Peeta thrums his fingers impatiently on the car's roof as he waits for his best friend and now-former college roommate to stop sucking on the brunette girl's face.

"Any year, now Finn."

Finnick finally steps back and smirks at his friend.

"Sorry, Peet. This is Katniss, by the way."

The girl nervously pulls down her Guns n' Roses t-shirt before extending her hand toward Peeta, who politely shakes it.

"Nice to meet you, Katniss."

"Likewise, I'm sure."

Finnick pulls Katniss' attention back to himself. "Call me, babe?"

Katniss kisses him. "You bet."

Their faces are suddenly glued together once again. After a few minutes, Peeta honks the car horn.

"Not that I'm not enjoying watching you two dry-hump each other, but could we please get going? We're gonna hit rush-hour traffic if we don't."

"Fine," Finnick groaned. "Love ya, babe."

Katniss kissed his cheek. "Love you, too."

They climbed into the car and took off.

"So what's your deal?"

Katniss's voice broke through the silence that had haunted the car for the past 20 miles.

"I'm sorry?" Peeta turned to her.

"What's your deal. We're gonna be stuck in this car together for a while – might as well get to know each other."

"Or we could just not talk."

Katniss slumped back in her seat and crossed her arms. "That's boring," she said.

Peeta sighed. "Fine. I'm 21, went to PanemUniversity, majored in baking, minored in art, two brothers, parents divorced when I was 10, grew up with dad." He paused to glare in Katniss's direction. "Anything else?"

"What does your dad do?"

Peeta got the uneasy feeling that this was o longer just small talk – that the practical-stranger next to him genuinely cared.

"He owns a bakery upstate. Now that I've graduated, I'm heading back home to learn the ropes so I can take over."

Katniss nodded. "That explains the baking major."

"Yeah. Neither of my brothers wanted the bakery, so I got it by process of elimination."

"Is that what you want to do?"

Peeta thought for a moment. "It's what I'm going to do."

Katniss got the feeling that Peeta didn't want to stay on that subject, so she let it go. "What do your brothers do?"

"Rye is in business – he builds computers or something – and Wheat just finished med school last year."

"Rye, Wheat, and Peeta? Do you have a cousin named Ciabatta?"

Peeta glared at her. "Very funny." He looked her up and down. "Well, at least it's easy to figure you out."

Katniss scoffed. "Oh, really?"

"Yeah. I'm gonna guess you're 19, maybe 20, the youngest in your family. You carry yourself like you matter, but you dress like you don't, so I'm gonna guess you have a rich daddy who you rebelled against when you were young – tired of always living in your big sister's shadow. Dropped out of high school junior year and never had a problem in your life." Pause. "Am I right?"

Silence once again prevailed in the small car. When Katniss finally broke it with a hushed, "shut up," there was venom in her voice.

"I'm right, aren't I?" Peeta smiled cheekily at her.

Katniss glared. "I said shut up."

"Ha! I knew I was right."

Suddenly, Katniss exploded.

"I said shut up! You can't just meet me and then know me 5 minutes later. And for the record, no, you weren't right. I'm 21. And my dad was a coal-miner – that's right, was. He died 10 years ago, almost to the day, and when he died my mom went crazy. So crazy we had to put her in a home. And who was left to take care of my little sister? Me. Because I was the only person she had. So don't even talk to me about problems. Oh, and I did not drop out of high school. I'm a college graduate, thank you very much, so shut the fuck up before I make you!"

For the first time in his life, Peeta was left speechless. He had not expected Katniss's life to be like that, nor was he prepared for her sudden outburst.

"Katniss…I…I'm so sorry…I didn't know…"

She shook her head. "No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped. It's not your fault you made assumptions…I just don't like being pigeon-holed."

"It's ok – I shouldn't have assumed. You know what they say, to assume makes an ass out of you and me."

A smile threatened to cross Katniss's face. "Well, you're forgiven."

There was a brief awkward pause. "So," Peeta finally said, "what did you go to school for?"

"Journalism. I'm headed upstate to work for the Capitol Times."

Peeta smiled broadly. "Oh really? Their headquarters are just down the street from the bakery."

"Really? Maybe we'll be neighbors."

"I'd like that."