𝑯𝒊𝒔 𝑮𝒊𝒓𝒍.Cato Hadley

3.

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𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬?
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Oh, shit.

Cato's serious expression from before he saw me disappeared the moment our eyes met. I was beginning to forget what it felt like to have those blue eyes look at me like that. I can feel my heart pounding and I'm almost ready to hide somewhere.

"Melanie, stop staring at him. Go and talk to the boy." Haymitch tells me. I'm getting worried. I've never been so concerned about talking to anyone, not even when the mayor of my District called to tell me my parents were dead.

I remind myself there are people, and probably cameras, waiting to see how happy I am to see Cato. We both stand there in shock for a few seconds and then he just puts his luggage down and walks over to me. I can't seem to move from my place, thinking about what will happen now. Will he hug me? Or even worse... will he kiss me?

Haymitch nudges me and it tells me that I need to react in some way. I hope people take my stillness as a sign that I'm so shocked to see him that I can't believe it. Cato walks up to me and I start taking small steps towards him.

When we're next to each other, Cato hugs me and spins me around, laughing and telling me how much he's missed me. I immediately feel that this is a pretense. He would never treat me like this, that's Cato after all. 

"I missed you so much, Melanie. You don't know how happy I am to see you now." I smile and answer him with the same words. This must be the most fake acting I've ever seen.

After a few minutes of hugging, cheering, and talking with the people congratulating us on the victory, things finally calm down. I can't wait to get out of here. I want to hide and not leave the house for hours.

"I guess you are very tired. Do you want to go home?" I ask him.

"Yeah, that would be more than great," Cato replies.

I see Haymitch talking to Enobaria, and I have an idea of what that conversation might be about. I signal to him that we are going home and he nods back. Now here comes the scary part...

~•~

It feels strange to be alone in my house with Cato. I invite him in and that's when things get awkward. What am I expected to tell him? Uh, I'm sorry I called you after I dreamed about you?

"Well, you have a nice house..." Cato says, trying to stop the awkwardness. Okay, that's a good conversation starter. 

"You say it like you don't live in almost the same one," I reply and he laughs a little.

I can't believe I feel this way because of Cato. In the arena, it was much easier for us to communicate and then we were expected to kill each other. Why does everything have to be so difficult? When we won the Hunger Games, I thought everything would be much easier. How wrong I was.