Chapter 19

Katniss Everdeen POV

I'm walking to lunch on Monday when Peeta comes up to me. I'm heading to my friends' table quickly since I didn't get to hang out with them this past weekend. I may not be super into the dating scene, but I do want to know how things went for Annie and Finnick.

"Hey," Peeta says, walking up to me and matching my pace. "How's it going?"

"Oh, hey," I say. "It's going okay, just heading to lunch."

"Are you in a hurry?"

"A little," I say. "I was supposed to hang out with my friends yesterday after leaving the bakery, but my mom and Prim ended up needing my help."

"Oh, sorry," he says. "I won't keep you, but can I call you later after I'm through with my wrestling traingin? If you're not too busy, that is."

"Sure," I say, even though that's confusing to me since I'm not sure why he'd want to do that. "Is there a reason why?"

"Just to talk," he says. "I should be home by 6:30."

"Okay," I say. "Talk to you then." That was weird, I'm not sure what it is he would want to talk to me about.

I walk into the cafeteria and sit down with Johanna, Madge and Annie. "Sorry I'm late," I say. "I tried to get here quicker."

"We saw you talking to Loverboy," Johanna says. "What was that about?"

"He wants to call me tonight," I say. "I'm not sure why, probably about bakery stuff since Gale and I work there now."

"I'm sure that's why," Johanna says, chuckling. Annie and Madge snicker. "Definitely."

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"He's in love with you," Johanna says. "We've told you so many times."

"I think you're being presumptuous," I say. "He said he just wanted to talk, so it's probably about work stuff."

"Sure," Johanna says. "Guys always just want to talk."

"Whatever, enough about that," I say. "I never got to hear about Annie's date with Finnick."

"You didn't miss out on much," Johanna says. "It wasn't that juicy."

"Shut up," Madge says. "I'm sure she would love to tell you about it."

"It was a lot of fun," Annie says, blushing. "I like him a lot, he's so cute."

Johanna rolls her eyes. "What did you guys do?" I ask.

"We went roller blading and then got some food," Annie says. "I thought he might pressure me to do stuff with me, but he was actually really sweet and a perfect gentleman."

"Aw, that's so nice," I say. "I'm really happy for you."

"She's been gushing about him nonstop," Madge says. "Johanna thinks it's lame, but I think it's adorable."

"I do too," I say. I turn to Annie. "Don't let anyone take that feeling away from you, you deserve it."

"Why aren't you eating with Finnick?" Johanna asks Annie.

"I like eating with you guys," Annie says. "Plus, we've only been on one date. I don't want to take him away from his friends already."

"I think that's smart," Madge says. "Maybe you can alternate if you guys get more serious." Annie just smiles and nods, I think the thought of being more serious with Finnick makes her happy.

"Do you think he wants to be more serious?" Johanna asks.

There's a long pause. "Well," Annie quietly says. "He did ask me to be his girlfriend after our first date."

Johanna almost spits out her soda. "What?" She asks loudly. Madge shushes her, and she lowers her voice. "And you didn't tell us?"

"It was over text," Annie says. "How do I know he meant it?"

"I guess you don't," Johanna says. "Just ask him as soon as you can."

"I definitely will," Annie says. "I didn't want to assume anything."

I'm trying to be supportive of Annie's new relationship, but honestly the whole dating thing just sounds stressful to me. I would hate having to think about what guys expect of me on dates and worrying about them pressuring me. Annie's handling it much better than I expected, I just hope she's okay on the inside.

What the other girls said sounds insane, I can't believe high school guys would actually be that cryptic and blatantly lie. If he asked her to be his girlfriend, she shouldn't have to worry about him meaning it.

I'm not sure why Peeta wants to call me tonight, but I doubt it's anything romantic like my friends are saying. I love my friends, but it's annoying that they immediately jump to that. It's mainly Johanna, but I just wish it wasn't so crazy that someone would want to just be friends.

Finnick Odair POV

I'm eating lunch with the guys when I look over and see Annie eating with her friends, she looks so cute. I want to go up to her, but I know this is a lot for her and I don't want to push her away. I decide to go up to her, she is my girlfriend after all.

"I'll be right back," I say to the guys. "Don't wait for me."

"Where are you going?" Marvel asks as I get up.

"Just to talk to Annie," I say. "Don't worry about it."

"Wait, are you still on that?" Cato asks. "I thought you would've given up, or did you already hit that?"

I turn around. "Shut up," I say. "I'm not doing this with you."

I walk over to Annie's lunch table, the girls stop talking and look over at me.

"Hi Annie," I say. Her face lights up when she sees me. "Can I talk to you?"

"Sure," she says. She turns to the girls. "I'll see you guys later."

"Bye," Johanna says, winking. She smiles at me. I'm glad she's supportive of my thing with Annie and it's not awkward for her.

"What's up?" Annie says as we start walking away from the table.

"You haven't talked to me since I asked you to be my girlfriend," I say. "I just wanted to make sure everything was okay."

"Oh, I wanted to talk to you about that," she says. "Can we go outside where it isn't as loud?"

I take a deep breath, this is what I was afraid of. "Sure," I say. We go outside and sit on a bench in the courtyard. There's a long pause of silence, I can tell she's trying to muster up the courage to say what's on her mind.

"Did you really mean it when you asked me to be your girlfriend?" She finally asks.

"Of course," I say. "Why would you even ask me that?"

"Part of me was worried it was some kind of sick joke," she says. "I don't know how this stuff works, and I was worried that you'd just show it to the popular guys to make fun of me."

It makes me sad that she would think that, but I honestly can't be surprised. "Annie," I say. "I know the reputation I've built for myself isn't exactly a good one, but I do like you and I want you to believe that."

