The New Neighbor

Chapter 3

Katniss's POV

"Prim! Come downstairs to eat your special Saturday breakfast!" I say while flipping the pancake over. I hear fast footsteps and next thing I know it, Prim is standing beside me. She quickly grabs a plate and I pick up the pancake and put it on her plate.
"Do we have honey?" She asks looking through the cabinets.
"Uh yeah, it's in the sixth cabinet." I say making another pancake.
She sets the honey on the table and grabs the milk. She pours the milk into two glass cups. I finish the last pancake and set the plate with pancakes on the table. The doorbell unexpectedly rings just when I sit down.
"Who could be up this early?" I say sort of joking.
"Katniss, it's 9:30 am not 5:30 am," Prim says, chuckling.
"I'm just sayin'," I say with a smile. I get up from the table and I hurry over to the door. I open the door to find Peeta standing there with a bag of cookies.
"Peeta," I say surprised. I honestly wasn't expecting him.
"I brought cookies." He says holding up the cookie bag. A small laugh escapes from my mouth.
"Thank you. They look delicious." I say looking at them. He hands them to me and says,
"I hope you enjoy them, see you later," he smiles. I smile back at him, and with that, he walks away. That was fast. Was he nervous? I walk back into the kitchen. Prim already finished her breakfast.
"Someone was hungry." I say, chuckling. She giggles and puts her plate in the sink. She sits back down at the table, petting her ugly cat. He hisses at me and I scowl at him.
"I don't understand why you don't like buttercup." She says like she read my mind. I stay quiet. I finish my breakfast and get dressed for the day.
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Right now I'm in the woods. It's calm and peaceful. The woods aren't just the same without Gale. I wonder when he'll come back. He texted me two hours ago saying that he might come back and visit. He doesn't know when though. I sigh and start to go back home. While I'm walking back, I remember about that little incident that happened yesterday. Oh god, that was so awkward and embarrassing. That's probably why Peeta left fast when he came to give me the cookies. Was it a gift to say sorry? I clear that thought out of my mind. I'm on my porch when I start to hear shouting. It's a woman. It's coming from Peeta's house. I wonder what's happening. I ignore it and go inside.
"Katniss?" Prim yells from upstairs.
"Yeah it's me." I say. She comes downstairs with a smile on her face.
"Mom came home." She says happily.
"She did? Um I don't see her." I say kind of irritated that my own mother would actually come back home.
"Well she went back to work a few minutes ago..." She says with a hint of sadness in her voice. She asked where you were and told her that you were in the woods." She continues.
"Oh." Is all I say. She did not even bother to stay a little longer to see me. At least she saw Prim. Prim needed her most. Probably more than me and she just left to work after dad died in the car crash. I don't think that I'll ever get married.
-
An hour after dinner, I decided to take a walk. I don't usually do this; actually, I never do this. I usually go out to the woods to think. I guess taking a walk to the woods still counts, right? I put on my dad's leather jacket that he gave me before the accident. I slip on my leather boots and head outside. I feel the ice cold breeze on my face and hands. I'm almost to the fence that separates the woods and the neighborhood. I slide under the wire when I see a figure walking into the woods. At first I'm kind of scared to think who it could be. But, I keep going anyway. As I get closer to the figure, it keeps going deeper into the woods. I don't dare try to attack it. It could be a serial killer or something. Maybe I'm overreacting. The figure finally stops and sits down on the nearest log. I make sure I'm not too close, but also make sure that I'm not too far. I accidentally trip over a rock and make a loud noise. Cliche.
"Anyone there?" Says the male voice.
It sounds familiar. I stand up carefully and make my way a little closer to him. He stands up and that's when the moonlight shines on his face. I am surprised when I see who it is. It's Peeta. Why was he here? I stand up and practically jump out of the trees. This makes him jump.
"Peeta?" I say. He instantly recognized my voice.
"Katniss?"
"Peeta, what are you doing here." I say as I get closer to him.
"I uh" he clears his throat. "I came here to be alone for a while." he says rubbing the back of his neck.
"Oh, I often come here to think." I say.
He nods and awkwardly shoves his hands in his pockets.
"Well if you came here to think, I won't interrupt, I'll be going now." He says and starts walking away.
"Wait," I say. "I get kind of lonely here after a while." I continue. "Will you stay with me?"
"Uh...yeah." he says nervously. He walks back towards me. We both start walking together deeper into the woods in silence. It's not awkward. We find a log to sit on that's near a pond. We sit down and Peeta grabs a rock and twiddles with it. Why is he acting so nervous?
"Are you okay?" I ask him. He stops twiddling with the rock and looks at me. Even in the dark with a little bit of moonlight, I can see his crystal blue eyes looking at me.
"Uh, yeah. Why do you ask?" He says casually.
"It's just that, you've been acting nervous around me lately." I say.
"Is it because of what happened yesterday?" I ask him.
"It's stupid, I know, I shouldn't be nervous, it's not like it's gonna happen again, right?" He says chuckling a bit.
I blush at the thought if it did happen again. Stop it Katniss. You barely even know Peeta. I smile and say,
"Right."
He starts throwing rocks at the pond, making some small comments that make me laugh. He threw the last pebble that he had in the pond. He turns to me.
"Why don't you tell me a bit about yourself?" He asks me.
"Okay," I say. "My name is Katniss Everdeen. I am seventeen years old. I love to hunt out here in the woods. My favorite meal is lamb stew. My favorite color is green and I have one little sister." I say. He smiles at me.
"Okay your turn." I say.
"Um why?" He teases.
"Because it's only fair if you do it too." I say while crossing my arms. He chuckles.
"My name is Peeta Mellark. I am seventeen years old. I'm a painter and a baker. I like to sleep with the windows open. I always double-knot my shoelaces. I never take sugar in my tea and my favorite color is sunset orange."
I don't say anything. I just smile. I scoot myself a little closer to him. We sit there and just stare at each other. I feel myself leaning in a bit. He cups my cheek with his hand. We both start leaning in, probably both our minds are clear and not thinking straight.
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A/N
Hey guys! I'm so so so so sorry for not updating VERY VERY earlier. I promise I will update chapter 4 very soon. I'll start writing chapter 4 somewhere around evening today and probably finish it by Wednesday. Do you guys want to me to write shorter chapters or keep it as it is? Please comment and I hope you guys enjoy! (By the way, I know K&P are taking things a bit fast in the end of this chapter but don't worry things between Katniss and Peeta won't happen that fast 😌)