Hey, this one is kind of short, but I typed it on Heather (my iPod) so I deserve some credit. Feel free to point out any typos, I'll fix them, but blame spellcheck. I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you
Coldplay, Fix You
Chapter 9- Foxface Returns
Glimmer returned from UCLA two days after Clove, Marvel, and Cato; two days after the incident in the minivan. Rory smiled at me all the time now, and Hazelle kept setting me up to talk to Gale. But we both found ways to weasel put of it. My birthday had passed with a vegan cupcake and lots of money and clothes. I haven't lost any weight since my dramatic ten-pound-drop. Thresh keeps telling me that because muscle weighs more than fat, I'd lost my fat and now it was being converted into muscle so nothing was happening. But my waist was still the same, that's all I can think about.
I woke up later than usual, half past eleven. No one else was in the house, not even Gale. I head into the bathroom and begin the toothbrush singing routine I've missed so much. The song is Peacock by Katy Perry and I smile to myself. I start out at least attempting to sing, but halfway the though the song I'm just screaming it and having a full out dance-spaz.
"I wanna see your peacock-cock-cock-cock your peacock-cock!" I shout. "Your-"
"You do know what that song is about right?" When did he get here?! Gale stares at me in the mirror like I've been singing in Japanese. I do my best not to smile and whip around to face him.
"It's about a princess who meets a man with a magical bird who is so pretty she wants to see it. But he won't let her." I smile after saying this. His face is priceless. I roll my eyes. "Gale, I'm not five. The song is peacock. It's about-"
"We're good." He says cutting me off. I giggle as he walks away mumbling to himself. I twist my bangs into my hair and clip it into place. I grab a pair of black shorts and a lacy white tank top, enjoying my new clothes. I walk into the kitchen where Gale eats his breakfast.
"Where is everybody?" I ask sitting across from him.
"Rory has a soccer game someplace a few hours away." Gale says. "Vick wanted to go with and my mom needed me to take Posy to dance class. But I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that she wants me to pour out my soul to you."
"We have the class tomorrow." I say changing the subject. "You get to see Madge again." Gale raises an eyebrow.
"Is it that obvious?" He asks. I nod.
"She likes you too." I add. "Ask her out." Gale shakes his head.
"It's not that simple." He says. I cock my head to the side. I reach out and grab his hand.
"Why?" He doesn't pull back.
"Because."
"Because what?"
"You'd have to understand me to know." Gale says after a long pause.
"This is why your mom keeps setting us up." I say releasing my fingers. I hear a car horn and I peek out the window. White convertible with the top down, Glimmer. I get up to grab my purse.
"Where are you going?" Gale asks suddenly concerned.
"Felecia is coming back today. Cato, Glimmer, Clove, Marvel, Rue, Thresh, and I are picking her up at the airport." I say loudly from my room.
"How many friends do you have?" Gale asks. I come back into the kitchen and look at him.
"After my brother and Katniss come home, they'll all be here. They are going to be bombarded with wedding questions." I say. "I have to go now." Gale grabs my arm.
"Katniss? Katniss Everdeen?" He asks. I nod. "She's getting married to your step-brother?"
"Yeah." I say turning towards the door. Gale tightens his grip. Glimmer honks the horn again. "What is it?" Gale lets to of my arm and places his hand on the wall next to my head. I back up slightly.
"I want to tell you." He says softly. I am hypnotized by his grey orbs, I can't look away. I gulp slowly and take a deep breath.
"Then tell me." I say looking down and breaking the spell. Gale leans in closely and I think he's about to whisper in my ear, but he doesn't. "Just tell me, I'll believe you." I say. The horn honks again, long and agitated. Gale reclines and sighs. I turn to leave but he pins my shoulder to the wall. "I have to-"
"Wait, please." There's a pleading in his voice that I've never heard before. I hold my breath as his hand moves from my shoulder, to my collar bone, to my jaw, to my chin; tilting it up so I have to look him in eye again. "Delly, please." He leans in again and my eyes flutter shut. There's a knock at the door and Gale's jaw clenches, but he doesn't move.
