Stay with me? [Finnick Odair]

32

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Chapter thirty two: Celebrations
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My prep team got to work straight away, sorting out all of the settings on my shower, waiting me to finish in the shower before bombarding me with several different ways of preparing me; my hair, my nails, my makeup and making sure every little hair that had grown back during the days I was in the arena was plucked away.

By the end of it I felt like I was right back where I started at the beginning of the hunger games, a featherless chicken, my skin was tingling in the most irritating way and the nattering from the three of them didn't help much. Although, I couldn't lie and say that I wasn't happy to hear their voices again. No matter how annoying, hearing friendly voices was one of the highlights of coming back home.

As soon as they were done, Cosmo walked in with a suit bag with what I assumed were my clothes for today. I immediately noticed the padding in the bra he handed to me and in the matching underwear, the people in the Capitol probably wanted to mask the famished look by adding curves, but no doubt someone in the Capitol wanted to add to my 'sex appeal' if I even had any. They were extremely transparent about having good-looking tributes up their sex appeal for the audience, which simply put a knot in my stomach, I knew President Snow would have had some say in that, it didn't make me feel any better that the bra made my breasts look at least two sizes bigger— as if they weren't already too big for my body type.

I frowned at Cosmo.

"I know," he sighed, shaking his head at how different my body looked. "This is all we could compromise on, we couldn't get them to drop the whole idea completely," he explained and I grumbled under my breath, slipping into the yellow knitted sweater that was essentially a dress and reached down to the middle of my thighs. It didn't exactly leave much to the imagination with the off-the-shoulder sleeves that reached to the top of my breasts and the fact that it barely covered my butt, I tried pulling it down to cover myself even more but that didn't help me up at my chest area.

I eventually gave up, sending Cosmo an annoyed look, he shrugged his shoulders before his lips curled upwards and he sent me a wink. Pressing a button, I was relieved when the dress altered itself to be a lot longer than the Capitol wanted, covering to the top of my knees, though it didn't do much to cover my shoulders, I was definitely a lot happier with the length. An added touch, personal to Cosmo's style of clothing, the dress was now covered in glimmering sparkles that shimmered effortlessly under every movement.

I smiled to myself, enjoying the fresh look after going through hell and back, I didn't even look like the girl who had just came out of the hunger games after murdering her friend out of fear, I looked like a totally new person.

The makeup was simple, brown eyeshadow that covered the dark circles of my eyes, metallic gold eyeliner with tiny gold freckles to match that were very subtle but definitely noticeable, highlighter, and a little more makeup that rounded my face and covered the sharp edges that hinted to the fact that I was close to starving. My nails were painted in the same yellow that my dress was coloured with a few gold shapes painted on to give my nails the effortless beauty look.

Needless to say, I loved it, but the connotations of me winning the death games led me to hate everything about this day. Besides the chance of going home, that was the only good part of today.

Cosmo and I rode the elevator down to where I trained, where I recruited Archer and Rosalie to be allies, where I taught Charlotte to shoot a bow and arrow, where everything began. I tried not to think of everything that happened before the games as I was stood on the metal plate that would transport me upward onto the stage, I could already hear the roaring crowd of the Capitol, I swallowed the bile that was rising in my throat and stared up at the ceiling when a hand was placed on my shoulder. I jumped.

Turning around, I let out a sigh of relief when Finnick was stood behind me.

"It's only me," he laughed, shaking his head at my reaction, he was already all suited up for the celebration and he looked incredibly sharp in that suit that Cosmo no doubt told him to wear—considering the signature sparkles all over it. "Look, when you get out there, you have to make it look like you're proud and that you knew you were going to win. Also, try and look... you know, sexy," he explained, his eyes flickering down to the ground as a faint pink glow appeared on his cheeks which was clearly visible— even under the terrible lighting of the room.

I laughed, earning a small glare from Finnick, though he joined in my laughter after a second or two. I quickly straightened myself out, adjusting the tie that was around his neck, I sent him a small smile.

"I'll try."

He then nodded and left me alone in the gloom, though I secretly wished he had stayed with me, I stood myself on the metal plate and waited for my cue.

The anthem blared in my ears, one by one, my prep team, Cosmo, Asher and then Finnick are called onto the stage by Caesar Flickerman. The crowd goes crazy when Finnick is on stage. No surprise there, it's mostly female screams. But, before I know it, I'm blinded by the lights of the stage and I'm forced to drop the scared girl who had just came out of the worst moment of her life act and force on a sexy girl look that surely made people back home groan collectively...