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everlarkficexchange · 7 years

Text

Perspective

Written by: @roseymama

Rated K

Prompt 10: A coworker of one that is a friend of the other tries to set Katniss and Peeta up not knowing that they are already dating. [submitted by @booksrockmyface]

Summary: Madge sets up Katniss on a date because she’s unsure about her “boyfriend”. Turns out Peeta Mellark is the perfect guy to help Katniss put things in perspective.

She’s not sure about much of anything right now. She’s spent weeks second guessing herself every time he texts. She’s been reading online advice columns she would have scoffed at six months ago. They only mention red flags and warning signs. It’s not quite the information she needs. When he comes over to her house to watch a movie on a random Tuesday night, she spends the entire evening trying to figure out if she might be a “side chick.”

The results of her untrained analyses are inconclusive. Katniss is so thoroughly inexperienced that the lack of reassurance is overwhelming. Being a late bloomer, all of this relationship stuff has her hopelessly confused. She knows Madge can at least give her some personal advice without laughing about it. By the time of her standing Monday lunch date with her oldest friend, Katniss has a little speech prepared to broach this novel topic. Sure they’ve talked about guys before, but only boys, then teens, then men, that Madge was interested in.

As soon as Katniss walks into the restaurant, Madge flags her down and exasperatedly sighs, “Oh good, you’re finally here! I had a morning from hell and I need someone to talk me out of ordering another Bloody Mary.”

Katniss couldn’t imagine what might have her friend so keyed up, but Madge rarely gets stressed about anything that isn’t work related. While both women are employees of the local governments, Katniss is a lowly park service employee, and Madge works in the mayor’s office. Madge raves about how brave Katniss is when she has to deal with the occasional bear, cougar, or snake. Likewise, Katniss has trouble fathoming how her sweet,quiet friend can stomach public speaking and handling concerned citizens and angry taxpayers.

“You guys weren’t in the office this morning were you?” Katniss crinkles her nose and shakes her head as she takes her seat. The hazards of government work were made attractive when Katniss found out that the park service offices are closed on Mondays like much of the city-county government

“That’s the thing. We had a quick prep session scheduled since the governor is coming next week. Someone must have seen a few of us through the windows in the office though. My phone was ringing off the hook with stupid calls from a certain dudebro,” she levels a pointed look, “who seems to think calling me incessantly on my day off is a good way to convince me he needs a platform with every member of the city-county government hierarchy.”

Feeling guilty, Katniss replies, “I’m so sorry Gale thinks you are some sort of magical representative of power.”

Madge waves a hand backward and makes a sound of dismissal. “Won’t be the first, won’t be the last.” She opens her menu, even though she has it memorized. “I shouldn’t complain, Hot Buns brought breakfast again.”

This is as good an entry into the general topic as any. Maybe talking about Madge’s love life will naturally lead to talking about Katniss’ situation. Katniss attempts to be nonchalant as she stammers out, “Are you, you know, into him?”

Madge stares at her, head cocked, like she has sprouted a third ear. Katniss clears her throat and tries again, “You seem to like him. Like, a lot. And I mean, like like. Like he’s a boy.” She huffs as she senses things are falling apart. “Are you going to ask him out? On like, a date?”

She winces. So much for natural.

Madge’s unflappable grace under pressure is practically famous, but it cannot contain the tinkle of laughter that she tries to swallow. “Since when did Katniss Everdeen want to talk about boys?” Sensing something is up, she tilts her head and gives an encouraging smile. “Okay, catch me up.”

Thankful her friend is so understanding, Katniss takes a deep breath and begins to let it all spill out. The unexpected reunion with a childhood acquaintance, the stormy night spent talking until the sun came up, the first kiss under the stars, the continued texting and hang outs.

“So you’ve been hiding this whole thing from me? For the past three months?

“Not exactly hiding. Just not mentioning it. This is all really new for me. I’m still not sure what’s going on.”

“What do you mean you’re not sure? It sounds like one of my best friends has been seeing a guy for months, for the first time in years, mind you, and not telling me. This is a pretty cut and dry case of gal pal negligence.“

Katniss sputters a bit, not used to Madge being annoyed with her. In all the years they’ve known each other she has never had reason, let alone desire, to talk about her love life. She tries to explain what has happened, and how she hasn’t confirmed if she is really dating this man.

Madge has already declared the entire situation a bust. As Katniss describes the nature of her encounters with the mystery guy, Madge’s demeanor shifts from perturbed annoyance, to playful exasperation, to genuine tenderness, bordering on pity.

“You’re telling me that you have never seen this guy on a weekend? No Fridays, Saturdays, or Sundays? And that didn’t set off a few red flags?”

