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“You wanna come over tomorrow night?”
Katniss blinks and looks over at Peeta, currently driving and focused on the road ahead of them. “Tomorrow’s New Year’s Eve,” she says. “You don’t want to head over to The Hob? I thought we were all going there.”
Peeta shrugs. “Eh. Loud bar with a bunch of drunks, or a movie marathon with my best friend?” he says, smiling. “I choose the latter.”
She nods in agreement but smiles sadly, wondering if Peeta’s break up with Madge a few months ago is still eating away at him. “Sure. Sounds perfect.”
His smile turns into a grin, and she instantly grins back. It’s hard not to – Peeta’s cheeriness is annoyingly contagious.
“Explain to me again what we’re doing today?” she asks.
He laughs and shakes his head, turning his car into the Odairs’ driveway. “Okay, one more time: between wedding presents, and holiday presents, and a glitch in their registry, Finnick and Annie got multiples of several household items…”
“Okay…”
“So, they decided to do an exchange of sorts – bring a bottle or two of wine or liquor, and you can trade for a nice food-processor or dehydrator or whatever the hell else they registered for that they now have dupes of.”
Katniss unbuckles her seat belt and gives Peeta her classic skeptical expression. “You’re telling me that I can trade in this $12 bottle of wine for a $200 blender?”
“That’s what they said,” he nods, shrugging. “Honestly, Katniss, don’t question it! I know you’ve been wanting a blender for a while now.”
“True,” she sighs, thinking of the smoothies and soups she could make. “Okay,” she says, finally smiling. “Let’s go get me a blender!”
***
“Okay everyone, here are the rules: you each got a yellow sticky-note for every bottle of alcohol you brought us. Put your initials on them,” Finnick explains.
“We set up all of the appliances and gadgets we don’t need in the next room, on the dining table and against the walls,” he continues. “Put your sticky-notes on what you want, and you’re essentially calling ‘dibs’ on it.”
Katniss raises her hand instinctively. “Can we change our minds if we move around the room and see something else?”
“Yes,” Annie answers. “But, keep in mind, if you take your note off something to try for a different item and it’s taken, you might lose out on that first one, too.”
Good point, Katniss thinks, looking down at the measly two sticky-notes in her hand and angry at herself for not springing for another cheap bottle of wine. Even Peeta has three notes from the ridiculously huge bottles of beer he brought over.
“And can I add – let’s please be adults about this,” Annie says, in a tone Katniss has never heard before. “They’re just housewares – it’s not like you’re fighting to the death or anything,” she laughs.
Everyone chuckles and Katniss scans the room. Aside from herself and Peeta, there was Johanna, Thresh, Rue, and Darius. And for some ungodly reason, Finnick also felt compelled to invite his awful cousins. She’s just starting to stare down what’s-her-name – Glimmer, she thinks – when Peeta waves at her and catches her eye.
Good luck, he mouths, giving her a thumbs up. Katniss simply smirks and nods, anxious to get in there and claim dibs on her blender.
“Okay, I’m going to open the doors now,” Finnick announces. “May the odds be ever in your favor!”
***
“That bitch!”
“Calm down, Brainless, it’s just a blender.”
“Jo, you saw her push me, right?”
Johanna chuckles and pats Katniss’s shoulder. “Yes, Katniss, I saw Glitter shove you aside to get to that blender. I get it. You’re pissed.”
“Isn’t her name Glimmer?” Rue asks.
“Potato, Po-tah-to,” Jo says, rolling her eyes. “Seriously, Katniss, cool your jets. It looks like your boy over there might be trying to get it for you, anyway.”
My boy? Katniss thinks, spinning around to see Peeta in close proximity to Glimmer, his charming smile plastered all over his face. He’s talking quietly and pointing to the blender in her arms, and whatever he’s saying is most certainly making the busty blonde blush.
That bitch.
She watches them from across the room as the blood starts to boil in her veins. “What is he doing?”
“Katniss,” Rue begins, her eyes wide. “Don’t you see? Peeta’s trying to get you that blender.”
“But-”
“Blondie would do anything for you, Katniss,” Johanna says with a furrowed brow. “Anything. For Christ’s sake, Brainless, you’re the reason he bro- ”
“JOHANNA,” Annie interrupts from the kitchen door. “Can you please come in here and help Finnick with the wine? You know he can never open those bottles.”
Katniss stands there, speechless and stunned at what she thinks she just heard. “Wait…no…” she whispers.
