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One Friday afternoon, as Maysilee makes her way out of the school’s front gates, she spots Haymitch leaning against a table, staring at something in the distance. When she looks in the same direction, spotting what he’s looking at, a smirk grows on her face. Lenore Dove is sat against a wall, reading a book. Maysilee joins Haymitch at the table.
“Oh, my god,” Maysilee exclaims with a wry laugh. “You’re in love with her!”
His brows furrow, eyes never leaving Lenore Dove. “N-no I’m not,” he denied in a breathy whisper.
She crosses her arms over her chest, her smirk only growing. “You do realise that you are currently staring at her?”
Haymitch forces himself to pull his gaze away, his unimpressed eyes meeting Maysilee’s mischievous ones. “I was… staring at the wall. Behind her.”
Maysilee raises a brow at him. “Mhm, well then. What colour is the wall?”
“Red,” he replies too quickly.
Maysilee turns her gaze back to where Lenore Dove is perched against a wall. The wall is sky blue, but Lenore Dove’s dress is most certainly red. She chuckles lightly.
“Right, well, why don’t you go ask the ‘red wall’ what she’s reading?” Maysilee straightens herself, hiking her bag up on her shoulder. “See you on Monday, Itchy Itchy Haymitchy!”
He groans at the nickname she’s used for him since they were younger. You contract chiggers once, and suddenly you’re stuck with this stupid nickname for eternity. Maysilee just laughs at his expense as she walks away.
When Haymitch turns his gaze back to Lenore Dove, their eyes briefly lock with each other before she quickly looks back down to her book. His face lights up slightly, having caught her looking at him. This gives him the courage to push himself off the table, making his way over to her.
As he approaches, she doesn’t look up at him again. He stands there a bit awkwardly, a bit unsure of himself.
“Are you going to stand there all day?” asks Lenore Dove, not once taking her eyes off the page. “Or would you like to join me?”
Haymitch’s shoulders slump with relief at the invitation. He sits on the ground next to her, leaving a small gap between them. The silence envelops them as Lenore Dove continues reading. Haymitch admires her profile, not wanting to interrupt her for a moment. Then, he finally speaks.
“What are you reading?” he asks, so softly he’s afraid she may not have heard him.
“Persuasion. It’s my favourite Austen novel. I’ve reread it countless times.”
Haymitch nods, the title familiar to his ears. He recalls reading the novel in his literature class, finding himself intrigued by the tale. He remembers Captain Wentworth’s letter.
“‘I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. […] I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant. […] You sink your voice, but I can distinguish the tones of that voice when they would be lost on others. […] I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall return hither, or follow your party, as soon as possible. A word, a look, will be enough to decide whether I enter your father’s house this evening or never.’”
When Haymitch has finished quoting parts of the letter, he looks up to find Lenore Dove staring at him with wide eyes. She appears taken aback by his sudden quoting the confessional letter Anne Elliot. She’s almost moved to tears.
“You… you’ve memorised his letter?” she asks, astonished.
Haymitch nods. “Ever since I first read that, I’d imagined myself saying these things — writing these things — to you. I have been in love with you for quite some time, Lenore Dove. I think since the moment I first met you, if I’m being honest. I know Clerk Carmine hasn’t thought very highly of me. And I know that I haven’t been very honest about my intentions in the past.” He pauses, breaking eye contact, looking down at his hands wringing in his lap. “But I want to be the one to change that. From this moment forward, I promise you that I will not deny you. I will shout it from every rooftop I come across how I feel about you. In this universe, and every one hereafter, I will show you just how much you mean to me. That we are meant to be together.” He sighs, looking back up at her. “And even if you don’t—”
He’s interrupted by Lenore Dove’s hands grabbing his face, not having noticed that she’s long since closed her book, and her lips crashing into his for a passionate kiss. He kisses her back with matching energy. When they break for air, both breathing heavily, he rests his forehead on hers.
“I do,” she says, answering the unfinished statement he made earlier.
He smiles brightly at her, then leans in to kiss her again.