“Umm. Maybe? I don’t know, he seems to have really good reasons to be busy. And it’s not like he has trouble meeting up during the week at the drop of a hat, so I don’t think he’s married, if that’s what you’re getting at.”

“Or his wife lives somewhere else.” Madge waits a moment for the thought to sink in before continuing, “It’s pretty easy to be available if you travel for business during the week but actually go home to your family Friday nights.”

“But he’s always here. Wouldn’t he travel lots of places if that were the case?”

“Are you forgetting how we met Finnick?

Well now Katniss feels stupid. How could she forget? Finnick, a casual acquaintance, was being doggedly pursued by several women in a bar when he asked to join Katniss and Madge on a girls’ night. They had a great time and he went out for drinks with them during the week for a few weeks before they found out he was married. His wife, Annie, was finishing up her studies so they had to live mostly apart for about 15 months. It’s entirely plausible that her possible-maybe-boyfriend had a similar situation. Only he wasn’t as honorable and in love with his wife as Finnick.

“What if he just has kids? He’s being a good dad by not introducing them to random women,” Katniss tries to spin. She can’t believe this man is truly duplicitous.

Madge counters that he should probably still mention them. Especially if he ever intends for Katniss to be something serious. “Best case scenario, you’re not even dating him. Just stop answering his texts for a few days and I’m sure he’ll seem to vanish.”

Not even dating him? Are you sure you’re even dating this guy? Madge’s question feels like a shot ricocheting around in Katniss’ head. Isn’t that what she’s spent so much time online trying to figure out? The way Madge puts it, there’s not much of a question. What a bust indeed.

With a sympathetic sigh, Madge expertly maneuvers their conversation away from Katniss’ embarrassing dating gaffe. The ladies order their meals and continue their lunch date much as usual, with plenty of intermittent comfortable silences that both women enjoy.

When the conversation inevitably returns to the reason for Madge’s perturbed attitude that morning, Katniss attempts to keep herself from steering the conversation towards talking about guys again.

“Hot Buns freaked after we found out that the governor’s gluten free. I think he was personally offended. I don’t care - just means more for me.”

Madge’s insistence on calling one of her coworkers “Hot Buns” is distracting. Katniss doesn’t have to feign curiosity. “Why do you always call him Hot Buns again?”

“If you saw him you would too,” Madge chuckles as she wiggles her eyebrows. “But really, it’s because he brings in food all the time. The first few weeks it was always breakfast buns of some sort - cinnamon, sticky, cheese, fruity, you name it.”

“That sounds like the perfect coworker. Mine aren’t so thoughtful. A day when I don’t have to deal with droppings is a luxury.”

“You know what? I think he’s single. You should let me set you up with him. Make you forget about Mr. Technically-we’re-not-dating-so-technically-it’s-not-cheating.”

Katniss is nervous at the thought. Going on a date with Madge’s coworker seems like something that could end badly. She’s not sure how, but it just feels a little too outside her comfort zone. But Madge is alarmingly adept at getting Katniss to step outside her comfort zone. She uses the ability sparingly, which only heightens its power.

By the end of lunch, Katniss finds she has agreed to a blind date with a stranger called Hot Buns. Pending confirmation, she’ll be on a classically defined date with this guy as early as Friday night.

Wednesday morning, Katniss gets a text from Madge giving her the time and place for her date with Hot Buns. A local pizzeria slash microbrewery that is well known as one of the area’s best casual restaurants. Somewhere Katniss could feel comfortable and have a nice dinner even if the date didn’t pan out. She was starting to look forward to it. A by-the-book first date is exactly what she needs to figure out what went wrong before. After dipping her toe in the waters of a possible romantic relationship, she’s curious to see more.

The week finishes quickly, and by Friday Madge is following Katniss home after work to help her pick a nice, but not too nice, date night outfit. Her confidence is bolstered by Madge’s reassurances that her flowy floral spring dress is paired perfectly with a jean jacket and ankle boots. Katniss tells herself that she looks magazine ready and she is about to go on a magazine caliber date.

Her trip to the restaurant is on the longish side, but the weather is so perfect she can’t help walking. Spring has finally sprung, and Katniss wants to embrace it.

The place is filled with Friday revelers. Katniss debates grabbing a cider from the bar to gather some courage, but the hostess seems to know who she is already. Even though they don’t take reservations, Madge called in some favors to make sure a spot would be saved for Katniss and Hot Buns for their date. Walking towards the corner table, Katniss spies a suspiciously familiar head of blond curls.

“What on earth are you doing here?!” Katniss’ confusion quickly gives way to a barely contained rage. Her eyes shoot daggers at him even while her sense of propriety forces her to sit demurely in the seat he’s pulling out for her.

She really can’t believe his nerve. Sitting across from her is none other than Peeta “I don’t like you enough for an actual date” Mellark. The very same man she had been trying to get over by going on this date.

