Everlark forever

17

Katniss P.O.V

"Happy Birthday!" Everyone said.

I gasped.

I admit, I was expecting to see Peeta (A/N I know you guys were too) but this was the next best thing. Now with this little, or not so little, gift I could feel like Peeta really was here.
I stared at the grand cake speechless. It was amazing. The cake was decorated beautifully. I was at a loss of words. I didn't know how to describe it. This two layered cake was truly like nothing I had seen before. There was frosting of my favorite color, green, and a little bit of white. The designs around the cake made me believe I was looking at the mountains in the woods. There was a bow and around at the top layer which made me smile. There were all kinds of flowers and occasionally there were the little white flowers that came with the Katniss roots, but the flower that really caught my eye was the dandelion. The flower that gave me hope.
Next to it was a small round cake with lime green icing and the name 'Katniss' written in orange swirly letters. On the side of the cake there were more swirly orange designs. There was one Rose on the top placed directly above my name. There was only one person who could have done this.

"What do you think?" Prim asked.

"It's great." I said when I finally tore my eyes from the cakes. I looked around now noticing we were at the meadow. Practically everyone I knew was here. People from the Hob, the mayor, Madge, my friends and family.

"Peeta couldn't be here, so he made this cake for you." Prim said. "I went into town today to pick it up with Gale but you spotted me." Prim smiled.

"Oh, so that's why he left and you appeared." I said. I looked around at the crowd gathered. "This is great. Thank you all, for being here." Everyone smiled.

"Well, now that the birthday girl is here; lets party!" Gale said. Everyone went back to talking.

"Happy Birthday, Katniss." He said. No! He's really here? I turned around smiling widely.

"You're here?" I said. He opened his arms and I willingly walked into them. "I can't believe you're here! I thought you were at the capitol."

"I couldn't miss your birthday so I got Portia to stand in for me, too bad no one could stand in for Peeta." Cinna said when I finished hugging him.

"Yeah, Too bad." I sighed. Cinna patted my shoulder comfortingly.

"You look great by the way." Cinna said. "About time you wear something girly. You don't look so old anymore." He joked. I rolled my eyes.

"Thanks." I said sarcastically. Cinna smiled. "Well, go have fun." I said, smiling. "It is my birthday after all."

"Yes and we really should celebrate the day Catnip was born; after all what could we do without her." Gale joked. I elbowed him playfully.
The party lasted a long time. I got a few presents which I didn't expect. Birthdays weren't usually a big thing in District 12. No one liked to spend money that could buy food on gifts but I guess that had changed along with a lot of things when Peeta won the Games. People had more money to buy things. One gift that actually caught my eye was the gift Madge gave me.

"Here." She said. She extended her hand and placed a small thing on my palm. I looked at her then at the gift. I carefully unwrapped the present to reveal a Mockingjay pin. I gasped. I had seen Madge wear this on last year's Reaping. I never thought she would give me something like this.

"It reminded me of you since you sing so wonderfully." Madge said, blushing. I smiled.

"Thank you, it's great." I said. She smiled and went back to the party. I put the Mockingjay pin on.
At exactly sunset we cut the biggest cake much to my sadness. It seemed too pretty to eat. I didn't want to cut it, but we did anyway. It was chocolate. I could practically hear Peeta laughing. I knew exactly what he would say to me as soon as I took a bite of that chocolate cake. "Hopefully that makes up for our little cake fight." He would laugh. I smiled to myself. Prim didn't let anyone eat the small cake for some reason.

"It does." I whispered. I think Prim heard me because she told me to stop smiling so sadly.
When the sun went down everyone left. They gave me a few more birthday wishes then went home. Today was a nice day for everyone, I could tell, it wasn't often that we had parties like this. Usually we only had boring or sad parties to celebrate things the capitol wanted us to celebrate; like the hunger games.

"Time to go home." Mom said when she saw me yawn. I nodded. The cake had been completely devoured by everyone but we still had the small cake I wasn't allowed to eat. Prim said that Peeta told her that I couldn't eat it until he was here with me. I didn't argue.

"Do you mind if Katniss goes home with us?" Mr. Mellark said. Huh? He winked at my mother. She smiled. The wink wasn't anything flirty by the way, it was a 'we have a surprise for her' kind of wink.

"Not at all, go right ahead." Mother said. "Do you mind going?" it took me a minute to respond.

"Peeta will want to see you when he gets back in the morning." Mrs. Mellark said. "Come with us," Mrs. Mellark wasn't that mean anymore. She was actually nicer but I couldn't believe she was nice enough to let me spend the night.

"Um, sure." I said hesitantly. I couldn't be rude. These were Peeta's parents and seeing Peeta when I wake up would be great.

"Great." Mr. Mellark said. I said goodnight to my mother then prim. Prim was smiling hugely.

"Take the cake." Prim reminded me. "Good night Katniss." She said in a sing song voice. I gave them one last hug before I walked to Peeta's house with his parents.
The walk wasn't awkward like I expected it to be. Mr. Mellark occasionally joked about something while Mrs. Mellark remained silent. When no one said anything we just slipped into comfortable silence.
All throughout the walk I wondered why they wanted me at their home. I didn't talk to Peeta's parents much. We had grown a little closer since Peeta and I started dating but never that close.
The night was peaceful. The moon shone brightly in the sky and there was a slight warm breeze.

"I hope you liked the cake." Mrs. Mellark said when we arrived. "Peeta worked really hard on it."

"I did. It was delicious." I said. "Where should I put this?" I asked gesturing to the small cake.

"I'll go put it somewhere. You get some sleep." Mr. Mellark said. "Happy Birthday."

"Thank you, for letting me stay here." I said. They smiled. Okay, now it was a little awkward. "Where should I sleep?" I usually slept in Peeta's room but there were gusts bedrooms. . .

"In Peeta's room. That way he will be sure to see you when you wake up." Mrs. Mellark said. I nodded.

"Okay," I said. "Goodnight." I said as I slipped into Peeta's room. In one of the drawers I had a pair of pajamas for whenever I slept over. I took them out, changed out of the outfit and got in bed.
It was weird being here without Peeta. The bed felt cold and big. I didn't like it.
I lay awake for hours after I realized that sleeping would be an impossible task. I felt like I was at a strangers house, which I sort of was since this wasn't my house but when Peeta was here it would usually feel like home.
i did manage to slip in to sleep on and off various times. Sometimes I would sleep only to be jolted awake by something. Hours passed and still I could not sleep.
After a while I realized that there was someone downstairs. I heard voices. It's probably Peeta's parents, I thought as I drifted off into unconsciousness again.
Minutes later I woke up again. Will I never be able to go to sleep?

"Sorry, did I wake you?" he said. I gasped, sitting up straight. Here he was, finally.

I woke up at five this morning and didn't have anything to do so I wrote this. I'm so tired, I barely got any sleep last night. Anyway what do you guys think of the chapter?