Disclaimer: All stories are individuals of themselves and are unrelated to each other.
It's been four days since Gale has spoken to Madge and she isn't even sure what she's done wrong. He won't respond to her texts or calls and he hasn't even seen the Facebook message she sent him asking if he was mad at her. Katniss reassures her again and again that sometimes Gale just gets like this, but more than once Madge catches Katniss' phone light up with a text with Gale's name.
It's not as though Madge and Gale are officially dating. College is stressful and they both have enough going on in every aspect of their life that a relationship seems a little heavy at this point, what with Madge having to return home mostly every weekend to see her sick mother and Gale trying to balance sports and an off-campus job and maintaining the grades that will uphold his scholarship.
But when he comes over to her dorm they cuddle and kiss and when she goes to his apartment they often forget there's a movie playing on his TV. He's even told her multiple times that she's the only girl that he's kissing and she shouldn't worry about him running off with some trampy freshman, but his lack of communication with her is still upsetting. They usually text every night until one of them falls asleep or Skype while they're writing essays so they don't get too frustrated with their work or catch lunch in between classes.
And yet… she checks Facebook again. No response.
"I'm going to his apartment," Madge says, pulling on her winter coat.
Katniss frowns. "That's probably not a good idea."
"Why not?"
"He's studying, Madge," Katniss tells her, hardly looking up from her textbooks. "You know how he is when he's studying."
Madge narrows her eyes at her roommate. "You know why he's avoiding me, don't you?"
"No," Katniss mutters, "I don't."
"Well why don't you ask him, then? I know you've been talking to him!"
Katniss finally looks up from her book, her gray eyes filled with annoyance. "Before you start accusing me of this or that, all I've talked to Gale about in the past week is if he's going to take me home over break or if I should find another ride because he finishes finals two days before me and I didn't know if he would be hanging around. Okay?" Katniss looks back to her books. "Besides, you know Gale wouldn't tell me if I asked."
"You're his best friend," Madge says. "Why wouldn't he tell you?"
"Because I'm also your best friend."
"Then I'm going," Madge says.
The drive to Gale's apartment is not very long but somehow Madge manages to come up with a million different reasons why he hasn't been talking to her. 1. He's developed some sort of life threatening disease and doesn't want to tell her. 2. He looked at her and finally realized that she isn't as pretty as he tells her she is. 3. She's too short for him. 4. In the middle of the night Gale was abducted by aliens and they wiped his memory of her. 5. There's someone else.
By the time she reaches his apartment she's effectively upset and expecting the worst. True, they're not in a relationship, but he's hinted at it before. She took it as him saying something like my life is entirely too busy right now for me to fully dedicate myself to you like I want to but sometime soon everything will fall into place and I'll actually take you on a date.
She knocks one, two, three times before he opens, and the look on his face when the door swings out is a mixture of shock and guilt and anger all at once.
"Why are you ignoring me?" she blurts. Gale sighs and sidesteps, allowing her into the warmth of his apartment, knowing she won't leave without an answer. He closes the door behind her and she half expects to find some partially clothed girl on his couch where she usually sits but of course there is nothing but a collection of textbooks and a multitude of dirty empty coffee mugs. "It's been four days," she finally says, turning around to face him.
"I'm aware." He walks past her to the couch and eases in front of his laptop. "Two more and I might've actually done well on the paper I'm working on."
Madge furrows her eyebrows. "What?" Gale digs through a binder on the coffee table and pulls out an essay before throwing it down. Madge carefully steps closer and picks up the paper, frowning at the red 63% on the front page. "What's this?"
"The last paper I wrote for biology," he says.
The low grade makes Madge fidget. "Okay?"
"What do you see?" Gale asks, leaning back onto the couch and crossing his arms over his chest. "The first thing that stands out. Go."
"It's a really bad grade?"
"Exactly. Why?"
"Why?" Madge echoes. He nods, his face void of all emotion other than annoyance. "Your sources weren't credible? I don't know, Gale—"
"Because of you," he says. Confusion pulses through Madge's body, she throws the essay back onto the table. "You're the reason I got that shit grade."
"What?" Madge moves to sit next to him on the couch, her eyebrows creased and her lips parted. "You're blaming me for that? And that's why you're not talking to me?"
Gale throws up his arms as if it's the most obvious thing in the world before saying, "You're so Goddamn distracting!" This was not on the list of reasons Madge had come up with as to why he was ignoring her. "Jesus, I spent so much time listening to you talk about that shit band that you like on Skype that I didn't actually write the paper! It's all bullshit!"
"The Slag Heap is not a shit band," Madge mutters.
"Christ, you know what I mean," Gale grumbles. "Every time I talk to you while I'm doing things I end up not doing what needs to be done and just listening to you talk about this and that and it's the only thing I ever want to do and I never get my work done and if my grades get too low they're going to revoke my scholarship and then I'll be kicked out because I don't have money to pay for college!" He eases when Madge reaches out and pulls her hands gently into his, letting out a deep breath and quickly apologizing for the way his voice rose. "I didn't know what else to do except cut you out," he mutters, not meeting her gaze.
"That's a bit extreme, you know," she whispers.
"I know. But finals are this week and I thought it was best."
"Gale," Madge squeezes his hands, "I'm a biology major." He lets out another deep breath. "Why didn't you just let me help you study? Or at least look over your paper? You know I would have."
"I know," he says again. "I didn't want you to know I was failing." Madge makes a face and Gale instantly pulls away. "I don't want you to see me as someone who can't keep up their grades," he mutters. "Other people, sure, but you?" His head tips to the side. "I want you to think I know what's going on all the time."
"Gale," she laughs slightly, "you never know what's going on."
"Thanks for that," he frowns.
Madge tilts her head over to look at his laptop and reads the title of his paper, The Fluidity of Mitochondria. "Do you want my help?" she asks. "Because if you really want me to leave you alone I will."
"Yes," he exhales tiredly. "I would love your help." Madge reaches for his computer and places it on her lap while she moves into his lap as well. Gale lets out an airy laugh, wrapping his arms around her waist and ducking down to kiss her neck. "You will be the death of me," he murmurs.
"Oh hush," she scolds him. He kisses that spot behind her ear that he knows she likes so much. "You need a break, let me read over it."
"Mmm," he sighs into her throat. "Take your time." As he peppers kisses across her skin Madge makes minor edits to his work. "Sorry for blaming you," he whispers later. "I'm just so stressed." Madge turns to face him and their noses brush. "I won't do it again," he promises.
"Good," she nods shortly. Before she can return to his paper Gale leans forward, their lips grazing sweetly. He releases one of his arms from around her waist so he can pull her closer, kissing her deeply. Madge's hold on the laptop starts to falter and she pulls away. "Gale," she pants, "I don't want to drop your computer."
He laughs and moves so she can set it down before pulling her back to him completely. "What do you say," he murmurs against her mouth, "that when finals week is over, I take you on that date. Hm?"
"Sounds great," she sighs. They don't finish his paper that night.
A/N: It's gadge week! Today was "the mayor or blame" and I chose blame. c: