Disclaimer: All stories are individuals of themselves and are unrelated to each other.
She was tired of the nickname. Prude. It drove her up the wall. She thought college was going to be a fresh start, that people would understand her. But no.
She couldn't take it anymore. Madge pressed the elevator button a thousand times despite the fact that the light was already on and refused to glance over her shoulder. The people on her floor – mostly boys – kept making kissing noises behind her. The second the elevator dinged she rushed on and pressed the 12 button, urging the doors to shut faster. Once they clicked shut and she began to move upward, Madge sighed with relief.
She was going to put an end to this name calling business. Now.
When the elevator reached floor 12 and the doors open she rushed over to the Quad B, banging on the door until some helpless boy opened it for her. She thanked him quickly before rushing over to Gale's room and throwing open the door.
"I need you to kiss me," she blurted the moment she spotted him.
The room was silent for a moment before Thom, Gale's roommate, finally shifted at his desk. "I, uh," Thom stuttered, glancing at Gale who was lounging in his bed reading from an environmental textbook. "I'll be in the common room."
In seconds Thom eased past Madge and the swung shut behind him as he left. Gale looked at Madge briefly before returning to his textbook, his eyes scanning over the words without really reading them. He was hyperaware on the fact that she was staring at him, her azure eyes burning through his soul.
"Will you put that dumb book down?" she nearly barked. Gale and Madge knew each other back home thanks to Katniss, but everything changed when the blonde started going to his school. The college version of Madge was a lot more enticing than the timid girl from home. Somehow they ended up in the same residential building, and the two quickly became friends. Madge paced forward, her footsteps nervous. "This is important!"
"Tell me, Undersee," Gale hummed, "how kissing you is more important than the test I have at 8 in the morning tomorrow?"
Madge sighed and dropped to the edge of his bed, running her hand through her golden locks. When he knew she wasn't looking he lifted his gaze up to her, only for a moment. She looked overly stressed, chewing on the inside of her cheek as she searched for an answer to his question.
"It probably isn't," she finally said. Gale placed a bookmark inside before closing the text, and then he eased into a sitting position next to her. "You know how… you know how I haven't had my first kiss yet?"
Of course Gale knew, the thought rang loudly in his head every time she got a little tipsy and eased her way onto his lap. She was a freshman favorite at all of the parties he went to but she clung to him like a magnet. I don't want any of those boys, she had told him once. Their hands are sweaty and they just want to touch me. Don't let them touch me. He never let her out of his sight.
"So what?" Gale responded. "Thought you were waiting for Mr. Perfect."
"I don't have time for that," Madge said. She tilted her head to look at him. "The guys on my floor keep… keep calling me prude. If they find out I haven't even had my first kiss then they'll never leave me alone."
"Then lie about it," he suggested.
"I'm not my father, Gale," Madge nearly growled. Yes, Papa Undersee the mayor. "I can't lie through my teeth like he can." She sighed again, her figure deflating entirely. "And I'm not waiting for Mr. Perfect to kiss me, it's just boys never… want… to kiss me." She rubbed her eyes and stared down at his carpet. "Every time those guys out there pucker their lips at me it just reminds me how pathetic I feel. You know I could care less about what they think of me. I'm just… I'm just tired of waiting."
Gale had kissed his fair share of girls, obviously, but none of them really ever stuck around.
"I don't think you want me to kiss you," Gale murmured. "It wouldn't mean anything."
"It would mean I can stop worrying about it," Madge told him.
No, she didn't understand. It wouldn't mean anything in the sense that he's wanted to kiss her ever since that day she was tutoring him in pre-calculus and she got so involved in his work that she just solved it all for him and apologized when she was done. He'd wanted to kiss Madge since that time they all went out to dinner and she got an ice cream cone and had a bit of vanilla on her nose for the longest time. It wouldn't mean anything to her other than to get it over with while the thought of his lips against hers has been the whole reason he's practically failing out of his physics class.
