Gale is fuming. What kind of idiot drops that kind of bombshell the night before the Hunger Games? Gale can still hear it in his head. "Because she came here with me."
Why couldn't they have a decent mentor, someone who wasn't drunk all the time? Someone who could have prevented this.
Of course he knew how the Mellark boy looked at her, but what did the townie think would happen now? Some last minute tryst before they got dumped in the arena to fight for their lives? Ha! If that's what he thought, he had another think coming. Gale could tell his poor Catnip was caught completely off guard. She was so completely oblivious when it came to guys. Gale knew that only too well.
What will she do? She couldn't like him back. The thought is too revolting and Gale shoves it aside. No way she'd want someone like that. She'd never shown the slightest hint of being interested in any boys, not like the other girls at school. But then again, Gale's threatening glares had been enough to prevent any schoolboy confessions. As far as he knows, it's the first time she's been confronted with this kind of thing. Oh she's going to be pissed. He thinks. Hopes?
No, he tells himself. He saw it in her reaction. Most people probably wouldn't, but he knew her too well. Something, he wasn't sure what - something hidden in the tension behind her slackened jaw, the wide shock in her eye? He knew she'd been completely blindsided, and not in a good way. For a brief moment, Gale smirks in satisfaction.
It was that last shot of her on screen that had, oddly, calmed him. In that last shot, after Mellark's stupid confession, he'd seen his Catnip - hiding there under the dress and the makeup and the hair. He'd seen her again.
Ever since she left, everything the Capitol has broadcast - it hasn't been her. He'd been uneasy and anxious, seeing her on the screen like that. Sure, he'd been blown away by those fiery costumes like everyone else. How could he not have? She was dazzling. He'd been stunned speechless, but he hated that she was being paraded around like this, and it wasn't her. All that smiling and waving. And handholding, ugh. That was not his Catnip. When he saw her in that interview dress, he wanted nothing more than to be at her side, to sweep her off her feet and carry her away from there, even without the fire. But then her interview and that stupid Caesar Flickerman - again, she wasn't herself. But it was like Ma said, she's just putting on a show for those Capitol crowds. Not letting them into her world. And Gale likes that, because he is part of that world.
They all knew what was at stake. Tomorrow they go into the arena. His Catnip needs to be focused on survival; she doesn't need this distraction. She can't let anything stop her from coming home. He knows the odds are not in her favor, but still, she has a chance, right?. If she can get her hands on a bow. If only there's a bow, she'll find a way to get it then she'll be able to do it, to win the games and come home to him. And with her training score, he knows the gamemakers saw what she can do. Surely there will be a bow?
Hazelle's concerned voice pulls him out of his thoughts. "Gale, honey, you've been staring at the television for half an hour. They aren't going to broadcast anything more until tomorrow. Why don't you try and get some rest?"
Gale looks over to the table where Hazelle is sitting, mending a pair of socks for Vick. She must've put the kids to bed when the interviews were over. Gale vaguely remembers mussing Posy's hair as she hugged him goodnight.
"Yeah, ma, I guess." He unfolds himself from the worn couch and silently slips into the bedroom where Vick and Rory are already sleeping. Tomorrow, he'll be up before dawn. He needs to check the snares, and whatever else there's time for before the electricity is on again for the broadcast of the start of the games. It'll be harder to get out consistently once the games start. The electricity is on much more, and sometimes at upredictable times.
He should pick some strawberries to sell too, while they're sweet and ripe. He doesn't really want to, but he knows he'll get a good price for them from the Mayor. Then maybe he can put a coin or two in the collection at the Hob. Katniss would be disappointed if he let strawberries go to waste just because ... because she's the one who usually sells there.