Disclaimer: All stories are individuals of themselves and are unrelated to each other.
Ever since Gale had found out Madge was the one who had given him the morphling, things had been a bit more difficult. He attempted to avoid her but the harder they he the more often he ran into the blonde. In the Square. Around the Victor's Village. He would always divert their eyes and continue on his way.
It wasn't as though Gale hated her. He just didn't know what to say. She was the mayor's daughter with her precious golden hair and oceanic blue eyes. She had freckles that danced across her nose as though they were stars in the night sky. She was quiet and gentle and Gale wasn't.
The day they both leave Katniss' house after a Quell training session he can feel her eyes on him. She's a few paces behind him, mostly because he keeps his strides long so they won't have to walk together.
"Gale," she calls out. Her voice is sweet like honey. "Wait up." And for some unbeknownst reason, he does. Gale hears her footsteps moving toward him in a light jog, gentle against the stone pathway. When she reaches him her cheeks are pink. "Hi."
Gale shoves his hands into his back pockets. "Hey."
He keeps his strides just as long as they had been before but Madge doesn't slow down at all. She matches his pace with her tiny little legs. "Why are you avoiding me?" she asks him. Gale doesn't respond, only picks up his pace. "Oh, slow down," Madge says, grabbing his arm and forcing him to halt.
"Why did you bring me morphling?" he demands. When Rory had asked about it the entire idea seemed like a damn joke to him. Cruel and heartless, but it had been the truth. She risked her life to save his, in a blizzard no less. Had peacekeepers caught the girl she would've been in heaps of trouble. "We're not even friends, Undersee."
Madge blinks. Once. Twice. Her eyes start to fill with tears that won't fall anyway. "You really don't see me, do you?"
His eyebrows narrow on his forehead. "What?"
"I mean of course you see me," Madge sniffs, dropping her gaze a bit. "I watch your eyes shoot the other direction every single time we're in the same area. But you don'tsee me."
Guilt trickles through his system, cold and damp. He ducks his head as if avoiding a blow. She knows he's been ignoring her and in a way, it hurts him.
"I don't get it," he says lamely.
"You got mad when you saw I gave Katniss my pin," Madge tells him, "but you didn't even think as to why I gave it to her." She pauses and tugs on her hair. "Songbirds," she says with a soft laugh, shaking her head. "And you got angry when you found out I play the piano for the Capitol citizens who visit," Madge continues. "But never thought as to why I did it in the first place. Keeping them distracted."
"Under—"
"Or when I gave that first interview supporting Katniss and Peeta's relationship," Madge goes on weakly. "But you didn't consider that I was helping them." She blinks and then swats at her eyes. Something in him is cracking, seeing her like this. "You know that I gave you morphling. Did you ever think about why?"
"What do you—"
"Of course you didn't," Madge answers for him, taking a step back. "Because you see me, but you don't." Gale swallows. "You look right through me, Gale." Still tugging on her hair Madge lets out a deep breath. "Maybe we're not friends but that doesn't mean…" she trails off and furrows her eyebrows.
"Doesn't mean what?" Gale asks. Her shoulders lift. "Madge, what doesn't—"
"Just forget it," she finally answers. Her eyes lift to meet his and again he feels his core shattering to tiny pieces. The look in her eyes is so desperate. "Never mind." Madge drops her hair and rubs at her eyes. "Never mind," she says again softly.
Madge turns down the road to her house and starts walking away without even uttering a goodbye. Gale watches her go, and suddenly sees much more than just the mayor's daughter with her golden hair and bright blue eyes. But she's too far to reach.