Stay • Everlark (REVAMPING)

18. one life

Song for this chapter is above.

Katniss:
We ended up getting lost, but eventually we see Haymitch and a pacing Effie in the corridor.

"Peeta! You scared us half to death." Effie scolds, but gives him a warm hug anyway.

"And you!" She says, gesturing towards me. "You had me worried for hours, I thought you had passed out on the street somewhere!"

Effie takes us both and starts weeping. "I was so scared. I love you both. But never do that again."

I give her a smile and turn to Haymitch.

"Really testing my limits aren't you, sweetheart? No one can tell you what to do." He barks, suppressing a childish pout.

"Are you the one planning a wedding?" Effie replies gingerly. "Don't worry, Katniss. The dress is all taken care of thanks to yours truly."

I completely forgot about the dress. I just shoved it in Nysa's hands and ran out of the shop. "Thank you." I mumble, still irritated at myself for being jealous.

I don't make any eye contact with her. A part of me feels like she knows about what happened in the room. That's when I realise that's what I'm embarrassed about. Peeta gives me a reassuring look and I calm down.

"We should go." Peeta tells them. "Back to it, tomorrow?"

I glare at him angrily. "You can't be serious."

"Katniss, I'm okay." He whispers, stroking a piece of hair out of my face. "Trust me."

"Fine." I say, leading him away. "But you're not leaving my side. Got it?"

"Yes, ma'am." He says, jokingly into my ear, making me sweat behind the knees.

Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Effie glancing happily and nodding her head at Haymitch. What is she up to now?
-
The route home is long. I forgot that Peeta had a flashback so he's obviously weaker, he keeps insisting that he's fine, but I make him lean onto my shoulder for support anyway. After a lot of breaks, we eventually make it back.

"As much as I love you, that was horrendous." Peeta mutters between breaths.

"I can see that by your limp." I reply, rolling my eyes innocently.

"What do you mean?" He asks, clasping his hand onto the stair banister, looking like he's going to pass out.

"You limp when you walk a long way and you scrunch your nose when you get frustrated." I say sheepishly. "It's like when we were in the cave together because you were injured."

Peeta looks at me distinctively, the exact look he gave me when I rambled on about him double-knotting his shoelaces and leaving the windows open at night.

There's a long pause.

"Could you explain it to me?" Peeta finally says, almost as if he's ashamed of asking. "There's so many memories and usually I can separate them all but today I just—."

"Peeta," I say. "It's okay. I'll explain it to you. But first I'm taking you to sit down, you look exhausted,"

He smiles weakly at me and I take his arm over my shoulder steadily. If I trip, the both of us are going down.

I take him to the sofa and let him sit down on it, the window blaring evening sunlight. Something in my gut tells me it'll help with my story-telling. The fireplace is blaring from when Peeta was last here, and I crawl into a ball next to it.

"The fact that you prefer the floor over your own fiancé. Frankly, I'm offended." Peeta says, teasing me.

"Shut up, the floor doesn't try to kiss me in hospital rooms. To start with, do you remember anything at all?" I ask, I don't want to go over anything more than I need to.