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“Dude! Are you almost ready or what?” Finnick yelled up the stairs of their shared house.
“Just putting my shoes on,” Peeta mumbled in response.
Peeta wasn’t really in the mood to go out. He had a hellish week: a twenty-page midterm paper, a three-hour exam, and a painting for his art elective (which his professor swore wouldn’t take him more than three hours to complete, but his perfectionist tendencies made it take closer to ten) all due within a span of two days. Peeta would’ve preferred to just crash on the couch and catch up on the last few weeks of Abbott Elementary episodes he’d missed, but Finnick was invited to a party at Annie’s apartment. Finnick had gone on a handful of dates with Annie, and he wanted to impress her, so he insisted Peeta and their friends come to help him do so.
“And who else are you forcing to come?” Peeta asked Finnick when he was first told of his new Friday night plans.
“Thresh and Marvel,” Finnick replied, mentioning two of their roommates, “Thresh is the brauns, Marvel’s the brains, and you’re the funny guy. A perfect group to show me off.”
“So what are you?”
“The triple threat, obviously. Throw in a dash of charm and a whole lotta good looks and here I am,” Finnick finished with his award-winning smile.
“Interesting. Sounds to me like you don’t really need us then.”
“And I’m buying all of your guys’ beer, so you can’t complain.” Peeta let out a relenting sigh, and Finnick responded with a triumphant slap on the back.
Now, with exhaustion looming over him, Peeta really wished he had the personality of a dead slug. Then, maybe, he’d get to stay home like their roommate Cato, who couldn’t be trusted to help anyone make any sort of positive introduction.
Despite Peeta’s need for sleep, the walk to the party wasn’t too brutal. The crisp autumn air felt nice on his skin, and the sky was so clear that the stars helped illuminate their path.
“Look alive, boys,” Finnick jeered as they approached the apartment, the top floor of a run-down duplex. He shot Peeta a quick look that indicated he was doing anything but. Peeta scrubbed his hand down his face to wipe away the tiredness etched into his features.
Annie, a tall girl with dark auburn hair and green eyes, answered the door, and she immediately latched her arms around Finnick’s neck to pull him into a tight hug. So much for needing help making a good impression, Peeta thought. He followed behind his friends through the narrow doorway, stopping to quickly introduce himself to the party’s host while Finnick was already attached to her side.
Peeta’s eyes danced around the dark room looking for familiar faces other than his roommates. Even in his current state of exhaustion, Peeta would never shy away from a friendly conversation. He knew from every personality quiz he was forced to take in his Intro to Psychology course freshman year that he was a purebred extrovert.
As he scanned the room, his eyes met with his old classmate, Madge. They had met the semester prior in their Modern Political Theory course where they were always partnered together since their professor, Dr. Abernathy, dubbed them “The Blondies” and refused to acknowledge them as anything other than a singular unit.
“So, you know Finnick?” Madge asked after their standard run-in-at-a-party conversation.
“Oh, yeah, we were random roommates our freshmen year, and he deemed us inseparable after that. I’ve been stuck with him ever since,” Peeta chuckled. “You know Finnick?”
“Yeah, well, I do now. He’s friends with our roommate, Johanna, and has been around a few times since he’s started seeing Annie. Not to mention he’s definitely a presence that demands to be noticed,” she replied with a laugh.
“Yeah, you can say that again,” Peeta responded as he and Madge both glanced toward his friend who was standing in the front of the apartment’s living room captivating everyone’s attention. He was animatedly telling the story of the time he had to run from the cops when he’d been caught skinny dipping, and he was doing everything short of actually taking off his clothes to set the scene. Annie stood next to him, clutching her sides from laughing too hard.
Peeta couldn’t help but smile. As much of a pain in the ass Finnick had been about forcing him to come out tonight, Peeta was happy for his friend.
“Oh, I didn’t realize you’re Annie’s roommate,” Peeta commented, redirecting his attention back to Madge.
“Yeah, there’s four of us. Me, Annie, Jo,” Madge pointed to a girl with short, spiky hair who Peeta recognized from times he had run into Finnick when he was with her on campus. Jo’s boisterous laughter and chants of ‘Take it off!’ were encouraging Finnick’s story-telling charades. “And Katniss,” Finally, Madge directed his attention to the girl standing in the semi-lit kitchen.
