Stay with me? [Finnick Odair]

4

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Chapter four: So, maybe I'm not okay
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Before we knew it, they took us to the train station in a car, Asher was running her mouth the whole time but I don't think either of us were listening. I doubt she cared either.

We reached the train station within minutes, a large crowd of people were waiting for us, but what worried me the most was the cameras all waiting for us to exit the car. I could tell my eyes were still aggravated from crying, there was no hiding it either, I clenched my jaw and followed Oliver out the car — trying to make it to the train as fast as possible, but that seemed nearly impossible with the crowd we had to push through.

Oliver kept such a cold stare towards the cameras, as if he hated them for recording him, but I could see the frown pulling at his lips — desperate to show itself and reveal his true feelings.

We made it to the train before that could happen.

The train set off at once, whisking us away so fast that I almost fell at the speed it was going, but I maintained my balance. We're led towards the tribute's rooms, they're practically right next to each other but we don't complain, we just give each other a polite nod before disappearing into our own chambers.

The tributes get so spoiled during the week they have before the games, especially on the train, the rooms are huge; we have our own dressing rooms, the wardrobe and bedside tables are filled to the brim with fine clothes that look far too expensive for a girl like me, we get our own bathrooms with both a bathtub and a shower; there's even a little platter of snacks and sweets by the bed.

Asher leaves us to our own devices, telling us to be ready for supper in about an hour, I stand in the middle of the room wondering what to do.

Slipping a little cream coloured sweet from the tray beside my bed into my mouth, I slip out of the dress I was wearing and search the wardrobe for something a little more my style. I go with a yellow knitted sweater, black jeans, a pair of black flats and secured Annie's necklace around my neck. I sat on the bed, fingers traipsing through the fur bed cover, I smirked to myself when I heard the door slide open. My head snapped upwards.

"Enjoying yourself?" Finnick stood there with a smirk plastered across his lips, I rolled my eyes, though I couldn't help but notice the sadness behind his expression when he looked at me. It was like he was almost sad to see me go.

Laughing airily, I shook my head as he moved to take a seat beside me.

"I'm... taking it all in," I said after a moment of contemplation, offering Finnick a gentle smile only to receive a weak lob-sided smile in return. I swallowed hard. "Finnick, you know I'll be okay, right?"

He took a moment to absorb what I just said, looking surprised at my words, he tried to cover up his response with a nervous chuckle. "I know that, if anyone can win this thing it's you, Clem," he smirked, that god damn smirk that sent my insides into a frenzy, I didn't know why — it had been happening since we were kids, but I knew he was telling the truth and that's all that mattered. "You know how to hunt, so that's a bonus."

"Yeah, animals," I laughed.

Finnick took a couple minutes, contemplating his next words, he shrugged his shoulders lazily and tilted his head. "What's the difference?" He mumbled grimly, my smile faded, and I quickly realised he was right. If I wanted any chance of making it back to Mae and my mom I would have to start thinking of these people as animals, not human, but the ugly truth is that they aren't human... most of them, anyway. They're mostly just animals looking for the weak prey to go after.

I chewed on my bottom lip as Finnick and I fell into silence. It wasn't awkward, it was actually quite comfortable.

Then he pulled himself off of the bed, pressing a button by the door, the light dimmed and a gentle song began playing. "Maybe this will take your mind off of it," he chuckled towards me, offering me his hand, I couldn't help but laugh as I took his hand and he pulled me closer to him. We began swaying to the music.

Finnick and I used to do this all the time, dance together, even without music, a lot of the time he would sing for me and we'd just sway along to it until time eventually slipped away from us. Now we actually had music. He stared at me like I was the only girl in the world, his eyes twinkling under the dimmed light of the room, both of our smiles lingered on our faces as memories of before his games had resurfaced. It was nice to relive this with him, one hand gripping at my waist and his other holding mine like it was a flower petal— so scared to hold me too tightly, but also afraid I'll slip through his grasp and leave him for good.

It was like a scene out of a movie from a totally different universe, one where all of this didn't exist and we were free to do whatever we wanted, one where we were free from the rain cloud that was the games.

It was perfect...

Until Asher was rapping on the door, yelling for us to go to supper, that's what ruined the moment. Both me and Finnick laughed as we pulled apart.

"Great timing," Finnick joked, letting out another laugh as he slipped out the door, I followed him with a beaming grin plastered across my lips...