Tough Love | EVERLARK

Where the girl on fire eats a purple pickled carrot.

TW for mentions of drug misuse.

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"That one's cute," Madge smiled, crossing her legs and taking a sip from her glass of wine, looking at Katniss as if she were an overly supportive aunt, ready at any moment to reach forward and pinch Katniss' cheeks, proclaiming that she was the best thing since sliced bread.

"Is it too much?" Katniss asked as she ran her hands down the dress, feeling extremely insecure. She had run through all of the two dresses in her collection and now was making her way through Madge's closet. She wanted to pick the perfect thing to wear to the Mellark dinner, knowing that this was a rare chance to try to impress and win over Ida.

"Hmmm... give me a minute I think I've got something perfect for you in storage," Madge said as she hopped off the couch, always a bundle of positive energy. A total opposite to Katniss, who already felt sweaty and tired even though Peeta hadn't even picked her up yet.

Peeta. Katniss hadn't even spared herself a second to even think about how she felt about him. When she first met him she thought he was odious, but then he turned out to be charming and funny and... Well she didn't quite know. She was already nervous thinking about what she would say to him tonight.

Examining the minimal makeup Madge had done on her, Katniss saw Madge pop up in the mirror as she walked back into their living room, a bundle of dark green fabric in her arms.

"I bought it last year on a whim, but it was way too small for me. But I'm pretty sure it's your size!" Madge said excitedly as she handed Katniss the dress, her cheeky smile on show as Katniss held the dress in front of her.

It was ankle-length and incredibly sleek. The dark green almost black colour screamed classy, and paired with its modest but not too prudish neckline, the dress was perfect.

"Madge, you are my saviour!" Katniss smiled, unable to control her relief and happiness over finally finding something as perfect as this. Katniss reached over and enveloped Madge in a rare but tight hug. The blonde giggled as she hugged Katniss back, getting over her initial shock of the usually touch-averse Katniss hugging her so willingly.

"Now will you finally tell me what this is all about?" Madge asked as Katniss slipped into her bedroom to try on the dress, leaving her door ajar so that Madge could speak to her through it. Her roommate had teased Katniss earlier about how modest she was, blushing when Madge so much as changed her shirt in front of her. But Katniss just cited that she was a private person, and the kind of person who was extremely uncomfortable with any sort of nudity.

Katniss had been acting extremely suspicious about her entire situation with Peeta and working with the Mellark brand. Originally Katniss had left out the details about working with Peeta because she didn't want any of her hatred for Peeta to affect Madge and her friendship with him.

But over the last week, as the two had been working together, Katniss felt as if her not telling Madge about Peeta had lasted too long, and she'd had felt too awkward to tell Madge about it after keeping it from her for more than a week.

But Katniss' uselessness over dressing herself had been her downfall. She had cracked earlier, desperately asking Madge to help her with her outfit for a 'work thing'. But Madge, clearly knowing something was up, made Katniss promise she would tell her what this was all about after she had helped Katniss get the perfect outfit.

"It's complicated," Katniss sighed as she stepped into the dress, already loving the feeling of the soft fabric against her body.

"How is a work thing complicated?" Madge laughed, and Katniss could hear her sip her wine as she giggled.