A/N: I know it's been a while but I'm finally back with another new story. I'm excited to get back to my regular Monday postings. I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1

18 years old

Peeta is an ugly sleeper. Most of the girls in school would be dismayed at such a comment. They don't want to imagine the golden and handsome head boy as anything other than sheer perfection. But I'm his girlfriend and I know the truth. Peeta drools. He snores. And he manages to snuggle so far down into the pillow that he always wakes up with creases across his cheek the next day. Peeta Mellark is far from the adonis that the girls make him out to be. But I love him even more for it.

I scrunch up my nose as a bit of drool drops from the corner of his mouth and slithers down his chin. I push up onto my elbow so that I am in a better position to wake him. It's the last day of our trip on the Isle of Skye and I don't want to waste it watching him snore. There are so many better things we could be doing. I peer over his shoulder and lean my face close to his ear.

"Peeta, wake up," I whisper in his ear while shaking his shoulder.

Peeta lets out a really unattractive grunt before rolling onto his back and stretching his limbs. As he flings one of his limbs in the air, he accidently whacks me in the face and knocks me over.

"Hey! Those arms of yours are lethal!" I exclaim.

Peeta gives me a sleepy smile as he turns to grab my waist and pulls me on top of him.

"Well you shouldn't have woken me so suddenly," he says playfully.

I roll my eyes and Peeta reaches up to tuck my long dark hair behind my ear. I lower myself towards him until our foreheads touch and we brush our noses together.

"I suppose I could have woken you with kisses instead," I mumble against his lips.

"That definitely would have been preferable," Peeta replies.

He then tilts his lips up to meet mine in a slow kiss. My hands rest on his shoulders to steady myself and I open my mouth eagerly to let him in. Our tongues tangle together and Peeta's hands slide from my waist down to my arse. His gives my arse cheeks a cheeky squeeze and I pull back as I playfully swat him away.

"Keep those hands PG. I had a very different work out in mind for this morning," I say.

One of the benefits of being on Skye is that there are dozens of trails and hill walks to go on. I am my happiest when I am outdoors and there is no better feeling when I reach the top of the hill and look out at the view at the top. The walk we have today is said to have one of the best views on the island. I've been excited about this since we arrived.

Peeta grins as he gives my arse another squeeze.

"You're right. We don't want Madge to be mad at us for being behind schedule," he replies. He then tips his head up towards me again. "And besides, you've got really bad morning breath."

I playfully swot him again and Peeta laughs before reaching up for one last quick kiss. I smile as I watch him roll off the bed and head towards the shower. My eyes linger on his pert behind and Peeta must know I'm staring because he wiggles his arse just before he leaves our quaint little room. I laugh before falling back into the flowery pillows. This holiday has been close to perfect since we arrived but with Peeta gone my mind drifts to what will happen when we get back home to Edinburgh. I shake my head to push those thoughts away before getting out of bed and starting preparations for the day.

Peeta and I wander down the narrow wooden stairs, clad in lycra t-shirts, kaki shorts and muddy hiking books while we laugh and trade impressions of some of teachers from school. Two of our friends, Madge and Darius wait for us in the cosy kitchen. Madge must have been up early as all the empty beer bottles have been cleared away and the dirty plates and glasses have been stacked away in the doorless top cabinets. The wooden counter tops now gleam in the morning sunlight that streams through the large window above the porcelain sink.

Madge has a notepad out and checks things off as she puts things in her rucksack while Darius barely looks awake and he yawns as he sips on some coffee. Peeta pulls me into his front and rests his chin against my shoulder as he looks over at Madge.

"We're only going for a morning walk. Do we really need to take all this stuff?" he asks.

Madge looks up briefly after she has packed some energy bars into a side pocket.

"There's a reason the Scouts' motto is to always be prepared," Madge replies.

We all grin and Darius wipes the sleep out of his eyes.

"And that's why you were a far better Scout than I was," Darius says. "I got kicked out after accidently dropping all the matches in the river."

