Maybe It Can Be Real

Chapter 42

Ending of last chapter:

A loud sigh escapes my lips. That went better than I thought. The beginning was a bit rocky, but it went uphill from there, thankfully. At least I now have someone to walk me down the aisle. That's definitely a huge weight off my shoulders.

My feet trudge up the steps of our porch. I get to go inside and plan more of the wedding with Peeta. Sounds amazing, doesn't it? I sigh and laugh a little, opening the door and walking inside.

****

"How'd it go?", Peeta asks as I plop down onto the soft couch next to him. I lean over and lay my head on his shoulder, wrapping my arms around his arm. His hand moves over and softly rests on the inside of my thigh, his thumb rubbing small circles, sending slight shivers down my spine.

I close my eyes, comforted by his touch. "It went good. Well, it didn't at first, but then it did."

He chuckles lightly. "What happened first?"

I smile at the memory of what happened just a few short minutes ago. "He was really curt when he first opened the door, then I mistook one of his questions and took it offensively when I shouldn't have."

Peeta turns his head and plants a kiss on my temple. "That sounds like you were nervous. You don't normally take his questions that way." He gently rubs his hand back and forth to try and soothe me. He knows me so well to be able to tell how I was feeling through a short explanation.

I take a deep breath in through my nose. "I was. I wasn't sure how he'd react to me asking him. He's so unpredictable, you know?"

Peeta nods his head. "Yeah, I definitely understand that," he replies with a touch of sarcasm laced in his tone.

We sit there in silence for a moment, consumed by our own thoughts. My mind is focused on the fact that Haymitch promised that he'd be sober on the day of our wedding. I still love what he said; it was so heartwarming and so.... not him. I never expected something like that to come out of his mouth. Ever.

I sit up quickly and face Peeta with grin plastered on my face. "Oh my god, okay, so I don't know why I didn't bring it up earlier, Peeta, but Haymitch actually said something heartfelt when I was there."

He tilts his head back and lets out a loud laugh. "You're kidding! He did not! Did he seriously?", Peeta questions in disbelief while still slightly laughing. His laugh is, without a doubt, my absolute favorite sound in the entire world. It makes me laugh as well, it's such a happy and contagious sound. My heart swells every time I hear it.

I nod my head vigorously. "Yes! I told him that I wanted him sober for the wedding, and he said something like 'I will. That's a day I want to damn well remember.'"

Peeta's laugh fades, but his smile doesn't. It's more of an emotional smile rather than a happy smile, if that makes sense. "He really said that?", Peeta asks.

I nod my head in response.

His eyes dart over to the window in Haymitch's direction. Without looking away, he says, "When you said he said something heartfelt, I didn't think it would be that heartfelt."

I shake my head. "Me neither. I'm glad he said that, though. It meant a lot to me."

Peeta leans over and presses a soft kiss to my forehead. He laughs and says, "I bet you can't say 'heartfelt' ten times fast."

I laugh myself and respond, "We have said that a lot in the past five minutes, haven't we?" He nods and chuckles again in reply.

I honestly can't keep a smile off my face right now. Peeta's laughter on top of Haymitch saying something, well, heartfelt has really made my day.

Without really thinking about it, I lean over and softly press my lips to Peeta's. "I really love you, you know that?", I ask him without pulling away, so I whisper this against his lips. "I can't wait to get married to you."

He grins and quickly kisses me again. "Trust me, I know. And I really love you, don't you ever forget that."

My hand comes up and rests against his cheek, my thumb softly running along the edge of his lips. I grin and say, "We literally tell each other this every single day, I don't know why we ask each other if we know it."

"Well, maybe we just feel like reinforcing that idea in each other's heads," he says somewhat sarcastically.

I stick my tongue out at him. "Don't sass me."

He tries to hold back a grin. "I will if you stop acting like a child."

I scoff. "I am not acting like a child."

He cocks his head to the side, a hint of a bright smile peeking at the corners of his lips. "Yes, you are."

I make a face. "Whatever you say, Peeta."

Now that I think about it, we didn't get much wedding planning done. Not that that bothers me at the moment.

****

I slowly blink my eyes open. It's still dark out, thankfully, so I can go back to bed. I take a slow, deep breath in and turn over to face Peeta.

I instantly shoot up, wide awake, when I see him. He's covered in sweat, his face contorted in fear, but he's not thrashing around. I know he's having a nightmare. I can feel my heart rate accelerate slightly as if I was starting to run.

"Peeta, wake up," I call in hopes of waking him up. My hand reaches over and shakes his shoulder. This doesn't do anything. I get on my knees and lean over him, putting both of my hands on his shoulders to wake him up.

"Peeta!", I call out loudly. "Peeta, wake up!", I call again while shaking his shoulders.

His eyes snap open, fear so obviously present in them. I immediately pull him into my arms and lay back down. He wraps his arms around my middle, and his head is laying on my chest. I put one of my hands in his hair and the other goes to his back, rubbing slow, big circles.

"Katniss?", he whispers. "You're still here? Oh my god, I thought something happened to you," he croaks.

My heart breaks into a million pieces at the defeat and utter sadness in his voice. "Yeah, I'm here. I'm not going anywhere. I promise." I lean down and kiss his head. My fingers gently brush his sweaty hair back off his forehead.

He takes a deep breath in through his nose then lets it out. "I... I thought you were gone. I came home and you weren't here...," he trails off. He sniffs.

I blink away tears of my own. "I'm not leaving. You don't have to worry about that."

I can feel his slow, hot tears dripping off his face onto my shirt. "You're never leaving, real or not real?"

"Real," I whisper. "Always real." He needs so much reassurance with this. I wonder what's been running through his head that made him have a nightmare about it.

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Here's another chapter(: Enjoy my friends!!

I probably won't be able to update before Christmas considering it's technically Christmas Eve where I am since it's 1:02 am. SO MERRY CHRISTMAS :D And possibly Happy New Year's since I don't know when I'll update next!!

Shoot straight and be brave my fellow lovelies,
Weezabeth <3