Peeta's POV.

"You sure you can't stay any longer?" I ask Ted, who is leaving the house.

"No, Peeta. I really can't. I have to go back to Lizzie and the wedding isn't going to plan itself on his own." Ted says, digging his hand on his pocket searching for his car key.

"It's shit that I'm your best man but I can't help you plan the wedding." I grumble, pouting slightly.

"I know you do, but between you and me, I'm not really going to do anything with the wedding planning. Lizzie gets kind of bossy, I doubt I would have any sort of choice in the matter." Ted says, whispering the last part. I chuckle "That sucks."

"But if you really want to do something for the wedding you could always play a few songs on the piano in the ceremony." Ted suggests.

I almost immediatly shake my head. Does he still remember that? Ifiggured he wouldn't remember. It feels like ages since the last time I played, although it's just been a few months. The truth is that I'm terrified of playing it, mostly because it brings memories of my old life. Something I'm trying to avoid, since thinking of the past brings me this unsettling feeling in the pit of my stomach that ends up transforming in anxiety and fear. "I don't play anymore." I say a little to quickly, trying to close the subject.

Ted nods in a way that makes me believe he was already expecting this answer from me. "Shame." he says resting his hand in my shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. "You were out of this world." I look down, not wanting to face him and not sure how to react to his compliment. Deep down I feel as if he disaprooves my behavior towards this subject, which most likely is true.

Ted pats my shoulder "Well, I'll be going then. See you soon." and with that he gets in the car and leaves. I wave at him from the front lawn and turn around, where Katniss is staring at me witha smile.

"Hei!" I say pecking her lips.

"Hei" she greets casually "Hope you don't mind my heavesdropping.". I shake my head, giving her a halfhearted smile. "What's that about the piano you were saying? I didn't know you play." she pipes, turning around walking towards my front porch, with me following behind.

"I don't. I used to." I correct her, trying to change the subject.

Katniss turns around and smirks at me "Shame, because I have a thing for musicians." she says seductivily. My face hottens and I get goosebumps thinking of the way Katniss' statement sounds so suggestive.

I chuckle amd we both come in and walk to the kitchen, where Haymitch is (to my great surprise) reading a culinary book.

"What are you doing?" I ask him suspiciously because something isn't right. Haymitch doesn't read, or cook, for that matter. Haymitch closes the book rather agressivily and eyes me with annoyance, while wearing a surly expression.

"Nothing of you business." he says obnoxiously.

I raise my hands in mock defeat "What got into you?" I joke. He scowls and Katniss tries to supress a giggle beside me. I look at her and smile. "So, Haymitch, is this your dirty secret? Prentending to not know how to cook so that you can have chinese every night?"

Haymitch glares at me, and I immediatly understand he is either grumpy or I shouldn't have came in the room in that moment. "I was going to make your birthday cake as a surprise but now I don't think it's worth it anymore." he grumbles.

I chuckle "Correction." I say as a matter of fact "You were going to try to make my birthday cake, and, my birthday isn't even until next Saturday."

"Well, it takes time to bake a cake! We need to have everything planned out before actuallu starting! And it's not like anyone would actually use the cake. It probably would end up in food poisioning." Haymitch defends himself. I roll my eyes at him. It seems impossible that he doesn't know how to bake a cake. When I was working at the bakery I would bake two or three cakes a day, in a slow day that is. But I guess it's not like that with everyone, I mean, my parents did own a bakery so...

"We can always by one. I mean, it's no birthday party without a cake." Katniss pipes up.

A birthday party. I don't think I ever had one, since I never had lots of friends. And a birthday cake? It's been Probably 10 years since I had a proper one. When my father was still with us, he would bake me a cake of my favorite flavour. I think it was chocolate. There would be gifts wrapped up in flashy paper, and my father would play that birthday song on the piano. It used to be my favorite day of the year, mostly because I would recieve most of the atention. But with the time passing the less and less that day mattered, it was just a date, a change of number. Unless that's what I think. I guess it's just my way to make me feel better about the fact my mother didn't really care about my birthday, or me in general. When it was just me and her, nothing changed, it was just a regular, hell like, day. There was no party, no cakes, no balloons or presents. In a way it kind of seems futile ,all these things shouldn't really matter, but damn, I wish I had had that. Birthdays are a way of showing people that the others care about them, with balloons and gifts and cakes and all that stuff.

I remember the day I turned nine as if it was yesterday. My father had left us two years before, and in that particular day I missed my father more than usual. It's almost weird to think that in the present, I barely remember him. My mother was in her usual grumpy self, and I doubt she even knew it was my birthday. Back then she was just too distant. My brothers had worked the latest shift in the bakery, and they ha to clean everything afterwards, so I was alone after dinner, (since my mother usually retreated to her bedroom after the meal) clutching my stuffed animal (a monkey I think it was), humming that birthday song my father used to play in the piano. I ended up falling asleep, and having someone shaking me awake. It was Ted and Eddie, holding a small cupcake with a candle on it, singing happy birthday to me (very low, so they wouldn't wake up mother). 'Make a wish' Ted had said. And I never forgot what I had wished till this day (because that's what I always wished for my birthday since then), that dad would come back home. Afterwards Eddie gave me a present, wrapped up in kraft paper. I rummage my brain trying to remember what it was, but I simply can't.

Frustrated that I couldn't remember what the gift was, I mentally growned and foccused back on the conversation Katniss and Haymitch were having. Well, more like fight. Katniss was pulling the culinary book away from Haymitch, and agressivily pointing her finger at the page they were both emerged on.

"What do you mean we need to seperate the egg yolk from the egg white? It's all the same, we need to mix everything anyway." Haymitch claims, his eyebrows furrowed in annoyance.

