Love at Sea (Finnick Odair)

Chapter 17

"Stop staring at her," Johanna nudged Taiya, who was lying down next to her.

"She's talking about us," Taiya mumbled as she glared at Katniss.

"Of course she is," Johanna agreed as she lay next to her. "Let her. She's outnumbered, it's not like she can just take off. We'd be able to stop her."

"Jo..."

"Are we going to talk about what happened at the Cornucopia?" Johanna interrupted. Taiya immediately averted her eyes. Only Johanna and Finnick knew what she'd tried to do to Katniss. What she still might do to Katniss.

Snow's offer was looming over her head. Two cannons. If she didn't eliminate Katniss, Snow would ensure that the survivor of the Cornucopia died. Cashmere or Gloss's life was on the line. If she killed Katniss, they'd get to live, and if Snow kept his word, Taiya and Finnick would win together.

If he kept his word.

She'd been replaying his promise to her in her head, trying to decipher some alternate meaning, she'd been fooled before. But she couldn't find one.

"There's nothing to talk about," Taiya denied.

"Tay..."

"I want to go home," Taiya answered quickly, cutting her friend off before she could lecture her. "And I really, really don't want to talk about it ok?"

"Ok," Johanna agreed as she looked up to the sky, it'd just started getting dark. "Fish stick might want to talk about it though. And you know he won't let it go."

"I know," Taiya agreed as she watched her fiancé come back to the beach with a basket full of fish.

"Here," Katniss stood up from beside Peeta and walked over, taking the basket from Finnick. "I'll clean them," she offered before walking down to the edge of the water.

"I'm going to get more water," Johanna declared.

"I'll come with," Finnick followed after her. They were definitely going to be talking about Taiya, but she didn't really care. If she was going to go off plan, there wouldn't be much they could do about it.

"Hey," Peeta greeted as he sat down by Taiya's side.

"Hi," she smiled as she sat up.

"I made this for you," he handed her a pirate hat he'd made out of vines. "It's not as good as the one you made earlier, but I know you like it and you lost it at the Cornucopia."

"Thank you," Taiya smiled at him as she took it and put it on her head. He was too kind. Too kind for the Hunger Games.

"Are you ok? After the birds?"

"I'll be fine."

"Who's voice did you hear?"

"Finnick's mainly. That hurt the most. I didn't know it was fake. I thought he'd been screaming for me," Taiya took a deep breath. "My friends from home as well. Tyler, Annie, Kenna, Buck. I even heard Todd a couple of times which was weird," Taiya chuckled to herself. Despite Todd's best efforts to be a lonely shut-in victor, he'd managed to sneak his way into her heart. "I heard my friend Romulus as well. It's ok. It was all fake," she said, mainly to herself. She still needed to convince herself that what she heard wasn't real.

"What's your happiest memory?"

"Hm?"

"Your happiest memory," Peeta repeated as she looked at her. "You replay that in your head. Over and over and over. Whenever you feel defeated, sad, or angry. Replay that memory. If it's strong enough it will cut through the negative emotions. It's what I do."