Happy Birthday, Katniss! To celebrate, her birthday, here's the second half of chapter five.

I'm sorry it's taken me ages to update - RL etc. To at least partly make up for the long wait, the chapter is almost ridiculously long at 11k words - and it's smutty, too! Yay!

Thank you so much to Chelzie for prereading!


Chapter Five – Part Two

Katniss

"Madge?" I gasp.

When they hear my voice, Madge and Gale abruptly end their kiss and stare at Peeta and me with wide eyes. Madge's legs are still wrapped around Gale's waist, his body holding hers pressed up against the wall.

Crap. I should just have closed my eyes and walked right past them instead. Chances are neither Madge nor Gale would even have noticed us if I had. After all, they seemed pretty oblivious to their surroundings until I was stupid enough to open my mouth.

Gale's eyes flicker from me to Peeta, and back to me again. Madge clearly notices. Something passes over her face, but I'm not quite sure what. Gale takes a small step back, and there's a brief moment of confusion because Madge is unaware; she nearly falls down since Gale's body is no longer holding her up. Fortunately, he catches her in time. Madge's feet finally find the floor and she regains her balance.

There's a long, awkward silence. Madge adjusts her dress and makes sure her skirt is once again decent, and Gale runs his hand through his hair. His face and jaw are clenched, with narrowed eyes fixed on Peeta.

I've mostly relied on Peeta's conversational skills tonight, a skillset I myself absolutely do not have. But now, Peeta seems to be locked in some kind of staring contest with Gale, and it doesn't look like he's going to save the situation. And who knows what Madge, who is most likely by far the drunkest of all, will say if I give her the chance. So I blurt out the first thing that comes to mind, just to say something – anything - to break the silence. "Madge, some people were dancing on the dining room table, with their shoes on."

I'm not sure whether reminding Madge about her out of control party is going to make things better or worse. Gale's face darkens even further at my words, but Madge doesn't seem to notice.

"Oh shit! Are you serious?"

"Yeah."

Madge mutters a series of words under her breath that I'm sure her mother has never heard her say. She runs - somewhat unsteadily - to the dining table's rescue, leaving me alone in the hallway with Gale and Peeta. I hear her yelling at the table dancers in the other room, demanding that they 'get the fuck down from there'.

"I really appreciate you helping Madge keep this party under control tonight," Peeta says to Gale.

I know Peeta probably means well. And honestly, I'm surprised that Gale has stuck by Madge's side all night, too. I used to think that Gale and Madge were fucking and nothing more, but now I have no idea what they actually are to each other. Still, there's no way I'd ever broach the subject of their relationship with Gale, not with the way Gale has been looking at us.

Gale narrows his eyes. "Did you think I wouldn't?" he asks, his voice dangerously low.

Peeta looks startled by Gale's response for a second before he quickly composes himself. "No, of course not," Peeta answers, which must be a lie, and I'm pretty sure Gale sees through it, too.

"I'm not like Madge's Townie 'friends', who are all going to run off the second her parents return," Gale says, crossing his arms over his chest. He straightens his back, as if to emphasize their height difference, and looks down at Peeta.

"Oh yeah?" Peeta raises an eyebrow.

Gale shrugs. "When the going gets tough, Townies have a tendency to take off."

Peeta snorts. "If you have a problem with me, why don't you just say so?"

"Who said I have a problem with you?"

Peeta opens his mouth to answer when Madge returns. "I think the mahogany table is going to be okay once it's cleaned and polished," she says, slightly out of breath and seemingly oblivious to the tension in the room and the conversation she just interrupted. "But Mom and Dad are definitely going to notice. Oh, and it looks like someone vomited into Mom's flower pots, too." She makes a disgusted face.

"Yeah, we know," Peeta admits.

"You knew about the flower pots and didn't tell me?" Madge gasps.

"Sorry," I mutter. "It just didn't seem like your biggest problem right now."

"I guess you're right, but… Ugh. It's still disgusting." Madge wrinkles her nose, then sighs. "Oh well, I guess it doesn't matter. I'll be screwed in the morning anyway." I freeze, and feel Peeta's fingers squeeze harder around my hand. Gale looks down at the floor.

When Madge realizes what she just said, she covers her mouth with her hand, giggling almost hysterically. Peeta looks like he's trying very hard not to laugh, but manages to stay serious. I, on the other hand, don't think this is funny at all. I wish more fervently than ever that I'd just kept my mouth shut, and Gale actually blushes. I've never seen him blush before. "What I meant," Madge says when she's finally able to speak again, "is that my parents are going to kill me." She whispers the words conspiratorially. As if there's any point in even attempting to hide this disaster of a 'shindig'.

"This is probably the last party you'll ever be hosting," Gale admits.

"I think so too," Peeta agrees. He slips his arm around my waist. Gale notices, because he sends Peeta the hostile glare which until now has always been reserved for kids who were picking on his younger brothers. No bullies ever dared to bother Vick or Rory again after having been stared down by Gale.

"So… you and Katniss, huh?" Gale says to Peeta. His voice is cold.

"Yeah. Me and Katniss." Peeta stands his ground. He doesn't seem the least bit intimidated by Gale's ridiculous alpha male tactics.

"You'd better treat her well," Gale all but growls.

"I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself, Gale," I hiss. How dare he talk about me as if I'm not even present?

"She is," Peeta agrees. He smiles proudly at me, his body swaying even closer to mine. I suspect he's doing it on purpose to piss off Gale. Maybe that's why he slipped his arm around my waist, too. "Which you of all people should know."

"I know Katniss can feed her family and defend herself against wild d…" Gale abruptly stops. He knows as well as I do that the Undersee's house is probably bugged, and saying I've fought wild dogs is practically admitting I've been outside the fence. "But I'm not so sure if she has any defense against silver-tongued Town boys," he continues.

"Gale!" I object angrily.

Madge rolls her eyes. "Peeta is right, Gale. Besides, there's nothing either of you can do to protect her from real harm anyway."

I blink in surprise. Maybe she's even drunker than I thought. We all know that like everyone else in 12, the one thing I really need protection from is the Capitol. Despite taking out tesserae, I beat the odds and didn't end up being slaughtered in the Hunger Games. I may be past reaping age now, but the Capitol still controls my life. I'm even more vulnerable than most people in 12 because I make a living by hunting illegally. If the Peacekeepers change their minds about turning a blind eye and I'm caught, neither Gale nor Peeta can do anything to save me from the whipping post – or worse. But to say it out loud, here…

Madge smiles to me, ignoring the guys completely. "Katniss, why don't we go powder our noses and get another drink? All this testosterone in the air is making me thirsty."

