Baird's girl

Chapter 20

May 6, 2018
District 12

Amber looked at Ethan, and what she saw in his eyes made her feel uneasy. She asked him:
"Why do you have that look?"
Ethan replied, perplexed:
"What look?"
"The look of someone in love. Please tell me I'm wrong."
"I can't do that, Amber. It would be a lie."
"It can't be true," Amber whispered to herself.
Then she said to Ethan:
"You don't even know me."
"You're mistaken. Despite your temperament and your anger, you've been quite talkative in the Capitol. I've learned more about you than you think."
Amber didn't know how to react to his words. She looked into his eyes without saying anything, her throat tight. She had hoped with all her heart never to fall in love again. She had even rejected Thomas for that reason. And now, she truly realized her feelings for Ethan. She had hoped so strongly that it wouldn't be mutual, but it was. Amber said:
"Why me? With all the girls you could have in the Capitol—girls who are like you, who come from your background—why do you fall in love with me? Is this some kind of trap?"
Ethan reassured her:
"Amber, I promise you, what I just told you is not a trap."
Tears welled up in Amber's eyes as she replied:
"That's what they said when they reaped my father. That the Games weren't a trap, that he would come back. But he never did because he died in the arena."
She took a deep breath and continued:
"That's also what they said when they hanged Maude and Joana's parents. And it's what I was told when I fell in love."
Resigned, Ethan asked her:
"Don't you believe me?"
"No. I wish I could believe you, but I can't. I just can't."
"I understand that it's hard for you to believe me, but I promise my feelings are real. I'm not here to play games with you."
Amber looked at him, still suspicious, and said before joining Joana by the lake:
"I won't believe it until I have proof that you've truly fallen in love with me."