Sorry about the delay in update, life's been busy and horrid and wonderful all at once. But as soon as I got my 10th favorite I knew I had to update right away because that 10 favorite now makes me... THE MOST FAVORITED GALLY FIC IN EXISTANCE! YAAAY! Thanks to all of you who took part in this historic event. That means FRESHiceCREAMhYuNa, PEENISSFORLIFE, Pitonisa, PrincessXika, SunWillRise2340, TayLullabyLove, itsybitsybookworm, kittybelltheory, rorow1, and snorlaxismypatronus. Thank you so much you guys!
Now then, back to our Gally. Tsk, tsk Gale. When will you learn? Blonde Girl Sleeping+Hot Guy Standing Around=Kissing. Haha. Enjoy this chapter, as most of you are be wondering WTF just happened... AGAIN.
Is there a chance,
a fragment of light at the end of the tunnel
a reason to fight?
Is there a chance you may change your mind?
Or are we ashes and wine?
A Fine Frenzy, Ashes and Wine
Chapter 15- F.I.S.H.
Delly
My head is spinning when I wake up. I know that I must have a least of little bit of a fever left because up to my collar-bone I'm warm. Then anything not covered by blanket is frozen. Except my mouth; it's not feverishly hot or sub-arctic cold, it's just normal body temperature, and I can taste something strong but bitter.
I feel... Different. I'm not talking like, "I'm better different", or "Suddenly something/everything is perfect different". I've never felt this way before. I'm not sure what it is, but I walk out of my room and into the hallway. Gale appears to be leaving.
"Hey." I say smiling. Gale looks at me.
"Well you're perky." He observes.
"Just better." I say.
"That's good. I'm about to head out." Gale says.
"Where are you going?" I ask.
"I'm meeting Madge at Starbucks." He says. Something inside me stirs. Luckily I've learned a lot about lying from Peeta.
"It's about damn time you asked her out." I say. Gale looks shocked.
"You're happy... For me?"
"Yeah." I lie through my smiling teeth. "What else would I be?"
"Don't remember last night?" His eyebrows tug together.
"What about last night?" I ask confused. Gale touches my waist and pulls me near him.
"You don't remember that?" He asks. I blink at him. Do not show any reaction.
"Nope." I say with a hint of a smile. Gale reaches under my legs and picks me off the ground. Holy shit. I mean, I know I lost weight, but come on, I'm no twig. And the way he just scoops me up- Holy shit. "Put me down." I say. Gale sets me down, almost sad.
"You don't remember anything?" He clarifies again. I shake my head. "I'm going to be late." Gale grabs his keys and leaves. And then I feel like crying.
"So he's with Madge now?" Rue asks. I set her cherry turnover and lemonade in front of her. Feeling much better, I decided to have Peeta pick me up so I could open the bakery. Mom and Dad closed it for the summer, I opened it. As long as I didn't take any cake orders I knew it wasn't anything Peeta and I couldn't handle. He stood at the register handing a woman her change.
"Yeah." I say. "And it's really weird."
"Hey girlssssah." Peeta says in his stereotype-gay-guy-voice taking the empty seat across from Rue. "So, who's fucking who and what is up with my baby sister?" I take a moment to laugh before answering.
"Nobody is hooking up as far as I know and nothing is up with me." I say.
"Puh-lees!" Rue spits. "There is one thing up, and that's Gale Hawthorne. He is literally UP since a) he's sexy tall and b) you're short in a Marilyn Monroe kind of sexy way."
"Was Marilyn Monroe even short?" Peeta asks in his regular voice.
"I'll look it up sometime and tell you." I say. "And I have no feelings for Gale, nor does he for me."
"LIES." Rue says. "Repeat everything you noticed when you woke up this morning." I think carefully before answering.
"I felt well-rested, my mouth tasted like something slightly bitter- most likely vomit contained in my mouth-"
"Eww. Eating here." Rue says with a mouth of flaky cherry turnover.
"Sorry." I say. "Ummmm, Gale seemed really weird. He was upset almost that I didn't remember anything from last night. He picked me up and asked if I remembered it. And something felt... right, this morning. I've never felt like it before. It was one moment of pure imperfect perfection."
