cinna. Glimmer greets him enthusiastically and kisses him on both cheeks. He is not what I expect of a dress designer. He is not flamboyant as many of them are and has a kind face and short dark hair. The only hint of flamboyancy is a line of gold eyeliner round his upper lids. Instantly there is something I like about him.

He greets the rest of the party warmly and hands us all a glass of champagne. After we have exchanged a few pleasantries he directs us to the fitting rooms where the dresses are waiting for us to try on. I down the glass of champagne in one go to prepare myself for what awaits inside.

The offending garment hangs by the mirror and it is even worse than the pictures. It's a lot shinier in real life. The dress is full length with a lot of gauze and sequins attached. The bright pink colour is even worse in this light. I groan before reluctantly pulling on the dress. Once it is on, I step outside so Cinna can make the appropriate alterations. It is a bit big round the bust area. All the other bridesmaids have generous cleavages, though not all of them are natural.

Glimmer and Effie both shriek when they see me in the dress and go on to discuss how faltering the dresses are. I try not to roll my eyes as they ramble on and tug at the top of my dress.

Cinna comes towards me with pins and begins pinning me in. He sees my bored look and smiles warmly.

"You look like you would rather be dangling above a pit of lava than be here," he says.

"I don't do weddings," I state.

Cinna smiles again.

"It must be hard to be involved in this then. Glimmer is quite full on," he replies.

I smile for the first time since I got into the shop.

"Tell me about it. Be thankful she is only consulting you on dresses. I get debriefed on every aspect of the wedding. I don't care where you can get 100 white doves from!" I say.

Cinna chuckles.

"Believe me I have seen and heard it all. At least this all ends for you at the weekend. I have to deal with this all year round!"

I smile again. I decide I really like Cinna.

Once he has finished pinning my dress I am ordered to sit down while I wait for all the other girls. Prim thankfully has stopped asking questions about Peeta and we catch up properly with all the other things going on in our life. With all her questioning about Peeta I realise I don't know much of what she has been up to. She loves getting more responsibilities in the hospitals and has started to casually see some cop called Darius. I am really proud of how well she is doing.

The fittings drag on. Glimmer gets drunker by the second as she gets more and more excited about each dress. She must be close to having drunk a whole bottle by herself. At this rate we will be carrying her home.

Halfway through the fitting I start getting text messages from Gale. I'm surprised at first. He hasn't texted me in nearly 5 years and I didn't think he still had my number. Curiosity gets the better of me and I open one up. Unexpectedly the message cheers me up as he gives me a running commentary of the boys' hunting trip:

Gale: It has taken 30 minutes to just get to the woods. People keep stopping to admire the view.

Gale: Plutarch doesn't understand the need for quiet. He is singing to try and boost moral!

Gale: Haymitch just mistook a bush for a racoon! Plutarch almost wet his pants!

Gale: These guys need you to show them how it's done. You are 1000 times better than these morons.

I shouldn't respond. I am still angry with him for yesterday but we have always bonded about hunting. And it is a nice distraction to the situation I am currently in. Sounds a lot more amusing.

The messages almost make me crave another hunting trip with him again. We were a good team, always watching each other's backs. Those weekends were always amongst my favourites. Just the 2 of us in the woods alone. We spent the days laughing and catching our supper and then lose ourselves in each other's embrace at night.

I snap myself out of these thoughts. He's married and having twins! That door was closed a long time ago. And why do I suddenly feel guilty about Peeta?

My thoughts are interrupted by Glimmer's shrieking. It is time to try on her dress. She wobbles slightly on her feet as the effects of the champagne become evident. Cinna grabs hold of her hand and she clutches onto him tightly as he takes her to the fitting room. She trips on her high shoes on the way over. Cinna grimaces when she trods on his toes. I give him a sympathetic look.

"This may take a while," he says as he half leads, half carries Glimmer through.

"What are the chances of her spilling champagne on her dress?" Prim whispers in my ear.

"Well she is Haymitch's daughter," I reply with a grin and both Prim and I have to stifle our laughs behind our hands.

After a lot of bumping and groaning from within the fitting room, Cinna pulls back the curtain to reveal Glimmer in her wedding dress. Effie immediately starts crying, sobbing about how she looks like a princess and she is so happy she gets to see it. Glimmer, somewhat unsteadily on her feet, nods her head enthusiastically in agreement.

"Isn't it the most beautiful thing you have ever seen!" she declares. "I feel like Carrie in Sex in the City when she gets to wear all those designer dresses!"

"Let's just hope she doesn't run out on her wedding like Carrie did," Prim leans in to tell me.

I snort. Glimmer notices and gives me annoyed look before Cashmere jumps up, oooing an ahhing about the dress.

I roll my eyes. The dress is enormous. Must be 5 foot in diameter. She is going to struggle to fit down the aisle. Like our bridesmaids dresses it has a lot of gauze and silk in the skirt and the bodice is tightly fitted and encrusted with real diamonds. She defiantly glimmers in this dress.

The dress is not my cup of tea. It's too showy and extravagant but it fits Glimmer's personality perfectly. I am not the one who has to wear it so I try and not hate it too much.

After the appropriate comments about how beautiful Glimmer looks and how Cato won't be able to keep his eyes off her, Glimmer begins to feel light headed.

"I need to sit down," she groans as she slumps into the nearest chair. She suddenly goes a bit green. Prim and I share a concerned look.

"Maybe you should take the dress off Glimmer. You don't want it getting creased," Prim suggests offering her hand.

"I don't know if I can get up," Glimmer moans her head lolling forward.

"Sure you can. I'll help you," Prim urges.

