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The current song comes to an end, but the airy banquet hall remains abuzz with people laughing, talking, eating, drinking, and dancing.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please clear the dance floor,” the emcee’s announcement breaks out through the noise-filled space. “And will the bride and the bridal party make their way to the center of the floor.”
The room comes to a stop, and those on the dance floor start making their way off of it. Excitement and curiosity fill the air as guests wonder what is happening. A few servers begin setting up chairs on the dance floor as the bride, her sister, and the rest of her bridal party walk over, amusement and intrigue clear on their faces.
When everything is in place, the emcee continues, “You are all in for a treat. To the new bride, a special surprise for you!” The lights dim. The aforementioned bride squirms in her seat, anxious what this surprise may be. A few seconds later she hears it, the unmistakable introductory beats to that song. She can’t suppress her eye roll as she, her sister, and closest friends look at each other knowingly. Smirks, laughs, hoots, and hollers ensue.
It dates back to some years ago when a group trip didn’t go as planned. What was supposed to be a fun soak-up-the-sun weekend getaway at the beach turned into half a weekend where they were rained-out and stuck indoors.
“Ugh, this blows. There goes our plans. Thanks a lot, motherfucking nature!” Johanna griped as she plops on the couch next to Katniss at the Odair’s beach house living room. Thunder struck in response.
“Oh Jo Jo, we can still have fun. No one leaves the Odair beach house unsatisfied,” Finnick waggled his eyebrows at her in response from where he sat on the floor with Annie curled up at his side.
Peeta, Gale, Thresh, and Delly walked into the room with hands full of snacks and drinks for the group. “What did we just walk into? The start of an orgy?” Peeta retorted as he heads over to the couch, handing Katniss a plate full of treats as he squeezed onto the couch.
“I always knew you wanted me, Mellark!” stated a winking Finnick which resulted in a fresh hot cheese bun thrown at his head. “Well thanks for that, girl on fire.” Katniss scowled at the nickname but stuck her tongue out in response.
Annie straightened up from where she sat by Finnick. “Aren’t there games or movies or something lying around?”
“Well Annie, my dear, thanks for bringing that up. Pops just set up a new entertainment system. There was some deal, and he got an Xbox with it. I think there’s some games, too.”
After some thorough searching through the house and new entertainment system, the group found only one game - Just Dance.
“A whole new entertainment system and the latest Xbox, and this is all you’ve got, Odair?” complained Gale as he stared at the offending game.
Finnick grabbed a pillow from the couch and threw it at Gale’s head. “Shut it, Hawthorne! We can still have some fun. I know you all want to see my moves!” Finnick started wiggling his hips exaggeratedly.
Johanna came up behind Finnick, shoved him, and yelled, “I’ll beat all your asses. But first, shots!!”
“I’ll help!” Delly volunteered. She and Johanna headed to the kitchen and shortly came back with a bottle of tequila, shot glasses, lime, and salt. They placed the items on the coffee table and began filling the shot glasses and cutting the lime.
“Tequila might not help, but it’s worth a shot. Bu-dum-tss,” joked Finnick as he made the drumming hand gesture.
Johanna threw a piece of lime at him. Delly just ignored him and finished preparing the shots. Annie and Peeta chuckled and shook their heads while Gale and Katniss rolled their eyes. Thresh smirked and sarcastically retorted, “Comedy is calling your name, Finn.”
Before Finnick could get back at him, Delly interrupted. “Drinks are ready!”
The group settled around the coffee table. Each one grabbed a shot glass and a piece of lime, and the salt was passed around.
Johanna raised her shot glass into the air. “Alright, losers, you’re all going down!”
Glasses clinked. Salt licked. Shots downed. Limes sucked. Then the dance battle began.
While Johanna was brash, cocky, and competitive that weekend, Just Dance was not her forté. When it came to the timed and coordinated dances, she had two left feet.
