Sorry for not updating :( I was sick with a fever for five days and I had my exams the next week. Plus everything bad that could possibly happen to me did. I hope you all had a good Christmas or enjoyed whatever holiday you celebrate. Also happy New Year! I just went to my friends house for the holidays. Anyway, I'm going with implied lemons because this story is rated T and you're not supposed to publish MA stories. Also I would never write lemons. Ever. Ever. Ever. It's just too weird. And inappropriate. And wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. I am not a pedophile. No no no no. We are going with implied lemons. I was never going to write a real lemon anyway, I hope I didn't confuse anyone.
Chapter 27
Word count: 2,913
Clove's POV
A ray of light streams though the window causing my eyes to open slowly. I try to move only to be reminded that I can't because of the rather annoying position I'm in.
"Get off me." I murmur sleepily as I push Cato's shoulder. He yawns and cracks an eye open.
"But I'm comfortable." He mumbles in a whiny tone.
I grumble in response and press my hand against his face before giving it a rough push.
"Ok ok I'm moving, yeash." He mutters before rolling over.
As he turns away from me I catch something that sounds like 'thought you loved me'.
"Don't say that!" I snap.
"Someone's a bit moody." He says without turning around.
"Shut up." I mumble. I didn't need him trying to figure out my thoughts.
He laughs but quickly tries to disguise it as cough.
"Are you laughing at me?" I ask him in shock.
"No." He says as he presses his face into the pillow as his shoulders shake with laughter.
"You are laughing at me." I hiss.
"I can't help it." He says as he turns around to face me. A large grin is plastered on his face. "You're just so adorable when you're pissed off." He says as he presses his lips into a line.
"Well you're certainly in a good mood for someone who just woke up." I mutter, trying my best to ignore his last comment.
"I have every reason to be." He says with a smirk.
My eyes narrow. "Don't go there."
"I love you so much Cato." He says in a high pitch voice as he mimics me. "Don't stop Cato. I need you Cato." He says in a higher shrill as he bats his eye lashes mockingly at me.
I feel my face flush. I look the other way in embarrassment.
"Fuck you." I mumble out weakly.
I can feel his eyes burning though me causing my face to flush an even deeper shade of red.
He lets out a burst of laughter. "We already did that." He says in between snickers.
I groan before pulling the blanket over my head and rolling over.
I sigh in annoyance before closing my eyes. I feel a sudden sharp tug on my hair followed by muffled laughter.
"Stop it!" I shriek as I roll over to face him. I watch his body shakes as his laughter becomes silent.
"You're so immature." I growl as I smack him on the back of his head.
He inhales sharply as he tries to calm down. I grab one of the many pillows surrounding me and hold it against face. He mumbles something along the lines of 'can't breathe' as I do this.
After about thirty seconds I pull away, leaving him gasping for air. He looks at me as if I've lost it.
"I'm going back to sleep before you kill me." He says once he manages to catch his breath. His face is still flush slightly leaving him looking pink as he roll over and pulls the covers over his head.
I stare at him for a moment before looking towards the redwood door. We don't reach the Capitol until tomorrow and we don't see Cato's parents until the day after that. Apparently Cato thinks they have some sort of connection with the Gamemakers that will allows us both to get out of the arena. I hope he's right because if he's not we're screwed.
No more than fifteen minutes pass before I hear a sharp knock at the door. Cato, who seems to have taken it upon himself to get a few more minutes of sleep sirs slight at the noise.
"Clovey!" The sing song voice of the escort calls. "It's time to wake up!" She says happily.
I feel my stomach drops and my blood go cold. I have just enough time to pull the covers over myself before the door opens. I sit up with open hand to my chest to ensure the sheet doesn't fall. I'm surprised to see the escort's appearance has changed. Her face is a odd purple color that makes my face crinkle. Small black swirls dace over her eyelids along with two silver dots between her eyebrows that appear to be some sort of piercing. Her hair is a bubblegum pink with small curls at the ends. Bright orange lip stick cover her heart shaped lips. Her jaw drops at the sight of Cato laying next to me.
I lightly chew my lower lip, hoping she won't mention anything to our mentors.
"Miss. Williams?" She questions shakily.
I clear my throat slightly. "Umm, yes?" I respond hesitantly.
"Why is- is is. . ." She trails off while pointing a somewhat shaky finger at Cato.