It's not as if I have any powder, and I don't really think Madge needs another drink. But I'd do pretty much anything not to be in the same room as Gale and Peeta right now, so I immediately agree.

"I'm sh-sorry Gale behaved like such an asshole," Madge says as soon as we're out of earshot. She's slurring slightly, but other than that, she seems less drunk than I'd thought.

I shrug. "It's not your fault." I'm not quite sure what to think of Gale's behavior when he saw me with Peeta. Madge and Gale insist that they aren't together. But Madge did seem to be bothered by Gale's apparent thinking that he has a say in my life – didn't she? Or maybe she would say the same thing to any guy who made sexist remarks to her friend? I have no idea.

And Gale has sort of acted like Madge's boyfriend tonight.

"Yeah, well. Men," she snorts, thrusting another glass of sticky Capitol punch in my hand. It definitely tastes better now than the first glass did. She even adds some more white liquor directly to our glasses, as if our drinks need to be any stronger than they already are. "This is Capitol punch, District 12 style," she winks. "Now let's go powder."

It turns out there is no actual powdering involved, only peeing and drunken giggling. Delly and her girlfriend Violet watch the door so no one walks in on us. The Undersee household's no locks rule includes the bathrooms too.

"I really hope Delly and Violet are actually keeping an eye on the door and not just making out," I say worriedly as I pee, while Madge washes her hands.

Madge laughs. "Well, I hope so too, because if they are making out, I bet at least half of the guys at the party will be rushing in here to jerk off after staring at them."

"Really?" I grimace. "They'd actually do that?" I wash my hands, too.

"What, stare at two girls kissing? Or jerk off afterwards?"

"Both, I guess. It's kind of… rude."

"Oh, Katniss," Madge giggles. "You're adorable." She hiccups. "Yeah, they totally would."

I go through my handbag looking for the lipstick Prim gave me for Christmas last year, which I thought was the most useless gift ever at the time. Something catches Madge's attention and she gasps in surprise. "Katniss!" she squeals. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Shhhh!" I say, hoping Delly and Violet won't hear anything on the other side of the door.

She snatches the silvery condoms from my purse. She stares at me with wide eyes. "Katniss, are you two… have you…?" Thankfully, she lowers her voice.

"No!" I quickly say, putting the condoms back into the handbag. "I haven't… I mean, we haven't. I just, um… Mother gave them to me. Just to be safe."

"Wow, that must've been an awkward conversation," she laughs.

"You have no idea," I mutter.

"And do you always walk around with condoms, or did you just happen to think it would be a good idea to bring them tonight?" She winks. Ugh. Even though Madge is drunk, she sees right through me.

"Just to be on the safe side," I defend myself. "Besides, I had no idea that half of the district would be here."

"Well, that makes two of us." She pauses. "So… I guess that means you're thinking about doing it? Because if half of the district hadn't been here…?" She wiggles her eyebrows suggestively.

I look at her helplessly. "I don't know. I really like Peeta, and…" My voice trails off.

"Peeta's a great guy," Madge says. "We're almost neighbors, and I've known him since we were both in diapers." She takes a sip of the sickly sweet punch. She's still swaying slightly, but her voice is more or less clear. "He's crazy about you. The way he looks at you… Everyone can see it. Gale, too. He's just being a dick to piss you off."

"Men," I mutter.

"Men," she agrees emphatically.

Madge digs through her own handbag and produces a golden key. "Here," she says, thrusting it into my hand.

"Where did you get it?" I ask. Aside from the Mayor's key to his office, which he always keeps in his pocket, this is the first key I've seen in the Undersee household since Mrs. Undersee almost died.

"Dad doesn't know I found out years ago where he keeps the spare key to his office," she answers.

"But why would I need the key to your father's office?"

Madge's smile widens. "I thought perhaps you and Peeta would appreciate some privacy?"

"In the Mayor's office?" I furrow my brow.

"I can assure you that fucking on the Mayor's desk is a lot of fun."

"Madge!" I gasp. "Have you… Have you actually done that?"

She giggles. "Yes. But I do recommend doing it in a bed instead of on a desk if it's your first time. Luckily, there's a spare bed in the room next to Dad's office. There's a connecting door between them, so the room next to his office is always locked, too. I think it used to be a sort of guest room, but no one ever uses it. The key works in both locks."

It's starting to dawn on me what she means. "So…"

"So with this key," she closes my fingers around it, "you can get into that room, too. If you want to."

I swallow. "Thanks," I tell her and stuff the key in my purse.

She hiccups, and gives me a hug – a drunken, sloppy one. I'm not used to Madge, or anyone else besides Prim and now Peeta, hugging me. To my surprise, she has tears in her eyes when she releases me. Her mouth opens and closes a few times, as if she can't quite make up her mind whether or not she should say something. "Gale's still in love with you, you know," she finally says.

"Oh, Madge…" I have no idea how to answer. There's a lump in my throat, too.

She shrugs, but her eyes are still moist. "It's okay, Katniss. Gale and I aren't… we aren't together like that. We're just fooling around. And I know you don't feel the same way about Gale that you do about Peeta."

I can't really talk about what I feel for Peeta. It's too big and too new to put into words. So instead, I ask about her. "What about you? Are you in love with Gale?"

"Eh, I dunno." She empties her glass of punch and grimaces. "I guess it doesn't matter, anyway. My parents want me to marry the son of the Mayor in 1."

"Really?" I'm surprised she's never told me about this. Arranged marriages are very rare in the Seam, but they are relatively common in Town, where families have trades and businesses to pass on to the next generation. But a boy from another district? Most people have never even met anyone from another district. But of course, most people aren't the Mayor's only daughter.

Madge snorts. "I met him this summer. Remember our vacation to 1?" I nod. "I should've known there was a reason why we suddenly went on vacation to another district for the first time." Madge has visited the Capitol a few times with her father. She's the only person my age I know who has. "He's the most boring person I've ever met. All he talked about was working out, and how a knee injury prevented him from volunteering for the Hunger Games the year he turned 18." She snorts. "As if he'd have the guts to actually do that. I bet his injury was faked."

"So… if you're going to marry that guy, why are you with Gale?"

"Well, I haven't agreed to marry anyone. Mom and Dad can't force me to marry that moron, because I have to actually say 'I do.' So that's where things stand at the moment." A smile plays on her lips now, and she winks. "But Gale is anything but boring. He is dark and handsome, rebellious, and somewhat mysterious. Perhaps that's just what I need in my life, an element of danger and excitement. Someone who can fuck me real good on my Daddy's desk – the same desk he uses to write letters to find his only daughter a wealthy husband from a career district." She laughs, but I don't.

