Chapter 14

Katniss Everdeen POV

Gale and I are setting up the bakery on Sunday morning, it's the day after the Homecoming Dance. That's never been our thing, but we also didn't go because we had to be at the bakery early today. I'm setting up a plate of tarts when Peeta walks into the kitchen. He's half asleep, and he looks surprised to see us.

"Oh," he says when he walks in. "Hey guys."

"Hey," I say. "How's it going? Did you go to the Homecoming Dance last night?" I figured he would since he's popular.

"Yeah," he says, getting a croissant from the tray of freshly baked ones and taking a bite. "It was okay, I guess." Peeta's always seemed very humble to me, despite being really popular. I like that about him.

I head to the back to restock some supplies the bakery will need for the day, Mr. Mellark told us that will be a big part of our job. I'm doing that for a few minutes when Peeta walks to the back where I am.

"I was hoping I'd see you at the dance last night," he says to me.

"Really?" I ask.

"Yeah," he says. "It was kinda fun, I wanted to just see how you were and catch up."

"I don't usually go to stuff like that," I say while continuing to stock. "It's just not really my thing, I guess."

"I get that, I guess I'm expected to go because I'm friends with all the football players."

"I bet those expectations are annoying," I say. "Plus, I never have anything to wear to those sorts of things."

"I bet you'd look great no matter what you wore," he says. I smile and start blushing. "It wouldn't be hard for you to be beautiful, you always are."

That was really sweet, and it caught me off guard. I don't respond because I really have no idea what to say.

"Katniss?" Gale yells towards me from the front of the store.

"Yeah?" I yell, poking my head out from the back.

"Do you need help?"

"Uh, no," I say, stuttering. "I'm almost done."

"Can you help me?"

"Sure," I say, turning to Peeta. "I should probably go help him so you guys can open."

"Yeah," Peeta says. "Have a good day."

"You too." He heads back upstairs and I head up to the front of the store where Gale is.

"What were you guys talking about?" Gale asks me as he's counting the register.

"Oh, just the Homecoming Dance," I say. "He said he was hoping to see me there."

"Why would he care if you were there?"

I shrug. "I don't know," I say. "We've been talking more recently."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, I guess," I say. "Just in passing, you know what I mean?"

"Sure," he says. "I guess I do."

I decide I shouldn't mention that Peeta said I was beautiful, it would just make Gale more upset. We open the store and continue our day, Mr. Mellark asks us to stay a little longer to help and we agree since there's immediately a line outside. I can tell there's tension in the air, though. It feels awkward to me, I don't know how it doesn't feel awkward for Gale.

Gale Hawthorne POV

Why is Peeta talking to Katniss so much? I know we work at the bakery now, but he's basically all over her. It's really desperate and pathetic. After we finish our shift, it's just before noon. It got pretty busy so we agreed to help Mr. Mellark run the front since Peeta wasn't able to. I don't mind, it's not like I want to be around Peeta more.

Katniss and I head to my car and get in. "Do you want to go do something?" I ask her.

"Like what?"

"I don't know," I say. "We could go get some coffee, we made a good amount of cash tips today."

"Isn't this money supposed to go towards helping our families?" Katniss asks me.

"Of course," I respond. "But that's what the checks are for. We deserve to keep a little bit to ourselves, don't you think?"

She thinks for a bit, then shrugs. "Sure," she says. "I could go for some coffee."

We drive up to a local coffee place, I get a latte and she gets a hot chocolate. We sit out on their back deck. This feels really nice, we rarely can have little luxuries like this.

"Do you like working at the bakery?" I ask her after we've been sitting in silence for a while.

"Yeah," she says. "Mr. Mellark is nice, and it's a nice environment. Plus, it pays pretty decently. Why do you ask?"

"I just wasn't sure it was the right fit for me," I say. "I don't know, maybe we could try to find something else."

"You can try to find something else if you really want to," Katniss says. "But I like it there. We just started and plus, it was your idea."

"Yeah, you're right," I say. "It was just something I was thinking about."

There's a pause as a realization hits her. "Is this about Peeta?" She asks.

"What do you mean?"

