Not real.

Chapter Twenty One: Seeing Him

*Katniss*
My eyes sweep over my view of the forrest from my window. Fall is slowly turning to winter but the leaves on the trees are still vibrant. It's been a few weeks since Gale's surgery and he's home now. The early morning sun is beginning to rise as I recall my recent phone conversation.
"Hello?"
"Katniss, it's Haymitch."
"Haymitch it's four in the morning."
"I know I just thought you'd want to know, Peeta is going to be released from custody today."
After a brief pause I hung up. It's been almost two months I guess. Maybe it makes sense to release him now but he almost killed me, and Gale. How could they trust him after that? This isn't like the war. Back then Coin let him out so that she could make me a martyr. But this isn't war. He wasn't recently hijacked. This is real life and there are families here. I just pray that Delly and his painting will keep the monster at bay.
A pair of strong arms wrap themselves around my waist. I'm gently pulled against his warm skin.
"Morning Catnip." He says softly into my ear. I close my eyes letting his warm breath travel down my neck and spine, giving me chills. I turn my head upwards and place my arms on top of his. When my eyes meet his he smiles.
"Morning." I whisper softly. He kisses me with the sensation of a feather brushing my skin, and I sigh happily. He smirks, "Like that?" I roll my eyes, and drop my head to face the window again. His head drops down to my shoulder and his breath tingles the bare skin where his T-shirt I'm wearing is not.
"Don't be mad at me please?" He begs.
"I don't know..." I say feigning uncertainty. More feathery kisses travel across my shoulder and up my neck, all the way to my ear. This isn't fair.
"Please?" He whispers. I turn around, still in his embrace, so that I'm facing him. I let my fingers glide across his bare collarbones until they intertwine on the back of his neck. I then, on tip toe, brush his lips with mine. Matching his light touch. I pull back and grin as his eyes are still closed.
"But then that'd mean you've won." I say softly. I then break his embrace and leave him confused as I dash down the hall.
"That was not fair!" He yells as he chases after me. He grabs me halfway down the hall and throws me over his shoulder. He tries to fight me off as he carries me back to our room. Once inside I try something I've never tried before. I gently press my fingers into his sides and with success he squirms and drops me into the mattress.
"Fine, fine, fine! You win!" He says trying to get my off of him.
"Gale Hawthorne are you ticklish?" I stare in a amazement at him. He turns very serious and suddenly pins me to the bed.
"You can't tell anyone. Promise me." He says very seriously. His grip loosens on my wrists cautiously and I raise my hands in defeat.
"Okay, I promise. Why, is it dangerous to your reputation?" I stifle a laugh. He glares at me.
"Maybe. Or maybe I just don't want people like you to use it against me." He says trying to suppress a smile.
I laugh,"Alright fair enough, why have I never known this about you?"
"Because only three people have known in my entire life."
"Who?" I ask, genuinely interested.
"Well Posy figured it out first and I told her very seriously that it had to be a secret. But that little devil put a spell on me with that cute face of hers and then went and told my dad, and then Prim." He says.
"So that's what the inside joke was between you three!" I exclaim remembering when Posy and Prim would randomly start giggling whenever we had dinner together and Gale would just glare at them. Gale nods in defeat. He pouts now that his secret is out and I can't restrain my thoughts from thinking how cute he is when he pouts. And the fact that he's shirtless makes it even less fair. So I don't even feel bad for finding out but I'll play along. I crawl over to him as he is currently sitting on the bed, back facing me.
I stand up behind him and bend down so that I can wrap my arms around his neck. I kiss his cheek.
"Well your secret is safe with me." I tell him.
"Good. Because if Delly or Nadia or my brothers found out I would be very very mad at you." He tells me in a childish way. I laugh, "Well I'll just keep it to myself then."
"Good." He says, sighing with relief. He stands up and turns to face me. He places his hands  on my hips as I stand up on the bed. I smirk at my extra height.
"I'm gonna go take a shower." I tell him and I lean down to quickly kiss him before I head out the door.
After my shower I tell Gale I'm going out with Nadia and Delly, and I head out the door and make my way to Nadia's house. She welcomes me in and I see that Delly's already there. After grabbing some tea we all go to sit on the back porch. She has a backyard that leads directly to the woods so we have a beautiful view from where we sit. And though I've never been much for girl talk I do love the view. Thankfully my two friends aren't much for girl talk either and we talk of other things like past lives, memories, our families, and other things of actual importance. I actually have begun to enjoy our get togethers. Delly is an amazing cook and so there's always good food to look forward to and though Nadia is older than us both she is very relatable and down to earth.
As Delly tells us all about the time she saw Gale beating up Max Collins for flirting with me, she has us all laughing and me blushing, the doorbell rings and all conversation stops.
"Who could that be?" Nadia asks.
"I'll go see." I tell her and Delly.
I open the door only to find the one face I've avoided like the plague for two months. Obviously my appearance startles him as well and he clears his throat.
"Oh Peeta I forgot to tell you, the new flour I bought is still at the house, I forgot to bring it to the bakery." Delly saves me the awkwardness and Nadia approaches the door with her. I back up so that they are both in front of me. That way they, and Peeta, can't see when I make a dash for the back door and sprint to the safety of the woods.