I was so nervous that I was sweating, but somehow I managed to barely convince them. I don't know how I did manage to convince them, so tired from the hour of explaining and I don't remember a word I said I was so confusedly nervous. I only remember how relieved I was when satisfied Effie and my parents and somewhat less suspicious Haymitch left. Although I think the only reason that Haymitch let his guard down the slightest bit was because Effie was so darn happy that I had a 'good reason' to neglect my 'princely slumber'. I relaxingly fall into bed and finally stop half breathing.
"She kissed me," I say quietly. "She actually kissed me with me actually being fully aware of it." I sigh and easily fall into a deep slumber only to be awaken 4 hours later by on task Effie.
I work through my schedule with out making a single suspicious slip up, except for the few times I was caught daydreaming about Katniss in all her radiance. I actually end up finishing my schedule two hours early and better than ever with my goal being able to have time to meet Katniss.
"Oh Peeta, I'm so glad you're so alert and on task today. Why don't you take a rest for the rest of the night." I thank her profusely and non-stop 'til I realize I'm wasting Katniss time. I then hurry out of the castle not bothering to disguise myself before sprinting far out to Sector 12 and into the woods, now my favorite place in the world. I sprint to Katniss' log house to find her sitting outside on a handcrafted rocking chair for two, staring up at the sunset which has just hit it's peak before hiding behind the snowy mountains to the edge of Western Panem. She's dressed in a navy green hunter's jacket, brown boots, black jeans, and an orange headbang holding back her flowing messy hair.
"Hi," I say shyly.
"Hi," she responds with a heart-stoppingly beautiful smile. I stay silent and take a seat beside her.
We are now in the midst of beautiful darkness. When without thinking I say, "This sky reminds me of you," I say. She looks at me slightly curious but mostly like I'm crazy which makes me laugh.
"How so?" she asks.
"Well the void reminds me of your hair, the moon reminds me of your skin, the fog reminds me of your eyes, and the stars remind me of your pure personalty. How even the smallest one can shine brighter and more radiant than the rest."
"Oh," she says softly.
I take a deep breath and continue. "And the beauty of the night reminds me of you," I say. She's taken aback. I wonder how she is not picking up how obsessed I am with her by now. Even if it's only the fifth meeting she should know. I mean, even I can see it's obvious! She smiles.
"You know what you remind me of?" I shake me head and look hopefully at her. "The spring."
"Explain," I say.
"Well, your voice reminds me of the wind, your eyes remind me of the cool water in the nighttime, and the beauty of your personality reminds me of the sheer amazingness of the word Spring."
"What a coincidence," I say trying to hide my joy. "My favorite season is Spring. What's yours?"
"Guess," she tells me.
"Okay, um...what is fall," I say and she laughs at my impression of the famous TV star Caesar Flickerman.
"Ding ding ding!" she giggles.
"I figured," I say slightly less humorously. "Your dark hair like the woods, your voice whistling like the wind, the way you look so beautiful in so many different colors, the way you support but stick out like a decorated thumb." This makes her laugh. "But the way you blend in to help, that's what really reminds me of fall when I look at you," I say and I touch her cheek. I'm thinking about going in for a real kiss when I hear shuffling around the bushes and think I hear Effie's voice. I convince myself it's ridiculous, but when I turn back to Katniss, by the look on our faces we must both know that the moment was ruined. I take my and off and wrap my arms around her. I know it should feel weird or wrong but it just doesn't. It feels calming and the smell of Katniss' natural, nature scented hair just makes me feel peaceful.
I rush through my schedule everyday. Sometimes I earn us up to 4 hours while on others, like on meeting days, I can only get one. Katniss and I have more encounters like these as the weeks drag on. We get to know eachother better and better everyday. The thing is that I feel Katniss is getting a bit more...jumpy. I don't know why and everytime I question her she brushes me off to the point I've stopped asking and instead, when I face the question, play with her wavy, majestic locks.
One day me and Katniss were sitting on the duo rocking chair. I was playing with her hair and she was talking to me about how she managed to kill 5 rabbits and 4 turkeys, when I don't know what happened, but we found ourselves in a romantic moment where our lips were only inches, then centimeters, then millimeters, then only nano milliseconds apart. Just as our lips were only 1/12 of a nano millisecond apart we hear a loud, "AHA!" Just then Haymitch hops out of a bush and Effie scuffles from behind a tree.
"Peeta Mellark!" Effie shouts. "Shame on you!"
Me and Katniss pull away. Katniss looks sort of shocked and I must look like I'm about to boil over because Katniss takes my hand. "Calm down Peeta," she says.
