Maybe It Can Be Real

Chapter 40

I have an extremely important author's note regarding this story so please read all the way through(-:

I scoop some of the lamb stew sitting in front of me into my spoon, bringing it to my mouth. An amazing taste bursts in my mouth when I take a bite, making me smile in content.

Peeta and I sit in a comfortable silence. Neither of us talk, but you can hear the soft scraping of our utensils against our bowls. I love how we can stay in silences like this and not let them get awkward.

I quickly polish off my stew, then I get up and walk over to the stove to get some more to shove in my face. Effie would most likely kill me if she saw my manners now. Oh well, I'm not a ladylike person and there's really nothing she can do about it.

My feet carry me back to the table, and as I sit down, I manage to - quite gracefully, I might add - hit my knee against the leg of the table. I stumble a little bit before dropping down into my seat, letting my bowl clatter onto the table. I reach down and rub my knee, muttering, "Ouch, good god." I can hear Peeta laughing.

I look over at him and glare - teasingly, of course. But he doesn't have to know that yet. I hold back a grin that wants to force its way onto my face.

"Really, Peeta?", I question. "I'm sitting here in pain and you're laughing at me?" I shake my head. "What a wonderful fiancé you are ." I rest my elbows on the table and clasp my hands together by my chin.

"Hey, I beg to differ considering I make you food and you seemed to think I was pretty wonderful earlier," he retorts with a small smirk on his lips.

I can feel my eyes widen at what he said. "Oh my god, Peeta!" My cheeks burn red, so I cover my face with my hands, obscuring my vision of him. "Wow, okay, I can't believe you just said that." His laughter, louder than before due to my embarrassment, echoes throughout the room.

"Oh, come on, you know I'm just kidding," he chuckles.

I grin a little with my face still in my hands, so he can't see it. "No, but that's the thing - I did think you were wonderful. You're quite talented at kissing. I just never figured that that thought would be said aloud."

I peek through my fingers at Peeta. He still has a smirk on his face - along with an extremely amused look. His eyes are.... sparkling? Is that the right word? Anyway, his eyes are bright with happiness, which in turn makes me happy.

I've realized that his happiness relies on mine, and mine relies on his. If one is upset, then the other one's mood goes down as well. Relatively speaking, of course. I don't really mind it though, and I'm sure he doesn't mind either. Neither of us would want to be happy while the other isn't. Hopefully it stays like that between us.

My eyes flicker between Peeta's face and the bowl of food in front of me. Slowly, I reach out and grab my spoon, scooping some stew up and bringing it to my mouth. This makes Peeta burst out laughing at my awkwardness, which makes me laugh as well, almost spitting out the stew. I cover my mouth with one hand, the other one waving clumsily at Peeta as if it was saying, Stop laughing! You're making me laugh! Do you want me to spit on you?

I finally swallow the food in my mouth and say, "You were making me laugh! I almost spit out my food!"

He grins even bigger if that's possible. "That's not my fault! You were being weird and it made me laugh! You just happened to be eating!", he says as I wipe away the tears that had formed in my gray eyes from laughing.

"Well.... I still blame you!", I retort unconvincingly. The smile on my face definitely refutes that sentence. He rolls his eyes playfully, and my grin grows.