"Delly?" Another knock, I can tell Glimmer's angry. Gale turns to me and begins speaking.
"When I was-" The door opens.
"Delly, what the hell? I've been out here for the last- What's going on here ?" Glimmer's voice goes from pissed to interested in one second.
"Nothing." Gale and I say at the same time looking down. Glimmer smirks.
"Well, I'll be in the car." She says. "Meet me when you're ready." Glimmer flips her pink-framed sunglasses over her eyes and walks away. Gale turns to me again.
"I'll tell you another time." He whispers.
"You can tell me now-"
"Just go." Gale cuts me off. I walk out the door and down the path leading to the driveway. I hop over the door and buckle myself in. Glimmer smiles at me from behind her huge sunglasses.
"Who was that?" She asks. I roll my eyes.
"Just drive." I say. Glimmer puts the keys in the ignition and goes into reverse. I look up and catch one last glimpse of Gale standing the doorframe with his arms over his chest.
Glimmer can be snarky and slutty, but I still like her. After my breakup with Austin, she was there for me. But Clove could barely be in the same room as Glimmer after all the times she played yo-yo with Cato's heart, no matter how many times he'd said it was fine.
"So you're living with him alone?" Glimmer asks when we're on the highway and I've explained everything to her.
"Not exactly, but basically, yes." I say. "His mom, two brothers, and sister are in the house, but they're gone most of the time. Gale's mom wants us to talk. Something happened to him. He was going to tell me, then you walked in on us."
"The first part of that isn't true and you know it." Glimmer says smirking. She looks like either an advertisement or a Barbie doll with her hair whipping behind her and those sunglasses.
"It's true!" I say in a high pitched voice. I do that when I'm in denial. Glimmer laughs.
"You looked like you were about to kiss and when you both looked down, I swear-" She looks at me when she says this. "He was looking at your lips." I run my fingers through my hair and let the wind sweep it back.
"Nah. There's another girl he really likes. We're four years apart anyways." I say. "Unless this is porn it's not gonna happen."
"If you say so." Glimmer trails off.
"Get it out of your head Glim'!" I shout. She laughs. I stare into space and half pay attention to her as she talks about why she bought a white convertible rather than a powder blue one.
"Yeah." I say when she's finished. "Plus with the sun out all the time, it must be nice to have a car that reflects heat instead of absorbs it." Glimmer nods and we get off the freeway.
"So Peeta's marrying Katniss then?" She asks at a red light. I nod. "Oh, I have the perfect dress to wear..." We lurch forward and pull into the airport. I catch sight of Clove's dark hair piled on her head in a bun and she waves is over.
"What took you so long?" Rue asks.
"She was about to get kissed, but I cock-blocked and ruined everything." Glimmer says.
"WHAT?" Cato asks running over and putting his arm around my waist. "Who was flirting with my babe?"
"Gale." Glimmer says smirking. Cato raises an eyebrow.
"I see." He says smiling. I roll my eyes and stand by Clove.
"Was he really going to kiss you?" She asks holding Marvel's hand. I shrug.
"He was about to tell me something important." Is all I say. I look up and see my vixen friend.
"Foxy!" Cato calls running over. He hugs her and picks her up, spinning her around; the same way he did to me. Foxface drops her purse and squeals.
"Felicia!" Rue shouts and I run after her. Then all of us compact into one big group hug.
"Wow. I didn't know you guys missed me that much!" She says after we pull away. Her hair falls around her face perfectly and she wears jean shorts and a pale blue loosely-knitted sweater.
"So how was New York?" I ask.
"Beautiful, for the first two months." Foxface says. "Then I noticed all the homeless guys, pollution, litter..."
"But?" Marvel cuts her off.
"It really was great." She admits. "I got so much inspiration, and there were open mic nights everywhere. And yes Thresh, they snapped when I finished each poem." All of us laugh and look at him.