“Fine, I’m coming,” Johanna huffs as she walks away. Rue gives Katniss a sympathetic smile, then follows Jo into the kitchen.
Katniss looks around for a chair, suddenly needing to sit down. Annie comes into the now-empty dining room and slides the doors to the living room shut before finding a seat next to her.
“Annie…how? When?”
Annie sighs. “I’m sorry, Katniss, I wish you didn’t find out this way. He wanted to tell you he– how he feels about you– tomorrow night.”
“Tomorrow night?”
“Right,” Annie nods. “A way to start off the New Year, I suppose.”
“Annie, I don’t know-”
The sound of the screen door sliding open interrupts them, and Peeta enters the dining room with the blender in his hands. “Hey! Look what I got- you guys okay?”
Katniss and Annie stand up quickly, and Katniss tries to regain her composure. She puts on a smile and raises her eyebrows at him, pointing to the box in his hands. “Peeta, what did you do?”
He looks at both of them curiously, then grins, holding up the appliance triumphantly. “I got you the blender!”
Katniss can’t help but laugh. “I can see that! But, uh, may I ask how you got it?”
“I told Glimmer I’d stop by her New Year’s Eve party tomorrow night,” he answers, rolling his eyes.
“Oh,” Katniss says quietly, noticing that Annie has silently left the room. “But I thought…”
“Well, I know how much you wanted this,” he says. “I would have hated myself if I didn’t try.”
Her heart flutters as she takes the blender from his hands and stares at it, noting that Peeta went the extra step to put a yellow sticky-note with her initials on it. To mean it’s really hers now.
“Thank you, Peeta,” she says, glancing up to meet his eyes, a thousand emotions coursing through her body. “I can’t believe you did that.”
He smiles and moves to her side, stretching his arm across her shoulders. “Well, it’s not entirelywithout cost, since you’ll have to come with me to that party.”
“Excuse me?”
“Glimmer’s party,” he says. “Like I said, I have to stop by – but I figure we could go together, then leave if it’s really awful and just do our movie marathon like we planned.”
Katniss turns her head to look at him, Annie’s words floating in the back of her head. He wanted to tell you…Tomorrow night.
“Uh, sure, sounds like a plan.”
“Great. It’s a date, then.”
***
A date.
Katniss looks at herself in the mirror, trying to tame her long wavy locks as Peeta’s words repeat over and over again in her head. In all the years they’ve been friends, then best friends, he’s never once referred to them hanging out as a ‘date’.
And now that she knows what she knows, and what his plans were for tonight…somehow one little word means exponentially more than it did twenty-four hours ago.
She takes a deep breath and tries to calm her nerves. She did a lot of thinking last night as she tried to get to sleep. Too much thinking. Thoughts of Peeta’s eyes, his hands, his smile. The warmth she feels when he hugs her, or when he wraps his arm around her shoulders – like all the world’s problems disappear, as long as he’s there. She thinks about all the guys she’s dated, and how none of them evergave her the butterflies she’s feeling now.
It’s a feeling she never wanted. But now, she wonders what she’s been so scared of…because these butterflies for her best friend – while unexpected – they make her feel more excited and more alive than she’s ever felt before.
So, she decides to get ready for her date. A real date, with Peeta. She looks in the mirror, and nods.
“Let’s do this, Everdeen.”
***
“Um, have I told you how pretty you look tonight?” Peeta asks as he holds the door open for her.
“About three times now, yes,” Katniss replies, happy he can’t see her blushing in the dim lighting of the restaurant. “Thank you.”
He picked her up from her apartment like he’s done a million times, only this time – for the first timeever in their relationship – he was speechless. She opened the door in nothing more than her strapless, little black dress and black kitten heels. Her hair was down for the first time in forever, and fell like a dark waterfall over her shoulders.
Katniss had to clear her throat to get Peeta to snap out of his trance, and she admits to herself that seeing him slack-jawed and staring at her gave her a thrill.
“You cleaned up rather nicely, too,” she tells him, admiring the color of his green tie, and the way his crisp, white dress shirt hugs him in all the right places.
“Why, thank you,” he says, smiling. “And again, we don’t have to stay long. Finnick and Annie will be here too, at least.”
She nods and takes a breath, still unsure of what she’s going to say when – if – Peeta reveals his feelings tonight like Annie said he would. She’s never been good with words – that’s always been Peeta’s talent. She’s thinking hard as she follows Peeta through the busy restaurant, when the sight of Glimmer in her skin-tight sequenced dress makes her stop in her tracks.