"Who are you talking to Clove?" Cato asks in a raspy tone before rolling over and stretching. He yawns before using his elbows to prop himself up.
His eyebrows raise at the sight of the purple faced women. "Hello." He says pleasantly. He waits a few moments for her to respond but she never does.
"You know it's rude to stare." He says in a darker tone as he narrows his eyes.
Instead of addressing him she turns to look at me.
"Miss, can I talk to you in private for a moment?" She asks nervously while glancing at Cato. She was obvious she was scared of him.
"Err, I can't." I say awkwardly.
I turn to look at Cato who seems all too amused by my words.
"Go on Clover, the nice lady wants to talk to you." He says in a sweet voice. There's something dark behind his words and it makes my stomach turn.
"I -I-. Can you come back in a minute? I say in a rush, stumbling over my words like an idiot.
She nods curtly before turning on her heals and walking briskly out the door. It slams shut seconds later.
A long pause lingers in the air.
"Well that was fun." Cato says while turning to face me.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" I growl. "Do you have any idea how embarrassing that was?" I ask him.
He waits a few seconds before he responds. "Embarrassing?" He question in disbelief. "What part of that was embarrassing? I would think she would be more embarrassed then you." He says while narrowing his eyes for the seconds time this morning.
"What if she goes blabbing to our mentors?" I utter in a lower tone.
Another pause lingers between us.
"I didn't think of that." He mutters while looking down at his hands.
"Do you have any idea how this could affect our sponsorship? I knew this was a bad idea." I mutter while gesturing to the bed.
"Oh, do not even go there. You fucking loved it." He says with a smirk of satisfaction.
"Uhhg." I say while shaking my head. I grab the edge of the blanket and throw it over him before climbing out and heading strait for the bathroom. I didn't need him looking at me anymore than he did last night.
As soon as I enter the lavatory I lock the door and lean against it. A nice long shower should settle my nerves, right? After letting out a quiet sigh I look up, and to my astonishment, saw that there was no shower. A large glass sink with marble counter tops was all that I occupied the space except for a small blinking light in the corner of the cubical. The tile in that second was different, a lighter cream color with small polished stones acting as a barrier between the two different tiles.
Curiosity over powered me and I found myself walking close to the unusual set up. I carefully crossed the small barrier of stones before looking up at the blinking light. It was red and after a few seconds had turned a bright green color. It stopped blinking causing my eyebrows to knit together. A slight sizzle caught my attention causing me to instantly become alert. Steam slowly began to descend from the green light. It moved whimsically and without care. It twisted and turned before settling itself on my bare shoulders. The second it made contacted with my chilled skin it turned to water.
Ahh. So this was the shower. It seemed as if the Capitol's technology was constantly advancing and not even its own residents could keep up with its pace.
I watch as the steam leisurely dips downward before spiraling around my body. I didn't have to turn because the steam somehow wrapped around me like a tight blanket before liquifying. The water was warm and made my skin feel fresh. It was clear that this water had somehow been altered because the next thing that happened shocked me. The water began to move around my body counter clockwise. It made my skin tingle slightly which cause me to balance myself against the tiled wall. I looked up to see the steam had changed color. It had a pinkish tint to it and it moved differently than the other steam did. It made several loops before encircling itself around my middle. Once again the moment it made contact with my skin it changed state. It was a thicker liquid and smelled. . .happy. I feel stupid for thinking this because happy obviously wasn't a smell. But something about the gooey substance brightened my mood.
I hear another slight sizzle which causes me to look up again. Several different colors float down before settling themselves on different parts of my body. A bright yellow mist entangles itself in my hair while a lavender shade travels the length of my back. A soft blue makes its way up my legs, somehow exfoliating my skin as it does so. I let these strange colors do their work, not bothering to interfere because knowing me I'll somehow manage to break this strange contraption. If that's even possible, that is. After a few more minutes of standing under the mist I decide I've had my full.
Abruptly the mist stops. The remaining colors drips down my body and travel to a small drain I must have over looked. None of the colors stain my skin, instead my body feels fresh and light. I'm about to turn around to find a towel when a hot gust of air hits my back. I yelp in surprise.
"Clove? What are you doing in there?" I hear Cato shout from the other side of the door.
"Nothing." I call back. My voice goes high at the end and cracks.