I see Madge almost every day, and still had no idea of her parents' plans. I feel sick to my stomach, and not just because I've had too much punch. I wonder if Madge is with Gale as an escape – or maybe she is using him to destroy her reputation? Is she hoping that having a relationship with a miner will make her less desirable as the future wife of the District 1 mayor's son?

"So if you marry that guy, are you going to move to 1?" I hesitatingly ask her.

Madge shrugs. "I guess. I can't imagine he'd ever consider moving to 12. But hopefully it won't come to that."

I swallow. "I really hope you find a way to get out of it."

"Well, I just hope my parents won't kill me in the morning."

This time, I'm the one who hugs her. "I hope so, too. And if your father asks, I left the party early, okay?" I blink my tears away and try to laugh. "Way before someone broke your mother's favorite crystal glasses."

"What the hell? Someone actually did that?"

"Yes, they did."

She sighs. "I need another drink."

She doesn't. But we both get one anyway.


Peeta

After the girls leave, there's a long and extremely uncomfortable silence.

Gale and I are both standing in the narrow hallway. I take another mouthful of white liquor while I wait for him to say something. After all, Gale is the one who has a problem, not me. He clenches his fists. Is he considering beating the crap out of me? I wouldn't put it past him, not with the way he was staring at Katniss and me earlier.

Finally, he spits out, "If you knock her up and leave her, I'll fucking kill you."

I blink in surprise. Where the fuck did that come from? "Um… what?"

"You heard me." His gray eyes, so similar to Katniss's, are hard and unforgiving. "You're Town."

"Not all Town boys are out to fuck girls on the slag heap," I answer. Warning me not to knock Katniss up is pretty rich, especially coming from Gale Hawthorne. Everyone knows he's been fucking girls on the slag heap for years. It's practically a miracle he hasn't gotten anyone pregnant yet, at least as far as I know.

"You say that now, and sure, I've seen the way you look at her. Actually, the way you've looked at her for years."

I smile innocently. "It takes one to know one, right?"

Gale's knuckles whiten as he clenches his fists. He gulps down some more white liquor. I hope drinking isn't his usual way of dealing with problems, because drowning your sorrows in alcohol is really not a good idea. Just look at Haymitch Abernathy.

"You're not exactly subtle," he finally says, ignoring what I just said. "I guess everyone in 12 knew but Katniss herself." He rolls his eyes. "She's always been too oblivious to notice anything that's not related to Prim or putting food on the table. Anyway, I don't care how the fuck you finally got her to notice you, but I do care about how devastated she's going to be when you to hurt her."

"I'd never hurt Katniss."

Gale actually laughs. "Sure. Keep telling yourself that. But what happens when your Mama, who everyone in 12 knows controls your entire household, says you have to marry a nice Town girl and have beautiful blue-eyed children?" Damn. Gale is more perceptive than I'd thought. Not that I'd ever be pressured into marrying someone, not after almost two decades of witnessing up close the disaster that is my parents' marriage, but still… There's no question that Mother is definitely our biggest obstacle. Gale chuckles. "Hit a nerve there, didn't I?"

"Shut the fuck up," I mutter.

Gale glares at me. "Remember what I said, Mellark. I will kill you." He takes another mouthful from his glass bottle.

I've had enough. "And you should remember that Katniss is smart, she's strong, and she's perfectly capable of choosing who she wants to be with," I say. Gale's eyes darken, and he looks as if he's seriously considering beating the crap out of me. Even though I'm one of the best wrestlers in 12, he's a lot bigger than me, and he just might manage to beat me up if he set his mind to it. "So stop worrying about Katniss. Like she said, she can take care of herself. If I were you, I'd focus on the situation you've got on your hands with Madge."

He laughs. "That's none of your business, Mellark."

"Madge is my friend, just like you're Katniss's friend." I choose to ignore the obvious difference between us – I've never seen Madge as anything but a friend, but Gale has clearly been interested in Katniss in the past, and I suspect he still is. "And you seem to think that your friendship with Katniss gives you the right to interfere with our relationship. Right?" Gale doesn't answer. "So from what I understand, you and Madge are just having fun. Correct?"

Gale shrugs. "Sure. And we're both on the same page about that, so I don't really see the problem."

"Oh, there isn't one – at least not until it stops being just fun for one of you. I used to think that you seemed to be paying a little too much attention to my girlfriend to actually be serious with another girl, but I don't quite know what to think anymore. You've been acting like you're Madge's boyfriend all night, haven't you?" Gale doesn't answer, he just glares at me. "And Madge? I'm not so sure about her, either. From what Katniss has told me, she's talking an awful lot about you for someone who's just having fun with a miner."

There's a long silence. "Why don't we just agree to stay out of each other's lives, Mellark?"

"Sounds like an excellent idea to me, Hawthorne."

Gale leaves without saying another word.


Katniss

Madge and I have finished "powdering", and find that there's quite a line outside the bathroom. Not guys who are staring at Delly and Violet making out, because they're not, but mainly girls who really need to pee.

Delly has a bottle of liquor she's stolen from her parents, and she is more than willing to share it with us. I've had more than enough, so I only take very small sips. The liquor still burns down my throat, but not nearly as much as it did earlier tonight.

We chat with Delly and Violet for quite a while. Well, the other three do most of the chatting, really. Even though Delly is definitely not the kind of person I usually spend time with – she's way too sunny and chatty, everything that I'm not – it's hard to actually dislike her. She's just too…. Nice. Predictably, she loves my dress, she thinks that Peeta and I are so cute together, and she admires me so much for my… profession. If I hadn't known that Delly is like this with everyone, I'd think she were my biggest fan.

I've never talked to Violet before, though. She's a year older than me, so we were never in any of the same classes, and we didn't have any friends in common. In fact, if I remember correctly, Violet was a bit of a loner, like me. Now that I think about it, I think it may partially be because everyone thought she was into girls, which turned out to be true. I can't help but secretly admire them both. If I thought it was hard to come here with Peeta tonight, it must be nothing compared to what it's like for Delly and Violet.

Violet turns out to be quite nice, and she's certainly a lot friendlier than Myrtle. Thankfully Violet's a bit more of the quiet type than Delly, because I'm not sure if I could handle two Delly's at the same time.

Delly is in the middle of a long story about how much she loves winter (seriously, is there anything in Panem she doesn't like?) when I hear a familiar sound from the dining room. Uh-oh.