"You were a pretty awful Scout. You were the only person that managed to tie yourself to the chair while we were practising tying knots," Peeta adds.

Darius grins.

"We all have our talents. Knot tying isn't one of mine," he says.

I laugh.

"No. But downing a pint of beer in five seconds is one of yours," I say.

"I've spent years practising that particular talent," he says. Darius then closes his eyes and rubs his temples. "Though I'm paying for that skill today. I lost count of how many beers I drank last night."

"Mixing beer with vodka didn't help that either," Madge adds with a grin.

We all share a laugh before we begin reliving some of the events from last night. Madge's dad owns this cosy cottage on Skye and it's been the prefect venue for our last holiday of the summer. Madge's mum loves a floral print and has scattered it throughout the house. She's stencilled floral prints onto the cream walls and every cushion, curtain and bedsheet has some sort of flower on it. The house is also right next to the beach and far enough away from other houses that we can be as loud as we like in the evenings when the drinks come out and the music blares. We've gone mountain biking and hill walking and created so many memories.

But from next week we'll all start to go off to university. I'm staying in Edinburgh but Peeta is off down to Exeter and Madge is going up to Aberdeen. We don't know when we will all be together again and there has been a lot of reminiscing and hugging as a result. All of us are eager to make each moment count.

"Are we ready? I actually dreamed about getting to the top last night. I hope the view lives up to it," I say.

Madge checks one last thing off her list before nodding her head and looking back up at us.

"We've got everything we need. I'll just leave a note for the others to tell them we've left," she says.

I nod my head as I untangle myself from Peeta to turn to pick up my own rucksack. Peeta does the same but bends to place a kiss on my temple before we head out the door. We share a smile as he joins Darius and pats a sympathetic hand on our hungover friend's back. Madge scans over the kitchen one more time to double check we have everything before we follow the boys out the door.

The sun shines down on us as we set out on the dusty path and I pull out my sunglasses to put on. I then tighten the straps of my rucksack as the birds chirp happily in the trees that line the trail. Darius complains about the brightness hurting his eyes while Peeta starts singing to keep spirits high. I shake my head as I catch up with him and slip my fingers through his.

"I love the fact that you can't sing but you still sing as loud as you can anyway," I say.

"Yeah, Peet. You are not helping my headache," Darius adds.

"I don't know what you are both saying. My singing is amazing," Peeta replies with a grin.

"Yeah. Amazingly bad," Madge says, "There was a reason you got rejected from the school choir."

"I had a cold that day. That was the only reason I wasn't at my best," Peeta says.

Madge rolls her eyes but I snuggle into my boyfriend's side.

"Don't change, Peeta. I love the fact that you don't care what other people think," I say.

Peeta smiles at me before bending down for a kiss. Both Madge and Darius make gagging noises.

"I came on this walk for the views. Not to watch you two make out the whole time," Darius says.

"I'm not going to apologise for kissing my beautiful girlfriend," Peeta replies.

"We get it. The two of you are madly in love," Madge says. "We're not all lucky enough to find the love of our life at school."

Peeta and I both grin but the thought of what will happen after this trip resurfaces again. Peeta and I have been dating since we were fourteen and we've shared all our first together. But going to university changes things and I'm scared about that.

"I don't think I need to tell you that I think Peeta is the best," I say leaning my head against his shoulder.

Peeta smiles as he looks down at me and gives my hand a squeeze. I smile back at him and we don't talk about the future.

The walk isn't too strenuous and winds slowly up the hill. Trees line our path to begin with but as we get higher these thin out and instead we are surrounded by heather. At one point we have to skirt around a bog and the midges fly about and try to nip us as we cross. Darius has to stop a couple of times to throw up in the bushes but by the time we get to the top of the hill he is looking a bit brighter.

"We made it!" Darius exclaims as he throws his arms in the air. "I'm king of the World!"

Madge grins as she stands beside him. She then checks her watch.