"Deep Dells. Poetic." Peeta says.
"And I was kind of sad when he said he was going to see Madge." I admit.
"Jealous?" Rue teases. I shrug. It's my best response. It's my only response.
"I just figured out everything." Peeta says. I lean in, ready to listen. "The bitter taste in your mouth was the tequila I saw Gale take two shots of in the kitchen last night during Neville's monologue. The taste is strong; so that's how it was still there after I left, Gale carried you to your room, and set you in bed. He first pecked you in the mouth to test the waters, that's how your lips have that taste. Then he couldn't help himself and gave you the best kiss possible in hope of waking you up. He probably used some tongue, maybe not inside, but that's how the bitterness got inside your mouth. Then, because he's an idiot, Gale decided to call Madge for a date. Either he wants to bury his feelings for you, make you jealous, or both."
For a few moments I just let my mouth hang open.
"It's true." Peeta says taking a sip of Rue's lemonade. "You want this floral?" He asks.
"Yeah." Rue says. Peeta takes her drink and goes into the kitchen, when he comes out there are dried flower petals on top. It's one of my favorite things we do here, the floral lemonade. The citrus of the lemon and fresh scents of the flowers create a gorgeous taste that, so far, everyone has liked. Rue takes a long sip when Peeta hand her the glass.
"I could see you guys together." Rue says. "Peeta, what would their pairing name be?"
"Rue! My life is not a fanfic!" I shout.
"Why not?" She asks. "You write plenty of them for Harry Potter so why can't I write a..."
"Gally." Peeta says.
"Why can't I write a Gally fic in my mind?" Rue asks.
"Because the few H.P. fanfictions I write is different from my life." I say.
"Few?" Rue asks rhetorically. "Aside from like, two Hunas, a few Lovebottoms, and a Snilly you've written over a hundred for a certain platinum blonde-haired pairing."
"DRUNA IS MY O.T.P.! DON'T JUDGE ME!" I half-shout. Rue and Peeta burst into laughter. "Druna is the best pairing ever. Draco and Luna are perfect for each other."
"Why's that?" Peeta asks.
"Because, without Draco, Luna would would float into space. And without Luna, Draco would never get more than a few feet off the ground."
"Now replace 'Draco and Luna' with 'Gale and Delly'." Rue says smirking. I really should've seen that coming.
"Well guess what? You can ship 'Gally' all you want the same way I can write as many Druna oneshots and multi- chapters as I want." I say. "But the more popular pairing will always be Dramoine because 'opposites attract' and all that shit. Even though Draco would never think of it because he thinks she's a filthy Mudblood know-it-all and Luna's probably a Pureblood. BUT NOBODY CARES BECAUSE 'LOVE/HATE' LEMONS ARE MORE FUN TO READ AND WRITE THAN 'OPPOSITES ATTRACT' LEMONS! EVEN THOUGH THE ONE YEAR AGE DIFFERENCE MAKES THINGS HOTTER IN MY MIND AND HARMOINE IN THE BOOKS ISN'T SUPPOSED TO BE HOT. SO TECHNICALLY LUNA'S BETTER LOOKING AND THEREFOR SHE AND DRACO ARE TEN TIMES HOTTER THA-"
"Caaaaaalm." Peeta says patting my shoulder. I take a few deep breaths.
"My point is that Gale would obviously not ship Druna. He'd ship Dramoine." I say.
"Speak in non-fanfiction/metaphorical terms Dell." Rue says.
"Gally is to Druna as Gadge is to Dramoine." I say. "It's not going to happen."
"But do you WANT it to happen?" Rue asks. I say nothing. I pull off a small piece of her turnover and pop it in my mouth.
"SQUEEEE!" Rue shouts. Thank God that nobody's in the bakery but us. "Omigod you like him!" I cover my face with my hand.
