Always - Everlark Fanfic

Chapter 11 - Dinner and News

Annie's POV

Peeta has invited all our friends over for dinner. It has been a few months since we saw them all. I guess you could say we've drifted apart since graduation.

But it sounds like fun so we accept.

We set up the dinner table at Peeta and Katniss's house. Soon they start arriving.

Cato and Clove come first. Peeta hugs Cato. 'I missed you, pal.' He grins. Cato puts a hand on his shoulder. 'I missed you too, Peeta.' He smiles.

Clove, Katniss and I start talking. 'Cato proposed!' Clove giggles. 'Really?' Katniss gasps. I smile and look at her ring. It's a big silver, beautiful ring. It has a flower.

We talk about that for a while before mroe people come. Marvel and Glimmer are next.

Marvel grins as he walks in the room. Everyone comes and greets them.

Finnick pulls me aside after we've said hello to them. 'I'm craving your lips.' He grins. 'Finnick! We have guests.' I say, but I'm smiling. He is so cheesy. He rolls his eyes.

'Fine! Be like that!' He fake cries. I roll my eyes. 'Come on.' He looks at me and smiles. His bright and cute smile. I can't resist. 'Fine.' I groan. I smile, though, as he picks me up and kisses me.

Katniss's POV

We greet Marvel and Glimmer, but right after them comes Johanna and Gale...in the same car?

Clove and Johanna hug. I walk over to Johanna, hug her and nudge her shoulder, looking at Gale who is saying hi to Cato.

A smile creeps up on Johanna's lips and for the first time, I see her blush. 'Well, we kind of got to know each other better after graduation...We're dating.' She says quietly. I can't believe it.

Who would've thought? I try to support her though, and smile. 'That's great! Well congratulations.' I say, giving her another hug. I walk over to Peeta who is sitting alone, drinking and watching everyone.

I sit next to him. 'What are you doing?' I ask, watching him turn to me. He smiles. 'Just taking in all this.' He says, glancing at the group of people. I smile.

'It's weird isn't it? Seeing them again?' I whisper. He nods. 'Yeah, I dunno, I guess I expected them carrying off where they left off. But no, they all are just as surprised to see each other. It feels like we haven't seen them for years,' Peeta pauses, looking at Clove who is showing Glimmer her ring, then he goes on, 'They just changed.'

The look in his eyes say it all. It makes sense to me, that he misses the high school days. Where none of this happened. No one was married. No one had any news. We were just a bunch of kids.

'I hate to say it, but people change. It is hard at first, but we need to support these people. Our friends.' I say. Peeta looks at me. I look into his eyes, the eyes I'm so used to looking at. The cool blue ones that can bring back memories.

'We changed.' I whisper. He smiles. 'We did, Katniss. We did.' He whispers back. He gives me a soft kiss and gets up, going to Finnick. I look around the room.

I just decide to check on dinner. It's ready. I call out for everyone.

We all gather at the dinner table. I take a seat next to Peeta. We all dig in, eating roast and vegetables. Everyone seems to enjoy it.

I even bring out some sugarcubes for Finnick, which he happily accepts. Peeta takes my hand under the table, it is difficult to eat with only one hand but we both manage.

Soon we've done and we all gather in the lounge room. 'We should play a game. You know, like one we played when we were in high school?' Glimmer says, looking at us all.

Marvel agrees and soon we're all in on it. Gale suggests we play spin the bottle. 'We all have a partner here, though.' Peeta says.

'Oh well. We could always have a change of lips.' Cato grins. Clove punches his arm. 'What?' He asks innocently. Everyone laughs.

Glimmer gets a bottle and puts it in the middle, starting first. She spins it. Unfortunately, it lands on Peeta. He looks at me, unsure. I just laugh. 'It's just fun.' I say. Everyone waits, excited.

Peeta and Glimmer's lips crash. They kiss. I'm not sure, but I think Peeta enjoys it. They get a little passionate. Finnick whistles and Cato says 'ooohhhh lala'. I shoot him a look.

After a little too long I pull Peeta back. He looks at me and smiles innocently. I can't help but feel mad. I know it's all fun, but why do I get this feeling he liked it?

Anyway, Peeta can see I'm mad. So he gets the bottle, and points it towards me. He grins. I roll my eyes. He just takes my face and our lips crash. Everyone stares.

His hands slowly go to my waist and hold me closer to him. I put my hand through his hair.

I love this, it's the best kiss yet. I feel certain it's the most passionate, too. He keeps pulling me closer until I'm practically on his lap.

'Wow! Go Peeta!' Cato grins. Finnick laughs. 'Slow down there!' Everyone laughs. But I don't think Peeta and I are paying any attention.

We need to come up for air a few times. I don't know if we're even playing the game anymore. My world is just Peeta and me.

My hands wrap around his neck, bringing us even closer together.

Marvel and Cato actually have to pull us away from each other in the end to continue the game. Peeta is grinning. I want to keep kissing him.

In the end I just sit with my head on his shoulder.

Cato and Johanna kiss, it doesn't last long, though. It looks very weird, seeing them kiss.

Finnick and Marvel have to kiss, which is actually hilarious. 'Come here, baby!' Finnick says in a girly voice. We burst into laughter. They slowly lean in and there lips touch. Finnick keeps kissing Marvel and actually jumps on him.

Marvel catches him and then falls over. We are all crying of laughter. Finnick strokes Marvel's cheek. 'Anytime, hon.' He says, winking. Marvel pushes him off and Finnick goes back to Annie. But by then my stomach hurts.

The rest of the night there is a lot of laughter, and it really brings back the days when we were in high school. It turns out to be a lot of fun.

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Long chapter! I hope you enjoyed!

Updating soon :)