A/N: For such a short chapter, this took a ridiculous amount of time. I'm so sorry! D: I couldn't bring my computer when I went on holiday in August, so I couldn't write, but even when I came back it took me a while to grab some time to write this chapter (mostly because I forgot to, oopsie). But alas, it has arrived :D This chapter is mainly dialogue, explanations and Everlark (well, the beginnings of it) and is only slightly edited, so feel free to point out anything that seems wrong/out of place! Don't forget to drop a review, because they are very lovely :-)

Chapter Two

He doesn't kiss me, but his hands go around me and pull me very, very close.

"I am so sorry for invading your personal space without your consent and I know this is weird and awkward and inconvenient but can you please do me the biggest favour anyone can possibly do for me right now and pretend you're my girlfriend for the rest of the night," he whispers next to my ear in a single breath. I'm frozen with shock and do nothing but stand still for the longest three seconds of my life, until what he said registers in my brain and I hug him back.

What the hell? I think. What the hell? What the hell? What are you doing? Why are you hugging him back? This is creepy, Katniss. This is creepy as hell and you should probably be running away from this dude right now and like, call the police or something. What the hell?

But I don't. It's probably my glaring lack of social skills and awkwardness when around people my age who aren't Gale – and Gale is technically older than me – that leads me to act this way, but still, it's such an uncomfortable feeling to be touched by someone you don't even know. In fact, I don't even know this boy's name.

"Hey, Peeta!" I hear a female voice holler from nearby. "What are you doing?"

He pulls away, and the panicked and pain-stricken face I had seen not ten seconds ago is gone, replaced by a flustered and embarrassed one. Whoa. He's a good actor.

"Oh," he says. Once his face is out of the way, I see the source of the voice – a slim, muscular girl with tanned skin and short, spiky hair. She isn't alone, and behind her is tall boy with bronze hair. Both wear a similar mask of confusion.

"Um, this is-" he gestures to me, standing almost a foot away, undoubtedly unsure of how close he is allowed to stand to me and at a loss of words because he doesn't know my name.

"Katniss," I say, smiling, holding out a hand for the two teenagers to shake. I am acting far calmer than what I feel. The girl looks at me with hostile speculation and I'm thinking that they aren't buying it when the boy comes up to take my hand. He shakes it with a bright, friendly smile.

"I'm Finnick," he tells me. "Odair." I'm about to ask, "Oh there what?" before I realize that's his last name. Well, my name's Katniss, so I'm not exactly the most qualified person to make fun of his odd surname.

"I'm guessing you're Peeta's…" the girl begins, trailing off.

"Girlfriend," I say at the same time the boy, Peeta, says, "Date."

We both blush simultaneously, and I think, I've messed up, it's barely been five minutes and I've already messed up, oh my God, oh my God. But Finnick seems to interpret our embarrassment differently and grins cheekily.

"Whatever you call yourselves," he says. "I didn't see you at the party."

Party? It's then that I realize that not too far from where I am on the beach, a couple hundred feet away, is a large bonfire and several dots which I assume are people. It's too far away for me to really hear anything other than maybe faint talking and the flickering of the bonfire. Weird. I'm usually more observant than that, but I guess I was more distracted that I thought.

"Oh," I say. "I, uh, don't really like parties."

I swallow and the girl – whose name I have yet to find out – raises an eyebrow. I'd initially interpreted her hostility as her being unconvinced with the two of us, but then I realise that there could be a million and other reasons why she's acting like that. Maybe she just doesn't like me.

Either way, she doesn't leave me much time to figure it out when she speaks. "I'm Johanna," she introduces herself.

"Well, we should be getting back to the party," Finnick interrupts after a brief moment of awkward silence. "They'll be wondering where we are."

I decide this is a chance for me to be alone with Peeta – this strange boy – and for me to try to find out me what was going on, because so far, I haven't got a clue. I take a step back and slip my hand around his torso, a gesture which surprises both of us. "Peeta and I'll meet you guys there."

"Oooookay," Finnick says. He waves at us as he and Johanna run off towards the direction of the bonfire.

Once I'm sure they're far away enough to not be able to hear us, I whip my head around to look at Peeta. "Now, would you be considerate enough to explain what the hell is going on?"

Peeta sighs, running a hand across his face in a tired manner. The poor guy must be exhausted, I realise, and I guess I could've said it in a gentler manner, but then again, it was him who came up to a complete stranger and asked them to be his girlfriend.

"It's kind of a long story," he tells me, then laughs. "But before I get into the details, I suppose it's best I introduce myself to you first. Peeta Mellark."

"Katniss Everdeen," I say.

"You're new here, right?" he says. "Never seen you around before."

"Yeah, I just moved in today," I answer, trying to smile. When that fails, I opt for folding my arms across my torso. "Though I can't say this was the best welcome I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing."

Peeta sighs again, scratching the back of his neck as he does so. "Yeah. I'm really sorry about that," he says, and there's a certain genuineness behind his words. I've been given enough apologies in my lifetime to be able to distinguish between the deceitful and the sincere, and this one was doubtlessly of the latter.

