Love at Sea (Finnick Odair)

Chapter 10

"Hey," Taiya greeted as she came down the stairs in the morning to see Finnick cooking breakfast in the kitchen. "You're never up this early."

"I wanted to make you breakfast," he smiled, "I thought we could talk."

"Oh," Taiya nodded nervously. "Thanks," she said as she sat down on the other side of the bench.

"Here," he said, handing her a plate of french toast.

"Looks good."

"Yeah I got the blueberries from Mags' garden," he explained as he sat down opposite her.

"So..." Taiya chuckled awkwardly as she poked her fork at the breakfast.

"So," he chuckled back. "We kissed."

"We kissed," Taiya sung before pursing her lips. "What does that mean?"

"You first."

"No way, you go," Taiya insisted.

"I really like you, Tay. I always have."

"I don't want to ruin our friendship," Taiya interrupted. "You're my rock."

"Well, we can prioritise our friendship first. No matter what, our friendship is the most important."

"You say that now Finn, but we don't know what will happen. How many teenage relationships actually last?"

"Your parents. My parents. It's in our genes. It's meant to be," he smirked.

"That's not funny Finnick," she groaned.

"I'm not joking around Tay," he disputed, leaning forward to hold her hand across the bench. "I'm not saying we need to move fast or anything. I'm just saying that this isn't some silly teenage relationship to me. And I don't think it is to you either. I think we both feel similarly for each other and you're just afraid. But I'm not afraid. We've lost so much Taiya and I don't think of this as a loss of our friendship, it's just taking our friendship to the next level, it's a gain."

"A gain?" Taiya repeated and he nodded. "How long have you felt like this?" she asked.

"First day of seventh grade."

"You have a date?" she smiled.

Finnick nodded, "I watched some guy flirt with you at the academy and I got so mad."

"Adrian?" Taiya asked, her eyes widening. "You wrestled him on the first day of school. You beat him up," she realised and he looked down embarrassed. "He wasn't flirting with me."

Finnick laughed, "Taiya you never notice. You have no idea the effect you have on men. I kept it hidden but it wasn't until the day of the reaping when I thought you might have feelings for me too."

Taiya's head tilted to the side, "that was the day I realised I might like you as more than a friend," she confessed. "I heard your name and my heart just stopped. How did you know?"

"You wouldn't let go of me when you were saying goodbye. I just realised that I had to get home to you, I couldn't die not knowing if you felt the same. I kept the rope you gave me from your hair, you know that. I held it every night for security."

"But you waited two years to bring it up?" she asked.

"I got home and I saw how close you and Theo had gotten. I thought maybe I'd been mistaken."

"Theo?" Taiya asked. "Theo is just my friend and yours too."

"I know," he smiled, standing up and walking to stand in front of her. "Mags managed to get it through to me."