I sigh and duck my head. I sound pitiful. I turn around to see where the air is coming from but to my surprise I don't find a vent. Or anything that could produce heat for that matter. My eyebrows knit together. I supposed this is just another 'luxury' of the Capitol. The air that's hitting my back moves and begins to circulate around my body. I wait patiently as it does so. It reaches my hair and drys it within seconds. The warm heat feels nice against my scalp and sends a soothing feeling throughout my body.
As I move to leave something sticky hits my shoulder. I look up to see a thick purple liquid dripping from the ceiling. More and more of the gooey lavender matter drips until I'm coated from my chest to my toes. It feels cool and gives off a slight tingling sensation. Slowly the goo changes and to my astonishment, I find myself wearing a light purple dress.
"Freaks." I mutter as I step over the stones and walk towards the door. I mean seriously, what wackjob invented that?
I grasp the cold door knob before unlocking it and pulling it open. I step out of the bathroom to find that the bedroom is empty.
"Cato?" I question in a low voice. I don't get a response.
I hesitantly walk to the main door and press my ear against it. I hear a few hushed voices talking, but too low for me to understand.
I silently open the door and step out. The hall is brighter than I remember. The windows lets in an abundant amount of sunshine that cause me to shield my eyes. As I walk I realize that the voices are coming from the dinning cart. I walk slowly, making sure I'm completely undetected. Whoever designed this train did a pretty shitty job when putting up the dry wall. I would expect that District Two would get a nicer train, but seeing as we lost the Games last year the Capitol probably thought we didn't deserve as good of a train as the winning district. I push these thoughts away from me when I realize that I've reached the door that leads to the dinning cart. My face crinkles when I see that the door doesn't have a handle. How the hell are you supposed to open a door without a handle? It isn't one of those door you push open so I don't see how it's supposed to work. I get my answer seconds later when the door automatically opens.
Oh. I think. Several people stop talking when I enter the room, including Cato who has a scowl on his face. His hair is slightly wet telling me he must have found another shower to use. He's glaring at the escort who is using Brutus as a barrier between the two of them.
"Hello Clove." Enobaria says in curt tone.
"Um, hi?" I say slightly confused.
"Would you like to tell me what you and Mr. Thomas were up to last night?" She asks while raising a perfectly arched eyebrow.
"Err, we were talking battle strategies." I say hesitantly.
"That's what I said!" Cato growls. "Told you I wasn't lying!" He says while sending a glare at our escort. His eyes meet mine for a split second before he turns to face Enobaria.
"That Capitol freak is just lying to you." He says while crossing his arms over his chest.
Brutus gives him a doubtful look.
He glances at me with narrowed eyes. "What? You think I actually like her?" He asks in disbelief. He shakes his head.
"But I saw;-"
"You're nuts lady." Cato says to the escort, cutting off what ever she was planning to say. She gives him a sneer before turning her head the other way.
My mouth is hanging open slightly as I try to sort out what happened.
"Cato do not talk to Opal like that." Enobaria scolds. Huh. I guess that's what the escorts' name is.
"Clove." Brutus says sharply.
I look up, momentarily snapped out of my daze.
"If you want to get any sponsors you will tell us what's going on." Brutus says sternly.
"Nothing's going on!" I say in annoyance.
"Oh really? Because Opal here seems to have a different story." Enobaria cuts in.
That stupid Capitol freak snitched.
"Well maybe that dye on her face has fried all of her brain cells." I mutter under my breath.
"What was that?" Opal says, speaking to me for the first time since I arrived here.
"Nothing." I say while smiling sweetly.
Clove, I don't want the two of you interacting when we're not here, we don't need anymore...problems." Brutus says while looking at Cato and then at me.
"Fine whatever." Cato mumbles before walking out of the dinning cart. The whiz of the automatic doors indicates he's left.
"I'm serious Clove." Brutus says. "Stay away from him."
A/N how was that? I'm sorry it took so long. I want to publish my AU before I publish chapter 28. Then I'll update this story, then my AU, then this story. . . how about that? Let me know if you want me to do this. Basically I'll just take turns updating each story. I'm so excited to publish my AU! Again so so so so so sorry for not updating! :( I hope this chapter makes up for all the time you've waited! Thanks for reading. And I hope this chapter doesn't suck 'cause I felt like it kinda sucked :/
*Have a super sparkly day*