lover/fighter - Finnick Odair

Chapter 30 - Painting secrets in the sand

"You ready?" asks Finnick with a broad grin as Rhea is just leaving Isla's inn. He leans serenely against the wooden fence that lines the path above the beach, wearing beige Bermuda pants and a plain white shirt, a cloth bag slung over one shoulder. Again, he has shed his colorful iridescent shell, which he seems to wear like a second skin, and what remains is nothing more than a normal boy from the fishing district.

"Physically? I don't know. Mentally? Definitely not," she retorts. Truthfully, Rhea is nervous, even more so than before her final exams. Back then, she felt she had the situation under control, but now that's absolutely not the case. She's been worrying about all sorts of little things for the whole of last evening, all through the night until this morning. She likes to prepare herself for challenging situations, but how to do it this time? No book was going to help her. The only thing she could do was pack everything she might need, which is why her bag is significantly heavier than his.

Finnick laughs and replies, "No need to be so nervous, it'll be fun." With that, he merely convinces himself. He eyes her briefly, then gestures with his head in her direction and asks, "The spoils of your shopping spree?"

Rhea looks down at herself, where the light blue beach dress she bought yesterday plays lightly in the wind. The color goes well with Annie's lucky find, which she wisely wears already underneath. Besides, it will save her some trouble when changing.

"Yeah, I figured it couldn't hurt since I don't know how long I'll be here yet," she replies.

"You already look like a girl from District 4, so good prerequisites," he comments, amused, and starts moving. "Well come along then," he calls to her over his shoulder as he begins to lead her south along the beach.

They pass the Victors' Village and make a small turn inland past the cliffs. Rhea wonders if this is actually the faster route or Finnick is avoiding the place for some other reason. They cross a small river where some men are fishing with long routes, then strike out back toward the sea.

When they reach the shore again, she follows Finnick down a stone staircase roughly carved into the rock. When they hit the sand, she finds herself in a small bay surrounded on both sides by rocks that reach out like arms into the sea, where they converge in an approximate circle before disappearing under the surface of the ocean. The water is clear and sparkles like a thousand diamonds under the bright midday sun.

"Well, you can be as clumsy as you want, there's no one around to watch us," Finnick states with a laugh, dropping his bag on the sand beside him.

Rhea is about to counter his cheeky comment, but the words get stuck in her throat as she witnesses Finnick pulling his shirt over his head in one smooth motion. It's a scene straight out of a movie or maybe a commercial for the new fitness center in town.

She is not someone who thinks what is shown to her on TV is authentic or realistic, because everything always looks better there than in real life. In reality, the shirt collar gets stuck to your head, you stumble around blindly for a few meters while the garment ties your arms above your head, you stub your toe somewhere and then finally tear the thing off your body only to end up looking as if you hadn't combed your hair for three weeks.

That's the reality for everyone except Finnick Odair. No matter what he does it always looks perfect, and pretty much every one of the thousand synonyms for the word also exists solely to describe him.

He catches her staring and grins at her, "What are you waiting for, or are you going to get into the water with your clothes on?"

Hastily, she turns her head away. "Of course not, but I don't want you to watch," she brings out sheepishly, not missing the irony of the fact that she did just that to him, and in a very inappropriate way.