"And we made good time. What a view for lunch," she says.

I nod my head in agreement as I look out at the view before me. The craggy hillside leads down to a leafy forest and a meandering river that reaches to the sea. The sun bounces off the water making it sparkle like diamonds and the faint outline of mainland Scotland can just be seen in the distance. A small smile spreads slowly across my face as a feeling of complete calm and contentment comes over me. I tilt my head towards the sun and enjoy the feel of the slight heat on my skin. I inhale deeply to soak every bit of this environment in.

I don't stop looking out until I hear Peeta's heavy tread come up beside me.

"I've never seen you so beautiful," he says.

I turn to him with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm sweaty and stinky. I'm hardly at my peak attractiveness right now," I reply.

Peeta shakes his head as he pulls me in by the waist.

"I disagree. You look so happy and peaceful. I've spent the last ten minutes memorising every single detail of you standing here from the way your hair catches in the sunlight to the exact glow in your eye. You won't be able to stop me sketching this later. I don't ever want to forget how you look right now," he says.

I smile up at him as he tucks a sweaty strand of hair behind my ear. Peeta is so much better at all the sentimental stuff compared to me and I sometimes feel that I don't express exactly just how much I love him.

"Well this view is made even better by the fact you're here with me. I love you," I say.

Peeta smiles at me and I step on to my toes to kiss him deeply. Peeta squeezes me tight and I savour the taste of him.

But we are interrupted by Madge as she calls to us as she begins unpacking the food and my stomach makes a loud rumble. Peeta chuckles as we pull back and he links his hand with mine.

"I've known you long enough now to know we need to feed you quick once your stomach starts making those noises," he says.

"Food is my first love in life. No offence," I say.

Peeta chuckles as we make our way over to our friends.

"Oh I know. That's how I got you to date me in the first place. I kept baking you cakes until you finally agreed to go out with me," he replies.

I grin as Peeta offers me a space to sit down and he then takes a seat next to me as Madge hands out the food. Darius starts talking about the plans for our last night as we munch on our sandwiches.

"We need to make tonight the best night we've had here. Who knows when we'll all be together again? We need all the classic drinking games. Beer Pong, Ring of Fire and Roxanne at least," he jabbers on.

I lean against Peeta's side and he places a kiss on top of my head before he suggest other games we could play and I try to ignore the fact that I don't really want to go home.

The journey back to the house is even more enjoyable than the journey up and Peeta and Darius make a competition on who can get back the quickest. They jostle and skip in front of each other and Madge and I laugh when their gentle shoving ends up with both of them falling into a bog. Darius scrunches his nose as he tries to shake some of the mud off him.

"Good thing there are no girls I'm trying to impress out here. Even I might struggle to pull while smelling like this," he says.

"Even in the middle of nowhere you think about pulling girls," Madge says.

"I'm a young blooded male. I barely think about anything else," Darius says with a grin.

Madge shakes her head.

"I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to let you out during Freshers week," I say.

Darius grins and flings his arm around my shoulder.

"I can't fucking wait for Freshers. Different club nights every day that week. Plenty of girls wearing hardly anything. It's heaven. And I'll have you as my wingman to help me get my tally up," he says.

"I am not helping you get one night stands. Haven't Madge and I taught you anything about how to treat girls?" I say.

"You have. I'll make sure to make any girl I bring home breakfast the next day," he says.

"That's not what I had in mind," I reply.

I love Darius but I do find the way he talks about girls inappropriate at times. He seems obsessed with pulling as many girls as possible without ever thinking about getting into a relationship. And the chat only gets worse when he is around his fellow rugby teammates. Madge and I have made it our mission in the last year to pull him up on it whenever he crosses the line.

"Girls are not prizes that you can collect, Darius. They have feelings," Madge says.

Darius sighs and hangs his head.

"I'm sorry. You're right. I didn't mean for it to sound like that," he replies.

Madge and I nod our heads, satisfied for now and we carry on with the rest of the journey.