They sat quietly for a moment before she sighed for a third time. "I should go," she finally whispered. "You're right. I'm being ridiculous and you've got that test to study for and—"
Gale effectively cut her off by pressing his mouth to hers. Madge gasped as he cupped her cheek and turned her so she was facing him rather than staring at the ground. His lips were warm and his touch was gentle. Her eyes fluttered shut as he leaned into her, his free hand eventually lifting to the other side of her face. It wasn't long before Madge's lips were steadily moving in time with his. Every time their lips smacked Madge was sure he would pull away for good, but he found her again in no time.
Her hands were shaking but she forced them to cling to his shirt rather than sit idly on her lap. Gale grinned into the kiss when Madge teased the soft skin of his side where his shirt had ridden up. He broke away and kissed down her chin and across her jaw, reveling in the oh that escaped her lips as he did so.
Eventually her eyes flickered open again, the blue brighter than before. Madge immediately blushed, the scarlet soaking up her cheeks.
Gale rested his forehead against hers, still grinning at the look on her face. "Was that okay?" he murmured. Gale dipped down and snatched another kiss, and another, his heart swelling as she nodded her head. "You sure?"
"I-I, y-yes," Madge forced out. Her fingers were still clinging to his shirt and if she wasn't making an effort to move then than he wasn't going to hesitate kissing her again. His mouth grazed her upper lip and she shuddered. "Are all first kisses that nice?" she wondered aloud.
"Doubt it," Gale breathed. "Maybe with me. But with Mr. Perfect, probably not—"
Madge let out an airy laugh before pressing herself upwards to kiss him again. He smiled against her and tangled his hands in her hair, keeping her as close as he possibly could. Gale nibbled on her bottom lip and she let out a tiny squeak, causing his heart to stutter in his chest.
Just as he was about to lean her backwards onto his bed for a much more comfortable position, the door swung open. Gale and Madge parted quickly and found Thom in the doorway, a look of disbelief on his face.
"I wasn't sure how that conversation was going to go," he admitted sheepishly, "but I didn't think it would end like that." Gale growled at his roommate but Thom only laughed, shrugging his shoulders and easing into their dorm. "Hey, I've got work to do. And you've got that test to study for, Gale."
"Later," he muttered. His lips grazed the nape of Madge's neck and she shuddered again, clutching the sheets on his mattress. "Thom, get out."
"The common room is way too loud to read Shakespeare, Gale!" Madge tilted her head back to Gale and smiled nervously. "You two can carry on if you don't mind me sitting here," Thom continued, dropping down to his desk with his back to them. "I've got headphones and everything."
Gale groaned and eased away from Madge, though his hand somehow found hers. "C'mon," he murmured. "I'll walk you back to your room."
"You've got that test," Madge protested, but Gale rolled his eyes in response. She nibbled down on her bottom lip as she stood, Gale's hand now laced with hers. "Good night, Thom," she called over her shoulder.
"Yeah, yeah," the boy at the desk smirked, cocking an eyebrow as the two traveled from the room.
The elevator ride down was much too short for either of their likings, and when it opened on Madge's floor the entire common room fell silent. All the boys that were lounging on the couches kept shifting their gaze between Madge and Gale before the pair escaped into Madge's quad and away from prying eyes.
"I could come in," Gale said. He leaned over her, his forearm resting against her door, and stretched his lips to hers. "Really give them something to talk about."
Madge giggled as he kissed her one last time. "Go study," she scolded him. She smiled brightly before disappearing into her room, leaving Gale feeling vastly empty. Inside her room she sighed to herself and pressed her fingers to her lips, wondering if the tingling sensation would wear off over time. She hoped not.
Gale made his way back to Madge's common room to call for the elevator. All voices hushed as he came out, and he didn't say anything until after he pressed the button to go up. Gale turned to face the crowd who were all watching him with wide eyes.
"You got something to say?" he asked. No one answered. The elevator arrived and he smirked, walking in and pressing the 12. "Didn't think so," he said as the doors slid shut.