Fragile

Chapter Seven: Touching Her

"What you say and what you do while you're drunk is what you would say and what you would do if you didn't have any filters while you're sober."

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Peeta had just gotten to work, and he was already ready to go home. He worked on his university campus, at the bookstore part time, working only about two days a week and the rest he was in classes. When Katniss had gotten there, their college had been on a break. Today had been one of the worst days at the bookstore. People came in, wanting a refund on books that were used and weren't as in check as they thought. People came in, wanting to debate and negotiate prices of books that were outdated. Girls came in, wanting to flirt with Peeta and his fellow co-workers. It was just terrible. Peeta wanted to get home as fast as he could. He wanted to go home and take off those khakis and that polo. He wanted to go to Katniss' room, climb in the bed with her and cuddle with her as he told her about his problems while she listened, waiting patiently before telling him her problems.

Katniss didn't go to school. When she moved in with Gale and Peeta, she decided to drop out. She wasn't getting anything from it anyway except a free counselor in the guidance office.

All day, she had been doing stuff to occupy her until Peeta got home. She cleaned her room. She cleaned the kitchen. She even cleaned the bathroom, yet the clock continued to tick slowly. She watched tv and ate a bowl of Lucky Charms, while doing so. Still, the hands crept slowly around the clock.

It was about three hours later when Peeta returned, his polo already off. He had on a white t-shirt underneath since he knew he'd take it off at some point. Katniss greeted him at the door with a hug. He hugged her back and kissed the top of her head.

"Hey," he murmured into the top of her head. She pulled away after a moment and kissed his cheek.

"Hey, how was work?" She asked him quietly. Before he said anything, he grabbed by the hand and guided her to her room where he took off his khakis and pulled on a pair of joggers that he kept in her room just in case. He climbed into her bed and beckoned for her to come closer, which she did, climbing into the bed next to him. He then proceeded to tell her what all happened to him, wrapping his strong arms around her.

Afterwards, Katniss pressed a kiss between his eyebrows and gave him a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry you had to go through that today, Peeta."

"I have to go through it all again tomorrow," he sighed. She ran her fingers through his curls, which she found all too fascinating. The way they just naturally sprung back in place whenever they were ruffled just intrigued her. There was this one piece that stuck out compared to the rest of his curls. She found that one to make Peeta even cuter than he already was to her.

A couple of hours later, Gale came home. Katniss and Peeta had gotten more observant of their time together and about thirty minutes before Gale got home everyday, they would get on the couch and watch tv, sitting on opposite ends so it wouldn't seem like there was anything going on between them.

Behind Gale, Madge entered, holding his hand.

Oh no, they're going to have sex all night, Peeta thought to himself. That's always what happened when Madge came over. Today was different though.

"Hey, Peeta, Thresh, Finnick, and I are going to the bar tonight, they want to know if you're coming," Gale said, letting go of Madge's hand.