Finnick is dead on his feet by the time he makes it back to the tower. He's run the gauntlet tonight, with two back to back parties and finally the accompaniment of the second party host to bed. He's impatient and exhausted, which is why he isn't as delighted as usual to see Fara waiting for him in the District 4 common room.
He greets her warmly, but tries to convey his eagerness to return to his own room. She's entirely unwilling to forfeit the interaction though, instead asking him to join her for a bit. He relents, never having developed the knack for telling her no. She's in the mood to talk, so he allows her to ramble to him. His blinks become longer and longer until he's spending most of the time with his eyes fully closed and only nodding along with partial understanding.
But then she says something so entirely alarming that he finds himself completely awake.
"Ronan said what?" He blurts, interrupting her monologue.
"He said I could join that book club they have going on. He told me that you joined recently." Her thinly veiled code suddenly resonates fully inside his mind.
"That book club is not meant for you," he rushes to catch up with the meaning of her rambling words. "And we're not supposed to talk about it. It's a secret."
"He warned me not to talk about it with everyone, I know it's exclusive. But he said specifically that it was fine to speak with you about it." She looks entirely too at ease for the topic at hand.
Far from sleepy now, Finnick feels ready to track down Ronan and give him a piece of his mind. This is a dangerous game to be playing and he's none too pleased that he and Blight saw it necessary to bring Fara into the fold. He's too fatigued to continue arguing in metaphors with her, so he decides to put it off.
"We can talk about this more tomorrow."
"Okay," she relents. "But I also need to say that all of that made me realize how much I care about you."
"I care about you, too," he says, yawning and getting ready to make the move from the couch to his bed.
"No, well, I mean yes. But I don't mean it like that."
"How do you mean it?" Once again, he finds himself roused into a state of awareness.
He notices now the way she squirms in her seat on the couch, pressed into the corner far away from him. What he earlier interpreted as a disregarding sense of ease was a front that he was too tired to actually decipher. Something is definitely up. And he suspects that he knows what that something is. He's experienced with this, but it doesn't make it any easier.
"I think that what I feel is beyond friendship," she begins, taking a deep breath to keep going.
"No, you don't."
He interrupts hurriedly before she catches momentum, scrambling to prevent this conversation from happening. It would be so much easier to stop now. Like glass, once broken things will never be the same. He feels a desperate sort of anger at her for trying to cross this boundary. He's spent months keeping his thoughts to himself, why can't she just do the same?
"Yes, I do." She furrows her brow in surprise at him and gets ready for an argument.
"Trust me, you don't." He stops her again. "You really don't."
"You don't get to decide how I feel." She's on the defensive now, which is a bad place for Finnick to have maneuvered her to.
"You don't understand anything you're talking about." He tries to leave no room for negotiation.
YOU ARE READING
𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐍 𝐏𝐈𝐄 ━━ finnick odair ✓
Fanfiction❥ 𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐍 𝐏𝐈𝐄 • • • 🇺🇸🥧▐ . ˖࣪ Faraday Jones has been the subject of Capitol attention for years, likely even before she was born. With a mother who became pregnant during the victory tour after her win in the 54th Hunger Games, her f...