Glimmer groans again but sticks her hand out so Prim can haul her up. The sudden movement obviously doesn't sit well with her stomach and she claps a hand over her mouth. Prim sees the urgency of the situation and starts dragging Glimmer to the fitting room. Glimmer would be distraught if she ruined her dress.

However I needn't have worried about the dress as Glimmer is almost at the fitting room when the door opens and a woman enters with a small girl. The girl makes the mistake of getting in Glimmer's way and by then it is too late. Unable to hold it in any longer Glimmer launches the bubbly vomit away from the dress and onto the child. It all happens in slow motion as it flies through the air and lands right on top of the girls caramel curls.

Everyone is silent for a moment as it all sinks in. Then after about 10 seconds the little girl starts screaming. The mother goes to comfort her, giving Glimmer an evil look. Cinna and Glimmer apologise profusely before Cinna takes the girl away to get cleaned up. Glimmer looks mortified and Prim drags her away.

Effie is furious. It is the height of bad manners to behave like that in public. She is a real stickler for good manners and is mortified by her daughter.

"That's her father in her!" she complains. "Doesn't know her own limits!"

I nod my head absentmindedly as Cinna comes back. Effie is immediately on her feet apologising and offering to pay compensation.

"The woman will probably want you to pay for dry cleaning but you don't have to worry about me. Unbelievably this is not the first time something like this has happened," he reassures.

"Really?" I ask curious.

"One bride had really bad diarrhoea but did not tell me. I was left with three very brown looking dresses at the end," he replies.

Effie's hand flies up to her mouth in shock and I scrunch my nose in disgust. That is on par with how Glimmer just acted.

A while late Prim brings an embarrassed Glimmer out of the fitting room and Glimmer apologises again for her behaviour. Cinna forgives her and tells her she will be a beautiful bride on her wedding day. This cheers her up and we finally get to leave this place.

We arrive back at the house to find all the men in the kitchen marvelling at what they had shot today. Glimmer immediately runs to Cato and buries her head into his shoulder still mortified about earlier. Cato looks at her concerned and asks her what is wrong. She must mumble what had happened and Cato looks first amused and then sympathetic as he pulls his fiancée closer for comfort, rubbing her arms soothingly.

The rest of the men are all huddled round my dad. I pick up that Dad managed to bring down that elusive stag that had been rumoured earlier. Everyone is chipping in their version of how they saw the stag fall. Everyone congratulates my dad on his good shot.

This doesn't surprise me. Dad is an experienced hunter having done it since he was a teenager. Back then though it was not for lesiure but necessity. He needed to feed his family. His dad and died when he was 12 and his mom was left to support 4 kids on minimum wage pay. So my dad learned to hunt and used to pouch on the large estates. The men that used to curse my dad for pouching on their land now worship him like a god.

My earlier disappointment for being excluded from the trip resurfaces. I can't believe I have spent my day trying on dresses instead of out hunting with my dad. It sounded like a memorable trip.

Peeta is in the thick of the congratulations. He stands right next to my dad and I see Dad slap him on the shoulder after Peeta says something funny. Peeta than laughs heartily at something my dad said. The sight confuses me. I have never seen them bond like this before.

Dad has always liked Peeta. He has always found him charming and polite but they are quite different people. Peeta is more creative and outgoing while Dad is a more solitary figure who has no real interest in art. It is strange that although Gale is more similar to my dad, I had never seen him bond like this with him. For a reason I can't quite pinpoint it makes me happy to see Peeta and my dad getting on so well.

They both stop chatting to each other as they catch sight of me. They both smile at me and make their way over. Peeta wraps an arm around my waist and kisses my temple on his arrival.

"How was the fitting?" he asks rubbing a soothing circle on my back.

"Excruciating. Glimmer got drunk and threw up on a small child," I reply.

Dad and Peeta's eyes widen with surprise.

"You're joking?" Peeta asks shocked.

"I'm not kidding. Effie had a fit!" I exclaim.

We all turn now to see Effie ranting to Haymitch about their daughter. Haymitch looks bored and is clearly not listening. We all laugh at the sight.

"Well your dad was pretty impressive today. Took that stag down with one shot! No thanks to me though. I was scaring away everything in a two mile radius!" Peeta declares.

Dad laughs.

"I didn't know it was possible to walk so loud! I think it has gotten worse since that time I took you out as a kid," Dad laughs.

I laugh too remembering when Peeta used to try and sneak up on Madge and I in an effort to scare us. He never did though. We heard him coming from miles away.

"I think I'll let you stick to the hunting," he says with a smile. "I'll stay at home and bake cakes."

I smile at him liking how the roles would be reversed in our relationship.

Just then Gale comes across and joins our conversation.

"How does it feel to be the girl in your relationship?" he asks a little smugly.

I scowl at him. If this comment had come from anyone else I might have taken it as a joke but I know Gale meant it as an insult. Wasn't he texting me how bad all the men were at hunting earlier? He hasn't called anyone else a girl.

"Peeta doesn't need to be good at hunting. He has other skills that satisfy me," I bite back.

Dad goes red at what I have just insinuated and even Peeta looks a little embarrassed. He averts his eyes to the ground.

I don't know where that came from. I just don't want people to insult Peeta. He is one of the best people I know and I suddenly feel protective of him. Gale narrows his eyes at me.

"I'm glad he pleases you so," he says through gritted teeth.

I move closer to Peeta and give him a squeeze. He looks back up and places another kiss on the side of my head before turning and smiling at Gale.

"We make each other very happy," he states.

Gale doesn't reply and instead goes over to his wife who has just walked in.

Dad still looks uncomfortable and also excuses himself so he can go and talk to Prim. I am left standing next to Peeta, an arm wrapped around his waist, feeling content and not really wanting to let go.