When we finally get back to the house our other friends are on the beach throwing a frisbee about. We all drop our bags to run over to join them and it doesn't take long for two teams to form and a proper game to start up. Most of us are pretty competitive and underhand tactics start getting used quickly but it's all good natured and I can't help but laugh at the end even though my team loses.

As the afternoon goes on people begin to peel off to get ready for the night. Delly is unsurprisingly the first to go as it takes her a couple of hours for her to deem herself ready for night time celebrations. I'm the complete opposite and after a quick shower I pull on a pair of denim shorts and an old Rolling Stones t-shirt before heading down to the garden to help Madge set out all the deck chairs. A single cow watches us from the field on the other side of the fence and the boys start to argue over who is manning the barbeque. In the end they all end up losing as it is determined that I'm the best griller. Peeta slides his arms around my waist once Bristel and Thom have gone off in a little huff and I take over.

"I love it when you take control," he mumbles against my neck.

I smile as Peeta starts planting kisses on my neck and I tip my head to the side to let him have better access. He smells of the mint from his shower gel and wears a crisp white t-shirt that emphasises the tan he has managed to pick up while we have been here.

"I'm glad you are not intimidated by a strong woman," I reply.

"Not one bit. In fact it really turns me on," Peeta says as he places firmer kisses on my neck.

I sigh as I sink back into him.

"You're distracting me from the food. I don't want it to burn," I say.

"Then tell me to stop," Peeta as he kisses up towards my ear.

I smile but we're interrupted by Darius bounding towards us. He slams a bottle of apple sours down on the table next to us.

"Right, guys. It's the last night and we're starting with shots!" he exclaims.

Peeta reluctantly pulls back from me and looks at the green bottle.

"Apple sours? Really, Darius?" he says.

"Why not? It's the best tasting shot!" he exclaims. "Though don't tell the other rugby guys that."

I grin and shake my head as Darius pours us each a shot. We raise them to clink them together.

"To the best friends a guy can make at school!" Darius says.

"To best friends!" Peeta and I echo.

We then all tip the contents of the drink down our throats. Darius grins at us both once he has finished.

"Another one?" he says with a cheeky wink.

We laugh before nodding our heads and putting our glasses out to be topped up. As we are doing this, Delly bounces out the door wearing a short pink floaty dress and she makes sure her blonde curls are still in place before her eyes zone in on us. Her face then splits into a huge grin.

"Are you having shots without me?" she says. "You know that apple sours are my favourite."

I grin as I hand her my shot glass.

"I'm sure you'll catch up quickly," I say.

Delly thanks me for the shot and downs two in quick succession.

"That's the spirit, Del. You're going to rock it at Freshers week," Darius says.

Delly smiles as she slips her arm around his waist.

"Thanks, Darius. But I'm going to miss all you guys in Glasgow. What if I don't find anyone who likes karaoke as much as we all do? And there is going to be no one that remembers that time Darius stole the birdhouse from my neighbour's back garden," she says.

"You'll make loads of new friends, Delly. You are the friendliest person I know and I have never come across someone who doesn't like you," Peeta reassures her.

"Yeah. But it won't be the same. We all grew up together. Promise we'll all still keep in touch," Delly replies.

Darius gives her waist a little squeeze.

"Of course we will, Del. I'm already planning our reunion night out to Christmas Cav in December!" Darius announces.

Delly looks happier after this and gives him a little squeeze.

"Thanks. I love you guys so much," she says.

"We love you too, Delly," I say.

Everyone nods their heads but I have to get back to the barbeque and Peeta offers to get everyone drinks that aren't apple sours. The group around me disperses a little and Darius soon puts the music on. Delly squeals when Carly Rae's Jepson's Call Me Maybe comes on and she grabs Lavinia and Madge's hands and pulls them up to dance. Madge sticks her hand our for Delly to twirl under while Lavinia works on her big fish, little fish, cardboard box dance. Darius soon joins them and the girls have to duck from his flailing limbs.

