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Chapter 10
Cato POV
When I wake up I feel something soft and warm pressing against me. I wrap my arms around it and pull it closer.
Wait a second . . . oh no. Why did I fall asleep? I was supposed to sleep in the guest room.
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
She's probably going to stab me.
I hesitantly crack an eye open.
Clove is snuggled up right next to me with her head on my arm.
Just carefully slip out of bed and pretend nothing happened.
I make a move to to slide out of bed but Clove rolls over so she's laying on top of me.
I freeze.
This is not good.
Her face is in the crook of my neck and I can feel her breathing softly.
What if I get up really fast and hide under the bed before she can see me? I mentally kick myself for thinking such a stupid idea.
"You're lucky you're my Clover or I would throw you off me in two seconds." I say.
She yawns.
Why did I say that out loud? She better not have heard me.
She rubs her eyes.
Oh no. Fist in my face in 3...2...1...
Clove opens her eyes.
Clove's POV
"Morning." He says.
"Cato?" I say confused. Why am I laying on top of him? I'm not complaining or anything...
He opens his mouth to speak but nothing comes out.
"where's your shirt?" I ask him. He feels all warms and toasty.
"Uhhh, I don't know." He says confused.
"Why am I on top of you?" I ask him.
"Well, when you wouldn't calm down I gave you sleep syrup and brought you to my house." He says slowly.
"I was gonna sleep in the other room, but I feel asleep next to you." He says.
"When I woke up I said something to you, and I think that woke you up, then you rolled over on top of me." He says.
"Oh, what did you say that woke me up?" I asks him.
His face goes red.
"Oh my god you're blushing!" I say.
"No I'm not." He mumbles.
"Tell me!" I say.
He mumbles something incomprehensible.
"What?" I say, not understanding a word he just said.
"I said, you're lucky you're my Clover or I would throw you off me me in two seconds." He says, his cheeks still pink.
I sigh and place my head on his chest.
"you're lucky you're my friend or you'd be dead." I say.
I close my eyes and fall asleep once more.
Cato POV
What the hell just happened? Why didn't she hit me or stab me or kill me or something?
She obviously wasn't mad at me because she fell asleep on top of me.
I look down at her.
Her cheek is pressed against my chest and her arms are tucked under mine.
I hesitantly wrap my arms around her and close my eyes. I fall asleep with a feeling I can't quite place.
I feel something poke my cheek.
"Get up."
" I don't wanna." I mumble as I roll over.
"Cato it's noon already, you have to get up." She says.
"Uhhhhh." I groan as I rub my eyes. I sit up and look over to Clove who's sitting next to me.
"How long have you been up?" I ask her sleepily.
"About 10 minutes, why?" She asks.
I shrug my shoulders.
I roll out of bed and stumble to open the curtains.
"Shit." I mumble as I look out the window.
"What is it?" She asks.
"See for yourself." I tell her while gesturing towards the window.
She rolls out of bed and peeks over my shoulder.
"Whoa." She says.
"It's raining like crazy out there, why can't we hear it?" She asks.
"Special windows, it's programed to block out certain noises." I tell her.
"Looks like you're stuck with me." I say sadly.
"That's not a bad thing." She tells me.
I give her a forced smile but she sees through it.
"Can I use your shower?" She asks asks me.
"Sure." I say.
"Oh, do you have an extra tooth brush?" She ask.
"Let me check." I say. I walk to the bathroom and dig through the cabinets till I find one in it's original packaging covered in a thick layer of dust.
" I didn't even know I owned one of these." I say.
She burst out laughing. "Then what do you brush your teeth with?" She asks.
"Capitol tooth brush, it's automatic and hands free." I tell her.
She laughs harder.
"What?" I say feeling a little self conscious.
"You're like a little salesmen, 'It's automatic and hands free'." She say while laughing.
"Am not." I mumble.
"Ok, ok, I'm sorry." She says. A few laughs escape.
"Are you done yet?" I ask her while feeling embarrassed.
"Yeah, I'm done." I say while smiling.
We stand there for a minute or two, not knowing what to say.
I walk over to my dresser and pull out a t-shirt and pajama bottoms.
"Here." I say as I hand her the cloths and the tooth brush. "I'll wash your uniform when you're done." I tell her.
"Oh, ok thanks." She says with a small smile.
"I'm going to use the shower in the guest room." I say. And with that I leave.
Clove's POV
I walk over to the bathroom and open the door. Whoa. It's huge. The counter tops are a deep blue color that matches the walls.
I place the cloths and tooth brush on the counter and close the door.
I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding.
I undress and step into the shower. Ok . . . that's a lot of buttons. I don't see any valve to turn the water on so I press a blue button. Hot water jets out at a comfortable pace.
Where's the soap? Maybe if I press another button.
I press a peach colored button and the water stops flowing and soap oozes out.
I press another random button and hot water takes it's place once more.
I rinse the soap off and eventually find the shampoo button.
As I rub the shampoo into my hair my thoughts drift to Cato.
I can't believe I slept next to him the entire night. I have one bad nightmare and I crawl over to him.