Peeta was immediately awestruck. She was petite in both size and stature, with olive skin, long black hair that rested over her right shoulder in a long braid, and piercing gray eyes. She was beautiful.
She stood in the small apartment kitchen, her back leaning against the counter as she brought her beer bottle up to her lips. The flannel shirt she was wearing slipped from her shoulder, exposing a new patch of silky skin. Peeta felt his face flush as he watched her, unsure how someone he’s never spoken to was having such an intense effect on him.
Then she was laughing, a sound that was as perfect as his favorite song. He hasn't even spoken to the girl yet, and he already knew he was a goner. It wasn’t until he saw who she was laughing with that the spell was somewhat broken. She reached out her hand holding her beer to playfully nudge the arm of the man who stood in front of her. He was tall, with features that somewhat favored hers. Peeta had never been insecure about his looks until this exact moment, but he couldn’t help but compare.
“Oh, and that’s her… boyfriend?” Peeta asked, scrunching his eyebrows as the word rolled off his tongue, hoping he didn’t sound as presumptuous and desperate as he already felt. He was unable to take his eyes off of her.
Madge chuckled, “That’s Gale, and no, he’s actually mine,” Peeta felt his embarrassment climb up to the tips of his ears as he tried to discreetly release his breath, “He’s her cousin.”
One he finished speaking with Madge, Peeta made his way around the party, chatting with Jo and Thresh about football, asking Annie about her major and career goals, and even introducing himself to Gale and his friend Thom while they spoke about their plans to backpack through the Rockies after their graduation. He eventually spoke to everyone in the apartment but her – all he could manage to do was watch.
Once he was certain he had exhausted most of his introductory conversation skills with the other partygoers, Peeta felt anything he could muster up to say to Katniss would be inadequate. He needed to make sure he started off their conversation perfectly, or he else was certain he would blow any fragment of a chance he might have had with her. When he saw Finnick stand up to go to the bathroom, Peeta practically cornered him in the hallway.
“Finn, tell me everything you know about Katniss,” Peeta demanded in a hushed whisper.
“Ah, Miss Everdeen,” Finnick responded, adopting a faux-nonchalant accent that was airy and light despite the antagonization Peeta knew was to come. “Why am I not surprised?” he asked, quirking his head to the side, “Oh! I know why! I gotta say, Peet, you need to do a better job at concealing that wandering eye of yours. If you stare at her any longer, you’re gonna burn holes through her skin,” he finished, much to Peeta’s chagrin.
Peeta cursed under his breath, “I didn’t realize I was being that obvious. I'm not trying to be weird. Just forget it–”
“Listen. Relax. I’m just breaking your balls. She’s cool. Real outdoorsy. Down to earth. Very protective over her friends. Even with Jo’s stamp of approval, it took until my fifth date with Annie coming over for her to show me any facial expression other than a scowl, and that was only because I'd tripped walking through the doorframe. I’m not sure I’d call her shy… It’s more like she only speaks when she really has something to say. Obviously unlike you or me,” he smirks, elbowing Peeta in the side. “But I lied before. I am a little surprised. She’s not normally who I’ve seen you go for.”
Finnick is right. Katniss is almost the exact opposite of the last two women he’d shown interest in. Both were sorority girls he’d met during class. They were loud and exuded a heightened understanding of their own importance. And they both were flings that fizzled out after a few weeks.
“Yeah, and look how great those turned out. I don’t know man, I just–“
“Hey, just because I’ve never seen it before doesn’t mean I don’t think it’d work. From what I know about her and the everything I know about you, I actually think it could really work.” Peeta felt himself blush furiously, and Finnick smirked. “Bring out some of that southern charm you love to use, and she’ll be a goner in no time,” Peeta nodded even though Finnick's description of her didn't convince him that Katniss was someone who’d go for that. He’s not sure what she would go for, but he was determined to try to find out.
"Peeta?" Finnick asked, and Peeta turned his head up to look at him. "Can I go piss now?"