Eventually I finish up with the barbeque and once everyone has grabbed a plate of meat I join in with the rest of the festivities. Peeta and I don't stray from each other after the meal has finished and there isn't a moment where we don't seem to be touching, whether it's his finger tangling and twirling my hair or my hand on his thigh, we constantly seek contact with each other and I savour every little touch.

Lots of alcohol is drunk and Darius makes sure all the games are played. He is a gent when we play Ring of Fire and offers to drink the dirty pint when Delly picks the card for it. He stands up and gets us all to chant and clap before he tips the contents of the jug filled with beer, gin, vodka and tobasco sauce down his throat.

"Darius! Darius! Darius!" we all chant.

He gets about half the way down before he starts to struggle and begins to gag.

"Come on, mate! You can do this! The rugby initiation is worse than this!" Thom says.

Darius stops for a moment to take a deep breath and gives everyone a thumbs up.

"Don't worry, guys. I've got this," he says.

He raises the jug back to his lips again and we all cheer. Darius begins to drink again and the liquid starts to spill down his chin but we keep cheering and eventually Darius reaches the bottom of the jug. He lets out an almighty cheer and slams the jug back down. He then whips off his shirt and bangs his chest in triumph.

"Fuck yes! I am amazing!" he declares.

We all laugh and cheer while Delly pops up and places a kiss on his cheek.

"My hero. Thank you for volunteering to do that for me," she says.

Darius grins.

"My pleasure. What are friends for?" he replies.

Delly smiles at him but then Darius suddenly goes a bit green. He places his hand over his mouth.

"Excuse me but I need to run to the toilet," he says.

He then turns and sprints inside quicker than Usian Bolt. Some of us laugh as I turn to face Peeta. I brush some hair off his face as I lean in closer to him.

"Thank God you didn't have to drink that. It would have made kissing you harder," I say.

"Well there is nothing stopping you now," he replies with a grin.

"I guess not," I say.

I then close the remaining distance between us and we kiss each other slowly. I'm vaguely aware of some of our friends wolf whistling as we continue but neither of care. Peeta tangles his fingers in my hair and I squeeze him tight. Peeta has been my best friend for as long as I can remember. I can't imagine loving anyone more.

I'm not sure what time we eventually get to bed but at least Peeta and I up sleeping in a bed. When we wake the next morning we find Darius passed out on the sofa, still with his shirt off and tobacco sauce dried around his mouth in the living room.

The mood is a lot more sombre this morning as we pack to leave. Everyone is aware this is the last time we will all be together before we head off in different directions to go to uni. Madge oversees that everyone packs the right things and makes sure we leave the house in a clean state for her father. Once everyone is finished we all stand in a circle, none of us quite sure what to say.

I stand tucked into Peeta's side and he places a kiss on top of my head before speaking to the rest of the group.

"This has been one hell of a holiday," he starts. "Madge, thanks for keeping us all organised and making sure none of us got lost. Darius, I will never forget your rendition of Barbie Girl on the first night. Thom and Bristel, please never try to make chilli again and Lavinia I'm going to miss having you on my Pictionary team. I'm so glad to call you all my friends."

Delly sniffs back a tear as she nods her head.

"I've got so many memories from this trip. We should make this trip an annual thing. I don't want to lose any of you as friends," she says.

We all nod our heads in agreement but the truth is that none of us know if we will still all be friends in a year's time. Enough of the group have older siblings to know that some friends from school always fall by the wayside once we leave school.

"Thanks for all coming," Madge says. "I'm going to miss you all."

More nodding of heads and then we start hugging each other goodbye. Thom, Bristel, Delly and Lavinia get in one car while the rest get into Peeta's car. Thom's car sets off first and we wave through the window as they drive off. We follow behind soon after and Madge and Darius start arguing which playlist to play on the way back. I sink back into the car seat and hold on tightly to all the memories we made here.