What happened to being tough? Being afraid won't get me far in life.
I sigh and try to push Cato from my thoughts.
After I rinse all the shampoo out of my hair I scrub my body till I'm squeaky clean.
I shut off the water and step out.
I grab a towel and dry off. I change into the cloths Cato gave me which happen to be pajamas but whatever.
I pull the draw strings as tight as it can go and tie it in a bow. They're way to long and I'll probably end up tripping on them.
I clasp my bra and throw on the T-shirt he gave me.
I towel dry my hair and braid it down my back.
I rip open the tooth brush package and throw in in the trash can besides the sink. I look around for tooth paste.
Next to the shower I notice a strange looking metal thing holding a tube of tooth paste. I walk over to it but when I try to pull it out it starts moving.
"What the hell?" I say alarmed.
A robotic hand grabs my tooth brush, puts tooth paste on it, and hands it to me.
I grab it and back up about five feet.
This is just weird... I see what Cato meant when he said 'automatic and hands free'.
I walk back over to the sink and brush my teeth, eying the mental thing every once and a while.
When I'm done I turn off the light and leave the room in search of Cato.
I find him leaning against his door frame in the same pajama bottoms as me with no shirt on.
Inhale exhale inhale exhale.
"Do you have your uniform?" He asks me.
"Oh, I forgot, one second." I shuffle over to the bathroom and grab my uniform.
When I get back to Cato he has a sad look upon his face and his eyes are fixed on a picture that rest on hid night stand.
It's a young picture of him standing next to a women who's on the phone. He has a smile on his face in the picture but you can tell something off.
When he look up and finds me staring at him he quickly recovers and gives me a forced smile.
"I'll wash it for you."He say while holding out his hand.
I hand him my uniform and follow him out of his room.
He walks down the hall and stops when he reaches a picture of a beautiful women I assume to be his mother.
The picture frame has hinges on the left side like a door.
He pulls the picture frame to reveal a second clear door with buttons and a mental inside. He throw my uniform in, presses a button, and closes both the clear door and the picture frame.
It makes a small whirling sound then dies down.
He reopens the door and hands me my uniform.
"It smells like roses." I say, confused by what just happened.
"Yeah it's a capitol washer, it takes like five seconds to wash stuff." He says.
"Oh." Is all I say.
There's a moment of silence.
I walk over to Cato's room and place my uniform on his dresser.
I walk back out and find Cato staring at the ground. When he sees my feet he looks up.
"Wanna get something to eat?" He asks me.
I nod.
As we walk towards the stairs Cato turns his neck to the side and I get a clear look at what I did to him.
I stop walking.
"I'm sorry." I say quietly.
He turns around with a confused expression on his face.
"For what?" He asks.
"Your neck." I say.
His look softens.
"It's fine Clove, it doesn't hurt." He says.
He sees the look of doubt on my face.
" I put a special cream on it, it really doesn't hurt any more." He reassures me.
I look at him guiltily.
He sighs and walks towards me, stopping in front of me.
Wordlessly he picks me up and heads towards the stairs.
The ones made of glass I remind myself.
I begin to feel uneasy again.
I won't fall through. I tell myself.
I like to think that nothing can bother me, but that would be a lie. A lot of things bother me.
Like stair cases made of glass. I think.
Cato begins to walk down the stairs and I tighten my grip around his neck.
I feel really pathetic. How many times has he seen me cry? Three? Four? I can kill in the blink of an eye but walking down a stair case scares the hell out of me.
I bit my lip. Half way there. I think.
I don't even realize how close his face is to my own.
When we reach the bottom of the stairs he doesn't put me down as I expected.
Instead he carries me all the way to the kitchen and places my on the counter top.
"What would you like to eat?" He asks me.
"Umm, I don't know." I say.
"Do you want a sandwich?" He asks.
"Ok." I say.
Cato opens the refrigerator and takes out the necessary ingredients.
Why is he not wearing a shirt? And what fourteen year old has abs like that? I think.
Cato looks up and sees me staring at his chest. He gives a small smile.
I fiddle with the end of my- I mean his shirt as he takes out the bread and begins slicing it.
"Oww." He mumbles. He holds up his hand and examines a small cut. A single drop of blood falls and lands on the floor.
Oh no.
Various images of blood staining the wooden floor at home comes to my mind.
I hop of the counter and kneel on the ground. I try to remove the drop of blood from the wooden floor but it's no use.
"Won't come out." I mutter. Of course it won't come out. How many hours have I spent trying to get my parents blood off my wooden floor at home?
I rub the floor furiously but that only make it streak.
"Come on, come on." I say.
"Clove, what are you doing?" Cato says sounding concerned.
"It won't come out!" I say with a laugh that makes me sound psychotic.
" I'll just remove it with cleaner later, no big deal." He says slowly.
"You don't get it!" I say with another laugh. "It will never ever come out!" I say while seeing various images of my parents death. And all that blood.
"You can't get blood out of wood!" I yell. " It's impossible, trust me!" I say. "I've tried!"
Cato knells down to my level.