I glare at Haymitch who walks over and to us.
"Hello sweetheart," he says mockingly.
"Don't call her that," I say.
"Prince Peeta. I thought you said you went out to meet a friend not a lover," Haymitch smirks at me. Katniss' grip on my hand grows tighter as our glaring competition becomes more intense.
"Peeta, how could you not tell me?! I'm your governess it's my duty to know your where abouts!"
"I did tell you my where about's and I'm almost seventeen! I don't need you to baby me!"
"You just don't understand do you?" Effie huffs.
"Yes! I understand perfectly! I'm the screw up in the family that needs to be watched 24/7! I'm not as tall and perfect as Adrien and Eric. I'm not as smart as them or good looking. I screw up everything useful and the things I'm good at are useless! Why don't you carry on the list for me, shall you Effie! Go ahead and carry on about how rude and inadequate I am, huh?!" When Effie looks at me with hurt eyes I wish I could take back every single word, but it's too late. The words are out there and the tears are already welling up in Effie's eyes. Haymitch puts a brotherly arm around Effie, but I feel that it's more than that. I can see Katniss look at me with a little dissapointment. My cheeks burn with humiliation and shame.
"Effie I didn't mean it—"
"Save it," Haymitch says angrily, yet calmly. "We'll take about your behavior at the castle. Come on." I sigh. I look to Katniss and I think I'm about to cry. She looks so sad, dissapointed, and I even see a hint of anger. I can see pinches of every upsetting emotion possible.
"Katniss, I—" I stop when she releases my hand.
"You should go," she says and walks out back. And that is where I turn into a walking zombie.
"Come on boy," Haymitch says to me sympathetically. Those are the last words I hear clearly.
I follow Haymitch and Effie who are most likely talking in hushed voices. I can't really tell because everything sounds muffled.
3rd POV
Haymitch and Effie guide Peeta to the castle. He's practically the walking dead. When they reach the castle, they are greeted by King and Queen Mellark and Peeta's brothers.
"Peeta! You're here so early. I'd figure you'd be with your friend now," Queen Mellark says.
When Effie and Haymitch stops so does Peeta. As if he's a remote control toy.
"Not friend," Haymitch clearifies. "Lover."
"What?!" cry King and Queen in completely different ways.
"How could you get a girlfriend!" King Mellark cries angrily.
"This is fantastic!" (A/N: Peeta's mom isn't mean like in the book. She's more of one of those doting, princess perfect mom's) "Is she beautiful?"
"Ha! Peeta's got a lover? This is classic!" laughs Eric, second-oldest and most immature.
"Good job, little bro!" Adrien says slapping Zombie Peeta on the back. He takes this as a sign that it's time for bed and heads upstairs.
"What's wrong with him?" Eric asks regaining his composure.
"I think I screwed things up for him and his girl," Haymitch admits.
"No, no, no, Haymitch. You don't have to blame yourself. Peeta should have had enough common sense to tell us about his girlfriend," Effie says.
"Yeah, but, maybe I should have let them kiss before shouting aha," Haymitch says making Eric burst into a fit of laugher all over again, this time til he's in tears.
Peeta steps into his bedroom falls on his bed and cries and cries and cries until he's cries himself to exhaustion and falls asleep. His father comes inside and moves him and his mother tucks him in kisses his forehead.
The next day Peeta is still a zombie and he's like this for the next 3 weeks until he starts talking repeating "Katniss hates me" to himself over and over, scaring his parents, Adrien, and even Eric.
One day hears something that snaps him out of his walking dead state.
"Katniss Everdeen," he hears.
"Katniss," he whispers before ending his sentence. The whole table looks at him. Even though it has Katniss, not finishing the sentence was enough to shock everybody. "You said Katniss," he says to Boggs."
"Primrose and Katniss Everdeen are the two underaged girls who are living by themselves in the woods of Sector Twelve. We have to put them in homes where they will be safe."
Peeta's POV
"Are you gonna split them up?" I ask. That was my first real sentence for days, probably weeks. It's hard to tell since Katniss knocked me into critical condition by implyingly breaking up with me.
"What?" Boggs asks.
"Are you going to split them up."
"Unfortunately, yes. We found two loving homes for them and—"
"No!" I shout. Katniss warned me of how scared she was, which is why she never set foot out of the woods unless necessary. She was always scared someone would report her to the King and with the possibility that her and her sister would get split up. She couldn't bare the thought of Prim being taken care of by another family. I have to warn her, I think. And without another thought I sprint to Sector 12 hearing Effie and my parents call after me, my father screaming stop me. I have to warn Katniss. I have to save her. She may not love me, but she is my everything.