The journey is several hours long and we drop Darius and Madge off first. Silence falls in the car as soon as they get out and my heart sinks in my chest. I don't want to get home.

Eventually Peeta pulls up outside my house and he cuts the engine. The silence lingers as a nauseous feeling rises up inside of me. Peeta fidgets in his seat and wipes his hand roughly against his jeans. Neither of us can look at each other.

We are broken out of the silence by the sound of Peeta's phone beeping. He scrambles to get it and I finally turn to look at him.

"It's my dad. He wants to know if I'll be home soon," he says.

"He will have missed you while we've been away. He didn't have his partner in crime in the kitchen," I say.

Peeta and his dad are extremely close. His dad taught him how to bake and they even have matching aprons to wear in the kitchen together. Peeta spoke to his dad for at least an hour every night while we were away and I'm sure Wheaton will be desperate to have his son back.

"He's going to miss me even more when I'm in Exeter," Peeta replies.

I go quiet at the mention of Exeter. Peeta got accepted to study graphic design down there at uni. It's a seven-and-a-half-hour journey to get to the English city from Edinburgh and a long way to go to see him.

Peeta pauses before eventually turning to speak to me.

"We can't keep just ignoring it any longer, Katniss. We made a deal," he says.

He's right. We did make a deal and I've been trying to forget about it the entire summer. But summer is almost over and it's time we faced it.

"I know. I just didn't think it would be this hard," I reply.

Peeta reaches for my hands and squeezes them tight.

"I'm finding it hard too. I love you so much, Katniss. I don't want us to break up," he says.

"But we have to," I say.

Peeta nods his head sadly. This was our deal. Enjoy the summer together and then separate just before we go off to uni.

Peeta rubs his thumb across my knuckles and I try to memorise the feel of his skin against mine. After today I won't get that luxury.

"I really wish we didn't have to but I saw what going to uni did to my brothers' relationships. They both went to uni with girlfriends but the distance became too hard. Bran ended up hating Clove. I don't want that to happen with us. I can't end up hating you," he says.

We've talked about this a lot. Exeter is just too far away from Edinburgh to make our relationship work. We know we both love each other but we also both want to make the most of our time at uni. We want to make new friends and try new things. That would be harder if we spent every other weekend travelling to see each other. And we don't want to be jealous of all the things the other is doing without us. We're both so young and have so much life to experience. Sometimes loving each other just isn't enough.

"I don't want that either," I say. "I know breaking up is the right thing to do but that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt like hell right now."

Peeta nods his head in agreement and reaches out to cup my cheek.

"I love you, Katniss. Letting you go is the hardest thing I've had to do," he says.

I lean into his hand and put my hand around his neck to draw him closer to me.

"I love you too, Peeta. I don't want to forget us," I say.

"You won't. You're still going to be in my life. Even if it's just as a long distance friend you message every now and again when you get bored," he replies.

"You will always be more than that to me, Peeta," I say.

"Yes. And you will always mean more to me too," he says.

I tip my head up and our lips meet. The kiss starts of soft at first but soon builds in intensity. Peeta pulls me towards him and I pour every ounce of my love for him into that one kiss. I want to leave him with a kiss he will never forget. I want him to know he will always have part of my heart.

The kiss slows again until we have break apart and I am left siting on his lap with my forehead leaning against his. Once I get out this car we'll be over. We will no longer be boyfriend or girlfriend but two school friends who are about to live in different parts of the country. I'm not sure I'm ready for that.

We stay sitting like that until I get cramp in my leg, not wanting to say anything more and ruining the moment. Slowly I untangle myself from him and Peeta gets out to open the door for me. He offers to carry my bags and walks me to the door. He puts the bags by my feet and reaches out to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear.

"This isn't goodbye," he says.

He then leans to place one last soft kiss on my lips and turns to walk away. I watch him go with a huge ache in my chest and struggle to hold back the tears.

I hope we haven't just made the biggest mistake of our lives.