"I've never had a boyfriend," she says. "You would probably just get bored of me."

"I won't," I say. "I'm fine with going at your pace."

She pauses and looks at me. "Really?"

"Yeah," I say. "I'll respect you if you're not ready to date someone, but I don't want you to have such a negative opinion of me."

She smiles at me. "Then I'd love to be your girlfriend," she says. "Just let me know if I'm ever too much for you, I'll understand. I get nervous easily and it's hard for me sometimes."

"Deal," I say. "I'll be sure to let you know."

She smiles at me and there's a pause. I want to kiss her, but I should probably ask her first.

"Can I kiss you?" I ask.

She pauses and looks shocked that I said that. She's my girlfriend, and it's really cute that she is so surprised at anything romantic I want to do despite that.

"Yeah," she finally says. "Yeah, go ahead."

I lean in and kiss her, and the bell rings just as we break apart. She looks down and blushes. "Come on," I say. "Let me walk you to class."

We walk to her class and I kiss her on the cheek before she walks in. I see Peeta walking by as Annie goes into class.

"Hey," he says. "What was that about?"

"I'm dating Annie," I say. "We just made it official."

"Wow, congrats," he says. "I'm surprised."

"Why?"

"She seems really different from the girls you usually go out with," he says. "But she seems really sweet, I'm happy for you."

"I just hope the guys aren't too hard on me about it," I say. "They've been making fun of Annie a lot."

"They probably will be," Peeta says. "I hope you're prepared for that."

"I am," I say. "It's just that Annie doesn't deserve it."

There's a pause as we start walking. "I'm calling Katniss tonight," Peeta suddenly says.

"Really?"

"Yeah," he says. "She said I could."

"Well good luck," I say. "Tell me how it goes."

"I will," he says. "See you later."

"Bye."

I walk to my class, I honestly feel really happy. I've been wanting to have a real relationship, and Annie is a great person to have it with. I just really like her, I see us having a deeper connection than I've had before. I do worry that the guys will make fun of her too much. I know I can handle it, but that's not something she deserves. I'll beat them up if they do make fun of her too much, that'll shut them up.

Peeta Mellark POV

I get home from wrestling training and immediately head to my room. I'm so excited that Katniss agreed to let me call her, but I'm not sure what we're going to talk about or how we're going to start the conversation.

I sit on my bed and call Katniss. "Hello?" She says when she answers. I immediately shut down and don't know what to say, I'm so nervous. "Hello? Are you there?"

"Yeah, sorry," I say. "How was your day?"

"It was good," she says. "How was yours?"

"It was fine," I say. "Wrestling training was tiring, of course."

"Are you getting ready for the season?"

"Yeah," I say. "It starts really soon, I've been hoping to get into better shape."

"That sounds cool," she says. "So what did you want to talk about?"

"I just wanted to say hi," I say. "Nothing in particular."

"Okay…" she says. There's a pause, this is more awkward than I expected. "Sorry, I just don't really know what to say."

"Well, how do you like working at the bakery?"

"I like it a lot," she says. "I like how flexible and nice your dad is, and how the job isn't too hard."

"Yeah, my dad is pretty great," I say. "Just watch out for my mom, she can be kinda scary."

"I've heard," she says. Ugh, that makes me sad. I wonder what she's heard. "I think I like working at the bakery more than Gale does."

"Why wouldn't he like it?"

"I'm not sure," she says. "I guess he doesn't like being around someone popular, which I guess I get."

"Gee thanks," I say, chuckling. I'm only half joking, though.

"I didn't mean that in a bad way," she says. "You're super nice, but a lot of the popular guys are jerks."

"I can definitely agree with that," I say. "They're my friends, but they act like idiots sometimes."

"And now Annie is dating Finnick I guess," she says. "He better not be a jerk to her, Johanna and Madge will kill him."

"He won't be, he's a good guy," I say. "I grew up with him, and he's a lot more kind-hearted than he might originally seem."

"Good," she says. "That's what Annie deserves."

There's another pause. "Speaking of dating," I blurt out. "Can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"Are you dating Gale?" I ask. "I wasn't sure, and I wouldn't want to make him upset by talking to you so much."

Katniss sighs. "No," she says. "We're not dating, and we're not related. People usually think one of those two about us."

"Sorry," I say. "I didn't mean to upset you with that question."

"No, you didn't," she says. "It's fine, it just irritates me because we've never been more than friends."

"Really?"

"Yeah," she says. "We leaned on each other a lot when our dads died, and I don't think I would've gotten through it without him. He's helped me so much with Prim."

"How is Prim?" I ask.

"She's good," Katniss says. "She loves you so much, she's really happy I work at the bakery now."

"You can bring her treats anytime you want," I say. "I won't tell my parents, you don't have to worry about it."

"I appreciate that, but I'll probably do my best to avoid that," she says. "I don't want Prim to start expecting that."

"She's a sweet girl," I say. "Don't feel like you can't bring her stuff, I want her to have a treat once in a while."

"I'll think about it," Katniss says. "But you're sweet, Peeta."

"Thank you."

There's another long pause. "I should probably go," she says. "I have homework to get done and I need to help with dinner."

"Okay, I don't want to keep you," I say. "Have a good night."

"You too," she says. "Bye."

We hang up and I just lean against my bed. I let out a deep sigh. I can't believe I had a phone call conversation with Katniss Everdeen. It started off awkward at first, but the fact that she was willing to talk to me and she seems to like me is a start. Maybe this won't be as hard as I imagined.

A/N: I'm back! I hope someone is still reading this story, I want to get back into it. I can't say how often updates will be, but I wanted to say I'm back and I didn't abandon this story.