Broken Wings

Chapter 24

The scowl set in the moment my story began, and it remains on her face as I finish the tale. "...the feeling of it pulled me back into reality, making me pull back. Then he left." I look down now, suddenly to courage to communicate about this, dies on my tongue. But all Johanna says is, "and he hasn't come back?" I shake my head, pull myself together and admit that it is probably for the best. At this Johanna rolls her eyes, "Fine, so bread boy isn't going to be helping us today, where is the book?" I drop my gaze. "Well? Where is it?" I sigh. I half expect for her to call me pathetic but when I see that the scowl on her face has morphed into a wicked grin scaring me than any taunt. I apprehensively ask "What?"

"So, you're stuck in this house due to bed rest, are you?" When I give an unsure affirmation, she bolts out the room leaving the only clue as to where she is going by the slamming of my front door. The wide-eyed realisation that she is heading to his house sends me hobbling as quickly as I can to the window. Even with my speed calling after her is useless because she doesn't even stop to knock, she just barges into Peeta's home. The scene before me a second later would be hysterical if it weren't so dreadful. As soon as the entrance Johanna, who isn't much bigger than me, exits the house with an arm and a mouth full of some pastries while the other hand pulls Peeta across the green toward my house. Peeta expression starts off with shock and confusion, but the closer he gets to the house the stronger his attempts to free himself are before admitting defeat to our surprise guest and scowling so hard lies might stay permanently. I throw myself back down into my chair with a huff as I await the unavoidable situation that enters seconds later.

The parade enters after Johanna shuts down Peeta's bellowing at the door, sending my front door flying open as they make their very ungraceful entrance. Before I know it Peeta is thrown on the other side of the couch I'm sitting on, and Johanna sits across from us. The two scowls battle against the smirk in silence as the recently captured snacks are strewn across the table. "I brought snacks." She says triumphantly.

"You say that like that's all you brought" I point out while I look at Peeta through the corner of my eye. He doesn't seem too bad compared to the last time I saw him. His darkened circles under his eyes aren't much bigger and he doesn't seem anymore miserable than he should be, considering the circumstances. Turns out I'm the only one who falls apart when we are separated, maybe I overestimated his feeling for me. The thought makes a lump form in my throat, so I distract myself with the pearl around my neck and turn back to Johanna.

"Well, I thought you said you and I quote 'loved' Peeta's buns." She says this with a suggestive tone making me blush hard as I try focus on a point on the wall behind her. "Cheese. Cheese buns." I correct her and don't dare look next to me, but I know he is eyes are on me.

Johanna snickers as she begins to make small talk with Peeta, made even shorter by his short one-word answers. After a round of twenty questions Peeta gets fed up and with an exasperated huff he says "Enough. Why am I here? If you wanted to talk, we could have done this at my house where I am actually welcome."

His words cut like a knife making me cringe, but I have to remind myself that this is for the best. Peeta shouldn't be around me no matter how much I wish he was. So, I swallow my regret and try busy my hands with one of the rolls on the table, when the smell only reminds me of Peeta joking about the amount of cheese bun I eat, I stop. I hope Johanna stops this soon. My wishes though, are far from achieved with what Johanna has to say next. "Fine, lets just cut to the chase."

"Please." Peeta mumbles but is quickly quietened by Johanna's glare. "I am here for two weeks. I will be staying at Katniss's house and helping with this book you guys were making before... whatever you guys did to yourselves." I'm glad that Johanna hasn't revealed that I told her everything. If Peeta was hiding things from me then he may have been doing the same for her, so she is really saving me here. "In that time both of you will show up in this room at nine in the morning and will not leave until I say so. I don't care what you need to do, just save whatever argument you are having until I leave."

One thing you learn about this woman is that she has a strong authoritative way about her. So when she finishes her little speech both Peeta and I nod in reluctant agreement. And when she asks where the supplies are we both point at Peeta's house looking down at our feet in defeat. Once she leaves, I look at Peeta's arm as he moves to a different seat, making me think that I was right about his complete cut off of even the cat. Ignoring the desire to burst into tears over incorrect conceptions of his affections I gather that his stiches are angry and red, so I go to the bathroom and fetch one of my mother's remedies. When I come back to the lounge Peeta shoves something quickly into his pocket after inspecting some on my drawings, but it doesn't look like he has taken any of them and even if he did it wouldn't matter because he is back, and my nock offs won't have to be used. Kneeling in front of him, avoiding any eye contact and unscrewing the lid of the container, I rub the cream on his wound causing a sigh of relief to escape him. Still, neither of us speak and almost as soon as I sit back in my spot from the last week Johanna walks through the door. With out looking up from the major pile of supplies in her arms she plonks down next to me, dropping a jar of paint on my foot making me wince. She probably knew Peeta would move, he can be stubborn as Johanna and I. I suppose being dragged out of his house and into one he never wanted to enter again requires a little stubbornness.

Today starts slow with the book as Peeta and I take turns reading out what we've done so far, yet very productive. Johanna seems satisfied with how the book is structured, so she makes a list of people she would like to add and a list of memories she'd like to add to the preexisting entries. By the time Sae shows up Finnick's section has almost doubled along with new stories that make me chuckle and a new drawing done by Peeta who drew what was described by Johanna. While Peeta and Johanna chat and catch up with their daily lives, I slip out to go to the kitchen since I know Johanna's latest news and I don't feel like Peeta showing off how completely fine he is without me around. "Hey girl." Sae greet as I take a seat at the counter, the smell in here is delicious and I tell her so. "Hey, it smells amazing in here." She thanks me and talks about how she is trying out some of the new ingredients that have been made available, how-to night she is making a pasta dish she had heard about from some of the newcomers, and that my business report is in her satchel. I had forgotten completely about it; I know she told me she'd bring it this morning and yet it completely slipped my mind from the day I've had.

"So, he finally take a break from whatever the excuse you made this morning?" she asks when she suddenly turns from the stove and looks at me. "More like forced to take a break. Johanna dragged him over here by his ear." I sigh and rest the side of my head on my elbow, leaving me looking as defeated as I am feeling, laying on the counter. "He doesn't want to be here." Sae leans across the counter and pats my arm before returning to the stove. It's sad how that little pat is the most comfort anyone has offered me in a week. One week and this is how I feel, I really am a pathetic, sorry for myself waste of time. I straighten up and put back on my stone face and wait for dinner, for the others, for a break from my own thoughts. how am I going to handle tonight, or any night for the next two weeks? Johanna knows I have my nightmares, but lately I haven't more than an hour of sleep and even that is rare. All sleeping entails at the moment is screaming from the laying position. I guess I'll have to skip the sleeping part of routine, just until she is gone.

Just then Peeta and Johanna join me in the kitchen seated at the counter, Peeta on the furthest chair possible. When Sae turns around and sees the seating arrangement, she frowns at Peeta and gives me a sorry look, but I just wave it off like it is nothing, while on the inside I'm cursing my foot for stopping me from running to the woods and crying my eyes out.