it was the night after the ball, and rhi sat alone in the dining area of the restaurant, her feet up on some table they shouldn’t be on, a tv as the only background noise in an otherwise completely quiet room. no, she’d told her grandma, you take the day off, it’s okay to keep the doors closed just once, i’ll cover the running costs - you need a day off. maybe rhi needed the day off, too. to collect her thoughts, stare into space, drink herself into a haze. she hadn’t felt herself since last night. the way people stared at her was different now, and she’d noticed it - or well, cared about it - during the ball, for the first time since she left the industry. either she was a pretty girl to stare at, no achievements to her name, or she was nothing, no one at all. she’d felt herself shrink into her shoes all night, hoping that someone would see her. but everyone had been busy, sorting sponsors, trying to ignore sponsors, trying to get as drunk as possible to have an excuse not to talk to sponsors. she’d hoped someone would prove wrong that nagging voice in the back of her mind: see, they were right, you’re nothing now. and all rhi had gotten was confirmation.
this was the other way to drown it out, though, pouring herself another rum and coke. she’d never been allowed to drink much, always had somewhere to be in the morning, someone she needed to entertain. but now she was nothing and even the games could wait - she’d cried all her tears for the district twelve girl. if robin was to follow, he was now only a vague thought buried somewhere in her brain. so she drank some more. the world seemed to be passing her by, a stream of people too focused on themselves and what they needed to do to see that rhi was drowning. rhi couldn’t blame them, despite her compassionate heart, it wasn’t like she’d reached out for others much herself. another drink, just to forget. the tv hummed in the background and rhi hummed along, an ironic try at finding the right note to hit to harmonize with the electrical whirring of the old thing. she was interrupted, though. a knock at the door.
she stumbled to her feet, walked to the door, leaned against it to keep herself from falling. “we’re closed !!” she called out, despite already having the door handle in hand. she opened the door then. needed a second to see anything, let alone who was in front of her. she frowned initially, before a watery smile softened her features.
“abel ?? what are you doing here ??”
