𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘽𝙤𝙮𝙨 | 𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘴

𝙖𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 / 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙣𝙞𝙘𝙠 𝙤𝙙𝙖𝙞𝙧 𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙩 / 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙤𝙣𝙚

I simply wanted to get away from the party, yet I find myself stuck here with one of my lingering competitors.

The pulsing beats of the distant party drowned out the sound of our heartbeats. The bass vibrated through the wooden walls of the closet, a temporary refuge from the chaos outside. I breathed heavily, trying to calm the racing thoughts in my mind. Stumbling into the cramped space, Finnick and I had barely squeezed ourselves in before the door swung shut, locking us in darkness.

Finnick Odair, the golden boy of District 4, stood next to me, the smell of sea salt and oak clinging to his skin. His presence stirred a commotion in the pit of my stomach that I had tried to deny for years. Ever since our lives had intertwined in the arena, we had danced around a complicated web of rivalry and attraction, at least the attraction was what I felt.

I couldn't help but remember the way he had dazzled everyone with his charm while I had fought my way to the crown through bloodshed and will. He thought he was better than me, and maybe he was. I'd often failed to shake off the lingering feeling of inadequacy. That pretty much sums up why we "hate" each other.

"Great plan," Finnick muttered sarcastically, his voice laced with irritation as he adjusted his position, jostling me against the rough edge of the wooden wall. "We should have just blended in, but instead, we ran like children."

I was stunned by his sudden push.

"It's not my fault your fans don't know the meaning of personal space," I snapped back, catching a flash of his infuriating smirk even in the dim light. "You've got fame, Finnick. I just wanted a little bit of peace." I said crossing my arms, making sure he knew I was irritated.

He let out a breathy laugh, the kind that made the tension in my chest flare. "Peace? You can't have peace when you're hiding from the Capitol's elite at one of their endless parties. You think they'll just let us slip away unnoticed?"

"I wasn't trying to slip away; I just wanted a moment without your overbearing ego in my face." I said trying to hide away my obvious jealousy and admiration.

His eyes filled with annoyance, and with a furrow of his full eyebrows he said, "Ego? Coming from the girl who slayed her way through the Hunger Games? I'm surprised you still consider running away from a few people with cocktails ego, y/n. Sounds like classic avoidance."

"Sounds like classic Finnick. Always better at charming the pants off everyone but me. You can't seriously think you know me, right?" I scoffed, as much as I didn't want to fight him, seeing that that would only make him think even more negatively of me, all I wanted to do was keep his attention on me, and somehow pissing him off always guaranteed that.

I mean who is he kidding, he doesn't know anything about me at all.

"Maybe I do," he replied, his voice dropping to a quieter, more serious tone. His once strong and opinionated eyebrows now drawn down, and his eyes facing his own feet.

"You've always worn your feelings like armor. Sworn enemies one moment, and then I catch you looking at me, looking at me in now way an enemy would, or should frankly. Almost like you see something more."

His eyes were on mine by the time he finished his sentence, his dreadful sentence, he see's right through me. I push my non existent hair behind my hair to try and keep me from biting down my freshly painted nails, and keep my eyes off of his. I couldn't keep looking into his.

"You know nothing about me." I say, still lying. Still pretending he doesn't know.

"Really, y/n? After everything?" finnick said, taking a slow step closer to me and the wall he pushed me against.