Forbearance • A Cato Hadley Story

2.17

Livia was finally lining up for the Tribute Parade. It felt like just yesterday she was in the same position. To her the parade was pointless. This whole thing was supposed to help her gain sponsors based off of what she looked like, not her personality. But according to Enobaria and Brutus it was a good thing. As she walked she could feel the fabric of her fitted dress rubbing harshly against her pale skin.

Her dress was gold, fitted, v-neck, reached her mid-thigh and had spaghetti straps. Her gold high heel shoes caused her to walk in much shorter steps so she wouldn't trip. Her hair was curled beautifully with small sections of her hair pinned back so it made it easier to see her face and the tiara that sat comfortably on the top of her head along with her mothers necklace. As she walked through the tunnels screams and shouts of excitement came from the citizens of the Capitol.

They could be seen looking down into the tunnels from a large opening of the ceiling where they could peak in. Livia awkwardly smiled up at the crowd and waved up at them, getting some of them to wave back at her. After a moment she took her focus away from the crowd and walked towards one of the horses that would be pulling her carriage. Carefully, she lifted her hand to the face of one of the horses and started petting it soothingly as a sigh escaped her lips.

"How did we get here, huh?" she asked rhetorically. But it was sort of true. Some days she did sit in the comfort of the silence of the middle of the night and wonder how she ended up in her current situation. She never asked to be put here. She had simply wanted to protect her sister. It wasn't her fault that she accidently fell in love on the way. "Livia." a voice called from behind her, pulling her out of the daze she had found herself in.

The girl snapped her head in the direction the male voice came from and found who else but Finnick Odair. It was no surprise to her that his stylist had forced him into only a skirt made to look like a fishing net and sandals with no top. Of course his stylist  wanted to show off his body, because in the Capitol's eyes, that was all he was good for. The teen narrowed her eyes at the boy who walked towards her with a mischievous look.

"Hello, Finnick." she greeted half-heartedly, avoiding his gaze and looking back at the charcoal coloured horse as she pet it. She could feel herself grow more and more uncomfortable as he got closer to her, his eyes scanning her inappropriately. Once he got within two feet of her, her body tensed and she took a step back, wanting to put more space in between them. It wasn't that she didn't like him per say. She didn't know him well enough to have a disliking for him, although she was close to saying so.

She was more intimidated than anything. "Do you want a sugar cube? I mean it's supposed to be for the horses but...I mean who cares about them, right? They got years to eat sugar, whereas you and I, well if we see something sweet you better grab it." he asked in a joking manner, holding out a small, white sugar cube in front of the girl's face. Livia finally turned to face him and smiled kindly as she shook her head. The boy from District Four just shrugged and dropped his arm.

"No, thanks. But I would love to borrow that outfit someday." she joked back, eyeing his skimpy outfit with a small laugh. Finnick huffed out a suppressed laugh and looked down at the floor briefly. It was then that he eyed her outfit again, looking at her smugly as he popped the sugar cube into his mouth. "You look pretty hot in that get-up. What happened to the pretty little girl dresses?" he pushed, clearly trying to put her on edge.

Livia quickly dropped her smile and looked at him with a serious expression. This time it was her that took a step towards him, somehow gaining a bit of confidence, though she had to look up to be able to make eye contact with him. "I outgrew them." she sassed as she raised her eyebrows intimidatingly. The well built tribute smirked at her response, finding her small figure trying to be intimidating, funny.