"Sounds like there's more glass breaking," I tell Madge.

"Oh no! I have to go yell at them again." I roll my eyes. As if that will help for more than ten seconds. Madge gives me a sloppy, drunken kiss on the cheek and tells me that she looooves me, and then she's off. At least she's going in the general direction of the dining room, even though she's not exactly walking in a straight line. I suppose that's something.

I'm so glad I'm not Madge right now. Tomorrow is going to be brutal in more ways than one.

I talk to Delly and Violet for a few more minutes – well, Delly does most of the talking – and then decide to go searching for Peeta. He's not in the hallway where I left him and Gale earlier, and it takes me a while to locate him. As it gets closer to midnight, people are getting drunker. It also seems like more people are arriving, because it wasn't this full before Madge and I went to the bathroom – or was it? I finally locate him in the living room, talking to two of our former classmates. Peeta was friends with them in school, but I wasn't. Peeta's not sporting a black eye or a broken nose after his talk with Gale, which I suppose is a good sign.

Peeta lights up when he sees me. "There you are, Katniss." His slips his arm around my waist again. He feels so warm, it's as if his body is on fire. "What took you so long?"

"Madge and I had some more punch, and then we talked with Delly and Violet," I explain. I can't tell him about the key, not here.

He leans in and kisses me. "I can taste the punch on you." He kisses me again – deeper and longer this time. I should be mortified at this public display of affection, right in front of his friends, but he's so warm and so close, and I'm feeling slightly dizzy, which I think has more to do with him than with the alcohol. My arms encircle his neck; one hand goes up to the back of his head, pulling him even closer to me. His body feels large and hard against my smaller, softer one, and as our kiss deepens, it's as if the fire spreads from him to me.

I feel it again, deep in my belly. The same throbbing between my legs that I felt when we were alone in my bedroom.

I feel it too, against my belly. His cock is not as hard as it was yesterday, but when I hear the stifled groan that escapes him, I realize it probably will be soon if we keep this up. A rush of power surges through me, that I can have this effect on him.

"Get a room," one of Peeta's friends laughs, and when I briefly open my eyes, I see from the corner of my eye that they're leaving. We've become just like the couples I detested at the Midwinter Dance, I realize. Morons whose public displays of affection most people, myself included, found nauseating.

It's funny how quickly things change.

I tear my mouth away from his. I blink, trying to focus on his face, but he's so close, and everything is a bit fuzzy. His pupils are so dilated, I can barely see the blue of his irises around them. "Why don't we?" I whisper in his ear.

"Why don't we what?" Peeta's voice is raspy.

"Why don't we get a room?"

His jaw drops as he takes in what I just said, and his eyes darken. "Oh," he finally says. "But I thought Madge said no, um…"

'No fucking in the beds.' He just can't bring himself to say the words, not when it's about us. But he doesn't know about the key Madge gave me.

"Don't worry about it. Come."

He nods, and I grab his hand. Without a word, we go upstairs. Even though it's nowhere near as crowded as downstairs, there are still people up here. Couples only. People go up here to do one thing and one thing only, and that's to make out. I swallow. I was hoping no one would see us up here. Dammit Madge, how could you allow this so-called shindig to get this badly out of hand?

I study the many doors in the long corridor. I know where Mr. Undersee's office is, of course, but which door is the one to the guest room Madge talked about? To the left or to the right of the Mayor's office? All of the doors look the same.

There is only one way to find out. I try the door to the left, but it must be the wrong one, because it's not locked. I quickly close it again.

"If you value your life, Mellark, you'll stay out of that room," a red-haired boy says. He's making out with a girl who's a year younger than me that lives a few houses down from us. "Hawthorne was up here a while ago and threw everyone out of the bedrooms. And if he threatened us with bodily harm, just imagine what he'd do to you."

He sends me a look and laughs, and so does the girl. Ugh. It seems like the entire district has been assuming things about me and Gale for ages.

"Actually, Madge sent us up here to make sure no one's violating the no fucking in the beds rule," Peeta lies smoothly.

I open my handbag, my fingers closing around the key. It must be the door to the right, then.

Peeta's eyes widen when sees the key. "Where did you get that?" he whispers.

"Madge."

I insert the key into the keyhole, and immediately feel that unlike the rest of the doors in this house, the lock isn't disabled. A distinct click tells me the door is now unlocked, and I quickly open it. We both slip inside, and behind us I hear the boy shout: "Hey, Everdeen has a key! Where did you get that key?! Hey!"

I immediately lock the door behind us, my heart pounding and my cheeks burning with shame.

Of course that boy and the girl he's making out with know what we're going to do in here. I bet they'll tell the others, too. Rumors travel fast in 12. Everyone's going to be talking about this tomorrow.

This party is going to be on everyone's lips tomorrow anyway for a myriad of reasons. And I can't help but think that maybe for the first time in my life, I'm doing what everyone else is doing.

"So that's what you two talked about for so long," Peeta says, his voice low so they can't hear him through the door. He looks at the key, still in the lock after I locked the door behind us. Someone is swearing outside, probably the same guy. Whatever.

"Yeah, that among other things. It was awkward," I admit.

"Not as awkward as my talk with Gale, I'm sure," he groans.

I can't help but laugh. "I guess you're right. What did he say to you?"

Peeta hesitates. "He, uh… threatened to do some pretty bad things to me if I – and I quote – 'knock you up and leave you'."

"Seriously?" Peeta nods. Ugh, Gale is such an asshole. "What gives him the right to say crap like that to you?"

Peeta shrugs. "That's pretty much what I told him, too."

But I do understand where what Gale said came from. I suspect that Gale's motives for resenting Peeta may be entirely selfish. But the fact remains that Gale, like me, has seen more than a few pregnant, unmarried Seam girls who have been left by their children's fathers, both Seam and from Town. He knows very well how hard life is for them.

I look at the bed. It's what Madge calls a queen size bed. It may be one of the narrowest in the Undersee household, but it's much wider than any of the beds in our house. It's neatly made up. No one's been inside here tonight. Unlike most of the other beds in the house, I'm afraid.

I lick my lips nervously. This is suddenly becoming very real. It's just me, Peeta, and this bed. What do I do now? I have no idea.

I sit down on the bed, and Peeta sits down next to me. Close, but not too close. Not touching.

"I don't really want to talk about Gale and Madge right now, though," I admit. Talking about Gale, in particular, would really kill the mood.

"Neither do I," he answers. "There's something I wanted to say before, but it's kind of personal, and it didn't seem like the right time when there were so many people around. I, uh…." He clears his throat. "I wanted to apologize for last night."

