The Heiress {Finnick Odair}

Broken Hearts

Finnick's head was pounding when he woke up the next morning.

Everything was too bright.

He could barely remember anything from the night before. He didn't even remember coming home.

He groaned and sat up. He was still on the floor from where he knew he must have passed out. He was still clutching the bottle in his hand, but the lid was off, and the contents had spilled all over the carpet.

Crap. Amara was going to kill him.

He was sitting in front her piano. There were a few papers that were scattered on the stand, and that's when her realized: she'd been awake when he got home.

He never expected her to be awake. It must have been nearly 3AM when he left the client's house. It had been a particularly horrible night. He was thinking about Amara during most of it. He was thinking about how he would rather be doing anything than being at that stupid party. He would have given anything to be home, curled up on the couch as they ate brownies and watched a movie.

But no- he was at that party being sold to the highest bidder.

Over the years, the price for his company had gone up significantly, and it wasn't surprising when repeat customers made an appearance. This particular woman knew everything about everyone, and was more than willing to spill anyone's secrets to get her fix of the victor.

Finnick always hated every second of it.

That evening, the only thing he could do was stumble into the District Twelve apartment. He knew Haymitch had to have a stash of alcohol in case he ever ran out, and he was right.

His brain was fuzzy from the details. He had flashes and glimpses of seeing her. He groaned and ran a hand over his face. The feeling of his hand pressed against his mouth sent a flash of her lips pressed against his.

Finnick jolted up and spun around, barely maintaining his balance.

What had he done?

No no no.

What had he done?

He threw open the door to the apartment and kicked himself. Mack wasn't there, which meant Amara was long gone. She only really took him with her when she was planning on staying somewhere for a long period of time. She didn't even take him to the Tribute Center when she visited.

He stepped back into the apartment and bee-lined for his bedroom. Nothing. He threw open her bedroom door. Nothing. Her closet was missing most of her clothes, her toothbrush was missing from the bathroom, and the book she'd spent the last few days reading was gone.

She was gone.

What had he done?

Finnick wanted to cry. What happened? He couldn't fix anything unless he knew what happened.

His mind flashed with all the possibilities of what he should do. Amara didn't have very many friends in the city so there were only a handful of places she could have gone.

The victors weren't in town, she wouldn't have gone home, she wasn't close enough to Tigris.

Jade. She had to be with Jade.

With that revelation, he began to walk toward the door, but walked right past a mirror as he did so.

He winced. Maybe he should shower first.

**

"Do you want to tell me what happened?"

When Jade walked out that morning to find Amara crashed on the couch with a small suitcase in hand, she had way too many questions.

Amara was thankful that her friend let her pull herself together for a moment before she was drilled.

Jade managed to corner her when she started making pancakes for the two of them.

"I gave you that key for emergencies and you've never used it so we both know this was an actual emergency. So, tell me what happened."

"Finnick kissed me," Amara finally muttered. Jade's jaw dropped and she gasped.

"Finally!" Amara glared at her friend, who quieted down quickly. "Why aren't we happy about this?"

"He was drunk," Amara said.

"Drunk confessions are sober thoughts," Jade pointed out, but Amara was already shaking her head.

"Not like this," she said. "It wasn't Finnick. I could still smell perfume on him. He was wildly drunk and clearly trying to forget about something."

Jade was quiet for a moment.

"I expected better from him," she admitted. "I mean, he kisses his best friend for the first time drunk, and--" she cut herself off when Amara went slightly red. "This wasn't the first time he kissed you, was it?"

Amara shook her head. She could tell that Jade was pouring all her self control into not strangling her. It was something that Amara had never told anyone-- not even Annie. It had been a private moment between the two of them. His kiss had been entirely different last night, and it was how she knew that the drunk Finnick from last night was not her Finnick.

"Why are you mad?" Jade asked slowly. Amara glared at her. That's the question you want to ask? It must have been written all over her face because Jade raised her hands in surrender. "I'm not saying your anger isn't justified, but I need to know what about this situation you're angry about before we figure out how to solve the problem."

Amara groaned into her hands. "I hate the way he looks at me."

Jade narrowed her eyes at Amara. "Explain that."

"The way he looks at me is aggravating," Amara growled. "He looks at me like he loves me one day, like he wants to have a life with me, like I'm his best friend in the whole world. He looks at me with adoration and longing and utter devotion."

"And that's bad because?"

"Because then he goes out every evening to those parties and comes home with the scent of some woman's perfume all over him! Because he looks at me like he loves me, but tells me we can never be together! Because he kisses me but keeps me around for what? A placeholder until someone else comes along? Is he just waiting for the perfect woman? Am I just the best friend that he has on reserves?"

"You know he doesn't think of you like that," Jade said softly, but Amara was getting angrier by the second.

"Do I? Because last time I checked, he is seen with a new woman on his arm every time he comes to town, but I'm the one who takes care of all his emotional needs. I'm the one who picks up the pieces, but there are still things he won't tell me. He won't tell me what is eating him up. He won't tell me what's bothering him. He won't tell me about what goes on behind closed doors. He won't commit to a relationship with me because... because... why? What exactly is my role in his life?"

Amara collapsed to the floor. Jade looked down at her sympathetically.

"Finnick is your best friend," she reminded her. "Have you talked about this with him? Because this doesn't sound like a one night incident."

Amara chuckled humorlessly. "I guess I needed to get that out."

She didn't even know there were so many thoughts swirling around her head. She didn't even realize how much this had been bothering her. Maybe last night was just the tipping point.

But Amara couldn't do anything about it. She couldn't force the man she loved to love her back. So instead, she let Jade slide down the wall next to her, she buried her face in the woman's shoulder, and she cried.