Maybe It Can Be Real

Chapter 43

Ending of last chapter:

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.

**** A Couple Weeks Later ****

I slowly stir my spoon around the small cup of brown coffee sitting on the counter in front of me. I lean one of my elbows on the counter, my hand holding my head up. I'm utterly exhausted right now. I could literally fall asleep on the spot, there's just no other way to put it. Thanks, nightmares and wedding planning. I really should've had Effie do all this.

I don't even like coffee, but I'm so exhausted that I'm drinking it. I remember my mother drinking it when we were little, but I never liked it. It tastes better now than it did then, though.

Peeta's voice pipes up next to me. My eyes snap open at his voice. I didn't even know they were closed, and I didn't know he was sitting next to me.

"Hm? Yeah, the flowers are gonna be shipped soo... soon," I mumble pretty much incoherently. I have absolutely no clue what he said, and that was the first thing that came to my mind. The wedding is very soon so I've been going crazy double and triple checking everything to make sure the night will go smoothly.

"That-that has nothing to do with what I just asked," he replies softly. It's not in a malicious way, he's just pointing out the fact that I have no clue what he said. "I said, Katniss, are you okay? You look like you're about to collapse," he says calmly.

I sigh but it quickly turns into a yawn. "I'm, I'm fine. Never been better," I say through another yawn. My eyes fall closed again as I say this.

"Katniss, you need to go sleep," Peeta says in a gentle yet commanding tone. "It's unhealthy for you to be this tired."

I wave my hand in his direction. "I'll be, I'll be fine. I just need some caffeine," I say slowly.

Suddenly I'm lifted from the chair I was previously sitting on. My arms automatically wrap around Peeta's neck to prevent me from falling. "Peeta, what are you doing?", I question, probably more harshly than I should.

He carefully goes up the stairs, turning my body in his arms the right ways so I don't hit the walls. "Taking you to bed. You need to sleep," he responds a moment later.

I gently slap his shoulder with one hand. "I'll be fine, you don't need to do this," I snap.

"See? You doing that just proves that you're tired and need to sleep," he points out.

"No, I don't, I'm not tired at all," I mumble, having no truth behind my words.

"Katniss, the dark circles under your eyes are practically shouting for you to sleep." He sighs, pausing on the staircase and resting his forehead against mine. "What am I gonna do with you?"

I shrug. "Put me down like I asked earlier?", I question sarcastically.

He walks us into our bedroom and sets me on our bed. I try to get up, but he puts his hands on my shoulders to gently push me back down. "Sleep, please," he begs.

I roll my eyes, the ones that apparently have dark circles under them, and lay back down.

"Fine," I grumble. "But you have to stay with me," I say pointedly.

"I was going to go plan more for the wedding," he says.

"Please?", I pout.

He sighs and scratches his head. "Okay, I'll stay." He pulls his shirt off and crawls into the bed with me. We get into our usual position: my head laying on his chest, our arms wrapped around each other.