"Because that's what it says here! Can't you read, you dimwitted monkey?" Katniss yells agressivily.

"Hei! Respect the elderly!"

With Haymitch's last declaration, I give up trying to share a room with them both and walk to the living room. I sigh, sitting down, trying to ignore their fight, although it's almost impossible, since the kitchen is connected to the living room, and they are almost yelling at each other.

I simply can't take their screaming anymore, it's utterly annoying, specially because I don't even think their fighting for any particular reason. Plus, being around people screaming leaves ,e skittish and uncomfortable. So, I stand up and walk out of the house.

I consider where I can go from here. I could go to Finnick's, he doesn't live far, but it's sunday so he is most likely with his family. They always have this big family meet on sundays, and I'm completely sure I don't want to crash that meet up again. The last time I did, I was so uncomfortable I couldn't even relax a muscle. His family is incredibly odd, from his grandma, Mags, that can't form a coherent sentence to his cousin that lost one of his toes fighting with a shark (that's his version of the story).
Johanna also doesn't live far, but truthfully, her oveweigth redneck father kind of creeps me out, to say the least.

I end up settling with going to Gale's. He lives just around the block and is most likely doing what he usually does- nothing.

As I guessed, when I arrived his house, he is in his front lawn, trying (in vain) to do some trick with a skate that seems to small for his tall figure.

"Gale!" I greet him. In response of his name he turns his head towards, unfoccusing from the trick he was trying to do, resulting in the skate flying upwards and hit Gale's chin, who falls backwards in the sidewalk.

"Shit, Peeta! You really had to be so loud?" Gale grunts, rubbing his chin.

I shrugg "I'm bored." I say childishly.

"What a shame." Gale grumbles standing up and picking up the skate and placing it on the ground, to try doing the trick again.

"So I thought I'd come see what my most reckless bud is doing." I say. "That and Haymitch and Katniss are fighting and I was starting to feel like a third wheel."

Gale chuckles "Those two sure are the power couple. What were they fighting about this time?" Gale asks, jumping on the skateboard and breaking it in two. "Shit!" he exclaims.

I laugh at him and shrugg "It was about time you got rid of that skate, anyways. It's too small for you."

Gale shakes his head "It's not mine, it's Vick's." he says.

Vick is Gale's youngest brother. He also has another younger brother, Rory and a baby sister, Posy.

"Well, your gonna get a drubbing, then." I pipe up.

Gale looks at me, his eyebrows furrowed, looking somewhat nostalgic, but says nothing.

"What?" I say lifting my eyebrows.

This seems to bring Gale back from his trance. He shakes his head, still a look of sadness etched to his face. "Nothing, you just suddenley reminded me of my dad." he says, but his voice suddenley grew so weak it was more like a mumble.

Gale's father died when he was 13, what happened, I don't know. I guess it never really came up, and truthfully I don't feel me in the right of asking those types of questions, since I don't answer them myself when other people ask me.

"He used to tell me that when I annoyed my brothers or something like that." he mumbles.

"Well, weird your father encouraged violence between siblings. That sure is not an usual guideline used in parenting." I say trying to lighten the mood. Gale chuckles.

"He sure was the best." he sighs. "I miss him, sometimes. It's been almost 4 years but still, it seems impossible to just move on sometimes." he confesses.

I nod, because I know exactly what it means. I'm going through that myself "I hear you. It's always hard letting go, specially when we already lost what we were holding." I say.

Gale sits in the grass, trying to out his uneven breathing back in place, and obviously trying to controll his tears. Suddenley, I feel as if my head is spinning too so I sit next to him. We stay quiet for some time.

"It's shitty, right? What you just said." Gale suddenley says.

"The shittiest." I agree.

"Do you mind I talk about it? I don't want to get all slobbery, but I doubt I ever talked about this to anyone. Anyone that understands, unless." Gale says. I look at him, never in my life I'd seen Gale acting, as he said 'slobbery', and I doubt many people did. He always seemed the toughest, to the oint he almost scared me, before we actually became friends. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a woss or anything like that, but come on, Gale his probably one of the tallest guys in school and he is pretty muscled and strong, for his narrow frame. I also understand what he is saying, few people actually aknowledge what it is to have lost, and the ones that don't simply can't understand, evem if they try their very best. And the fact that they can't understand what we're going through, makes it harder to actually talk about it.

"The day my father died, he was mad at me. He had to pick me uo from school because the principal called. It was Cato's first day in that school and at lunch he threw a sandwich at my face. I got angry and started a food fight. So I was suspended from school a few days. Anyways, my dad was super mad at me, and I, being the jerk I can be at times was ignoring me. My father was always hotheaded, kind of like me, and when he was scolding me he didn't see the sign turning red and we were hit by a truck. My father died in the way to the hospital." Gale says, trying not to cry. I don't say anything, there's nothing for me to say, nothing relevant, anyway. "I blame myself for what happened, if I hadn't got myself suspended, my dad would still be here. I guess that's partially why I hate Cato so much." he adds quietly.

My mouth is dry, as I don't know what to say. In the end, whatever I say is going to make anything better for him. So I do the only thing I can think of, something that's been heavying on my mind for long. I'm going to tell him what happened in that night, the night that changed my whole life. For both better and worse.

A.N.

Yey! Cliffhanger! I just love that!

Anyway, I hope you guys liked this chapter. I thought I would do something a little different from usual, exploring a little more Peeta and Gale's friendship, since few fanfics actually have that.

Also, I'm trying to update more often but all of a sudden, I feel that it's taking me double the time to write a chapter.

I also don't remember if I updated last week, byt if I didn't, I'm really sorry.

I'll try to get the next chapter the sooner I can, specially because I'm really excited to write it. Also, I don't want to leave you guys suffering with the cliffhanger for too long.

Bye guys!

~Claire