I freeze. "What for?" I ask. Fear surges through me at the thought that maybe he regrets what happened.

He hesitates. "Well…" He clears his throat again. "This is pretty embarrassing," he confesses with a shy smile. "But I had a very good time last night. I suppose you noticed."

"I did," I mutter, feeling my cheeks flush.

"Yeah. But the thing is, I wanted you to feel as good as I felt, too." I look up at him, not quite understanding what he means. He looks hesitant, nervous. "I wanted you to come, too," he clarifies. "But you didn't, and I feel like it's my fault, that I was too… lost in how good you made me feel to reciprocate. Afterwards, I felt selfish, and that's absolutely the last thing I want to feel when I'm with you."

"Oh." I'm not used to talking about these things. Whenever Madge has talked about sex, I've been too mortified to speak. And the talk I had with Mother… Ugh. She did all the talking, I hardly said a word. "I suppose there wasn't time for that yesterday anyway," I stammer. "Mother and Prim could have come home at any minute."

"Yeah, but we still took the time for me to get off, though. But not you. Right?" I reluctantly nod. "I know we're sitting on a bed in a locked room," he says softly, "but I don't want to make assumptions here. I don't mean to pressure you in any kind of way. I just want you to know that whenever it happens, whenever we go further, I don't want it to be like yesterday. I want you to enjoy it as much as I do."

I exhale shakily, nodding.

"And for that to work, I need you to talk to me, okay? Tell me what you like."

I don't really want to confess to him how little I know about my own body. How my knowledge about what I like is limited to a few afternoons in secret hideaways in the woods last summer, always on days when I knew Gale was in the mines. My face was burning with shame even though there was no one there to see.

"There's literally nothing in the world I want more than to make you come," he whispers into my hair, and something tingles along my spine at his words, making its way down to between my legs.

"Really?" I breathe.

"Really," he confirms.

I'm not very good with words, I've always preferred actions. So I reach out for him, and my lips crush against his. We lie back on the bed, and his hand travels up under my skirt, pushing it up. Over my stockings, he finds the bare skin of my thighs, and he groans. I quickly get rid of the stockings, and then I start to unbutton his shirt with trembling hands. The skin I uncover is so soft, but the muscles underneath are hard, probably from lifting all those bags of flour at the bakery. There are a few blond hairs on his chest. I touch them curiously. He shrugs his shirt off, throwing it onto the floor, and then he flips us over so I'm straddling him.

Through only thin layers of clothing, I can feel him hard against me. Yesterday, feeling him like this for the first time was a shock. Tonight, although I can't really say that it's become a habit already, I know this is definitely something I could get used to. And very quickly, for that matter. A shiver runs through my body when Peeta shifts underneath me, causing his cock to stimulate my clit. A moan escapes my lips, and our eyes meet. He's panting, looking up at me with his mouth half open.

I slowly lift my dress up. Peeta moves so that I'm sitting on his lap, and helps me when the dress gets stuck over my shoulders. I throw it onto the floor, too. Peeta's eyes widen as he looks at me, half-naked in his lap, wearing only panties and a bra. He reaches a hand out to touch my breast, his eyes questioning. I nod and he exhales shakily, his fingers cupping my breast through the thin fabric. He fumbles behind my back, trying to open the clasp. It takes him a few attempts to figure it out.

"I've never done this before, and I just want to make this good for you. Okay?" he says, as he throws my bra to the floor, too.

"Okay." This time, I'm less hesitant about showing him my body. The look of hunger in his eyes as he stares at my breasts makes me feel more confident. He seems more sure of himself this time around, having both seen and touched my breasts before. His lips close around a nipple while his hand palms the other breast. My panties and the rest of his clothes are lost in a frenzy of heated kisses; fumbling and desperate hands, both his and mine, are trying to touch everything, everywhere, all at once. The air in the room is cold, so he pulls me under the covers with him. Peeta climbs on top of me, our tongues dueling and my hands roaming over his strong back. For the first time, I feel his cock against the bare skin of my inner thigh. There's no fabric separating us anymore. I gasp, tearing my mouth away from his. His cock is so hot, pulsating against my skin. It's hard, rough in a way, but soft at the same time. My body starts shaking. I'm not sure if it's anticipation or if I'm just nervous. Probably both.

He tears his mouth away from mine, panting as he looks down at me. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah."

But I'm sure he can feel how my body is trembling. He rolls off of me, pulling me with him so we end up lying on our sides facing each other, with my thigh draped over his hip. We just lie there for a while, trying to control our breathing. Getting used to being this close, and naked, together.

Curiosity gets the better of me, so I sneak one hand between us. Our eyes are locked as my fingers hesitatingly close around him for the first time. "Oh, Katniss… Fuck," he moans.

An unexpected feeling of power courses through me at his reaction. I swallow hard as I continue to explore him. He's hard, but the skin is as smooth as silk at the same time. Also, he's clearly too big. Holding him in my hand, it's crystal clear that there's just no way he's going to fit inside me. I can barely close my fingers around him. I look down between us, and for the first time, I actually see him.

No way.

I bite my lip, but hesitatingly start to stroke him, up and down, a few times. The way I heard girls at school giggle about.

"Katniss, you have to stop that," he groans.

"I'm sorry," I mutter, mortified. "I don't know what I'm…"

"No, I meant that if you keep that up, this is going to be over before it's even begun. Like yesterday." He blushes.

"Oh." I don't really know how to tell him that he's never going to fit, not without making a fool of myself.

"What is it?" he asks, his voice surprisingly soft, considering how my hand is still on his cock. "You suddenly seem so tense."

I close my eyes in embarrassment. He said I have to talk to him. And I suppose that's the only way to get through this. "It's not going to work," I blurt out, before I have the chance to change my mind. "You're too big, there's no way you're going to… um, fit. You know. Inside."

I open my eyes and look down between us again. There are a few drops of liquid coming out of the slit on the head of his cock. I realize I'm still holding around him, and release my hand, as he requested.

"We don't have to do that," Peeta says, his voice husky. "We can just do… other stuff. If you want."

My panties are wet. "No, I want to," I admit, and Peeta exhales shakily at my words. "I just… Don't know how it's going to work."

"I told you I don't have much experience," Peeta says hesitantly. "But Rye has told me – well, to tell you the truth, he can never stop talking about sex." He talks really quickly, the words seeming to tumble out of his mouth. "And he's made it his mission in life to, well… educate me on sex. Mainly to embarrass me, I think, and believe me, it really is embarrassing. But it's also sort of useful sometimes. And…"

"And?"

