A/N: I do not own The Hunger Games.

Chapter eleven: Freakin' Adorable~

Gale plopped down on the bench next to Prim, ever wary of her changing attitude. Mrs. Everdeen was talking with Sae, Rory was still cavorting around the dessert table, and Katniss was sitting directly across from him. He wanted to sit next to her, but thought it would be best if he let her cool down. Granted, she normally would be cooled down by now, but he wanted to be sure.

Better safe than sorry.

Gale noticed her staring at the ridiculously stacked pile of food on his plate. He knew that no matter how mad she was at him, she would say something about it - she never ceased to voice her opinion on something that annoyed her. Sooner or later.

Sensing her obvious discomfort, Gale happily dug into his food. All he had to do now was wait.

...

...

"...What is that?"

See?

Hiding a grin, Gale looked down at his plate, stacked mile high, poking at the various groups of food with a plastic fork.

"Well, let's see...we've got burgers...hot dogs...mac n cheese, noodles, chicken, fruit, salad...um, oh! And baked beans. Aaaand a half a biscuit." Gale finished, taking a dramatically large bite out of the biscuit in his hand and chewing in large chomps.

Try as she might, Katniss couldn't stop the upward tugging at the corners of her lips. She tried to suppress it, he could tell, but in the end, she smiled. It was a strange smile - strained and kind of creepy - but it was a smile nonetheless, and it made Gale smile, too.

With the waters successfully tested, he thought of moving to the other side of the table to join Katniss, but he was beat to the punch. Gale watched, no longer smiling, as Cato sauntered up to their table and set down his plate next to his friend's, all but claiming his seat. The blond seemed oblivious to Gale's dismay, and poked his fork around the salad he would soon be eating absent mindedly before opening his mouth to speak.

"So how you been, Kit-kat? It's been forever since I've seen you."

Katniss smiled, a genuine, unhindered one this time, and answered, "I've been doing fine. I mean, I've been better, but...you know." She trailed off, and Gale wanted to punch this 'Cato' person for not being around when Katniss' father died.

Katniss cleared her throat, and attempted to change the subject. "So, um, what about you? How have you been?"

Cato looked down at his salad, brow etched in thought. "Uh...oh! I got my license!"

Katniss blinked, as if unsure of what she'd just heard. "Really? Wow, that's great."

Cato smiled. "Yeah, I know, right? I even got accepted into Panem University. Your mom was just telling me you got accepted too. That right?"

Gale's jaw dropped. She never said anything about college. Not to him, at least. But apparently he wasn't important. Oh, no! Not Gale, the kid who stuck by her through thick and thin, the only one who defended her when all the other kids picked on her, the one guy she could truly depend on...

Katniss looked from Cato to Gale, a classic deer-in-the-headlights expression plastered on her face.

"U-uh...y-yeah, I...I did get accepted. But, I-I haven't told anyone yet," she said, sending Cato the clear message that he had just spilled the beans.

Cato looked at her, mouth open, then around the table at everyone else. He looked like he was about to apologize when Prim spoke up.

"I didn't know you got accepted into Panem."

Katniss smiled, relieved to have been given an exit. "Oh, well I was going to tell you. I was going to tell all of you, actually. You know...after today."

Gale let out a breath. For some reason he felt a bit better knowing that Prim had been in the dark about this, too. Perhaps because it meant that Katniss wasn't keeping secrets from him. Or something. Either way, he was able to begin deflating his anger with this comforting thought.

And then Cato opened his mouth again.

"Well, I'm...sorry, guys. I didn't know it was supposed to be a surprise. But it's great, though, isn't it? Maybe you and I'll be attending the same school." He grinned.

It was bad enough having to sit there listening to this idiot - he was already ready to start flipping tables and shit - but when Katniss actually smiled back, Gale all but lost it. Without a second thought, he reeled his foot back and kicked as hard as he could, making contact with the shin of-

"OW!"

-Katniss?

Katniss doubled over, leaning against the wood of the table as she reached down to cradle her aching shin, face twisted in pain.

"Gale! What was that for?"

