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When You're Not Looking	By : Embracer Category: G through L > The Hunger Games Trilogy Views: 13084 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to the Hunger Games. It all belongs to Suzanne Collins. This is just for fun, not money.

Chapter List
- 3
- 4
- 5
Chapter 4
Katniss POV
“I’m back,” I yell as I walk through the door at work. Haymitch is not in the front and neither is Effie. Hazel, Effie’s teenage niece, is sitting there at the register with her headphones so loud, I can hear them from here. I walk to her and pull one of the earbuds out, “Have you seen Haymitch?”
Hazel shakes her head “no,” so I head to his office to make sure I’ll be out of here in time for my date. Oh my! Did I just say date? Is that what it is? Does he think it’s a date? Do I want it to be a date? I battle with my subconscious as I open his office door. I learned a while back that he is usually just sleeping if he doesn’t answer, but not this time. I see Effie on his lap and they are making out furiously. OH MY GOD!!!! I did not need to see that!!! I close the door quickly and run back to the front.
I can not believe what I just saw. That image is never going to leave my mind. On the other hand, hmmm, they’re both lonely, decent people…ewww! Nope, can’t think about it.
I return to the front counter and plop down next to Hazel, who simply nods her head to the music in her ears. It takes me a little while to get over the shock of the image I’ve just seen. I can only equate it to walking in on your parents mid-coitus. Although, I never had that happen with my own parents. They were never secretive with their minor affections, but when it came to intimacy they kept that behind closed doors.
I remember my dad would sneak up behind my mom while she was concentrating on the dishes she washed or the counter she was wiping down, grabbing her around the waist and dipping her into a fierce kiss. It was always amusing because when he released her she had to grab the counter to hold herself up. She would follow his smirking form as he went back to what he was doing, her face flushed and fanning herself. He made her weak, and that’s something I never understood. Why would you want to feel weak from a simple kiss? How was that a good thing? How could a person have such a drastic effect on another?
I’ve kissed my share of frogs, but I’ve never felt anything even close to that. I had a few boyfriends through high school. There was Neil, my first “real” boyfriend, who was a neighbor in the apartment complex. We had been friends since 4^th grade, a friendship that was somewhat forced on us by our parents. When we were 12 years old, we were walking around the woods like we always did, and headed down to the creek. We always hung out under this small bridge over the creek. We were tossing pebbles into the creek side by side and he asked me if I wanted to be his girlfriend. My response was, “Why?”
He stopped with the pebbles and said, “Because I want to kiss you and we can’t kiss unless we’re boyfriend /girlfriend.”
I didn’t know what to say, I liked hanging out with him, and had never kissed a boy. I figured that I should try it with my friend first. “Okay. Do we have to kiss now?”
His smile was huge, “We should so we can make it official.” He inched closer to me still facing the water. We faced each other and leaned in with puckered lips. It was quick, but not what I thought. I thought it would be gross, but it wasn’t. We kept kissing on and off for a couple of hours before we were due back for dinner.
The next day, he was all grins when he saw me at the bus stop. He came right up to me and tried to kiss me in front of everyone at the bus stop. I kind of freaked out, and punched him in the stomach, then ran home. I had no intention of sharing what we did in private with the public. My dad had to take me to school that day. Neil said he didn’t want to be my boyfriend anymore, but we stayed somewhat friends throughout high school.
There were others who asked me out, but it never lasted long. I didn’t really fall for anyone. There was one guy that did give me butterflies, David. He was a boy that went to the same church as my family. I wasn’t really into church, but the choir director heard me singing to my sister in the nursery one day and asked me to join the choir. I wound up singing for the church in the choir and solo. David asked me to sit with him on the bus on the church trip with the youth group.
I agreed, and we sat and talked, and wound up holding hands on the bus. When we finished out “ministry duties” we were allowed to roam the large mall for a few hours. He and I decided to go to the movies instead of shopping. We made out through the whole movie, and all the way home on the bus. We somehow managed to not get caught. He was also the only boy to ever convince me to skip school in my sophomore year of high school to make out all day. Turns out I wasn’t the only one he had this kind of “arrangement” with. I found out when the evil Farrah was talking to the equally evil Erin about what a player he was and how he was just using me. When I asked him, he only shrugged and told me that we weren’t married and he could do what he wanted.
There were a few other guys along the way. Patrick, who was very sweet, but far too enamored for my taste. For our first date he showed up with two dozen roses in hand. That lasted all of a week. There was the football player who cheated on me with three cheerleaders. Sean, who was using me to get to my friend. Aiden was a very nice guy. He was tall with curly brown hair and dreamy brown eyes. He was a guy that I wished I felt more for than I could. He was a couple of years older and asked me to marry him when I was sixteen. I had to break his heart that day. I had no intention of getting married to anyone. He left for Florida the next month, and I never saw him again.
The last was another guy named David. This one I had dated briefly on and off since I met him at 16 after Aiden. He was in college already when we met. We only had a couple of weeks together here and there, but nothing serious. Every year he would somehow pop back up in my life. When I was 21, he appeared again when some friends told me about a band that was really good. We went to see them play, and my friend wanted to introduce me to the band. Turns out I already knew the singer. He turned around to see me, and picked me up and spun me around. My friends’ jaws were wide open. We hung out, and reconnected. I think it was a matter of hormones for my part, but we went farther than we ever had before. A few weeks later, I found out that he hadn’t invited me to his place because he lived there with his FIANCEE!!! I was the other woman, and I have no interest in ever being that again.
