Into The Wilderness: A Hunger Games Story

12: Waiting and Fireworks

Prim's P.O.V.

I wake up the next morning just as the fake sun is peeking its way through the fake clouds. I feel a low pang in the pit of my stomach as I remember where I am.

I yawn, stretching my arms above my head, cracking my back and neck. I sigh in contentment, and turn to wake a sleeping Cato.

I shake him gently, and he only stirs. I shake him harder saying, "Cato, come on. We need to move." Panic briefly sits in my voice when I realize we could be found any moment.

He groans and turns toward me.

My heart beats faster. How to wake him? I ponder.

Then, it comes to me.

If I didn't imagine last night, then this should work. Even if I did...men are predictable.

I take a huge leap of faith in doing this. I don't know why I do, but the audience is going to appreciate it, that's for sure.

I lean over and oh-so-gently press my lips to his.

His eyes flutter open in shock, and I start to pull away with a smirk on my face from accomplishing my task. But my eyes widen when his hand encases my neck and pulls me back to him.

This is a completely different feeling for me. I'm what the merchant girls would call a lip virgin. I've never kissed, never been kissed, so this is all new for me.

Somehow, he knows not to push it. Our lips mold to each others as fireworks explode in my chest, filling me with a feeling I've never experienced.

I think...

I push the unfinished thought from my mind. I can't afford that right now. I can't afford anything.

I pull away with his light in my eyes. Our eyes meet each others, and I can feel the heat in my cheeks. We stare at each other for a minute. "You're up," I say. "Yeah. I'd say so," he replies.

"We should move. I really don't feel like getting decapitated today."

He chuckles once, unironically. "Yeah, I really don't feel like it either."

I stand, stretching even further out. My lips still tingle with his heat. It feels...nice. He only props himself up on one elbow.

I poke his tummy, the same way Katniss would to me. "Come on! I have to roll the sleeping bag up!" I say, laughing. I crouch down and stuff my water bottle back into the side pocket of my pack. Suddenly, I feel arms encircling my waist from behind, just like the training center.

I turn and snuggle into his chest as he kisses my hair.

Then the cannon booms. I jolt from his embrace wide-eyed and begin to quickly roll the sleeping bag up, stuffing it into the bag. He follows my lead, shoving the rest into his sack. He slings mine over his shoulder, and I take his without question, and we take off, doing our best to leave any trace of our stay here behind.

I wonder who it was.

We run through the trees at a steady pace, him at my side just like yesterday.

Ah, memories. Just kidding.

I finally need to stop for a breather about twenty minutes later. We've found a pond where we refill our water bottles and I refill my air supply.

We're walking away when we stumble across a girl lying on the floor of the forest, barely breathing, a large wound in her arm. We step around her and walk away, not wanting to touch an almost dead body. My heart pangs at the thought of her family, friends, partner...what she left behind.

I shrug it off and keep walking.

We trudge all day until nightfall. By then, we've found some animals to eat, and we fill our growling stomachs. We make our way to yet another cave we find. There seem to be a lot of caves in this arena. I can only wonder if there's something up the Gamemaker's sleeves.

But there usually is. We only have to wait. The question is how long.

Cato's P.O.V.

Fireworks explode around us as I stroke her fair hair gently. She curves into my embrace lovingly. She gives a little sigh of contentment and my heart skips a beat. This is how love is. I tilt her chin up to face mine and her light grey eyes stare back into my once-icy-blue ones. But she's the one that changed all that. She melted that ice inside of me and replaced it with warmth.

I lean down, and I'm about to kiss her when...

"Cato, come on. It's time to move."

I ignore the voice and attempt to continue my dream. But all hope is lost. My dream's slipping away with my subconsciousness. The voice is now a force, and it's shaking me awake. I groan and turn around and am left alone for now.

Then I feel the mysterious force on my lips.

My heart speeds up, and my eyes fly open at the feeling.

Could it be? Primrose Everdeen is pulling away from the brief kiss with a smirk on her face at being successful at waking me up.

But this won't do. I grasp the back of her neck and pull her towards me to kiss her again.

Screw dreaming, reality is ten times better than any dream my idiot brain could conjure up.

I feel my heart nearly stop, although I know it's beating so fast I can't feel it. I can feel her shock and uncertainty behind her gentle kiss, so I don't push it like I usually would.

This is her first, after all.

She pulls away after a minute, probably because she can't breathe. Her eyes are shining with something I can't pinpoint and she breathlessly says, "You're up."

I chuckle and say, "Yeah, I'd say so."

If this is what I could wake up to every day, I'd be the happiest man alive.

Maybe in a perfect world - something we'll never have.