Chapter 11: Arena Day 3
Peeta wakes up alone on the bed. He sits up looking for Cato, finding him sitting on the log taking care of his sword. Peeta stays on the bed watching him, the way his muscles flex and relax as he moves. He can feel a stirring in his groin and forces himself to look away, missing the look of longing from the older blonde.
Peeta looks at his friends. He sees they’ve all broken off into smaller groups. Katniss is quietly talking to Marvel, sitting hip to hip. Gale and Clove are also sitting together talking in hushed tones. Peeta notices that the bandage is off Clove’s ankle and she’s back in her shoes. Rue and Rie are eating some dried fruit together. Glimmer and Madge are off to the side, shooting arrows at a tree. Thresh, Delly, and Foxface are talking together as well. Peeta is shocked out of his perusal when Clove plops herself down on the bed.
“Hey Bread Boy, now that you’re finally awake are you ready to give me my lessons now?” she asks nudging his shoulder with her own.
“Sure thing Clover,” he replies nudging her back. “Just let me put this bed away first.”
He’s not surprised when she gets up and helps him put it away. What shocks him, shocks them all, is the cannon blasts going off - five in total. With the one that interrupted him and Cato last night makes six. Peeta’s mind wanders to the night before, the feeling of Cato’s lips on his own. Had the cannon not gone off, how far would they have gone? He knows he cares for Cato, a lot, but is he ready for a physical relationship with the older blonde? He can’t deny that he would like to be physical with Cato, to feel their bodies come together as one. But being where they are isn’t the most ideal location. He wonders if Cato would be willing to wait until they’re out of the arena. His thoughts are interrupted yet again by Clove.
“Stop drooling over Muscles and let’s go,” she says teasingly. “You can moon over him later.”
He looks at her with wide eyes. She’s far too perceptive as far as Peeta was concerned. She leans closer to him.
“He was lying there watching you sleep this morning. I had to tell him to go clean his sword before it rusted,” she whispers. “If I hadn’t said anything, you wouldn’t have gotten the sleep you needed and the viewing public would have gotten quite the show.”
Peeta’s not quite sure why she’s telling him all that, probably to embarrass him – which it did. He does feel well rested though. He looks over to Cato one more time. He sees Cato smile at him and he smiles back. He watches as Gale waves his hand in front of Cato’s face to get his attention back. Peeta forces himself to turn to Clove.
“You got the stars?” he asks her, trying to refocus.
She shows him the stars and they move a safe distance away from the group but staying within eyesight. They spend the next hour throwing the stars at a tree. They only stop when Peeta’s stomach growls.
“Sorry Peeta,” Clove says. “I probably should have let you eat first. I was just really excited to learn.”
“It’s fine Clove. You’ve done amazingly. In fact, I want you to take three of them for yourself. Besides, I have my bow.” Peeta says smiling at her. He’s surprised when she hugs him. But when she immediately follows it with a punch in the arm, he just shakes his head. It was so like her.
They walk back into the camp and over to the pile of backpacks so Peeta could grab something to eat. He grabs the four rolls from last night and some dried meat before going to sit by Cato.
“How was the lesson?” Cato asks.
“She’s really good with them. I gave her three of them,” Peeta replies before beginning to eat.
