Finnick and Annie

Kiss (Annie's POV)

I felt really bad after Finnick swam away. I really just wanted to help him, and I knew that pretending he was okay was not going to fix anything, but he seemed very upset, and I hated seeing him like that. I grabbed the shirt he had left behind and went back to the Victor's Village to drop it off.

I left the shirt on the kitchen counter and then left the house since Marina wasn't around. I was on my way back to my house when I spotted Finnick at the shore. It was pretty amazing he had made it the whole distance swimming. He was incredibly fit, that boy.

I expected him to come back home, but once he got out of the water, he sat down on the sand. He had no towel, and he had left his shirt behind, and it was getting very windy. I walked towards him, ready to apologize, and then I realized he was crying. He tried to hide it for a second, but it was pointless. It broke my heart to see him like that.

I comforted him the best I could; I held him and let him cry until he finally calmed down a bit. I knew Finnick felt guilty about the things he'd done but I hadn't realized until then just how much he hated himself.

As I tried to comfort him it slipped my lips that I loved him, and he was eager to find out if it was true. And it was. Maybe not in that way, Finn and I were just friends, but I did love him. As a friend. As my best friend. Finnick was the best part of my life, and I didn't think he knew how much he meant to me.

He stared at me and I could feel my face going red. If I had any friends to tell, none of them would have believed what happened next. Finnick Odair kissed me. He actually kissed me, Annie Cresta. Finnick had kissed me on the cheek, the head, and even on the nose occasionally, but the feeling of Finnick's salty lips against mine was completely different.

I'd never kissed anybody before, so I didn't know what I was doing, but as short as our kiss was, it felt right. When he pulled away I was blushing fiercely and I couldn't keep my smile off my face.

"Let's go inside," he muttered awkwardly, "it's freezing out here."

"Why are you guys acting so weird?" asked Percival as we sat at the table to eat dinner.

"We're not acting weird," I added quickly...too quickly. Marina looked at me and smiled. The day I got mad at Finnick when I realized I really liked him, I had gone straight to her. I didn't tell her straight away that I had a crush on her son; I wasn't actually planning on telling her because... well, it was her son, but she had guessed, and I couldn't deny it.

"They're always weird, Percy," she added.

"True," he said without a second thought.

"I'll walk you back home, Annie," said Finnick when dinner was over. "It's getting kind of dark."

"Alright, thanks," I said. I hugged his mother and then we left. Finnick was right; the sun was setting, and it would be dim by the time we got to my house. We started down the road that led to town in awkward silence, but Finnick took my hand and intertwined our fingers.

"Is this weird?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused and afraid he was regretting our kiss.

"Well, we're best friends, right?"

"Of course we are," I said.

"Do best friends usually kiss?" he wondered.

"They do when they like each other," I mumbled and pulled my hand away. He was definitely having second thoughts about our kiss. Maybe he regretted it. I should have seen that coming. I stopped in my tracks. "Do you like me?"

"Of course! I just—I don't know," he stammered "I'm just worried this will ruin our friendship."

"Okay. Our friendship is the most important thing. Nothing is going to ruin it, all right? So if this thing gets in the way, then we'll just go back to being friends. Agreed?" I offered.

"Deal," he smiled. "So does that mean you're my girlfriend now?"

I blushed. "I don't know..."

"Well, do you want to be my girlfriend?" Of course I did, I'd wanted that for longer than I'd realized. I nodded shyly and he kissed me again.