Chapter 18
Gale Hawthorne POV
I'm back at the bakery again, it's my first shift with Katniss after I had to call in. Working with her makes me feel better, at least I can see how she interacts with Peeta instead of having to grill her about it later.
We get in right around 6 a.m., and I see Mr. Mellark counting the register. "Hi Mr. Mellark," I say. "I'm really sorry I had to call in yesterday, my family was counting on me."
"Hello Gale," he says. "No worries, I understand and I trust you wouldn't call in if it wasn't an emergency."
"I wouldn't," I say. "I'll try my best to not let it happen again."
Peeta is already downstairs setting up with his dad of course. I was hoping he'd be asleep since it's Sunday.
"Hi Katniss," Peeta says when he sees us. "Hey, Gale." He seems less excited to see me.
"Hey Peeta," I say, locking the door behind me. "Thought you'd still be asleep."
"I wanted to help out," he says. "Plus, I wanted to get an early workout in. This will help wake me up before that."
"That's cool," Katniss says, walking over closer to him to help him. "Thanks for helping me out yesterday. I could've done it myself, but it meant a lot that you were there. It made things much easier for me."
"Of course, anytime," he says. "Do you want my number in case you need my help or you ever have questions about the bakery?"
She pauses, I think that caught her off guard. I also pause what I was starting to do and wait for her response, I really hope she says no.
"Sure," she says. "That would be great." She takes out her phone and they exchange numbers.
"Would you also want my number too?" I ask Peeta. He just looks at me, I can tell he didn't think I would say that and now it's a little awkward.
"Oh, sure," he says. "I don't see why not."
"We could start a group chat," I say. "That would make the most sense if we're talking about bakery stuff." I know I can't control all of their conversations, but this is at least something that I can do.
We finish up our shift and get into my car. Katniss is reading something on her phone, I hope it isn't texts from Peeta.
"Do you want to do something?" I ask her.
"Like what?"
"I don't know," I say. "Go on a hike or something, the weather's pretty nice."
"I can't," she says. "I told Madge and Johanna I'd go over to Madge's place after my shift."
"Oh, okay," I say. "That's a shame."
There's a pause as Katniss's phone rings. "It's Prim," she says, answering. "Hello?"
"Katniss?" I hear Prim say quietly. "Can you come home?"
"I just got off work," Katniss says. "I was supposed to go to Madge's."
"Can you please come home?" Prim asks. "Mom won't get out of bed and the cat pooped in the house."
Katniss sighs. "Okay, see you soon," she says. She turns to me. "Can you take me home?"
"Of course," I say. "Is everything okay at home?"
"My mom is in a mood again," she says. "I need to go help Prim with the cat that she agreed to take responsibility for."
"I'm sorry," I say. "I know it's hard."
"I thought I'd be able to hang out with my friends today," she says. "Maybe I still can if this doesn't take too long."
"I hope you get to," I say. "You deserve to relax a little between work and school." I feel bad that she has all these responsibilities. I do too, but at least my mom is more present thab hers.
"I told Prim that if I let her keep this cat, she'd have the responsibility of taking care of and cleaning up after it. I knew this would happen."
We drive to her house and I pull up to it. "Hey," I say. "Hang in there."
"Thanks," she says, getting out of the car. "Bye."
"Bye."
I wait for her to go inside before I drive off. This is why her and I make so much more sense together than her and Peeta do. We really lean on each other, and we went through a lot of hard stuff together. Peeta's just a rich boy with semi-good looks, he'll never understand Katniss the way that I do.
Annie Cresta POV
I'm meeting Johanna and Madge today at Madge's place, and Katniss is supposed to come and see us after her bakery shift. I knock on the door and Madge answers it.
"Hey, Annie," she says. "Come upstairs." She basically pulls me into the house and we go up to her room.
"Annie!" Johanna yells when she sees me. That makes me jump, Johanna sometimes forget sudden noises can give me that reaction.
"What?" I ask. "Is everything okay?"
"We just want to know how your date with Finnick went," Madge says, sitting on her canopy bed. "It's all Johanna can talk about."
"Yeah, how was it?" Johanna asks. "Is the legend himself all he's cracked up to be?"
"Guys, this really isn't that big of a deal," I say. "Can we all just calm down a little bit?" I sit down on the floor and hug my knees to my chest.
"No!" Johanna says, and I jump again. This time she notices. "Sorry, it's just that it's a big deal that your first date ever is with one of tthe most popular guys in school."
"He's probably the most popular," Madge says. "Barely beating out Cato and Peeta Mellark."
"Didn't you hook up with him?" I ask Johanna. "Why are you so eager to know about this? Isn't it awkward for you?"
"It's really not," she says. "It was just a blowjob, and it was last year. We never wanted to be in a relationship."
I'll never understand that, but I trust her when she says it's not awkward or jealous and that she never wanted to be with him. I just feel like it's me going out with her ex, even though that's apparently not what this is.
"There really isn't much to report," I say. "We went roller skating and then ate some food, that's about it."
"That can't be it," Madge says. "What did you guys talk about?"
"I told him I wanted to quit cheer and that I'm probably going to," I say. "Sorry guys, it just really isn't for me."
"Annie, no!" Johanna yells.
"Johanna, please stop yelling," I say. "It's freaking me out."
"Sorry," she says. "I just don't want you to quit over bitches like Clove and Glimmer."