"So what do you want to do?" Clove asks.
"I've got horrid jet-lag so..." Foxface trails off.
"Coffee?" Cato asks. We all laugh again.
"Yeah." She says smiling. We help her get her things from baggage claim and head over to Laurie's, our old hideaway. We talk for hours about my weight loss, college parties, crazy stories, and Peeta's wedding. But the star of the conversation is Clove's play.
"Oh, I asked my mom and she said that as long as Cashmere's gets an ad in the program, she'll do hair, costumes, and makeup." Glimmer says. I smile this, Glimmer's mom is the fairy godmother we need for this play (pun intended).
"So we've got Brutus, Cato, Thresh, and Gloss making the sets and Cashmere taking care of costuming. Oh, don't we have our first practice tomorrow. Then again on Thursday. Depending on how things go, we might add more than Tuesday and Thursday practices. Wow. This is really coming together!" Clove says happily.
"Of course it is. You're in charge." Marvel says kissing her cheek. It makes me think about Gale... Oh shoot, Gale.
"I'm really sorry guys, but I have to go." I say. I need to talk to him.
"I can give you a ride." Cato says standing up.
"Would you mind if I came too?" Foxface says. "I told my parents I'd be back by 10:30. I'm in college and I still have a curfew." She laughs.
"Sure." Cato says. "C'mon babe, Foxy." We both follow him out to the red car. The ride is silent and Cato keeps looking in the rear view mirror. We drop off Foxface first. After she leaves Cato turns to me.
"Babe, can I tell you something?" He asks. I nod. "I like Felicia. I have for awhile now."
"Ask her to Peeta's wedding." I say.
"You're a genius babe." He says smiling. I return his smile. We drive to the Hawthornes' house and I thank Cato for the ride. Gale is sitting at the kitchen table waiting for me.
"Hi." He says.
"Hey." I reply. "So...?"
"So." He says. "Your bother's getting married."
"Yeah, I have a dress fitting next week as soon as he gets back and after therapy tomorrow I have play practice." I say.
"Aren't you a social butterfly?" Gale asks bitterly. I don't know what to say. "Anything else?"
"Nope." I say slowly. I sit down. "What were you going to tell me before?"
"Nothing." Gale says.
"I came back early, just so you could tell me." I say. "You were so desperate for me to know before and now you're back to hating me."
"Stop saying that! I don't hate you." Gale says. "I hate myself. I-" He breaks off and places his head on the table and I walk over to him. Gale looks up and hugs me, I'm taken aback. He's never done this before. All I can do is clutch the fabric of his shirt tightly. I start crying. Gale looks at me.
"Sorry." I say wiping my eyes.
"You're apologizing for crying?" He asks. I laugh.
"Yeah, I guess so." I say.
"You don't need to." Gale says. "I'll tell you another time. Go to sleep Delly, you've got a lot to do tomorrow."
"Yeah." I mumble. "You should go to bed too. Madge will find you attractive either way, but I think it's safer to show up without dark circles under your eyes." Gale chuckles at this.
"Delly, you're such a dork." He says smiling. Gale exits the kitchen and leaves me alone. I look in the sink and see an empty glass. I dip my pinkie into the dark red liquid at the bottom to prove what I already thought. I check the fridge and sure enough, the old bottle has been replaced with a new one. But when I check the new bottle, it hasn't been opened. The one that was in there earlier had barely enough for two glasses. He's drinking less. I check the garbage. Empty pack of cigarettes. But his smoking is the same. I have no way of monitoring Gale's level of morphine intake, but I keep tabs on everything else. I sigh and go to my room. After changing into a pair of cloth shorts and cami I try reading a book to fall asleep. I hear a soft knock at my door. Gale opens it.
"Umm, I just wanted to say..." He trails off. "I know what you were doing. And nobody else does that. Not even my mom. I think she has difficulty knowing how to deal with me. I just wanted to say thanks. I didn't think you cared." I smile. "Well, good-night Delly."
That night, neither if us cries.