Embarrassed at his mistake - and clear miscalculation of angle and distance - Gale immediately went to cover his blunder of misdirected anger. He was just glad there was so much chatter going on around them that no one noticed his idiocy.

"Oh, man, I'm sorry, Catnip! I thought I felt a...dog, against my foot."

Katniss turned her face to give him a horror-struck look. "You tried to kick Aunt Effie's dog?" She asked, disbelief in her eyes.

Gale, eyes wide, immediately backtracked. "Rat! I meant rat!"

Katniss continued to look at him as though he were from Mars, and Cato moved to help ease her pain-filled shin. Gale, uncomfortable with the idea of his hands hovering over his best friend's legs, abruptly stood up, 'accidentally' knocking Cato's salad onto his lap in the process, covering the man in leaves and dressing.

Of course, Gale made a faux attempt at apology. "Oh, man, I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I've got an extra shirt in my car," Cato waved off, getting up and walking out of the shelter as he gave Katniss a pat on the back.

Seeing his chance, Gale made his way around the table and usurped Cato's seat.

"Hey, I'm really sorry, Catnip. Is there anything I can do to make it better?" He asked, grabbing hold of her ankle as she twisted around to sit sideways against the bench.

"You can turn around and start walking- ow!"

Gale rested her leg across his lap. "Here, lemme see..." he rolled up her pant leg, grimacing when he saw her shin.

"Oh my God..." he said, eyes widening with concern.

Katniss shifted uncomfortably beside him.

"What? What is it?" She asked, panic rising in her voice.

"Your shin. It's...it's..."

"What? It's what?!"

Gale jerked her pant leg up to her knee, lifting her leg up to his shoulder so she could see.

"Fine!" He said, smiling goofishly. "It's absolutely fine!"

Katniss scowled at him, not in the least bit amused. She moved to punch him but he hoisted her leg up higher, preventing her from reaching.

Gale laughed. "No, seriously, look! There's not a bruise or anything!" He said, trying to point at her shin as she wriggled from his grip.

Finally he released her from his hold, his grin still in place. Katniss huffed, crossing her arms and hunching over. Gale knew she would hate for him to say this, but she looked like an angry little kid. He really shouldn't have, but in all honesty he simply couldn't help himself as he scooted closer and, smiling, reached up to pinch her cheeks.

"Aww, you're so cute when you're mad..." he cooed in a mock baby voice, pouting a smile.

He could almost feel the heat of her blood pressure rising under his fingertips as she replied with dripping sarcasm,

"Yeah, well I'm about to get real freakin' adorable."

Katniss wrenched his hands away from her face and, huffing, snatched up her plate.

"I'm going to get dessert," she announced curtly.

And without waiting for a response, stomped - make that limped - off in the direction of the food tables, face flushed with anger.

Gale, seeing that she was now out of earshot, let loose the laughter he had been containing. He really shouldn't have done it, he knew, but sometimes he just couldn't resist ruffling her feathers a bit. It was just so funny, watching her get all riled up. And if he was being completely honest with himself she did get pretty darn cute when she was angry.

Letting out one final chuckle, Gale twisted back around in his seat, ready to dig back into his waiting food. He reached across the table to bring his plate over to his side, but paused when he saw that someone was staring at him. Prim sat expressionless across from him, eyes challenging.

He didn't want to admit it, but he knew; she knew what he was trying to do, and he knew that she knew that he knew that she knew, too. Question was, was she going to do anything about it?

Finally finding the means to make his muscles work again, Gale grabbed hold of the sides of his plate, and slowly dragged it across the table, eyes locked with Prim. They stared at each other for a bit longer before Gale finally spoke up.

"What?" He asked, eyes challenging.

Prim said nothing, but broke eye contact with him and went back to her food. With nothing more to say, Gale picked up his fork and, thinking of Cato, unnecessarily stabbed at his salad.

A/N: Whew, this was a long chapter! I really wanted to shorten it, but I just couldn't find very many edges to trim :/

There'll be one more lunch chapter, and then it's on to the fun stuff! :D

I'd like to take another moment to say thank you to all who reviewed. I'm finally starting to understand what all those other fanfiction authors mean when they say it keeps them going. Thank you! X3

'Til next time.