"I know you don't like Peeta, and you always get all pissy when I talk to him. I thought maybe that's why you were reconsidering."

I sigh. "You're right, I don't like Peeta," I say. "I didn't think he'd be around this much, since I thought the whole point was for us to help out when he couldn't."

"I'm still not sure what your problem is with him," she says. "He's a really nice guy."

"I think he's hanging around more now that we're there, he's using it as an excuse to talk to you so he can get with you."

"I really think you're overreacting," she says, taking a sip of her hot chocolate. "And so what if you're right? You know you really piss me off with thinking you need to protect me like I can't take care of myself."

There's a long pause. I don't want her to feel like that, but I do feel like I know a guy like Peeta's intentions better than she does.

We get into the car to head back, and Katniss still seems a little upset. "You okay?" I ask her.

"I'm really tired of all the shit you say about Peeta," she says. "He's a nice guy, and now I'm terrified to even talk to him with how much you shit talk him."

"I'm sorry," I say. "I just see right through his niceness, and I was really hoping that you would too."

"I don't think there's any niceness to see through," she says. "And if you keep bringing this up, I'm just going to ignore you. So stop it."

"Okay," I say. "I will." I pull out of the parking lot and we head back to her place.

"I'm sorry, Katniss," I say as we pull into her driveway. "I won't say that stuff anymore, I just want to protect you."

"Well it's annoying," she says. "I can protect myself."

She gets out of the car before I can respond. Shit, now I've really upset her. I didn't want that to happen, but I can't help it that I'm so into her. I hope one day I can tell her that, but I don't want to put our friendship in jeopardy more than I already have.

Peeta Mellark POV

I'm really glad Katniss is working at the bakery now, it gives me more of an excuse to talk to her. Gale is always around, so that's annoying. Regardless, I'll take it if it means I can talk to Katniss more.

I'm doing my homework in the living room when dad comes up after the bakery closes. "Hey Peeta," he says. "How's the studying coming along?"

"Pretty good," I say. "How was the bakery today?"

"It was alright," my dad says. There's a pause. He starts to leave the room, but then turns back to me. "You usually don't come down that early when you don't have to work, what made you want to today?"

I shrug, trying to be casual. "I don't know, I was just really craving a croissant."

"I especially didn't think you'd want to because of how late you were up last night at the Homecoming Dance." I'm not sure what he's getting at.

"I don't know," I say. "I guess I slept better than I expected."

"Did it have anything to do with Katniss being here?" My dad asks.

"Why would that matter?"

"I know you like her," he says. "I get it, I was really close to her mom growing up. I— I actually wanted to marry her mom."

I look up from my book in shock, I had no idea about any of that. "Woah, really?" I ask. My dad nods. "Then why did you hire her and Gale to work at the bakery? Wouldn't that be awkward for mom?"

"She doesn't know about all that," my dad says. "She knows we grew up together, but she doesn't know how close we were."

"So what happened between you and Mrs. Everdeen?"

"She fell in love with Katniss's dad," he says. "It wasn't a bad breakup between us, her parents wanted her to marry me because our statuses matched up better. I know now she never truly loved me like that."

"I'm sorry, dad," I say. I do feel bad for him, my mom can be a real piece of work. "So do you want me to not pursue anything with Katniss because of the history?"

"Honestly, it's your decision," he says. "Do you like her?"

"Yeah, I really do."

"Then you should do what makes you happy," he says. "Even though I don't think her friend Gale would be too keen on the idea. He clearly feels something for her, so be careful with that."

"I will," I say. "Thanks for the advice, dad."

"Anytime."

He leaves the room to go to his room. I really had no idea about him and Mrs. Everdeen. I knew he didn't always want to be married to my mom, but it made sense for them to start a family. Plus, she got pregnant with Nickel while they were dating so they kind of had to get married.

I'm glad he's supportive of me liking Katniss, and I do want to pursue more with her. I just know Gale will try to get in my way, but I do like a challenge. Whatever Katniss ends up deciding, I'll be fine with. I may not like it at first, but I care about her happiness and it's okay if she doesn't have to date me to be happy.