Gale was left in confusion as the girl sauntered off, effectively ending the conversation.
Even at work Gale couldn't stop the confusion he had about the young girl. He was pissed at himself for thinking about Venus instead of Katniss. He couldn't think of how this one girl would come along and destroy his plans for staying single for the rest of his life. He found himself curious about her, daydreaming about her, and he took his anger out on a poor trashcan. He couldn't understand why this girl kept snaking into his thoughts, wondering what she meant by "answer in full". Even her answers left him with more questions. Every question he had seemed to be unable to be answered by anyone but her.
Gale certainly didn't want a girlfriend… he didn't want to betray Katniss. However, it had been six years and he realized that there was no more chance. His whole world, his whole existence seemed to be shattered upon this realization. Who was he if he wasn't entwined with Katniss anymore? Katniss seemed to be so far away… there was no speaking with her. The girl he had hunted with didn't seem real anymore, and now that the rose colored glasses had been taken away, he saw the truth. He didn't like what he had to swallow to realize why he and Katniss never would have worked.
It was never just Prim dying, and it took a chance encounter with an old soldier to have him realize this. It was always the fact no matter what, Katniss would have that bound with Peeta from inside the Games. No matter what, he would've never been able to understand what it was like in the Capitol, nor would he have tried to understand. His anger towards the Capitol had overrode any feeling he had toward her… and if he couldn't keep her number one over something like his anger towards the Capitol, why should she even consider him?
In a way, he was glad for this realization. That it was himself that kept him from Katniss. Finally, an excuse to blame himself that was had some foundation of truth. It was Venus's voice that caused him to jump in his work. "Not playing the blame game again, are we?"
He ran his hand through his hair, reminding himself not to get angry at this girl. While she seemed to dangerously hinge on both unbalanced and balanced, sane and insane, she seemed to genuinely want to talk to him for reasons that where unknown to him. Whatever her reasoning, it seemed she wasn't going to go away any time soon. However, he found himself curious. "How do I know that you're not a hallucination from my head? You seemed to show up whenever I'm thinking too much about you or Katniss."
For the first time, she actually cracked a full grin, as if he had asked the winning question. This threw him off as she moved from laying on her side to a full sitting position. With a gentle leap, she replied, "You don't, much as I don't know if you're real or not. How would one realize their own hallucination? It's not like I would outright tell you that you're mad if I was, now would I? To answer your question, though, I never know what's going on inside your head. I simply guess."
Gale raised one of his eyebrows, entirely curious how this girl seemed to easily slip inside his mind and yet she claimed she wasn't in his head. How peculiar. He figured if he was going mad, he probably might as well conjure up a pretty girl to drag the last part of his body down. Now it wasn't just his heart that was betraying him – it was his mind too. Couldn't he just be left alone to drown in his sorrows in peace? "It seems you know me too well… is paranoia that you could be having a mental break down part of hallucinations?"
The girl laughed, and Gale felt this was rude. After all, she was making him question his mental state. The least she could do was be polite about it. It was clear from the smile fading from her that she seemed to realize that she was entering his life without warning. A good question to ask herself was why she hadn't talk to the boy earlier. "You do remind me of someone I once knew… from when I was eight. Fell down a rabbit hole and never seemed to get back out of it. As for paranoia… I've never felt it. I accepted the hallucinations as they were, which might be why I'm completely irrational."
Gale took time to process this, as if he were actually considering the words of a mad, deluded woman who clearly was a product of his imagination. It was as if Venus had her own way of dealing with the world, and she wasn't short on sharing the good fortune with Gale. "I don't understand your interest with me. Most other girls give up after a rude comment. You, on the other hand, never seem to go away."
Venus gave a quick smile, and Gale noticed that she never seemed to smile for long. Her smiles never held, and it seemed like no one else noticed Venus the way he did. Why that annoyed him, he couldn't be sure. Maybe it was because it felt like betrayal, even though he knew that there was no way it could have ever worked between him and Katniss. "I know there's more to you than that rude comment. You were decent enough to let her go, weren't you? You didn't fight when you realized that being selfless for the greater good destroyed your chances with her… and yet you still haven't started to see that it wasn't your fault."
Gale was taken aback by how much she seemed to know. For someone who claimed not to be a product of his imagination, she sure knew how to act like one. She got inside his head, and it terrified him. Venus shouldn't be able to see into his head. She said she couldn't. So why did she seem to see every thought as if it were etched onto his forehead, anticipate his next words, and seem to have a cunning reply always? He shook his head. "You don't know anything about me."
The girl's eyes flashed. "You're right. I don't know anything about you. And as long as you keep that attitude, you won't ever know anything about me."
The girl was gone before he could protest.