*****
As the party went on and the partygoers became more inebriated, Peeta was shocked when Johanna became adamant that the group start playing Bananagrams (of all the games to play when drunk).
“My apartment, my rules, suckers,” Jo announced as she spilled the bag of letter-tiles onto the sticky, stale beer-coated coffee table.
“She does this every time,” Madge whispered in Peeta’s ear conspiratorially, “when Jo is drunk, the games come out, and the rules of the original game go out the window. Just be prepared to lose no matter what.”
And just as Madge described is exactly how the game went. Everyone had to take turns playing (except for Johanna, who never left the table), everyone else had to watch if they weren’t in, and everyone cheated. On-lookers were shouting help from the sidelines. Absolutely no one could spell. The typical rules for Bananagrams went entirely out the window. Everyone grabbed any tile they wanted, and they made one continuous grid with each other. Peeta wouldn’t necessarily have called himself a rule-follower, but he was competitive enough to try to enforce the rules instead of running into the situation blind. In the end, Johanna was always crowned the victor.
“New round, new rule!” Jo screamed as Peeta made his way to sit on the ground. The first round he sat in on was “hot geriatrics,” and though Johanna declared herself the winner with her final response of Clint Eastwood (spelled CLINTYWOOD), he knew he won the audience vote when he got a number of hoots and hollers with his responses of Judi Dench (spelled JUDI) and Ian McKellen (spelled SRIANMCK). Johanna slouched further into a camping chair Gale had brought in from his car as she continued, shouting, “Explicit words only!”
Peeta chuckled knowing this round would be chaos; however, his laughter quickly died when he realized this was his first round playing with Katniss. “And I mean actually explicit. No trying to pass off the word ‘damn’ as dirty again, brainless.” He wasn’t sure who Jo was referring to until he chanced a look over at Katniss, who flipped Johanna the bird as she scowled playfully. Somehow, her scowl enhanced her sharp features, making her look even more beautiful under the glow of the living room lights.
What a great first conversation this will lead to, Peeta thought, mentally kicking himself in the ass. ‘Hey! Can you watch your right arm? I know you’re trying to spell cock, but I could really use the space after the second C to spell cum.'
“I actually think my brain is fried,” Peeta said in an attempt to avoid a recreation of his previous thoughts, swirling his beer can to prove his point, “I’ll give up my spot to someone else who wants it.”
“Finnick, is your best friend a prude?” Johanna asked without even glancing back at Peeta, though he obviously knew it was about him. Like a good best friend, Finnick guffawed and shook his head. “A virgin, then?”
“I know Peeta to have a few sexcapades in his pocket,” Finnick teased.
“That I’d rather not share right now, thanks.”
“Why not? You don’t care to defend your honor?”
“A gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell,” Peeta reminded Finnick, shooting him a look so he would understand why this is the last topic of conversation he wanted to breach right now.
“But this isn’t about kissing. This is about fucking,” Johanna graciously pointed out.
“Oh, well in that case–“
“I’ve heard enough,” Katniss suddenly spoke, sounding flustered and annoyed, and Peeta immediately looked for her eyes, but they were back to glaring at Johanna with real anger this time. Johanna, unthreatened, had a smirk plastered on her face. “Can we just get this round over with?”
Fuck, Peeta thought. Too lured into the conversation by his own stupid need to maintain his perfect balance of self-preservation and self-deprecation, Peeta now made himself seem self-obsessed. Now I really look like an asshole.
Peeta wasn’t sure where to go from here. For the first time tonight, he was glad Johanna would declare herself the victor of this round, because he wasn’t sure what angle to play anymore. When the round started, he was trying to focus on explicit words that avoided the topic of sex altogether. Johanna was cruising with her words, and Marvel, the fourth player at the table, was just drunk enough to not remember how the game worked at all.
Katniss appeared to be making slow progress, a scowl still on her face. For what reason still, he wasn’t positive, but he was becoming anxious that it had to deal with all the non-talk about his barely existent sex life. But, she was scowling towards Johanna and not him, so maybe there was some other reason she was upset. With that in his tipsy mind, Peeta did what no one was yet brave enough to do in order to make Katniss feel better: block Johanna’s gameplay. He waited to put down his letter tiles until he saw the gears turning in her head, and as soon as she would try to build, he would go for her area and build off the same blocks. In the end, he knew he’d beaten her at her own game, and even Johanna couldn’t declare herself the winner.
