June 10 - 3 years ago
Nothing special happened on June 10th. But it was the memory Taiya held dearest to her.
It started in the living room. Finnick was lying on the couch throwing a ball up in the air while Taiya was practising her piano.
Finnick exhaled as he caught the ball and Taiya's eyes briefly flickered over to him.
She tried to ignore it, but on the fifth sigh, she hit her hands down on the keys, making a loud noise before she turned to look at him.
"Ok, fine. I'll bite. What's wrong?" she asked.
"Nothing," he hummed as he continued throwing the ball in the air.
"Fine," Taiya dismissed, spinning back to the piano. "Just try and contemplate life quietly, please. I'm trying to practise."
"I wasn't making noise."
Taiya smirked as she turned her head to look at him. Dramatically she began to breathe heavily until he smiled. "That's what you sound like babe."
"Little over the top," he turned his attention back to the ball.
"Well, it distracts me," Taiya began to play her song.
"Are you saying you find me irresistible?" Finnick perked up as he sat up to sit on the edge of the couch.
"Go back to your ball Finn," Taiya rolled her eyes.
"No, no, no," he jumped off the couch and came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist as he kissed the side of her neck, immediately making her hands freeze on the piano. "I want to hear more about how distracting I am."
"Are you going to tell me what's wrong?" Taiya asked, wanting to go back to the reason he'd been incessantly sighing.
Finnick pecked her neck one more time before he let his chin settle on her collarbone. "Nothing's wrong."
"You're a liar," Taiya sang. "Come on, tell me. I don't bite."
"I do," Finnick nipped at the bottom of her ear.
"Ok," Taiya laughed, reaching behind her to give him a light shove away. "You're being silly. Come on, let me practise! Just sit and behave for twenty minutes then we can hang out."
"Ok," Finnick relented as he went to sit on the couch and watch her play.
It only took five minutes, however, for him to sigh again.
She immediately stopped playing and turned to look at him, an eyebrow raised in question.
"I heard it that time," Finnick relented, admitting to his sigh.
"But not the other twenty times?"
"No," Finnick shook his head.
"You going to tell me what's on your mind?" she asked as she walked over and took a seat beside him.
"No," he shook his head.
"You mean you don't want to tell me?"
"Correct."
"But there is something?"
"Yep," he popped. "Finish your playing and then I'll tell you," he teased.
"Oh come on," Taiya rolled her eyes, pushing his shoulder so he was laying down on the couch before she climbed on top of him, her legs resting on either side of him.
Taiya's hands found their way to the back of his neck, tangling themselves in the waves that sat at the nape of his neck.
His eyes never left hers. And she sat there studying them. Committing the colour to memory. Sea-green with flecks of blue.
Finnick reached his hands up, brushing the hair out of her eyes and off her forehead, tucking it behind her ears.
Giving her a small smile, he cupped her cheeks before rising slightly to meet her for a quick kiss.
"You know I love you," he looked into her eyes.
"Of course," she nodded. "I love you too. But please, can you tell me what's on your mind?"
"It's silly," he dismissed. "I was just thinking about a conversation I had with Johanna the other day."
"Oh," Taiya dismissed. "Don't listen to Johanna, she's an idiot. Was this at the start of the night, or the end of the night?"
"The end."
"So she was drunk," Taiya sniggered.
"Yeah, she was," Finnick agreed. "But she made a good point."
"Which was?"
"She was asking me about jealousy."
"Do tell," Taiya smirked, removing a hand to run her finger down the length of his cheek before returning it to its position behind his neck.
Finnick looked at the ceiling, wanting to avoid eye contact for fear of embarrassing himself.
"She asked if I get jealous of not being able to do coupley things with you," he mumbled.
"Oh I think you and I get up to plenty coupley things," Taiya smirked as she moved her hands to his collar and gave it a light tug, pulling his eyes back to her.
"That's not what I meant," he smirked as he held her hips as he moved them into a sitting position. "Although I am a big fan of that," he winked. "I meant the more mundane things. I want to be able to dance with you at these parties you go to, not watch you dance with another man."
Taiya's smile lifted when she heard this. You want to dance with me?' she confirmed.
"Don't make fun of me," Finnick sulked.
"I'm not!" she laughed. "I'm really not. It's adorable."
"Adorable?"
"Wildly sexy?"
"I like that more," he nodded proudly.
"Ok," Taiya tapped his shoulders before standing up. "Dance with me," she smiled, holding her hand out for him.
"What?"
"Let's dance," Taiya nodded. "You want to dance with me? I want to dance with you. So, come dance with me," she wiggled her fingers.
Finnick hesitated. But then he reached up and grabbed her hand and stood up. The gap between Taiya and the edge of the couch was small, so when he stood they were standing chest to chest. The energy in the air was palpable already.
She couldn't help where her eyes went, they dropped from his eyes to his lips. Lips she'd known intimately for years.
"You wanted to dance," he leant down to whisper in her ear. "Don't get distracted."
Taiya pushed him back slightly by his chest as he laughed at her. "So are we just pretending there's music?"
"Be imaginative Tay," he teased.
"We can use the waves as music?" Taiya suggested.
"Lead the way," he gestured with his hand, following after her as she made her way out onto their pier. "Ready?" he asked after they'd positioned themselves before he bowed slightly to her. She rolled her eyes but curtseyed back anyway.
Taiya held her hands behind her back and Finnick mimicked her. She was more familiar with the formalities of the dance than he was. She took slow steps toward him, turning her shoulders with each step.
They lifted their respective left arms and took a step even closers, interlinking their arms, but never touching. They took a step back before repeating the move with their right arm. The intimacy of the near-touch was thrilling. She'd never felt the tension in the move before. Dancing with Seneca just didn't stir up the same emotions in her.