I’m brought out of my roller-coaster love life parade by Effie returning to the front of the store trying to look as though she hadn’t been doing what she’d just been doing. “Oh, Katniss, I didn’t know you were coming back so soon.”
I snap to attention, “Yea, Johanna and Annie are at the doctors, but I have a few deliveries to finish today.”
I do have some deliveries to make today, but one of them is to my very favorite customers, Cinna and Flavius. I prepare the deliveries into their crates and load my car. Intentionally, I save Cinna and Flavius for last. I want to spend a little time there. Cinna and Flavius have been together for 15years. They are the sweetest couple. Flavius got sick about 2 years ago with leukemia. Cinna is tireless in his efforts to get him back to the vibrant spirit he used to be. Cinna and I have become pretty close over the last year when I deliver the meds for Flavius. Cinna has a design house downtown. He does interior design and dabbles in fashion. Mostly, he works from home these days and trusts Portia to run the business downtown.
I arrive and am greeted with heartfelt hugs at the door. He ushers me in and I go to greet Flavius. I enter the living room, where Flavius is laying there with his favorite blanket over him. He reaches out for his hug, and I comply.
He sits himself up, “What’s up with you? You look different.”
“I got a haircut last week,” I say this to hopefully throw him off track, but he is far too perceptive for his own good. He could’ve made tons of money as a psychic with his uncanny ability to read people.
“Nope, something has changed. What is it? Don’t bother trying to hide it from me. You should know better than that by now.” He scolds.
Shit! I didn’t want to tell anyone yet, but I guess if I tell anyone…these are the safest people to tell, “I have a date tonight.”
They both freeze in place, apparently trying to figure out if they heard me right. “A date?”
“With a man?”
“When?”
“How?”
“Who?” They are tag-teaming me with their questions.
“Slow down! I’ll tell you, geez.” I take a deep breath, and tell them the story of lunch and Peeta and the bakery tonight. They especially love his innuendo about “anything I want.” I tell them that I’m not as nervous as I think I should be. I also ask Cinna for advice on what to wear on a bakery date.
He tells me he has just the thing. He’s been working on a collection for a charity auction, and he used my measurement for some of the pieces. It’s a spring dress that has a miniscule flower print, but the overall tone is a creamy peach, almost like a creamsicle. It’s pretty, but understated. It’s almost like a shirt dress with buttons all the way down with a flowing skirt that hits me right above the knee. It has cap sleeves and a flat collar, and dips down to show just the right amount of cleavage. He instructs me to wear sandals or flats.
I chat with them about how they’re doing for a little while longer over a glass of tea. Before long, it’s time for me to get going. I bid them a very fond farewell and head back to the office.
---____________________________________________________---
Walking through the door at the pharmacy, I hear that Johanna and Annie are back and arguing over something. “Hey guys, what’s going on?”
Jo snaps, “Annie here wants to go to the pub tonight to drool over Mr. Sea Eyes! I’d much rather go to the dance club and sweat!”
Annie pleads, “Katniss, you decide. What do you want to do tonight?”
I focus on putting away the delivery crates and not looking at them, “I’m sorry guys, I have plans already.” I don’t look at them, but I know they are stunned silent.
I feel Jo’s eyes on me imploring me to answer her unspoken question. I don’t respond. I try to walk past them to the back, but am faced with a wall of questions. Jo starts, “Since when do you have plans on a Friday night Everdeen?”
I swallow, “Since now.”
Annie chimes in, “You were talking about going out with us this morning. What changed?”
Jo’s smirk grows on her face, and her eyes sparkle with mischief, “So, how was the ride back to work with the Baker boy?”
“It was fine,” I state impassively trying desperately to hide the truth.
Jo steps forward backing me into the counter and pins me there with her arms on either side of me, “You’re going out with him tonight, aren’t you?”
“Fine, Jo. Yes, he wanted to show me his bakery. It’s not really a date.”
Annie pulls Jo off of me, and jumps excitedly, “What are you going to wear?”
“I have a dress from Cinna. I’ll just wear that. No big deal.” I say.
“What the hell is going on out here? You guys have 30mins before closing and I wanted all the inventory put away before then. How about stop the chit-chattin’ and move your asses!” Saved by Haymitch, of all people. Phew!
I avoid the questions as best as I can for the next half hour, and bolt out the door at exactly 6pm. That only leaves me one hour to get ready for Baker Boy. Oy! Did I just really call him that in my head? Note to self, do not call him that in person!
---__________________________________________________---
I’m ready and on Pickens Street by 7pm. I’m looking for the Bakery. Ahead at the top of the hill is a large, old brick building with a huge hand-painted sign “Mellark’s Bakery.” How did I never see this place before?
I pull into the parking lot which has only four cars other than mine. I take a deep breath, and one last look in the mirror. Well, here goes nothing! As I push the door open, a bell chimes. Too late to turn back now!
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When You're Not Looking