When Johanna finally arbitrarily announced the round was over, she shifted in her chair to look directly at Peeta. “What gives, Loverboy? You hate to see an unbeatable woman?” she asked him.
“Was just trying to give Marvel here a fighting chance. Besides, Finnick told me to defend my honor.”
“I know someone here who’d be really willing to help you defend your honor.”
Peeta heard Madge laugh in the background, but he couldn’t understand what Johanna had meant. Maybe he’d had more beer than he thought. Before he could question it, though, Katniss shot up from her spot on the floor and shot Jo another look.
“I’m going to bed,” she said, her scowl not matching her casual tone. “Class hike in the morning,” she mumbled. And just like that, she walked from the living room and down the hallway, retreating from everyone for the rest of the night.
Peeta let his chin fall down to his chest. He didn’t even get to speak one word to her, and still he managed to come off annoying enough to push her away.
“Welp, maybe next time!” Johanna said, slapping her thighs as she stood up from the camping chair to clean up the letter tiles. “Enough Bananagrams. Let’s get back to listening to Adonis over here tell more stories about him being naked,” she declared, wagging her brows at Finnick.
“Chin up,” Madge whispered in his ear, and Peeta blushed suddenly that his acquaintance probably knew exactly why his head was down in the first place. “I think you just beat Johanna at her own game. I’ve never seen her call it before everyone was already sick of it.”
Peeta gave Madge a half smile. “Hooray for me,” he said, and tipped his beer can toward her glass for a pathetic cheers.
With the buzz of the alcohol wearing off and the buzz of Katniss being in the same room as him entirely gone, Peeta said his goodbyes, telling Finnick he needed to catch up on some sleep (a real excuse, though he knew Finnick still wouldn’t buy it anyway), and thanked Annie for inviting him.
Peeta walked home under the midnight stars, eyes trained on the sidewalk in front of him, mind reeling with thoughts of Katniss Everdeen. How could someone he hadn’t even spoken to have such an effect on him?
He couldn’t stop thinking of every conversation he would have with her if he would only get the courage to speak to her again. He wanted to know everything about her, down to the most minute details: her favorite hobby, how she drank her tea, the method she used to tie her shoes.
He also couldn’t stop thinking about what a terrible first impression he likely made. Too infatuated with her to talk to her though he was able to talk to everyone else, and too much sex-talk for a first encounter. He wouldn’t blame her if she never wanted to speak to him. He could not be more interested in the girl who showed no interest in him at all. Despite his earlier exhaustion, by the time he had gotten home, Peeta could hardly close his eyes. His focus was entirely on her.
Even when over a week had gone by since Peeta had first seen Katniss in her apartment, and she still preoccupied his thoughts. Occasionally, he had seen her around campus, but the most he could manage were quick looks in her direction, his eyes flitting away by the time her grey eyes would meet his.
The next time he really saw her was in her apartment again, two weeks after their initial encounter, when Annie invited Finnick and his friends over for Jo’s birthday.
“This is huge, man! Do you know what this means?” Finnick practically shouted at him.
“That Annie likes you. But, Finn, that was obvious to literally anyone around.”
“No, I know that. But it also means that her roommates liked you. She wouldn’t invite all of you back if they didn’t. And that means Katniss didn’t think you were a weirdo! Even with all the staring!” he yelled, shaking Peeta’s shoulder to get him excited. All he felt instead was anxiety.
As the group walked towards the girls’ apartment, Peeta’s nerves were on such high alert that his entire body felt like it was tingling. He knew that if he didn’t speak to Katniss tonight, he would miss his chance entirely. He didn’t even need to ask her out, just introduce himself so she can even hear his voice. He thought that even hearing her voice directed towards him would be enough.
Even with this idea in mind, Peeta still wasn’t sure how to approach her. He wasn’t sure why he was having so much trouble conjuring the confidence to talk to her. He had never been an insecure person, and he has definitely never struggled with talking to anyone. Peeta was fairly certain he could have a full-fledged conversation with a lamp post if he tried hard enough.
