Just Tell Me You Love Me Already

Chapter 14: Green Leaves

Cato's POV

Back at the camp, Marvel is still asleep, but 3 is up. He looks relived to see us. "I was so worried - "

"Oh, shut up," I say irritably, I'm sure he'd want nothing more than to see me dead, he was worried for Clove.

I feel Clove shoot me a glare, what was that for? I just told 3 to shut up, why is she so protective of him? Does she... like him? No way, she wouldn't...

"Here," 3 takes a step towards Clove. "We should get the stingers out." He takes another step towards her.

I step protectively in-front of Clove. "I can do that." I growl.

"Are you sure that you can?" 3 asks back, the nerve. "Your hands are so big, they might hurt her more than needed."

"Yeah, I can." I say, glaring daggers at the boy.

"Maybe we should ask Clove."

We both turn to Clove, who has an extremely awkward look on her face, it turns to annoyance quickly. "Oh my god, we're in the middle of death games and you can't even agree on who should get the honor of pulling stingers out of my skin. We are on a team, at least try to compromise."

"You still didn't answer the question." 3 says quietly.

"The answer to the question? You want it? I can pull them out myself; I'm not some child who needs help every step of the way." Clove stomps off in annoyance.

"Great," I glare at 3. "You made her mad."

"You had the same amount of part in that as I." 3 argues back.

Just one quick motion with my arm and he could be dead by now, but 3 knows I can't. I can't because Clove would be mad at me and 3 knows it.

I give him one last glare before going to find Clove. I look around the camp for her and don't see her. At first I think she's tromped off into the forest, but then I hear a noise. It's a strangled sort of gasp. Walking towards the sound, I find Clove sitting on top of an empty bin in the back of the Cornucopia, pulling out stingers with a pair of tweezers that were in her first aid kit. She looks up at the sound of my foot steps in the Cornucopia.

"Hey," I say.

She looks back down at her arm and plunges her tweezers into a swollen lump, gasping loudly when she yanks the stinger out.

"Let me help you," it hurts me to see Clove in pain like this, I walk over and reach for the tweezers. Clove puts them just out of my reach. "Come on, Clove, you can't be seriously mad at me for trying to protect you from that little creep."

"One I'm not mad at you for that, two he's not a creep he's just different from what we're used to."

"One," I say copying her, "he is creepy and two then what are you mad at me about?"

"What do you think?" she asks me, I have no idea! If I knew I wouldn't have asked!

"I honestly have no idea."

"I'm mad at you because you don't seem to think that I can fight for myself. If I don't want Sasha to help me with my wounds, I am perfectly fine defending myself."

"I know it's just...."

She raises her eyebrows at me, widening her perfect green eyes. "Just?"

"This sounds so stupid."

"Well you can't just go off in the middle of a sentence like that, it's against the law."

"What law?" I ask.