“Peeta!!! So glad you could make- oh…Hello, Katniss,” Glimmer says, her voice falling as she lays eyes on Katniss. “Yes, so, servers have trays of hors d'oeuvres and champagne everywhere, so help yourself. Peeta, do you mind helping me over here for a moment with the desserts? I need your expert opinion.”
“Uh, sure,” Peeta replies hesitantly, then gives Katniss a small smile. “Be back in a minute, Katniss.”
“Sure, I’ll-”
“Oh, I’m sure she’ll be fine, Peeta. I see Annie and Finnick have arrived, anyway,” Glimmer says, pointing in the Odairs’ direction. Katniss waves to them, but scowls when she turns back around and sees that Peeta has left with Glimmer.
“Katniss, you look beautiful!” Annie says, kissing her cheek. “What’s wrong?”
“Annie, this is pointless,” Katniss huffs, grabbing a glass of champagne off the closest tray. “Glimmer probably won’t let him out of her sight all night, and even if I get a minute with him, I wouldn’t possibly know what to say.”
“Wait – what’s going on now?” Finnick asks.
“Katniss,” Annie says, ignoring her husband. “Glimmer doesn’t hold a candle to you, not in Peeta’s eyes. If you can’t think of anything to say, maybe you could show him how you feel somehow.”
“Show him? You mean kiss him?”
“Seriously, what is going on?” Finnick repeats.
“No, not necessarily, not if you’re not ready for that…though god knows it’s been a long time coming already…”
“Annie!” Katniss exclaims indignantly.
“Will someone please tell me what the hell is happening right now?!”
“Shhhh he’s coming back,” Annie shushes.
“Hey guys!” Peeta says excitedly. “Have you tried the crab cakes? SO good!”
***
Katniss stands alone in a dark corner, Annie and Finnick long gone to celebrate midnight from the comfort of their couch. She watches from afar as Glimmer tries to feed Peeta yet another mini-cupcake.
She doesn’t blame him. He’s managed to spend at least half of the night with her while Glimmer mingled and performed her hosting duties. Otherwise, Glimmer has requested him for this or that, each time reminding him of the $200 blender she gave up. And Peeta, ever the man to stay true to his word, has obliged every time.
Katniss scowls to herself, but then thinks it’s probably better this way, since she still has no idea how to express her new, but very real, feelings for Peeta. She’s just about to throw in the towel and find a way home when she notices the woman at the hostess stand flipping through the reservation book. A flash of yellow catches her eye, and in an instant, Katniss knows what she has to do.
***
Glimmer Callahan, please report to the hostess stand. Glimmer Callahan, you’re needed at the hostess stand.
Katniss smiles to herself as she hears the announcement and sees Glimmer leave Peeta, pout on her face. She watches as he looks around, scanning the restaurant.
He’s looking for me. For me.
Their eyes connect, and his mouth drops in a wide open smile…and all of her uncertainty washes away.
She takes a deep breath and looks down at her hands. Now or never.
***
Turns out, she didn’t need a lot of words. All she needed was one word, and one little yellow sticky-note with her initials on it.
“Dibs.”
She pressed the note to his chest and looked up at him, noting the sweet, adorable confusion on his face. “What?” he asked.
“I call dibs on you, Peeta Mellark.”
He nodded and smiled, though sadly. “Oh…you mean for the New Year’s kiss?”
She laughed and shook her head, then lifted her hand to run through his hair, causing his blue eyes to blink and widen.
And then…she kissed him. Twelve minutes before midnight, she kissed him. And he kissed her back.
They kissed through calls for champagne and people shuffling past them in their dark corner. They kissed through the sound of clicking heels approaching them, and somehow managed to ignoresomeone’s loud, squeaky huff of outrage.
Even now, thirty seconds to midnight, they kiss. It’s only when they hear the ten-second countdown begin that Peeta pulls away. “Katniss,” he whispers.
Ten! Nine!
“Yes?”
Eight! Seven!
“I…I love you.”
Six! Five!
She smiles.
Four! Three!
“I love you, too.”
Two! One!
He grins and kisses her gently before resting his forehead on hers. Chants of “Happy New Year!” surround them as his arms envelop her, and her hands come to rest on his chest, one of them right on top of the yellow sticky-note she pressed to his heart. The one that called ‘dibs’ on him. The one with her initials on it.
To mean he’s really hers now.