But Katniss was different. There was something special about her that he noticed the moment he saw her. Something that made him feel unworthy of being in her presence. Like he needed to beg for her time. If that really is what he needed to do to get her attention, he wouldn’t mind.
Once they made it to the girls’ apartment, he quickly scanned the crowd for her, but she wasn’t around. Peeta schooled his features into his typical easy-going grin and made his introductions with the party guests. Mostly the same rotation of people were present along with a few new faces he exchanged pleasantries with. He anxiously waited for Katniss to show up.
“Happy birthday,” he said to Johanna once he had made his way to her in the room.
“Ah, save it. It’s fine, but we all know you’re not here for my birthday.”
“I thought that’s why everyone was here–”
“That’s why everyone else is here. You’re here to see Katniss.”
Peeta choked on a sip of his beer. “Excuse me?”
“Don’t act so flustered.”
“I’m not… Did Finnick say something to you?” He wondered if his best friend was going around spreading his nearing unhealthy interest with Katniss with all of his friends. Or maybe just his new girlfriend. “Annie?”
“Didn’t have to. Your response right here was enough,” Jo smirked, and Peeta felt his face go pale. “Don’t worry, I have a feeling she’ll make her appearance very soon.”
Peeta’s head was spinning from their brief exchange. All he could hope was that if people were talking, they had the decency to spare Katniss any details and let him do this on his own. He took a seat on the empty couch. He would’ve stretched out his legs and taken a nap to clear his head from his thoughts, but party politeness was always of key importance to him.
“Look who finally decided to show up to my birthday!” Johanna slurred a few minutes later, and Peeta picked his head up to see Katniss walking into the living room. Her hair wasn’t in the usual braid he’d seen it in for the last two weeks, but worn down so he could see all of the layers in her straight hair as it fanned across her shoulders. Her face, however, wore a similar scowl to last time as she looked at Johanna. “What took you so long to get ready? Had a reason to dress up?” Jo asked, popping the final ‘p’.
Katniss’s scowl deepened, and Peeta’s heart sank. How foolish was he to think Katniss would remain unnoticed and that she would still be available the next time he saw her. How stupid was he to think she wasn’t already pursuing someone. She was probably late to get ready from seeing this mystery person before.
In an effort to hide his disappointment, he stared into the amber liquid as he nursed his drink, grimacing when the now warm beer met his tongue. Maybe he was over-analyzing the situation, or maybe he was delusional from the start. Either way, he couldn’t help but feel defeated.
Soaking in his own self-loathing, he didn’t realize when Katniss made her way toward him. He looked up at her briefly, and the scowl that was previously plastered on her face had been wiped clean. She sat down right next to him on the couch, choosing the middle cushion when the one farthest left was free, too. She averted her gaze to the rest of the party, failing to make eye contact with him. Not that Peeta was complaining – he was fairly certain his face was as red as the solo cup in her hands. He noticed the way her right knee bounced anxiously, mere inches away from his own. He felt his own pulse quickening, trying (and likely failing) at maintaining his stoicism.
Peeta looked around the room for a focal point to calm his climbing nerves, and his eyes met Finnick’s, whose lips spread like the Cheshire cat’s.
‘Dude, nice,' Finnick mouthed to Peeta as he eyed Katniss’s proximity to him. ‘Just talk!’ he managed to yell at him without making any noise.
Finnick was right. He just needed to get the introduction out of the way, and then he’d be able to talk to her like it’s nothing. Like he’s not awestruck and infatuated with this girl he’s never spoken to before.
Peeta took a deep breath and cleared his throat, “Katniss, right?” She looked over at him, and offered him a small smile and a nod. “Peeta Mellark,” he said, and extended his hand out to her, trying to offer her a small smile of his own and hoping it came off as friendly instead of pained.
He saw her eyes glance over at Madge, and then she offered him a small chuckle. “I know, you were here a few weeks ago,” she responded, but she took his hand for a small shake anyway.