"I figured it out slowly over a three day time period." I say smiling. "I knew that I was physically attracted to him that night I ran out after him in the rain and I saw him shirtless. Then I knew I cared about him when I was sick. And this morning when he said he asked out Madge... I realized I wanted it to be me. That I want to date him and have him talk about me to Rory the way he's probably going to talk about her to me tonight."
"Wait, you saw Sergeant Sexy without a shirt?" Rue asks. I nod. "Why was I not informed of this?"
"Because I planned on telling you. But then I had to puke my stomach inside-out." I say.
"Point taken." Rue says.
"You should still ask him about what happened last night." Peeta says. I almost forgot he was here. But that's what I like about my brother; sometimes he's the life of the party, but sometimes he's a wallflower. And he knows when to be both.
"Yeah. YOLO!" Rue says making jazz hands.
"YOLO sucks." I spit.
"Yeah. I know." She agrees.
"Screw YOLO. F.I.S.H." I say.
"What?" Peeta asks.
"Fuck It, Shit Happens." I says slowly. Peeta claps his hands and bursts out laughing.
"You get a free latte for that baby sister." He says, still laughing.
Gale gets home at around ten o'clock This is his average time by now. The lights are dimmed slightly and I sit at the table reading TFioS. Gale turns the lights up all the way.
"Turn that down a little bit. It's hurting my eyes." He doesn't jump at seeing me or hearing my voice.
"Then you need better eyesight Cartwright." Gale says setting his keys on the counter. He looks up at me as I place a bookmark in the novel. "You wear glasses?" He asks. I almost forgot about the cats'-eyes rims framing the thin glass that rests on my nose.
"For reading mostly. Or if I want to get a good look at something." I push them up my nose and look into his eyes. Is that hinting anything? Was that flirting or subtle hinting?
"Okay." Gale says. God John Green you were right, 'okay' is a word dripping with sensuality.
"So how was your day with Madge?" I ask.
"Nice." He says. "She's very kind. But has a tendency to make comments that she thinks are harmless, but are actually a little hurtful towards me."
"What do you mean by that?" I ask.
"She's the Capitol-Townie hybrid. I'm a Seamster." He says. I understand instantly. All he had to do was drop the the local slang terms and I knew what he meant.
"I got teased a lot for being a Townie. I still do." I blurt.
"I doubt that it was worse than anything I got called. 'Poor boy, coal sack, poor little diamond in the rough'. It was hard dealing with being a Seamster and, y'know." Gale counters. Yeah. I know. Being a good-looking Seamster. "What insults could you possibly receive other than things like 'snob' or 'brat'?"
"Try 'if you can go to the country clubs maybe you should try using their gyms'." I reply. He wasn't expecting that. "I mean, I wasn't getting teased about being a sex-god or anything. But it still hurt my feelings." Oh fuck, did I really just say "sex-god"?
"I had no idea." Is Gale's quiet response.
"Nobody ever does." I say. Seamsters might have it worse life-wise, but they put their anger to use with words aimed at us Townies.
"I never made fun of Townies unless they said something to me first." Gale says as if that makes anything better. I don't speak. I get up.
"I'm tired." I announce trying to brush past him. Gale grabs my shoulder. Electricity buzzes through me. Maybe his date was a complete disaster. Maybe he's giving me a second chance. Maybe this talk made him realize that Luna and Draco and connect more easily because of all those months when Luna was trapped in the Malfoys' prison. Because Luna knew Draco better than he knew himself at that time. Because he couldn't help but be drawn to the strange, quirky, younger, slightly attractive girl who didn't want to be there except to observe him. Gale removes my glasses from my face slowly. The way that I would imagine a guy might take the glasses off a secretary before they have dirty hot passionate sex on his desk in a porno.
"I like your eyes better without the glasses." Gale breaths into my ear. "Even if it magnifies their beauty." Yep. That's definitely an orgasm. I take my glasses from his hands- his warm hands that make me melt inside whenever I feel their touch- and walk past him rolling my eyes. Thank-you Peeta for teaching me to lie. It takes a long time for me to all asleep. Especially when I have to listen to Gale talk to Madge on the phone for two hours and my suspicions that he was teasing me with the glasses thing are confirmed.