"He said that we need to take our time."

"We?!" Has Peeta talked to Rye about the two of us?

"Just in general," Peeta quickly adds. "Not 'we' as in 'you and I' we, just… Any girl's first time, I guess. Anyway, Rye said that if we just take it really slow and make sure you're… adequately prepared… it'll be easier."

"That's what I heard too," I admit. From my own mother. I start to cold sweat just thinking about that conversation. I almost think I'd rather have had 'the talk' with Rye instead. Almost.

"He also said that it'll be easier if you've come first. Before we… go all the way."

I swallow. That's something Mother didn't tell me. I have no idea how to respond to that. Peeta bites his lip. "I've been fantasizing about you coming a lot. For years actually," he admits. He pauses. "I'm sorry if that freaks you out, if you think it's weird or anything…"

"No, it's not… weird. Just… it's not something I'm used to hearing anyone say to me. Obviously."

"I just want you to know that I don't look at it as just… sort of warming up. Regardless of what we do or don't do after, there's literally nothing I'd rather do than to make you come." There's a sudden gush of wetness between my legs at his words, but thankfully, he doesn't know. He swallows audibly. "Will you let me, Katniss?"

His words are making my core throb even harder. I nod. "Yes," I answer breathlessly.

He sits up, his hands finding my breasts again. He teases my nipples with his fingertips, then with his tongue. While he sucks lightly on one of my breasts, causing me to arch under him, one of his hands slips lower, over the soft skin of my abdomen. Slowly, as if he's giving me time to change my mind.

I shift, lying down on my back instead of on my side, and spread my thighs for him. My body bucks when he reaches the small patch of coarse hair, and he gasps. My thighs spread even wider, as if of their own volition. He releases my breast from his mouth, breathing heavily as his fingertips slip a bit further down, finding wet, slippery flesh. He touches me tentatively at first, running his index finger lightly up and down my folds. "You're so wet," he groans in my ear. I'm unable to answer, because his fingers find – oh.

"Peeta," I whimper, and my body jerks.

"Does that feel good?"

I nod, taking in a shaky breath between my teeth. He fumbles around down there, and it feels good, but it's not quite…

I share a bed with Prim, so I haven't had a lot of opportunities to figure this out on my own. But last summer, on a few really hot summer days alone in the woods, I did some… exploring. My hand moves down, joining his between my legs. Peeta mumbles something in my ear that I can't quite hear. I guide his hand, and as soon as his fingers find that place, a whimper escapes from my lips, and my entire body tenses, my back arching up from the mattress again.

"There," he says, his voice hoarse. It's not a question anymore.

"Mmhmm."

Peeta's index finger traces a pattern around my clit, a circle, and it takes everything I've got not to moan loudly. It feels so different when it's not my own hand touching myself, when I don't know exactly what is coming next, or how. It's too much, but at the same time, it's not enough.

He explores my soaked folds as he makes gentle, yet sometimes slightly jerky circles around my clit. The tip of one of his fingers finds my opening and slips inside just a little bit, and I can't help but clench around him. He doesn't move, keeping his finger perfectly still inside me as our eyes meet. His skin is flushed and his eyelids are heavy.

"Does that feel good?" he asks.

I'm not quite sure how to answer. "Yes," I finally say. "I mean, it feels weird, but…" His thumb slides over my clit again, so slippery and wet, and I muffle my moan against his shoulder.

"Weird?"

"Yes, I think it's just that I'm not… used to it."

He bites his lip. "Does it hurt?"

"No."

"Can I try to… go a bit further in?"

I nod.

I can't help but tense, anticipating the intrusion, but he surprises me by kissing me instead. I eagerly open my mouth to meet his tongue, and as our kiss deepens, my body automatically relaxes. Peeta moans into my mouth as his finger easily slips deeper inside me.

"You feel so good," he groans, his voice almost desperate, when our lips part. A second finger joins the first. Two fingers are a lot thicker than just one, and it's slightly uncomfortable. But the steady strokes over and around my clit distract me, and gradually, it starts to feel less weird and more… pleasant. "You're so wet, and… fuck, so tight." He bucks against my hip, and I feel his cock burning against me. "I never thought I'd get to do this, you're… You're so beautiful. And so unbelievably hot. You feel so amazing around my fingers. So wet…"

Me being wet, which I at first thought was embarrassing, seems to really turn him on. I swallow deeply, feeling another rush of wetness between my legs at his words, so I suppose his words are turning me on, too. To my surprise, he removes his hand, and I feel strangely empty without his thick fingers inside me. He moves down in bed, sitting between my spread legs. I blush furiously as he stares at my most private parts with glassy eyes.

"Peeta?" I would close my legs if I could, but he's sitting right between them.

"Wow," he says, his voice raspy. "You're the… most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

I have no idea how he can think that I look beautiful down there. But from the awe in his voice and the look on his face, I'm pretty sure he's telling me the truth. I swallow, then nod slightly, giving him permission to do… whatever it is that he wants to do.

It's different when he's looking at me like I'm as radiant as the sun. His fingers run through my folds, dipping into me just an inch or so to collect more of my fluids, which he then spreads, making everything even more slippery, making his touch feel even better. My hips are bucking almost uncontrollably now, as I feel my entire body tensing up. I screw my eyes shut, and can't help the whimpers escaping from my lips.

Suddenly, I feel something different. His fingers are replaced by something… else. I open my eyes in shock and find that Peeta's head is right between my legs, and his tongue… oh, his tongue!

"Peeta!" I gasp, almost in panic.

He immediately looks up at me, looking worried. "Am I doing something wrong?"

I can barely speak. My head is foggy, both from the alcohol and from the way he's been touching me. "No… I just…"

"Did it not feel good?" He looks worried now.

"No, it did." His face breaks into a relieved smile. "But why… I mean… You don't have to…"

"I know, but I really want to," he says, and I can see that his lips are shiny and moist. From me. "Unless you don't want me to, of course."

"But doesn't it… doesn't it taste…" It would seem I'm long past being able to speak in full sentences.

"You taste amazing, Katniss," he says, his voice not quite steady. His pupils are huge, and he's practically panting. He must be so close to coming himself. But he pauses, clearly waiting for my permission to continue.

"Okay," I whisper. His mouth is on me again almost immediately, and I hear him groaning.

The combined feel of his tongue and his fingers, which have slipped inside me again, is almost too much. My body arches, trembles and spasms as it responds in ways that I had no idea it could.

It's as if I'm stuck, trying to reach something I don't quite know what is. But a flick of his tongue over my clit sends me over the edge, and I bury my head in a pillow to drown the moan as my body contracts around the two fingers inside me.