"It's not just that," I say. "The loudness really bothers me. I have more experience swimming, and Finnick's on the swim team as well."
"What if it doesn't work out with him?" Madge asks me.
"That isn't why," I say. "I've been thinking about doing swim for a while regardless of Finnick."
"We should respect that, Jo," Madge says. "If she's not happy, she should do something where she will be."
"I know," Johanna says. "I just thought you'd like it more if you saw it through."
"I really tried," I say. "I'm just not happy doing it."
Johanna's phone rings and she answers it, putting it on speaker. "Hello?" She asks.
"Hey," I hear Katniss say on the other end of the phone. "It's me."
"You're on speaker," Johanna says. "Is that okay?"
"Yeah," she says. "I won't be able to make it over to Madge's today."
"Oh no, why?" Madge asks.
"I have to go help Prim and my mom," she says. "I'm sorry, but my mom's really depressed right now and I need to be there for them and help Prim take care of the cat. I thought I'd be done by now, but Prim wasn't honest about how big of a mess the cat made."
"I understand," Johanna says. "Annie will tell you all about her date with Finnick later, but it's really not that juicy."
Katniss chuckles. "Okay, sounds good," she says. "Bye."
"Bye," Johanna says. She hangs up the phone and turns back to me. "So did anything else happen on the date?"
"Not really," I say. "He just said he liked me and that he wanted to go out with me again."
"Do you want to?" Madge asks me.
"I really do," I say. "I like him a lot, despite his reputation. He seems to actually be a caring guy."
"I hope you're right," Johanna says. "He's not a bad guy, I just hope he doesn't pressure you."
"Thanks," I say. "Me too."
I'm excited to see Finnick on Monday, I'm hoping to have lunch with him to see how he acts with me at school. God, he's so cute. He actually seems really sweet, too. I really want to keep going out with him and see where it goes, I feel much more comfortable with him than I expected to.
Peeta Mellark POV
I'm meeting with Finnick after helping at the bakery and working out this afternoon, we're planning on smoking weed under the bridge. He's going to tell me all about his date with Annie, and I also want to tell him about the progress I've made with Katniss.
I meet him under the bridge, and he's already sitting there. "Hey man," I say, walking over and sitting next to him. "Sorry I'm late."
"It's okay," he says. "What were you doing?"
"Just getting a workout in," I say. "And then my dad said I couldn't leave until I studied for my test tomorrow."
"I get that," Finnick says. "You're really going to have to cut down on the weed smoking once wrestling competitions officially start, right?"
"Definitely," I say as he rolls us joints and we light them. "I'll still go to parties here and there, but I like to be as sober as I can so I can do my best during wrestling season."
"I admire that," Finnick says, laughing and taking a hit. "I love football and swimming, but I could never stop partying or cut it down just for that."
"Really?" That just surprises me since he is very athletic.
"Yeah," he says. "Especially since we don't get drug tested, what's the point?"
I just chuckle at that, I love how it doesn't matter to him because there's no legal consequences. Doing well isn't enough of a motivator for him. Not that it would matter anyway, he's a great football player and he's one of the best swimmers on the team.
"How did your date with Annie go?" I ask him.
"It went really well, actually," he says. "We went to the roller rink, she's actually pretty good at it. She didn't even need to hold on to the railing."
"Cool," I say. "So did you guys kiss or do more?"
"We just held hands," he says. "I like her, I don't feel like it needs to be rushed."
"I'm honestly surprised," I say. "I never thought you'd change your tune about relationships like this, at least not this early."
"Really?"
"Yeah," I say. "I thought you'd at least keep dating around for high school and maybe even college."
"Well it's not like it's serious at this point," he says. "I just like her and want to see where it goes, I don't need to sleep with anyone else in the process."
"And I admire that."
"It's not like you've slept with anyone, ever," he says, chuckling. "There's really nothing to admire."
He's right, I haven't slept with anyone. I've had opportunities, I'm just waiting for the right person. Preferably, it'll be someone I'll be with for a long time.
"Oh," I say, remembering why I wanted to meet up with him in the first place. "I got Katniss's number today."
"Woah, really?"
"Yeah," I respond. "I made it sound like it would be good for her to have it in case she had any bakery questions."
"That's smart," Finnick says. "It makes a lot of sense, actually."
"Of course Gale wanted my number then too," I say. "He brought up us starting a group chat, which is annoying."
"He's so weird, why does he want to control her every move?"
"Because he's in love with her," I say. "Which like, same. I don't blame him, but he doesn't even have respect for her. I would actually treat her like a human being."
"I know," Finnick says. "Just text her on your own, start there."
"Oh, I will."
We keep smoking and then I head home. I'm able to sneak past my dad, luckily I'm not that high. "Peeta?" My dad asks as I sneak off to my room.
"Yeah?" I say, closing the door to my room behind me. God, I hope he doesn't want to come in.
"What's that smell?" My dad asks. Was it that obvious?
"I don't know," I say. "I went to the park with Finnick."
There's a long pause. "Alright," my dad says. "Good night."
"Good night."
Thank God that went okay. My dad usually isn't too hard on me about that stuff, but I still don't want him to know when I smoke weed. I think he knows that's what I did, but at least he's playing dumb about it.
I want to text Katniss tonight, but I don't want to be high the first time we have a real text conversation. I'll talk to her tomorrow at school and go from there, I'm just really glad I got her number.
