When the Fire Ceased

Chapter 2 - Something?

CHAPTER 2

Something? 

And we go home. When we arrive, I take off my coat and sit on the couch as I watch Peeta walking to the kitchen. 

"What do you want to eat?" asks Peeta from the kitchen. 

"Hmmm... Surprise me!". I say. 

"As you wish!" he says and I can hear a smile as he says it. "Why don't you help me with the dessert? We can make cupcakes!". 

"Yum! But you know I am a terrible baker" I say as I join him in the kitchen. 

"Now you are not". 

"Well I'll try! But  remember I tried to warn you". 

I get the bowl out of the pantry but it slips through my hand and collapses on the floor. I bend down to pick it.

"Oh" Peeta says as he reaches for the bowl at the same time as me and our hands find each other just above the bowl. I look at his hand, a baker's hand. And mine, a haunter's hand. But his hand is so warm, and his touch makes me feel butterflies inside me. We look up at each other. It's like we are in slow motion as I stare into his eyes. The blue of his eyes startle me, it's amazing how you can get lost in someone's eyes. He leans and I do too. Now our faces are just a few inches away, I can feel his breath. I look at his lips. In a moment like this, I'm desperate to taste them. I almost forget the taste of his lips, but at the same time, I know it's impossible to forget such lips. 

I want to kiss him, and I would have done it if the ring hadn't bell in that exact moment. I jump, Peeta does too. "I'll go.", he says startled. I can catch a flinch of blush in his cheeks. 

I turn around before he can see me, I'm blushing red. "No, I'll go.", I say reaching for the doorknob.

I open the door catching my breath. "Haymitch" I exhale. 

"Hi sweetheart.", he says. His breath smells of alcohol, yuck. He's got a bottle in his hand and a note in the other. "I forgot to give you this", he says giving me the note and taking a zip from his bottle. 

I stare at it and I feel Peeta behind me. 

"Oh, it looks like you don't need it anymore", he says as he looks at Peeta behind me. "Well, I need it." He takes it from my hand and uses it like a handkerchief. "I think I'm getting a flu. It's freezing cold, I'm gonna leave you two alone.".

"Well, thanks Haymitch for delivering the note to Katniss," says Peeta. "You know what they say, better late than never!". Haymitch waves with his bottle and walks away. I smile and close the door. 

We go back to the kitchen and as far as I know, it's like nothing happened,  like we were never about to kiss. 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER 3

Lamb Stew

We go back to the preparing of the dinner, we just exchange a few words, none of them touching the topic of the kiss. The almost-kiss. 

I begin baking the cupcakes. Starting with the dough. My hands are focused on mixing the ingredients though my mind is on something else. This is the closest we have been to a kiss since we are living together. I have caught him staring at me but he has also caught me staring at him, sometimes before I realize it, I found myself really looking at him, and sometimes, it's hard for me to look away. He teases me sometimes, and there had been a few hugs. That's the physical. But Peeta as he sometimes does, tells me I'm beautiful and what an amazing girl I am, though I do not believe him. At nights, -the time of the day I dread the most- we sleep on the same bed and we comfort each other, I've been held in his strong arms so many nights, just after I wake up screaming from a horrible nightmare in which I relive every dead of every person that have died in my life time. And Peeta is the only one who can calm me down, not completely, but I hope that time can fix that. I try to distract myself with the cupcakes but that's what they are, a distraction because my mind keeps going back to the moment Peeta and I shared minutes ago. And not just that, why was I crying and couldn't stop myself when I found him? It's not like he was hit again by the strength of the force field in the arena. He was just missing... No, he wasn't missing, I just couldn't find him, he even left a note. I guess it's because I have lost everyone who I cared for. Part of me knows that that's true, a fact. But part of me does not believe that completely, part of me thinks that's not the main reason. But what is it? 

"It looks like you want to kill that dough", says Peeta grinning. 

I'm snapped back into reality by what he just said. I look down at the dough, the ingredients are already mixed, I guess they've been mixed for a while now. "Oh" is all I say. 

"Here" says Peeta reaching for the bowl and pouring the mix into the mold. 

"Dinner is almost ready." 

"Okay, I'll set the table." I say just as the smell brushes my nostrils. "It smells delicious.". Peeta smiles. 

I set the table. When I'm done, I sit and wait for Peeta. 

Peeta gets out of the kitchen with a bowl in his hands, it smells delicious. 

"Hungry?" he asks. He serves the food in both our plates. 

"I'm starving" I say. "What is this Peeta? It really smells delicious". Just as I'm asking him I think I guess what it is. Could it be? 

"Is this the Capitol lamb stew?" I ask surprisingly. I take a bite. It just doesn't smells delicious, it is delicious. It's sweet at the beginning and then like an explosion of flavors. "Mhmm! With dried plums!". Just like I remembered it. Delicious. If not better. 

"I remember it was your favorite, not even during the war or after I was hijacked, I forgot it was your favorite. So I looked up for the recipe though I made a few alterations", he says smiling and I take another bite. "I'm glad you liked it". He smiles at me, and I smile back.