𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈 𝒾 𝓌𝒾𝓈𝒽 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓈𝒶𝒾𝒹 - coriolanus snow

the bar

the room was lively and the sound of stomping and laughter echoed off of the drywall. people were dancing and spinning so much the room was just a blur of colour. drinks were splashed on the floor and the smell of sweet alcohol waved throughout the large room. there was music playing, good music. music that you would find familiar, sweet, almost comfortable. but coriolanus snow stood and thought the opposite. he didn't know what it was going to be like seeing her again but he didn't feel the spark he did before. he looked at her sing and he smiled, she was still the same lucy gray. in her hair there had been feathers hung and her dress was still overstated. she was still the same girl. she same beautiful, humble, sweet girl he thought he fell in love with. the girl he sacrificed it all for. but then how come when he looked at her he felt close to nothing? 

a high voice called out over crowd and it grabbed his attention back to reality, "Please welcome the ever so famous Elsie Pierce!" The little girl announcing her ran to the back of the stage to grab her instrument as a blonde girl ran on stage and the small crowd cheered for her. Her hair was a mid-length and put into two braids. She wore a dress with white ruffles on the sleeves and a flowery pattern. Some people in the crowd began to call her name out and she smiled. That smile. She stood swaying slightly behind the microphone as she began to speak, her braids falling over her shoulders as she leaned over to speak into the microphone. 

"T'nights pretty moment-us y'all!" She called out, her voice laced with sweetness and littlest bit of alcohol, "My friend Lucy Gray Baird!" She called out for the crowd to begin cheering for Lucy who had just left the stage. Coriolanus looked at her and smiled, he smiled because she was smiling. She smiled out to the crowd and picked up her guitar as she leaned back over the mic, "Now, what should we play?" She strummed a few cords on her guitar and the crowd waited murmuring in anticipation. She played a cord progression and the small group of people cheered, some even began to dance as she began to sing. 

She brought life into that bar, she had brought people to dance and sing. The capitol boy looked her and smiled ever so slightly. His gaze fell on her bouncing around the stage, she wasn't on that stage for anybody but herself. 

Somebody slung their arm around him and he shot his head to the side to look who it was. Sejanus.

"Oh man the drinks here are strong huh?" Sejanus slurred a little as his body weight hung on Coriolanus. Coriolanus looked as his friend and sighed, "Did you see Lucy Gray?" Sejanus continues and the capitol boy nods removing Sejanus' arm from him walking towards the stage. As he walked away he could hear Sejanus drunkly chuckling as he was left behind. Coriolanus got to the side of the stage just as Elsie finished her set. He waited at the bottom of the steps and gazed at her as she waved goodbye to the crowd, leaving the stage. Her head was faced towards them as they saw her off. She looked at them as she began down the steps and she missed one. She began to trip and his heart skipped a beat. Coriolanus lunged forward and caught her by her waist and she began to laugh. That laugh. 

She stood up and looked up at him making direct eye contact, "Sorry 'bout that." She smiled sweetly, her southern accent shining through, "I need to look before I go down stairs. Y'know how many times I've done that? I just never learn." She rants on as he scans her face, his eyes darting from her own eyes to her nose, her rosy cheeks, her nose, her lips. She stopped talking and took a deep breath as she stuck out her hand, "I'm Elsie." She smiled as she waited for his response. His eyes slowly met hers and he smiled and shook her hand.

"Coriolanus." His hand met hers and their arms moved up and down. The capitol boy smiled as he thought about her hand touching his. He removed his hand first and looked around. "Lively crowd." He commented on the people dancing and yelling over each other. 

"They can be a bit much, but they're good people. They just have their fun." She looks around at the people as he looks at her. Her gaze turns back to him. "Are you here to see anyone?" She asks him softly, her voice like butter to his mind. 

He clears his throat and responds to her, "Lucy Gray?" He smiles politely and he watches her face light up. She smiles cheekily and grabs his hand. 

"Oh my god," She smiles at him and makes eye contact, "You're Coriolanus Snow! Luce has told me all about you, I don't know why I didn't connect the dots. I mean who else is named Coriolanus?" She turns back to him her eyes wide, "You need to come see her!" Her hand still holding his she begins to run past him into the hallway just past him, pulling Coriolanus along with him. She snickers a little bit when they stop in front of a door and she turns to him smiling a little bit, "Wait here." She went into the room and quickly closed the door behind her. He waited until the door opened back up a girl running towards him. Lucy Gray. She ran into his arms and the two embraced. 

Elsie watched from behind them a thoughtful look on her face. She quietly slinked off back towards the sound of the crowd of people. He didn't watch Lucy Gray he didn't even notice that he had hugged her bag. He watched Elsie leave and his heart ached. He felt so strongly about a girl he just met and he wanted to just leave Lucy Gray and run after her but his conscious told him not to. Instead he stayed hugging the girl he had convinced himself that he loved. But he felt nothing as held her. He held her thinking about her friends smile and laugh.