"What do you mean?" He whispers.
I take a deep breath.
"Come to my house on Monday, and you'll understand exactly what I mean." I say.
He nods.
He scoops me up in his arms and places me back on the counter and resumes making our sandwiches.
He gives me a few concerned glances once and a while.
It takes several minutes and a lot of deep breaths to calm myself down.
"All done." He say.
He takes two plates out from the cabinet and places a sandwich on each. They look really good. I follow him to the table and take a seat next to him.
"You ok?" He asks once we're seated.
"Yeah, sorry for umm, my little 'freak out' back there, I was just remembering . . ." I trail off.
He gives me a look before biting into his sandwich.
I do the same.
"This is really good." I say in between bites.
"Thanks." He mumbles.
After that we eat in silence.
"I'll take your plate." I say once we're both finished.
I take our plates to the sink and load them in the dishwasher.
I need to find another job. I think. Working for Cato was great but I felt wrong taking money from him. You know what? I don't need electricity. All I need to do is pay the water bill and I'll be fine. I'll just ask Amari for my old job back.
"Do you want to watch T.V?" I jump, unaware that Cato was behind me.
"Sure." I say.
We walk over to the couch and Cato grabs a remote on the way.
We take a seat on the couch and I look around, confused because I don't see a T.V.
I look over to Cato questioningly.
He presses a button on the remote and the painting above the fire place slides to the left to reveal a T.V.
"Why is every thing hidden behind paintings?" I ask him, thing back to the capitol washer.
He shrugs his shoulders.
We watch a show about the development of capitol weapons and I listen intently when they talk about knifes.
After the show ends Cato tells me he wants to show me something upstairs.
The second I stand up Cato wraps his arm around my waist and picks me up.
"You know you don't have to pick me up right now." I tell him.
"I know." He says with a smirk.
When we approach the stairs I decide that I won't get scarred. Cato's with me and nothing bad will happen. And if I do fall through, he'll break my fall.
I close my eyes the entire time.
When we reach the top I smile triumphantly at my small victory.
Cato leads me down the hall to his bed room.
He some how manages to open the door with me in his arms.
He plops me down on the bed and opens his night stand drawer. He rummages though it till he pulls out a photo album.
He sits down next to me and opens it. The first picture is of two women and a man.
"This is my mom and dad." He says pointing to the two on the left. "I'm not sure who this is though." He says gesturing to the other women.
She looks familiar. Is that . . . ? No. It can't be.
I grab the album from Cato and look closer. It's her. My mother. My fingers brush her face. Why in the world would Cato have a picture of my mother with his parents?
"Where did you get this?" I whisper.
" It was my mom's." Cato says. "Do you know her?" He says, pointing to my mothers smiling face.
"It's my mother." I say softly.
"Really?" He asks surprised.
I nod.
"She looks so happy." I say dazed.
"I think she might be in so other pictures." Cato tells me.
We go through the album page by page.
Cato explains each photo to me. I feel myself getting absorbed by what he's saying. I listen closely as he explains why he's alone it most of the pictures. "Because I was alone." He told me. Maybe his parents took the picture, but they were never in his life.
We don't see any other pictures of my mother till we get to the last page.
The very last picture shows my mother as a young girl, around eleven or twelve, smiling next to another girl her age.
"That's my mom." Say Cato as he points to the girl on the left.
"Is the other girl your mother?" He asks.
I nod.
"It looks like they were friends or something." Cato says.
" I'll call my mom tomorrow and ask her." He says.
"Thanks." I say and give him a genuine smile.
Cato walk to window and and his eye brows furrow.
"It's still raining hard, I think it's some kind of tropical storm." He says.
"Can I stay here?" I ask him shyly.
"No Clove, I'm going to make you walk home at nine o'clock at night during a storm with forty mile per hour winds." He says sarcastically.
"Sooooooo, is that a yes?" I question.
He rolls his eyes. "Of course you can stay here." He tells me.
"I'm gonna get washed up in the guest room." He says.
I nod and head to the bathroom to do the same.
I close the door quietly behind me. I open the medicine cabinet and take out my tooth brush.
I walk over to the metal thing that holds the tooth paste and hesitantly hold out my tooth brush at arms length.
The robotic hand take it from me and applies the tooth paste and hands it back.
I carefully take it and walk back to the sink.
I brush my teeth and realize that I don't know where I'm going to sleep. Just sleep next to Cato. I tell myself.
I feel my cheeks go scarlet.
I sigh and place my tooth brush back in the medicine cabinet.
I walk back to Cato's bed and crawl in.
Two minutes later Cato walks in. He pauses when he sees me laying in his bed.
"Do you, uhhh, want me to stay in the other room?" He asks me uncomfortably.
"No you can stay here." I tell him.
"Uhhhh, ok." He says.
He slides in next to me and looks at me before he turns out the light.
"Good night Clover." He mumbles.
"Night." I says as I scoot in close to him and throw an arm over him.
He pulls my hand to his chest and sighs quietly.
"Sleep well, Clover." He tells me.
I'm thankful he can't see the goofy smile that's on my face.
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