They stood shoulder to shoulder and gently held each other hands behind their backs before slowly moving in a circle and stepping back so they were opposite each other.
Holding each other's hands, they took one step in, and one step out. On the third movement they froze, chest to chest, eye to eye, and for a moment the couple forgot they were dancing, they just stared.
Taiya broke away first as she moved her hands. One of her hands left his and moved up to rest on his shoulder, and her other hand moved their connected ones out to the side. Finnick's arm immediately found its way around her waist, pulling her even closer to him.
He may not have known the initial formalities of the dance, but he did know the dance itself and he immediately took over leading. They'd been best friends forever and it wasn't hard for them to fall into sync, dancing to the rhythm of the waves that were brushing up against the beach.
As they fell more into a rhythm, Taiya couldn't stop the wide smile that spread across her lips.
He was perfect.
The moment was perfect.
He was wearing a loose, button-up, white, short sleeve shirt that complimented his tan perfectly. And the colour of his top matched her dress perfectly.
His eyes matched the water they were surrounded by, and she just couldn't tear her eyes from them.
One thing was for sure, she was head over heels in love with this man, and that would never change.
He turned elegantly and slowly dipped her body down, his movements entirely in tune with the water. Finnick hovered over her for a moment, his eyes running over Taiya's face, committing every curve of it to memory before he slowly brought them both up and continued dancing.
The tension between the two grew more powerful by the second. Taiya's heartbeat grew steadily along with it. Everything was perfect. Their dance was perfect, their breathing was perfect, and they were fully in sync.
Finnick guided Taiya around the pier without ever needing to take his eyes off her. He knew the pier well enough to know exactly where to step. They were in a haze and they were the only two allowed access. It felt like they were floating.
That was the thing about being home, about being together. It was just them. None of their external concerns mattered, they could just be. Right there, right then, they were living. Nothing else mattered except each other.
Taiya woke up with a violent jolt. She didn't have far to go though, wrist and ankle cuffs held her down.
She lifted up her wrists as much as she could to inspect them. White velcro bands were stuck together holding her in place.
"Welcome back," a voice greeted her.
Her reaction to the sound of his voice was obvious to everyone in the room. She was connected to a heart monitor. Everyone heard the jump, and everyone took note of the increased heart rate.
"I appreciate the good sense you have to be scared," President Snow smiled at her from his seat at her bedside. He reached out to tap her hand kindly. "We've all been wishing for your recovery."
"How long have I been asleep?" she croaked as she looked around the hospital. She was searching for someone.
"We kept you sedated for a week," Snow explained. "For your own wellbeing." He watched her eyes frantically scan the beds in the room.
"Finnick?" she finally asked, turning her desperate eyes to Panem's president.
"I'm so glad you asked Miss Ambersnow," he smirked. "I was hoping you could tell me."
"What?"
"He's gone. Ran away with the rebels," Snow sighed in disappointment. "He abandoned you in that arena. Left you to die. I've always felt a fondness for you Miss Ambersnow, so I ordered your retrieval."
"He left me?" Taiya mumbled in her sedated haze. "He wouldn't do that."
"Oh, but he did. I watched him do it on camera," he smiled softly down at her. "He climbed straight into the rebel hovercraft, he didn't even think to look for you."
"No, no, no, no," Taiya shook her head. She didn't believe him.
"Do you know there were 20 minutes between the rebel hovercraft leaving and our Capitol one arriving? The rebels had time to easily retrieve all the victors," Snow tutted his tongue. "Loyalty only extends so far for the radicals. For them, it is Katniss Everdeen above all else, but you already knew that I'm sure," he stood up to look down on her. "I show loyalty to my friends. You know that Miss Ambersnow."
She just nodded. She could barely see straight.
"I would hope that friends of the Capitol would show the same loyalty in return."
"Of course," Taiya nodded.
"If you tell me where the rebels are hiding, I'll make sure Finnick is brought back here. To you. To be with his Capitol friends."
These last three words are what snapped Taiya out of her daze. She immediately turned to glare at the president. "His Capitol friends?" she repeated, and he merely gave her one nod. "Finnick doesn't have friends here!" she snapped angrily. "Finnick has no friends here!" she sucked in a breath as she looked around. "Where am I?"
"In the Capitol," President Snow replied firmly, all facades of friendship and caring dropped.
"Finnick escaped?"
"Mr Odair abandoned you."
"No! He wouldn't do that!" Taiya yelled in a rage. "He wouldn't do that," she repeated to herself. "Where's Johanna? Where's Peeta?"
"Peeta is right there," President Snow gestured to the bed beside her. She immediately spun her head to see the boy lying unconscious on the cot beside her.
"Johanna? Where's Jo?" Taiya asked, turning back to Snow.
"Miss Mason is… occupied," he refused to answer. "I was almost impressed Miss Ambersnow. I was very curious as to why you did not dispose of Miss Everdeen the moment you stepped into the arena. Of course, Heavensbee is partly to blame, it seems he played us both. All it would have taken was one throw of your knife and both of our worries would have ended," Snow sighed. "I'm sure right now you're wishing that Mr Odair didn't stop you from ending Miss Everdeen in the water. All it took was one arrow being sent into the wrong person and you're loyalty to the rebellion snapped."
Taiya jerked up in her bed. Cashmere and Gloss. "Where are they!"
"In recovery. It was a substantial hole to repair."
Before she could ask any more questions, a pained howl echoed throughout the corridor.
"Johanna," Taiya breathed. She'd recognise the sound of her best friend anywhere. "JOHANNA!" Taiya roared as she fought against her restraints. "JOHANNA!"
"Enjoy your stay Miss Ambersnow," President Snow taunted. "I hope you and I will see eye to eye in the future," he said before he moved away from the bed and towards the screams.
"JOHANNA!"