“Ah, yeah, sorry. We didn’t really get a chance to talk, so I wasn’t sure if you’d remember,” he shrugged, somehow feeling both elated that she remembered his name and like an idiot for assuming she wouldn’t.
“I could never forget the person who took it upon himself to try to commandeer a bunch of drunk people desperately failing at playing botched Bananagrams,” she replied, and Peeta felt his stomach tighten with embarrassment of how he was perceived at the last party, using all of his strength to avoid outwardly hanging his head down in front of him. Before he nearly convinced himself to grab the nearest throw pillow to scream into, she bumped her knee into his, and when he looked over at her, he saw the joking glint in her eye and something else that if he could just get to know her he was sure he’d be able to place.
“Was it at least a valiant effort?” he asked, trying not to give way to his racing thoughts.
“You were a real knight in shining armor.”
“It did take a lot of effort – slaying the legendary beast known as Johanna Mason,” he said, and she laughed. Whatever insecure thoughts he had before have been completely erased. He got her to laugh. The song-like sound was directed at him.
But whenever he looked at her, she took his breath away, and his mind was too filled with thoughts of her and her laugh and smile and everything he wanted to know about her that he couldn’t ask yet without seeming like a creep. So, he fumbled, and defaulted back to a line of talking that was first-time-talking-at-a-party safe, which was so dull and so not what she deserved, but it was all he could offer her.
“You and Madge are roommates, huh? We had a class together last year.”
“Yeah, well, we were randomly assigned together our first year, so for the past two years I’ve been stuck with her. Just how those things work, right?”
Peeta chuckled to himself, and Katniss quirked an amused eyebrow up at him. “Sorry, that’s almost exactly how I explain my friendship with Finnick.”
“Funny, if I were looking at the two of you, I’d assume he was the one stuck with you,” Katniss responded, and before he had a chance to get insecure again, Peeta noticed the faintest trace of an amused smile on her lips, which was hidden all too quickly behind her solo cup as she moved to sip her drink.
Is she flirting with me? he thought. “And why do you say that?” Peeta managed to ask calmly despite his racing heart, a smirk sprouting on his own lips.
“Finnick doesn’t seem like the type of guy who is used to hanging around someone who could compete with him.”
Compete with what? Peeta wasn’t so sure, but judging from the subtle reddening of her cheeks and the way she bowed her head, he could assume it was a good thing.
“I’m gonna go grab another drink. You want anything?” he asked, unsure of what to say next for what feels like the hundredth time tonight.
“I’ll come with you,” she replied, rising from her seat on the couch.
She guided him into the kitchen and handed him a beer from the fridge. It wasn’t one of the cheap beers Finnick had bought him for coming to the party in the first place. Instead, she handed him a Belgian sour from the back of the fridge.
“Gale won’t realize if there’s an extra one missing, and I can’t keep talking to someone who’s trying his hardest to drink a PBR with grimacing,” she explained before he could ask, and they popped off the caps from their bottles and drank in comfortable silence.
As the silence stretched on, however, Peeta became more antsy.
“I didn’t realize there was a balcony over here,” Peeta noted, peering from the kitchen window to the surrounding deck.
“More like a run-down deck. But, it’s the best spot in this place,” she responded and began walking toward the door.
Peeta stayed standing where he was, staring out the slider’s window, his hand holding on tightly to his beer bottle. He was being so unnaturally quiet and uncomfortable around her. He wished it was something physical blocking his words, something that he could just cough up and spit out and be done with. Instead, it was his own fear of rejection and the fear of not getting to talk with her. That would take a whole lot more than a good cough to fix.
He didn’t immediately follow her. He didn’t want to assume that’s what she wanted. He couldn’t assume anything with her when he already liked her this much.
“Are you coming?” Katniss asked him, her voice suddenly quiet and shy. Well, okay, he figured this time he could assume by her tone that perhaps she wanted him to join. He nodded and quickly followed her out on the deck.
“Sorry to drag you out here. You can go back inside if you want. Sometimes big parties just make me uncomfortable,” she said, and he had no idea why she was apologizing for the best thing that’s happened to him in a long time. A chance to be alone with her was more than he could’ve hoped for.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s a little overwhelming sometimes.”