At least he has the decency to look embarrassed. His initial winsome smile has faded to a pinched, polite one. “Ummm, hey Katniss. This is, uh, hey.” His normally easy going poise has abandoned him, probably taken off somewhere with Katniss’ dignity.

“I certainly wasn’t expecting to see you here,” her ire loosens her tongue. “I didn’t realize you loved baked goods so much. Or were free on weekends suddenly. Or maybe you just couldn’t come hang out because you were on dates.” She’s seeing red.

Of all the possible scenarios she had envisioned coming from this date, she did not anticipate anything remotely close to this. All of her questions about the situation with Peeta have another layer now. How many dates has Peeta gone on in the past couple months? Why was he toying with her when he obviously could just go out and have fun? Did she even have a chance with him? She starts to deflate a little when she realizes that he must not see her in that way. If he wanted a cheap hookup he would have made a move beyond a few kisses on her couch by now. His frequent weekend work excuses look flimsy compared to the crisp look of his button down shirt and pressed dress slacks.

Peeta sputters for a moment before sensing Katniss’ melancholy turn. He spends a second gathering his thoughts before he launches into what he suspects will be a make it or break it explanation.

“Look, I know it sounds a little skeezy, but when Madge told me she was trying to set up her friend Katniss I almost had a heart attack. I thought she told you my name too. Then we’d laugh about how she tried to set us up when we’re already seeing each other.”

Katniss narrows her eyes at him. Sensing a need to be more thorough, Peeta carefully explains why his weekends had been so busy. “I was being honest when I said I had to work weekends.”

Her eyebrows arch highly with disbelief. His words gain speed as they tumble out in an effort to salvage the date, “Not for the mayor! I’m helping my brother! He runs the bakery back home, but his wife is still learning the ropes. They just got married and she could barely knead a basic loaf and I really like her but sometimes learning our recipes can be rough and it’s easy to get a little mean when training a new person and I don’t want her to hate my brother and divorce him because he wakes her up at 3:15 only to get upset she put baking powder in something when it was supposed to be baking soda. I thought it would only take a couple weekends, but we grew up in the bakery and she’s, I don’t know, a rookie? I underestimated things, and wedding season is turning into all year and this is the first Friday I’ve stayed up past 7 in months and there’s absolutely no one else I’d rather spend my night with.”

Katniss considers his story. From what she knows of Peeta’s character and habits since they’ve reconnected, it holds up.

“Madge said you were single.” Even though she says it with an even tone, the statement is dripping with accusation.

“I don’t talk about my personal life at work. Madge won’t find out you’re my girlfriend until everyone needs dates for summer fundraisers. And you’re so private, I guess I thought you weren’t going to introduce me to your friends until we’d been dating for a while.” Peeta hesitates a moment before adding, “Unless … we’re not dating?”

Katniss is stunned. Last week, she spent an excessive amount of time thinking about Peeta. An hour ago, she was preparing for a date to try to forget about him. Ten minutes ago, she thought he must be the worst emotional manipulator she had ever encountered. Now, she suspects there may have been a simple misunderstanding. “I’m your girlfriend?”

Peeta shakes his head; he can’t believe this conversation is real. “I’d like you to be. Full disclosure: I’ll try to be more upfront with my girlfriend. She’ll know all about my brother’s bakery schedule and I’ll even try to score a free weekend here and there.”

Katniss toys with the red pepper flake shaker on the table. Without raising her head, her voice is shy with hope as she says, “We’d have to go out on a date first.”

Peeta’s reassuring laugh startles her. He reaches his hand over hers and in a conspiratorial whisper says, “Well, I happen to know this great little pizza place.”

They both start laughing in earnest. By the time they’ve eaten through three quarters of a pizza they’ve both sufficiently recovered from the initial shock of the night. Peeta barks a hearty laugh when Katniss tells him about some of the theories she came up with to explain his unavailability. Katniss debuts a newly discovered giggle as Peeta explains the timeline of how she became his girlfriend and didn’t know it.

They’re leaving the restaurant and debating whether Katniss needs to see Peeta’s horrifically old and raggedy couch or if they should just hang out at Katniss’ house again, when she stops with a groan.

“Crap! Madge is going to grill me about this date on Monday.”

Peeta obviously relishes being able to casually drop his arm around his girlfriend’s shoulders. He’s all seriousness as he asks, “How close are you two?”

“She’s my oldest friend. We generally don’t beat around the bush,” Katniss responds.

He grins as if that’s the best reply he could have asked for. “Well then, let’s give you something to talk about.”

#Everlark Fic Exchange #Springtime Edition 2017 #submission #roseymama #booksrockmyface #Prompt 10

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