Annie approached it lithely and gracefully, adding additional twirls here and there. Delly, sweet as she was, tended to stumble over the footwork and would get into a giggle fit. Gentle, giant Thresh was notably suave, letting the rhythm flow through him. Like Annie, he added his own tweaks and pizzazz. Gale and Katniss didn’t bother to try, only playing since there wasn’t much else to do. The former was stiff as a board whilst the latter followed the screen half-heartedly.
Peeta and Finnick, however, took to it like ducks to water. No one was more invested in hitting each dance mark and copying the moves of the pictograms than these two. When the rest of the group grew tired and bored of the game, they went off and made due with what they could to beat the rain, but Finnick and Peeta couldn’t stop. They were determined to get the highest score they could in duet mode for as many songs as possible though one song in particular was repeated over and over. There was something about the prominent harmonica sound, the fast beat, Kesha’s vocals, and Pitbull’s rapping that hyped them up each and every time.
And as they say, the rest was history.
Just Dance became their form of karaoke. If they were at an arcade, it was no question where they could be found. If the group was at a bar or club and songs from the game were played, Peeta and Finnick tore up the dance floor, the moves having become second nature to them. When new editions of the game were released, the dancing duo was on top of it.
The friend group found their obsession both amusing and exhausting. Katniss’ and Annie’s bond deepened because of it, seeing as their significant others spent more time together than ever before. Regardless, Katniss always found herself mesmerized by the way Peeta’s body would shake, twist, and roll fluidly as he mimicked the pictograms on the screen. Whenever she was in a musical sort of mood, Peeta would gladly give her her own private show in their bedroom.
But somehow, one song kept finding its way back into the fold.
As said song gets louder, Katniss is pulled out of her reverie, and her attention is drawn to the main entrance area of the banquet hall. Peeta and Finnick appear, striking some ridiculous poses while Gale, Thresh, Rye, and Graham clear out a path for them to the dance floor. Peeta and Finnick make their way towards the dance floor, high-fiving folks and busting poses throughout. When they reach the center of the dance floor, they break into an effortless, fully synchronized choreography to “Timber'' - a dance they had tweaked and perfected through the years.
For those who didn’t know any better, it looked as if the duo had been taking dance classes with a professional. However, Peeta and Finnick had tweaked and perfected their dancing through the years from playing Just Dance repeatedly to watching dance videos on YouTube to make the dance their own. They did just that if the body rolls and impressively complicated footwork are of any indication.
Towards the end of the song, Finnick shuffles his way to Annie, one of the bridesmaids, and Peeta starts hip thrusting towards Katniss. When he reaches her, he holds out his hands to her. Though she’d rather stay seated to let him finish his dance, Katniss relents and lets him pull her up to a standing position. He twirls her around, dips her right as the song ends, and plants a deep kiss on her lips. Everyone around them is clapping, laughing, or shouting at the newlyweds. She can’t help but laugh and smile brightly at her husband (husband!) when they break apart and start swaying when the next song starts.
Looking into his eyes, she questions, “You really had to perform that on our wedding day didn’t you, Mr. Mellark?”
“Damn right, Mrs. Mellark. A little bird once told me that they get ridiculously hot and bothered every time they see me move,” Peeta saucily states a little too loudly and shakes his peach-like ass as he says this, drawing more attention to the bride and groom.
Katniss elbows him in response, blushing and embarrassed that others may have heard. (Although, seeing Peeta dance was doing all sorts of things to her body.) “You’re making me question why I married you.” Though really she wouldn’t have him any other way.
“Easy. You were a goner for my buns,” teased Peeta.
Katniss elbows him and pouts, “Peeta…”
“Sorry, love, you make it too easy.” He looks at her tenderly, brushes aside some of her waves that have fallen onto her face, and kisses her forehead.
Katniss leans up and whispers breathily into his ears, “On the topic of teasing, give me a private show later?”
“For you?” Peeta replies, and with a wink he adds, “Always.”