Katniss gave him a mixture of a scoff and snort. “Don’t agree just to placate me. You’re a social butterfly.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, you spoke to nearly everyone here. You practically filter-feed off of party interactions,” Katniss responded, looking out into the forest backing her apartment rather than at Peeta.
“And you chose to drag me away from my only sustenance?”
“Is this conversation starving you?” Katniss stepped closer to him, her shoulder bumping into his arm.
Peeta couldn’t help but smirk down at her until she met his gaze. “Quite the opposite, actually.”
“So now you’re too full to continue?” She eyed him playfully.
“I grew up in a bakery. Number one rule is that there’s always room for dessert.”
He saw the blush run up her neck to her cheeks as she looked away from him, and he knew they were flirting now. They were quiet for a moment, but he could feel the pressure of her shoulder as she leaned in ever-so slightly into his arm.
“Well, feed me, Seymour,” he said to her, and the small laugh she offered him in response was enough to keep his ball rolling. “What party conversation can I get out of Katniss Everdeen?”
“What do you want to know?”
“What’s your favorite color?” he asked too immediately, without even giving himself a second to wonder how this could lead to a greater conversation.
“Green,” she responded, holding a smile that highlighted entirely different features than her scowl. Her smile brought attention to the fullness of her cheeks and her plush lips and the slight quirk of her left eyebrow. Now, she wasn’t just beautiful. Her smile made her as radiant as the sun. “Yours?” she asked.
“Orange,” he replied, “like the sunset,” he quickly added as he saw her expression change slightly. And even during this brisk autumn night, he felt the sun’s rays warm the plains of his face.
The pair continued to chat, and Peeta felt the lump in his throat dislodge the more they spoke. Like they’ve known each other their entire lives.
“Look,” she interrupted him softly as he spoke about his family's bakery, looking up at the night sky. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”
“Sure is,” he responded, peering down at her face from the corner of his eye and swallowing the nerves threatening to climb back up his throat.
“Katniss,” Peeta abruptly said, but when Katniss looked at him, she licked her lips, curling her bottom lip behind her front teeth, and his words died in his throat. Because what he wanted to say was that she looked beautiful, and that he would love to take her on a date if she’d allow it, but now all he can do is think about kissing her.
And then he felt it – the pull of gravity bringing his lips down to hers. Agonizingly slow his face traveled to hers. He felt her shift, her feet now on tip-toe. Their noses traced one another’s, neither wanting to be the one to gamble on closing the distance. Just as he was about to place his bet and bring his lips to hers–
“Brainless!” Johanna yelled as she slammed the slider open. Katniss leaped away from Peeta, and he hoped it was only from the surprise of the intrusion.
Jo looked at them with a wide grin on her face. “Oh, my bad. Feel free to continue,” she teased.
“You needed something, Johanna?” Katniss hissed, clearly unimpressed with her timing and teasing.
“It’s time to break bread.”
“She means cut the cake,” Finnick called from behind her, shooting Peeta an apologetic look.
“Looks like Katniss is already cutting herself a piece of cake.”
“Let’s get you back inside, birthday girl,” Madge emerged, glancing between the pair on the deck with unreadable eyes.
When they were left alone outside again, Peeta was scared the spell was broken. That Katniss was stuck in a trance, and her friends reminded her about her superiority to a lowly person like himself.
“We should probably go sing,” she said, her voice coming off neutral if not strained.
“Yeah, we should,” Peeta responded, hoping he didn’t sound totally defeated.
Just as he began to walk towards the slider, Katniss cupped her hands around his face, and planted her lips directly to his left cheek. Soft and warm, he felt the print of her lips etch into his skin. He hoped their mark would be printed there forever.
And then she was walking back inside, a quick glance over her shoulder back at him showing the reddening in her cheeks as she went to join the chorus of partygoers singing a poorly-rehearsed rendition of “Happy Birthday” and, on Jo’s request, “For She’s a Jolly Good Fellow.”
Peeta couldn’t give a single detail about the rest of the party besides the fact that any time he tried to reconnect with Katniss, something stood in their way. A game, a conversation, a song. When he saw Katniss leading Johanna to the bathroom after a shot (or ten) too many, her eyes glancing back at him quickly before turning away, he knew his chance for the night was over.
