Finding the Missing Piece: An Everlark Story

Chapter Ten

Katniss POV-

"Mom! Prim! Come here! There is someone I want you to meet." I holler as we walk into the front door.

Peeta stands nervously at my side.

"Well, officially meet for Prim." I mutter under my breath which makes Peeta laugh.

My mom and sister come down the stairs and into the living room where Peeta and I stand, side by side.

"Who is this, Katniss?" My mom asks.

"This is my friend, Peeta Mellark." I say nervously.

She nods her head.

"His family owns the bakery here in District 12." I explain.

I can see Peeta tense up and I know he is afraid she is mad or won't like him and I mentally beg her not to ruin this for me.

"Hi, it is nice to meet you, Mrs. Everdeen and Prim." Peeta says politely.

"It is nice to meet you too." My mother smiles back, relief flooding through my body and Peeta let's out a sigh of relief.

"Peeta and I are gonna go paint something in the kitchen." I say trying to fill the silence before it gets too awkward.

"I want to paint!" Prim says.

I give her a look and hope Peeta doesn't invite her along.

My mother shakes her head, "No, Prim. Just leave them alone." She tells her.

"Maybe sometime we can all three paint together, Prim?" Peeta suggests.

She nods her head, smiling widely, "Okay, I would love that."

Peeta smiles at her and then looks at me.

I look at Prim who has a huge grin on her face.

I shoot her a look.

She needs to wipe that grin off her face because as soon as Peeta leaves, she is getting an earful from me for letting Peeta in earlier.

"Thank you for letting us do this here, Mrs. Everdeen." Peeta tells my mother politely and gives him a smile.

I feel all warm inside seeing my mother genuinely smile, like I said, I really love my mother but her actions frustrate me.

Then I realize this is the first time in years that I have seen her smile, her real smile.

A smile like she would give when my Dad was still alive.

"Let's go to the kitchen." I tell Peeta.

My mother turns around and heads upstairs and Prim just stands there.

"Hey, Prim? Thank you for letting me kidnap Katniss earlier." He whispers with a wink and a proud smile.

I make a face at him and Prim.

Today wasn't bad at all, actually.

I drag him into the kitchen and clear off the island and flip on the light that hovers over it.

I take the bag of art supplies and dump it onto the counter, then I gather paper cups for our brushes and two paper plates for our paint.

Peeta begins taking each tube of paint and putting a dab of each on the two plates and sets a blank canvas in front of me and places one in front of himself.

He then hands me a brush, then takes a pencil and makes a perfectly straight line about three fourths of the way up from the bottom of my canvas and his.