STILETTO┃Finnick Odair

Chapter 10

Finnick, Ryder and I are sitting down on horizontal logs facing each other, Ryder to my right and Finnick across from me. Peeta and Katniss are sitting down on the beach a little. We made it to the beach a few hours ago after fighting the mutts. My whole body is aching from the soreness as I stretch my arms trying to relieve the tension.

"Are you okay?" Ryder said to me quietly.

"Yeah muscles just a little sore"

"I'm not surprised you took on a literal army of mutts" he states in awe.

I nod a little dazed.

"How's your arm?" I say as I move to get a look at the gash lining his arm.

"It hurts like hell still. I'm gonna go see if Peeta still has any of that herb concoction he made me before"

I nod as he turns to walk towards Katniss and Peeta. Katniss is still iffy about us and does everything in her power not to communicate with us. Not that I blame her. Peeta has been the complete opposite. He has talked to me without fear and even helped Ryder with his arm. It hurts to think about the fact that I see so much of Theo in Peeta. Charming. Generous. Kind. Compassionate. I sniffle away my emotions and continue to look out to the water.

"So, what's happening between you two?" I turn to see Finnick gesturing between Ryder and I.

I hold back my laugh.

"Nothing. We're just friends" I say with a calm expression.

"Well have you told him that"

I glare at him.

"What is it to you?" I say trying to keep my anger in check. How dare he make such outlandish accusations. Ryder and I barely know each other. We only talked a few times before the games and have only started to become friends since the reaping.

"Nothing," he snapped back. "I just thought it was an interesting observation."

We stay silent for a few minutes until Finnick pipes back up.

"So where did you learn to kill an army of mutts?"

I turn back to him not sure if I should tell the truth but I do.

"My father has been teaching me fighting and sword work since I can remember. From my knowledge my first birthday present was a toy sword."

"Tough childhood." Finnick drawls.

"No actually it wasn't. My parents are amazing. It's not like they were training me for the games, they just wanted me to know how to protect myself.

"Well they must have thought you were one hundred percent going to be reaped to put you through all that" Finnick says with a curious look on his face as we lock eyes.

It's not like I haven't thought about it before. Why did my parents go to such lengths for my protection? Could it have just been because of the chance of being reaped or was it something else?

"What about you? How did you get good at using a trident as a weapon?" I ask simply.

"So you think I'm good," he says with a grin.

"Good is a compliment to you?" I reply with a smug smile across my face.

"She smiles?" Finnick says astounded "She actually smiles"

"On occasion" I say a smile still slightly gracing my lips.

He lets out a laugh.

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