I collapse onto the bed, exhausted. I throw away the pillow as I desperately pant for air. I feel Peeta's fingers slip out of me and move up to my clit, and my body jerks almost violently. I'm too sensitive. I push his hands away.

"Did you… Did you come?" I open my eyes, blinking against the light. My entire body feels heavy. "You did, didn't you?" He continues. I nod, unable to speak. "Oh fuck, that's..." He kisses me, sloppily, and I taste myself on him. It's not unpleasant. It's heady and earthy, and strangely, it makes me moan against his lips. He tears his lips away from mine, panting hard. His entire body is trembling.

He mutters something and moves, our limbs tangle and it's confusing for a second. And then, suddenly, before I really know what's going on, he's lying on top of me, the tip of his cock grazing my soaking folds, searching for my entrance.

But there's something we can't afford to forget.

"Peeta… wait." He looks at me with confusion as I scramble to get out of the bed and locate my handbag on the floor. I open it and close my hand around the little foil package. I get back into bed again, under the covers with him. I open my hand, showing him, and his eyes widen.


Peeta

I look at the small, shiny package. I wonder where she got it. Condoms are hard to get hold of in 12. It's suddenly hard to breathe, and I can feel my heart racing in my chest even harder than before. Her lips are swollen, and her pupils are so dilated I can barely see a silvery ring around them.

"Are you sure?" I ask her, my voice not quite steady. I'm so hard it's almost painful. The only reason I haven't blown my load already just from touching Katniss, tasting her, is that I followed Rye's advice and jerked off three times earlier today.

"Yes." She looks at me, her complexion rosy from her recent orgasm – the orgasm I gave her. I feel ridiculously proud that I could do that for her. She gives me the condom. "Perhaps you should put it on. I don't really know how." She bites her lip. "Well, my mother told me how to do it when she gave me them to me…"

So that explains where she got the condoms. "Ouch. Awkward." I grimace.

"You have no idea," she exhales, and I chuckle. "But I've never actually tried to put one on," she admits.

I've tried putting a condom on exactly once. It was an expired one that Rye gave me on my 14th birthday, thankfully not in front of Mother. He thought it was hilarious, and I was so embarrassed. But later, when I was on my own, I figured I could at least use it for practice, even though Katniss never even looked in my direction at school and it didn't really feel as if there was any point in practicing. I'm thankful for Rye's gift now, though. I really don't want to mess this up.

I take a few deep breaths, trying to control my body. I'm so close, so very close… I'm glad Katniss gave me the condom instead of putting it on herself. If she touches my cock right now, I'm pretty sure this will be over before it has even really begun. I attempt to rip open the packaging, but I fumble because my hands are shaking so badly. I lose the condom and it falls down on the bed. I quickly pick it up, but before I try again, I look up at her. Our eyes meet. Her slightly hazy eyes are wary, yet determined.

I blink quickly, trying to focus.

Hazy.

Dammit.

I close my eyes. We can't do this. Not now. It's not supposed to happen like this.

I sit up. "Let's save this for some other time, okay?" It takes pretty much all the willpower I've got to put the condom on the nightstand.

Her brow furrows, her mouth dropping open in confusion. "Don't you want to…?"

I'm not sure if she's talking about having sex, or about using a condom. "I do," I assure her. "I mean, I really want to be with you. And when we do, of course I'll always wear a condom if we have one. But we can't do this, not now."

Katniss sits up with her hands around her knees, covering her body with the sheet. "Why not?" Her voice sounds hurt, and her body language clearly tells me she's putting up a wall between us. I know her now. I know that's what she does when she's hurt or feels insecure, and I can't let her.

"We can't let our first time happen while we're both drunk," I blurt out. "Not at a stupid party, in a random bed that just happened to be available and with a bunch of strangers on the other side of the door. I've waited too long, we both have, for this to be just a quick fuck. I've dreamed of doing this with you, so many times, and I just want it to be… special."

Katniss's shoulders relax. "You're right, Peeta," she whispers. I reach out my hand, and to my relief, she takes it. Her fingers intertwine with mine. "I was just so nervous, and what you were doing felt so good, and… Well, I was curious." So she's been thinking about this, too. "I guess I figured we might as well get it over with," she blurts out, clearly embarrassed.

I lean forward. Her lips are so soft, and she tastes even sweeter than normal because of the punch. This kiss is less urgent than before, but no less intoxicating. "But it's not something we should just 'get it over with', is it?" she asks when our lips part.

I shake my head. "No. I mean, I've had that thought sometimes, too… When Rye was teasing me, or when my friends were talking about girls in the locker rooms after wrestling practice. But now…" My voice trails off.

Our eyes meet and she smiles, and I can't help but think that she looks relieved, which makes me even more certain that stopping was the right decision. "We'll get there," she says. "When it's the right time and the right place."

I nod. "Yeah." I try to ignore the insistent pulsing in my groin. My brain knows that stopping now is a good idea, but my cock doesn't quite agree. I lie back on the bed, and Katniss does too. She somewhat awkwardly lays her head on my shoulder, but quickly relaxes into me. Her left breast is pressed against my chest, and her fingers play lightly with the few hairs I've got there. I can't stop a groan from escaping from my lips.

Katniss bites her lip. "You haven't come yet, have you?" she asks, her voice low.

I grimace, shaking my head.

Katniss looks down at my body. There's not much to see because our lower bodies are covered by a sheet, but she can probably make out the way my cock is straining against it. She takes a deep breath. "Maybe I can help?"

I inhale sharply. I have to close my eyes and slowly count to ten to keep my impending orgasm at bay. When I open them again, I find that Katniss is observing my face intently, waiting for my answer.

Not trusting myself to speak, I quickly nod. Her small, strong hand travels tentatively down my chest, pushing the sheet down to expose more naked skin. Her fingers find my belly button, reach the line of hair that starts below it, following the trail of hair downwards. Her fingers tentatively close around my cock, and even though she's not using even near enough pressure, I can't stop myself from bucking against her. Just knowing that this is Katniss Everdeen who's touching me is enough to…

"Not yet," I desperately think. "Not yet. I've gotta hold on just a little bit longer…"

"Fuck," I moan out loud, and I hear her gasp. I open my eyes. She looks so incredibly sexy – she's naked and just had an orgasm, and we're in the same bed, and I feel the familiar tightening in my lower belly, and...

"What do I do?" she whispers, lightly running her fingertips along the length of my cock, leaving a trail of fire.

