THE HUNGER GAMES: the taste of Whiskey and Snow // CORIOLANUS SNOW

Sixteen

"Good job," Coriolanus smiled, walking down the street with her. "I'm impressed."

"Did you know he was going to do that?" Whiskey asked, looking from window to window, peeking into the lives of the city.

"I had a feeling," Snow answered honestly.

"Of course you did." She nodded, not surprised at all. "Do you think it was convincing enough?"

"What? The kiss? Or the romance," he smirked, watching Whiskey's reaction.

Whiskey scrunched up her nose, embarrassed at his ridiculous emphasises. "You sound like a child, Coriolanus."

This made Snow laugh, "A child? Is that how you think of me, Everdeen?"

"Only when you're acting like one," She glanced at his face, the way his smile lit up his eyes. It gave her a rush. She bit the side of her cheek to hide it.

"It was realistic enough. After all, the crowd was screaming when we kissed," Coriolanus reminded her.

Whiskey smiled at the thought of their kiss this evening. "You know, that was my first kiss.." she admitted, feeling a little ashamed. She was going to keep that information to herself yet here she was telling him.

"What?" Coriolanus laughed. "I assumed you'd kissed that Ratley boy.. I wouldn't been so bold otherwise," he reconsidered his actions. "Sorry, I should've at least asked you first, somehow."

"No it's okay. I liked it," the words flew out of her mouth before she could stop them. She laughed trying to blow it of lightly.

Coriolanus raised his eyebrow at her with a smirk, "Oh really?" He teased. "You liked it?"

"Oh shut it, Snow, I was just saying it wasn't that bad. Don't grow to big of an ego," Whiskey played it off, rolling her eyes. Coriolanus watched her with a smile.

They both walked in silence for a while, heading back to the academy. All that could be heard was the blowing of the wind and the sound of Whiskey's chains.

Whiskey thought of how weird it was that she standing here, laughing with his boy, in a random street in the capital city. One weeks ago she was climbing trees with her friends, unsure of what her future would bring. She was probably going to end up as a owner of a small stall in the markets like her auntie. Yet now, here she was. Good as dead and somehow living the most she'd lived her entire life.

Snow, on the other hand, was thinking of her. Her watched her curious face, lit up by the street lights, studying this landscape and culture before her. Her watched her smile, her wide eyes and her curly mane. Her bizarrely good mood, despite her fate and the chains around her wrists. It was all pieces of her, creating this interesting girl from district 12. The way she was making him laugh tonight was changing his view on her. Everyone he knew was trying to influence him, either so severely good or so severely bad, yet here his tribute was, a girl who knew she was going to die. She wasn't making him chose anything because she knew it wouldn't matter. She was refreshing and, walking beside her in the darkness illuminating her features, Coriolanus felt disappointed she had to go so soon. For the first time, her life seemed valuable to his ambitions, not just for the Plinth Prize.

Whiskey suddenly broke his chain of thought, "How did you know about Ratley? I swear I never told anyone."

"Come on, Everdeen. It was obvious to everyone," Coriolanus smirked.

"No it wasn't," She fought back. "Ratley never noticed."

"That's because Ratley wasn't paying attention to you because he didn't like you back (I'm assuming because you've never kissed each other)" he pointed out.

Whiskey rolled her eyes, knowing he was right. Six years of liking a boy and never once him realising was a pretty clear indication he was not interested.

Suddenly, the wind rushed over them, making Whiskey shiver. She wrapped her arms around her, trying to keep herself warm in the freezing cold night.

Snow, noticing this, immediately took off his red jacket. "Here," he handed it over.

"No-" Whiskey began but saw him in his white shirt and decided she preferred the view. "Okay fine. Thank you for being a gentleman. There aren't many around district 12, I'm not used to it."

Coriolanus smiled, "I'm not being as much as a gentleman as you'd think."

"Is that so? I wouldn't know," Whiskey smiled back, wrapping herself up in his jacket. "You seem like a plenty good gentleman to me."

"Well a gentleman wouldn't allow a lady to walk without his arm around hers, like so," he demonstrated, taking Whiskey's arm in his.

"Wow I feel like a real lady now," she joked, "The chains really show my class."

Coriolanus smiled, "A real lady wouldn't talk about how much of a real lady she was."

"Oh sorry," Whiskey apologised, making snow grin.

Suddenly, a loud explosion sounded from down the road. Screams erupted and suddenly chaos filled the street. Smoke floated up into the air, sirens wailing.

"It's a bombing," Coriolanus cried out, grabbing Whsikey's arm. "We need to get you safe."

Whiskey wanted to run towards it, see if people were safe. The explosion sounded like it came from the zoo. But Snow was stronger than her and he dragged her away towards the academy.