"Well," I say, still a bit cautious, because as nice as this Peeta guy may seem, I have only just met him. "I suppose you're forgiven."

The smile he gives me is so honest that I can't help but notice that it's one of the nicest ones I've come across, and that I'd do anything in the world just to be able to see it once more. Okay, Katniss, calm down, I tell myself as a niggling feeling at the back of my mind keeps telling me that smiling back wouldn't be such a terrible idea. You've barely known the guy for fifteen minutes! You're not about to fall in love with him!

"Okay," he says, still grinning. "Now that we've put that behind us, I suppose you'd like to know why a clunker like me needs a pretend girlfriend on such an unlikely night."

I suddenly burst out laughing. I don't recall the last time I heard the world clunker being used to describe a person. "Yeah, it's crossed my mind."

"This will be a long one," he says, sighing again.

"I have the time," I say, the trace of a smile only just starting to leave my face.

Peeta's expression grows serious, and he looks at me straight in the eye. "Basically, it started when my ex-girlfriend and I broke up three months ago. I guess I was pretty upset, because she was the longest relationship I'd ever been in, and we were already talking about college and long distance relationships and whatever by that point, so I have to be glad that I had friends like Finnick and Johanna to help me out. And after a few weeks I started to get over it, though maybe not completely , because you never completely get over a relationship like that, you know?"

When he pauses as if expecting me to agree with him, I can only manage a meagre nod, because I wasn't exactly sure at what point you were supposed to tell your fake boyfriend that you've never been in a relationship before.

"But Finnick and Johanna were – are – completely convinced that I'm still heartbroken, so they've been relentless in their attempt to, I don't know, 'fix' me, I guess. I keep telling them there isn't anything that needs fixing, but they're the kind of friends that act like the extra pair of overbearing parents that you honestly don't need, you know, so they've been trying a bunch of these weird methods to make me feel better – which I don't need – and their most recent one, which is in all likelihood the worst one yet, is setting me up on dates. Some of them are okay – the dates, I mean – but most are just plain weird. And there's just something really irritating about showing up to an ordinary event, like a get-together or just hanging out with a few friends and being introduced to a person who your friends insist is now your 'date' for the evening."

The corner of my mouth perks up, threatening to expose a smile. "I hate to break it to you, but you kind of just did the same thing to me."

Peeta chuckles. "Yeah, I realised. Sorry about that, again." He waits for me to nod, then continues. "Anyways, I got sick of it, and I was ready to jump off a building every time they told me they'd be bringing a 'friend' they'd like me to meet every time they invited me somewhere. And when the annual bonfire party – the seniors in town throw one every year before school starts – I just knew that they'd set me up with a date, so when Johanna called me a few days ago telling me about it, I kind of panicked and told her that I already had a date.

"Except I didn't have one," Peeta says, and I raise my eyebrows as he begins to make sense. "So I've been spending the past evening trying to avoid Finnick and Johanna just long enough to think of something, most likely an escape plan, but then you came along and I kind of freaked out when I saw them approaching and this idea-" he gestured between us "-came to my head for some reason, so I just… went with it, you know? And God, you have no idea how grateful I am that you played along, because I honestly have no idea what I would've done if you didn't."

The long pause marks the end of his story. It takes me a while to gather my wits before I speak up, and even so, the only word that I can manage is, "Wow."

"Yeah," Peeta breathes in agreement. "Crazy, I know. So… you obviously know what just happened back there, and I understand if you don't want to do this, but if you pretend to be my girlfriend- or, hell, just my date for the night, I swear, I will owe it to you for the rest of my life."

For the strangest reasons that I would never understand, I find myself pondering the offer. If someone else had asked me to do something like this, or if they randomly came up to me on the beach one night and hugged me without my permission, I would have kicked them between the legs and walked away, because honestly, what the hell? But something about this boy – this strange, kind, genuine boy – made me, well, not want to kick him. Was it his words? Was it the honesty that seemed to radiate from his very being? Or was it his hair, or his face, or his eyes, which were a colour so blue they to put the ocean in front of us to shame?

I almost shiver at the thought. I am turning mushy for a cute boy. God! What is wrong with me? Did I hit my head on something this morning?

Yet I surprise both of us by uttering my next few words: "How long?"

Peeta is taken by surprise. "I'm sorry?"

I close my eyes as I prepare for the onslaught of regret that would hit me in a few seconds. "How long do you need me to be your girlfriend?"

As his face lights up, I am again surprised, this time by the evident lack of regret that I feel when I open my eyes again. My brain still swims in confusion at everything that had just taken place. Because, let's be honest, how often is it that something like this happens? The chances are close to zero, yet out of all people and for reasons unknown, someone up there had decided that I would be the most suitable candidate.

What the hell did I just get myself into?

A/N: Again, not the longest of chapters, but I hope you enjoyed it! What do you think of my portrayal of Katniss and Peeta (and any of the other characters) so far? Review any comments/mistakes/suggestions if you'd like :D

xo ~ Princess Clove