I feel it coming, in the base of my spine and in my balls. I can't hold back much longer. "Just touch me, the way you did before... Close your fingers around my cock. But use a bit… more pressure. You won't hurt me." I can barely get the words out, but she understands, and immediately does what I ask her to. "Feels so good." My voice is almost desperate.

Her face lights up at my words. My own hand closes around hers, showing her with nearly erratic movements how to touch me. She quickly gets it, that I need more speed, more pressure, and mimics my movements. I remove my hand again. She's still a bit hesitant, but she seems to become more self-confident when she sees how eagerly I react to her touch. "Fuck, yes, like that…" I want to hold on, I want it to last longer, forever, but there's no stopping this anymore. A guttural groan escapes my throat, I close my eyes, and everything just explodes. I come in spurts, harder than I remember ever having done so in my life.

When I finally manage to open my eyes, it takes a few seconds before I'm able to focus. I'm panting hard. Katniss's hand is glistening with my cum.

Dammit. For the second time in two days, I lasted less than two minutes. If Rye finds out, I'll never hear the end of it. At least I don't have cum in my pants tonight. I guess that's something.

Katniss studies her hand with a look on her face I can't quite identify. Surprise? Disgust? Confusion?

"That was… wow," I laugh breathlessly, a bit self-consciously. "I didn't mean for it to be over this quickly, but you were just so… It felt so good."

She hides her face against my shoulder, but I can still see that she's smiling. A slow, probably ridiculously wide and lazy post-orgasmic smile spreads over my face, too.

"What do I do with this?" she asks, looking down at her sticky hand.

I look around. The room has three doors – one to the hallway, one leading to the Mayor's office, but what about the third one? I get out of bed and discover that I'm right: it's a small adjourning bathroom. We both wash up quickly and slip into bed again. I know we should probably go downstairs, it must be midnight soon. But the chance to spend some time alone with Katniss, when we're both naked and sated, is too tempting. I pull the blanket up to keep us warm.

"Two weeks ago, would you have thought that we'd be lying like this tonight?" I kiss the top of her head.

She snorts. "Hardly. Two weeks ago, I was still trying to get out of going to the Midwinter party with Madge."

I chuckle. Her heart rate is slowing down to a more normal rhythm. So is mine.

"So much has changed in just two weeks. It's still hard for me to wrap my head around it sometimes."

"I know," she says. "I think everyone else agrees with that, too. Mother, Gale, and your parents too, I suppose…"

I don't really want to talk about anyone else right now. Not when we're naked in bed together. "I guess."

"So, you've been thinking about this a lot? Us. Our first time," she clarifies.

"Yeah." If she only knew.

"So how did you imagine that our first time would be?"

I trace patterns on the skin of her back with my index finger. Circles, turning into flower petals. "Well, I had so many different fantasies," I admit. "But they always had one thing in common. That it felt right, you know?"

"I think you've given this a lot more thought than I have," she says.

"I guess that's what happens when you've been dreaming about a girl for 13 years," I smile. "Anyway, I think it's probably a good idea to get to know each other's bodies better before we go all the way. Don't you?"

"Yes." She looks up at me. "You've always wanted our first time to be perfect, haven't you?"

"Yeah," I admit.

"That's a lot for me to live up to," she whispers.

I hug her tighter. "You're perfect already," I assure her.

"No, I'm not," she objects. "And you have to stop saying that. I'm stubborn, and I scowl most of the time, and I'm not very sociable, and…"

"Well, to me, you're perfect."

She sighs. "Peeta!"

I laugh. "Sorry, I can't help it. I'm in bed with a beautiful, naked girl. Of course I'll think you're perfect." She pinches the skin of my chest. "Ow!" I exclaim. "And you have excellent grip strength, too. That's one more thing on the already very long list of your virtues." She pinches me harder. "Okay! I promise I'll stop talking about how amazing you are."

"That's better," she smiles.

From downstairs, we can hear what sounds like lots of very drunk people counting down to midnight. "Five – four – three – two – one –" The party downstairs seems to go wild at the end of the countdown, with lots of cheering and something heavy being shattered against the floor.

"Sounds like another one of Mrs. Undersee's vases," Katniss says.

"Ouch."

"Yeah."

She sits up a bit, leaning on her elbow, and kisses me lightly on the lips. "Happy New Year, Peeta," she murmurs.

"Happy New Year, Katniss."

Her fingertips trace the line of my jaw. We lie there for a while, I have no idea how long. Enjoying just being close, feeling each other's heartbeat. Skin against skin. Kissing from time to time.

I don't even realize that I've fallen asleep until Katniss shakes my shoulder. "Peeta?"

I blink. She's so lovely like this, with fuzzy hair and flushed skin. "What?"

"I guess we shouldn't fall asleep here."

We reluctantly get out of bed and get dressed. I'm about to leave the room, when I suddenly remember the condom on the nightstand. I go back to retrieve it and stuff it in my pocket.

We go downstairs, hand in hand. I can't help scanning the crowd, but I don't see Gale anywhere. Madge also seems to have disappeared. The number of partying people seems to have increased even further since we went upstairs. And, as Katniss said, the number of vases in the Undersee household has decreased by one.

"This doesn't look good," Katniss says, sounding worried. "What time is it?"

"Almost 12.30."

"We have to find Madge. I think it's time to put an end to this party. It's past midnight, and I have no idea when the Undersees are coming home from the party at Cray's."

"You're right," I say. But unlike Katniss, I've been to parties like this before. Getting all the guests to leave – I'm sure there must be more than a hundred of them – is going to be hard. And hiding the traces of this party will be impossible.

I spot Madge, hand in hand with Gale. Looks like they've been in the dining room. "Madge is over there."

"So is Gale," Katniss mutters. "I don't know if I can deal with his bullshit right now."

"We'll need his help," I object. "People listen to him." Besides, a dark, pretty cruel part of me that I'm not at all proud of wants Gale to see Katniss and me, after spending more than an hour in bed together, naked.

"Katniss and Peeta, there you are! I haven't seen you in ages!" Madge giggles when she sees us. Katniss blushes, and Gale looks like he's been eating sour berries or something.

"Yeah, we've been, uh… Um, we've been thinking that it's time to end this party," Katniss says.

"I know," Gale says. "I tried to…" He stops short, and his eyes widen in horror as he looks at something over my shoulder. Beside him, Madge pales, too. Katniss and I turn around, to see that the front door is open, but it's not another onslaught of drunk teenagers looking for a place to party.

It's Mayor Undersee and his wife, with shocked looks on their faces as they take in the disaster area that is their house.

Oh, shit.