As Katniss leads me through the woods I find my eyes continually staring at her. More in particularly her silvery misty eyes. I try to pretend that I wasn't staring at her when she looks back at me, but I know she knows I was.
A few times when I hear something unusual I impulsively shelter her in my arms and she grabs my waist even though she isn't scared. When we realize how romantically we're holding each other we pull away and carry on as if nothing happened. Finally we arrive at a small lake and she sits by a large oak tree. I walk up and sit beside her. I take her hand into mine and even though she's scowling she doesn't resist. Eventually her tense anger relaxes and we just sit there hand in hand staring at the sky.
Suddenly Katniss pipes up. "What did you mean?" she asks.
"Huh?" I say confused.
"When you said I was your beautiful vision and when you called me gorgeous? I'm positive I'm not as beautiful as you were making me sound," she says. We face each other and I look at her curiously.
"You really don't know the kind of effect you have, do you?" I ask. She raises and eyebrow, but before she can respond I lean down and kiss her cheek. She looks at me shocked, angry, and something I can't read. When I think she's gonna slap me or something, she does the scariest thing she can do and clamps onto my hand tighter staying completely silent.
"Why do you hate me? Is it because I'm a prince? Do all princes portray as annoying and cocky?" I ask her, concerned what kind of an image I'm putting out there.
"It's not that I hate you. It's just that...someone in the royal line took something unforgivably priceless from my family, to me," she says. I raise my eyebrow concerned.
"What?! Who is it? I can have them pay back 5 times as much as they stole!" I offer.
"No, Peeta...you don't understand," she says and I can see a tear trickle down her perfectly shaped cheek.
I wipe away the tear and take both of her hands into mine. We face each-other and I realize how hollow the subject has made her eyes. Suddenly I'm furious and curious. "What did they take?" I ask curious as to know what they took that was of so much value and why they took it.
"My parents," she croaks. This catches me off guard and before I can even think I pull her into a hug, wrapping my muscular arms around her small body and kiss the top of her head. She doesn't in the slightest way try to pull away but rather starts to sob into my chest. "I was ten. Prim was 1. We left her in the carriage with my dad's friend Hazel Hawthorne and her kids. Daddy bought me a dress and was going on and on how beautiful I would look in it when a man came up. He said, 'You haven't paid taxes for 13 months' and my dad told him that he needed more time and how he was using most the the weeks salary to buy me a dress for my birthday. The man said, 'I think you've more than exceeded your limit and you're welcome.' Then he got out a gun and shot him in his stomach. I screamed for him to wake up, but he didn't. The minute the bullet fired Mrs. Hawthorne ran in and carried me out of the store and we drove away. After that my mom tried to take care of me and Prim and she tried to work and make us happy, but her depression was too great. After the press years of it her mental sickness became physical and the depression won!" I sit there dumbfounded. Katniss just cries into my chest for a while, forming a wet puddle on my shirt. I search for something to comfort her but I can't find anything. Instead I sit there, cradling her and rocking her back and forth. Eventually she comes out puffy-eyed and I can see another rush of tears coming. I stroke her hair and she allows me to cradle her again.
Eventually she falls asleep in my arms and I notice how without the scowl and tough attitude, she is probably one of the most innocent looking girls in the kingdom. In fact she looks like she's at the most 14. After I realize that she's not going to wake up from her nap anytime soon, I scoop her into my arms and maneuver my way through the woods and to her wooden house. Prim is no doubtly inside so I knock. When she doesn't answer I knock again and am replied with complete and utter silence. The third time I bang on the door.
"Prim! It's me, Peeta! I have Katniss! Could you open the door?" I shout.
"Peeta?" I hear the 7-year-old squeal. "Wait a minute. Come out back!" I obey and walk behind the lodge to see Prim waiting in front of a secret door leading into the house. Her eyes light up as she sees the way I'm carrying Katniss.
"Come in! I'll show you her room," Prim says and I follow her as she locks the secret door behind us. She shows me her room and I realize the only things that aren't necessary in the room are her bow and arrows and a picture of a younger her, baby Prim, and a blond woman with blue eyes that has a striking resemblence to Prim and guy with dark brown hair and a beard. I assume they're her parents. I lay her down on the bed and look back at the photo, when I hear Katniss shuffle I look back to see her eyes peeking open.
"Peeta?" she asks tiredly.
"Yeah, it's me," I say. I walk up, kneel down and stroke her hair. She smiles at me and hugs me burying her face into my neck.
"Thank you," she whispers. And I respond with a kiss on the forehead. She lays back down and falls asleep again. I grab a piece of paper and a pen and write a note to her and pin it on her dresser.
I say goodbye to Prim and as I leave I pull back up my hoodie. When I get to the castle I pull down my hoodie and the guards let me in. The minute I step through the doors my parents, Plutarch, Boggs, and Effie—my governess—and a few guards run up to me (or in Effie's case, shuffle). My mom pulls me into a hug.
"Oh, Peeta, darling! Where were you? We were worried sick!" she says.
"Where did you go," father asks.
"Nowhere in particular," I respond casually.
"Does that include with a certain girl?" Plutarch asks. I look at him curiously trying to hide the fact that that's exactly what I've been doing. Effie would kill me if she found out that I ignored my schedule just to hang out with a pretty girl. A guard points to my cheek. I wipe it to see a light shimmering lip gloss.
"Aw, man! Katniss must've given me a kiss when she hugged me!" I mumble to myself.
"Katniss? Isn't that the girl you made a lover of yesterday?" asks a guard, who just happens to be my cousin Marvel. I glare at him, but then realize all the attention on me.
"Oh, wow! I'm beat! Gotta go to bed bye!" I say zipping to my room. I hear Effie call out something about being undignified and sticking to the schedule.
I close the door and lock it, plopping down onto my bed. I just think about Katniss and how she cried in my arms and how I had nothing to comfort her. I hear knocks, but ignore them and they go away. I eventually fall asleep and have sweet dreams about that lip gloss stain on my cheek.