The Girl With The Silver Eyes

Chapter 15

Katniss

I sit next to Peeta on the tailgate of his truck out on a backroad, watching the stars as they are slowly covered by creeping wisps of grey cloud. Country music plays softly from inside of the cab, audible from the open back window.

"You look really pretty tonight," he says. I laugh.

"You know, I think you've told me that before," I say.

"Doesn't mean it isn't true," he replies. I look up at the sky and smile.

"If I had known ten months ago I would be down a dirt road, sitting on a tailgate next to my boyfriend, I'd think I was going crazy," I say. "But what the heck! I wasn't very sane when we started talking."

"Yeah, I guess you'd have to be pretty crazy to hang around with me, huh?" He says and I give him a playful shove.

"You aren't that bad Peeta," I say. "You always make me feel great about myself and actually make me feel like going out and doing things."

"You were really shy the first time I tried talking to you," he says.

"You were intimidating," I say. "And I don't make friends very easily. I'm not a people person."

"I know that," he says. "But no matter how shy you are or how stubborn you are, that would never change how I feel about you, Katniss." Look at him, his charming blue eyes glistening in the pale moonlight.

"And how is that?" I ask him. He looks down and his hand slips into mine, intertwining our fingers and holding it firmly.

"Did I ever tell you about how I fell in love with you?" He asks. I just nod.

"It's been since we were like, five right?" I say. "You heard me sing and first fell in love with my voice, then over time, the rest of me."

"That's right," he says. "But I never told you the rest of it."

"The rest of it?" I ask. He just nods.

"I promised myself that someday, if I ever got the chance, I was gonna marry you someday, Katniss," he says. "I was gonna take you away from this little town, go live wherever you want and treat you right for the rest of our days." I smile shyly.

"That's quite ambitious for a kindergartner," I say and he laughs.

"Yeah," he says. "But it's still true. After graduation, or after college if you wanted, I wanna marry you Katniss Everdeen and take you away to wherever your heart desires." He looks down, looking a bit embarrassed. "But my guess is that you weren't quite thinking like that by the way you're looking at me."

I feel a little shell shocked by his plans. Mostly because I hadn't even thought of what was to come after the impending senior year that was fast approaching at the end of August. I don't even know if I expected Peeta and I to survive the long distance relationship of me going to a small school here with an undecided major at home and Peeta's football career taking him on a full ride to Ohio State with a major in Art education. But he had. His belief in fate had caused him to plan for us to have a life together for the long run. And I feel ashamed of myself that I hadn't.

"In all honesty, I haven't thought that far ahead yet, Peeta," I say. "I don't know what I thought would happen to us. I was just trying to focus on getting through the day. Especially with everything happening."