“Next time,” Finnick said as they discussed the events of the night on their walk home. Tonight’s conversation had been nearly everything he hoped for and more, but he couldn’t help but think that there wouldn’t be another chance. “Next time you see her, just rip off the bandaid. You can do it, Peeta. If it’s not obvious to you yet, I’m rooting for this, too.” Peeta gave Finnick a sad smile in return, walking with his eyes low yet again. He hoped his friend was right.
All weekend, Peeta could not stop thinking about Katniss. Her laugh. The look in her eye when she spoke to him. The reddening of her cheeks after she had kissed his. The feel of her lips on his skin. How stupid he had been not to take the opportunity to kiss her sooner! To ask her on a date! He didn’t even think to ask for her number later in the night, he had been so dumbstruck by her presence. He vowed to himself that the next time he saw her, he needed to ask her out. He couldn’t continue on with thinking about the what ifs – they were practically eating him alive.
Time was passing too quickly, though, and each day he went without seeing Katniss, whether in her apartment or on campus at all, she filled his thoughts more. He couldn’t let chance predict the next time they would see each other. She wasn’t a girl who would wait forever, so he wasn’t a person who would expect her to.
When Friday afternoon rolled around, rather than being exhausted by the demands of the week, Peeta was too anxious to feel tired. He knew what he needed to do. His Abbott Elementary queue could wait another week. As soon as he got back to his apartment, he dumped his belongings and immediately left. His feet took off in a run, carrying him down the familiar path the stars had printed permanently in his memory.
The past three weeks since the first moment he saw Katniss Everdeen, he had been a pit of self-doubt. But now, sprinting to her apartment, unsure if she was even there to welcome him, he knew this was what he was meant to do. He could accept whatever response she would give him, but he couldn’t accept it if he never tried.
He bound up the creaky wooden stairs to their apartment two at a time, controlling his anxiety when he knocked on the door to not frighten anyone.
“Loverboy,” Johanna greeted him when she opened the door, a smirk already splaying on her lips.
“Is Katniss here?” Peeta asked between shallow breaths. Johanna opened the door wider to show Katniss standing behind her, her mouth slightly ajar.
Johanna looked over her shoulder. “It’s for you,” she said, and she thankfully walked away as she and Katniss traded places. Even with his newfound confidence, Peeta wasn’t sure he could say his feelings for her in front of an audience.
Katniss stepped outside and closed their front door. Her arms wrapped around her midsection, and she shifted from foot to foot to ward off the chilling air.
“Hi,” Peeta said through bated breath, though if it was from his run or seeing Katniss, he was no longer sure.
“Hi,” she responded, her cheeks already reddening. Her gaze shifted towards her feet. Just seeing her made Peeta’s perfectly crafted speech to her out fly from his mind. He said the first jumbled words that came to mind.
“I was wondering if, maybe, you wanted to hang out tonight?” Peeta asked. He studied her face, her eyes widening as she stared intently at their feet. “We can make dinner or something,” he tacked on to the end when he realized some hesitancy, uncertainty wavering in his tone.
Katniss’s eyes finally landed back on his, and Peeta just happened to catch the slight moistening of her lips. His breath hitched in his throat as she leaned forward on her tip-toe, finishing what they started a week ago.
Her lips felt even softer on his own. She felt like spring and looked like summer. She tasted sweet, and he wanted to inhale the scent of her, somehow both familiar and something entirely her own. He placed his hands on her waist to steady her when she shivered, his fingertips grazing the bottom of her sweater, and she snaked her hands through the messy mop of curls on his head. She hummed when he grabbed her more tightly to him, and even with as much as he loved her laugh, he decided that that was officially his new favorite sound.
She pulled away, and he chased her mouth for more. She leaned her forehead against his to keep her mouth just far away enough to let her speak. “Okay,” she whispered against his lips. She bit her bottom lip, the corners of her mouth threatening to turn entirely upward.
“Then, you’ll allow it?” he asked, his own, uncontrollable grin spreading from ear to ear.
“I’ll allow it.”