SULLEN GIRL ; F. ODAIR

PROLOGUE

★彡

IF LUX hadn't been staring so intensely at the crackling fire before her, she'd of had no idea that it was fake. Its warmth felt real, so real that she pulled her fingers away from the flames the moment she got too close. It had sounded real too, the way the orange flames broke apart the logs with a hiss and pop. But as she looked closer, squinted, fighting the urge to lurch back from the heat, she noticed the faint pixels that formed the roaring fire. She leaned back from the hologram, humming with disappointment.

"And why oh why is our reigning queen sitting alone in this little room, when the party outside, is all for her?" Had she of been snuck up on a half a year ago, she would've shrieked, her heart would've burst against her chest and she would've apologised for embarrassing herself. However, now, nothing startled Lux Beaumont.

The girl shuffled back further, still sat on the floor, she turned to face who had spoken and for a moment, she raised her eyebrows seeing district four's golden boy Finnick Odair standing in the door frame, his face only lit up by the plethora of neon and string lights outside.

"I wanted to burn my dress and fashion a new one out of curtains." She looked down at herself; her dress was reminiscent of her interview look: a delicate blue silk dress that left little to the imagination, it's cut at her chest plunging. Ever since the Capitol's reception to seeing her in blue, her designer, Belladonna, didn't want the girl in any other colour. "I hate blue." She softly added, eyes wandering to her silver heels she had kicked off the moment she was alone.

Finnick stepped into the room more, she had never seen him wearing so much clothing before, he was in a white suit with light blue accessories, and an orange flower in his breast pocket, she wondered if it was the flower of his district. "Well, what is your favourite colour?"

"I'm not sure," Lux started, wondering how long Finnick would speak to her before asking for some kind of favour. She didn't know why else someone like him would want to speak to her. "I like green. The..." She paused, thinking of the word.  "Olives that come with those drinks, green like that. I think that's nice." She rested her head on her knees, gesturing her arm to him, silently asking the question back.

Finnick paused, his hands finding solace in the rings decorating his fingers, he tilted his head down at Lux, her face illuminated by the fake flames, his eyes then flickered down, just barely able to see the body glitter that adorned her chest and arms. "I like yellow," He said, pulling a chair out with his foot. "the pale yellow frosting of the cakes in the bakery back home, not that bright gross shit the people here insist on wearing."

The two sat in a silence routinely interrupted with the party going on outside, occasionally she'd hear someone call for her, it was always a voice she didn't recognise.

"You know I had a crush on you?" Finnick suddenly said, his voice slick with the charm she'd heard during his interviews only three years ago. "Well, have."

Lux laughed humourlessly, obviously not believing him for a second. "If you're referring to seeing me in my chariot and interview outfits, I've heard it before." Her tone ended sharply, reminded once more of the many letters addressed to her only hours after she had appeared on TV, Porter only let her read one before deciding to burn the rest.

"No," Finnick said quickly, then chuckled. "well it helped." Lux scoffed, and turned to face the fake fire once more. "Oh come on, I'm seventeen and you're... Beautiful."

The girl was grateful to be facing away from the charming boy, her cheeks flushed darkly, not helped by the flames fanning her face. She then pinched her arm, she had been told careers lied all the time, it was a second language to them, Porter had said, what good did it do to believe him? She knew she was attractive, she'd been told it since she stepped onto the stage all those weeks ago, but it was rare she was called beautiful.

"Then what was it then?" She finally asked, desperate to get the conversation done with.

"It was the third night of your game, you'd found a shack, had a bed, fake food the whole, thing." Finnick cleared his throat. "Anyway, you were smart, you knew it'd be dangerous to sleep on the bed, so you found a jacket in the closet and slept under the bed instead. And I just remember thinking... Wow, that is the prettiest girl I have ever seen."

Lux sat in astonishment. Finnick truly had no reason to tell her this, unless that was how he got his kicks. He was rich after all, and the rich often got their pleasure from humiliating others. She still didn't want to look at him. "Why are you telling me this?"

"I dunno," His voice held a smile, it made sense he was unable to feel embarrassment, even after saying something as intimate as that. "wanted to." The chair scraped back to where Finnick had found it, and she heard him step backwards.

Silently, Lux too decided to stand, swiping the straps of her heels into her fingers as she did so, she stood opposite him. She was nothing but a pair of arms, a chest, and a head, her feet swallowed up by the midnight blue of her dress. "Well... I think you're pretty too."

Finnick smiled, it wasn't a genuine one, more one that said 'obviously'. "Thank you, Lux."'

"Lux! Lux!"

The two tilted their heads curiously as the gruff, yet concerned yelling grew closer, Lux sighed contentedly seeing Perun, Apollo's mentor.

"Lu- fucking finally, there you are." He pushed past Finnick with ease, taking his black tuxedo jacket off as he did so. "Party's over, we're going."

"What? Why? I thought we had to stay..." The girl stood still as Perun draped his jacket over her front, covering her almost entirely.

"There's..." He bit the inside of his cheek, unable to put his thoughts in order. "There's some unpleasant things being said about you. So, I want you to play passed out while I carry you back to the train. Porter's coming too, was actually her idea."

Lux adjusted the jacket on her shoulders, both mentors had been vague about the Capitol and their people's intentions when it came to winners, perhaps it was because neither of them thought their district would win, after all, it had been thirty years since Porter's win. "Okay." She said, clearing her throat.

Before she could blink, Perun had scooped up her into his arms, her shoes now dangling off of his fingers instead. As she briefly looked over his freshly groomed face, she realised for the first time, since she'd met him, his breath didn't stink of alcohol or vomit.

It was then she remembered Finnick was still there, standing in the door way, occasionally looking over the balcony and down at the everlasting party below. Perun nodded at Finnick, a silent hello and goodbye as they walked out the room, Lux already had closed her eyes. 

"Til we meet again, Lux..."