Prim bounces back to her gaggle of friends, and I can’t help the lazy smile that takes over my face, watching her stuffing the last piece of pastry into her mouth, before she reaches them, but my smile slowly wipes away as soon as I lift my eyes to find Katniss’ gray eyes staring me down, as she stalks towards me like a fury straight from hell, or at least that’s how I perceive her, since her eyes are thunderous, a volcanic rain of fire, sulfur and ashes.
I’m momentarily sidetracked by a pesky thought, wondering how or why am I so fascinated with the girl, since she’s not very big, nor she’s particularly pretty, yet to me she’s not just as radiant as the sun, but simply perfect. To me… she’s perfect, and right now absolutely terrifying.
“I must ask you to stop talking to my sister!” She snaps still two feet away from me, “Again!” She adds forcefully.
“I would, except she approached me this time, and I thought it’d be rude to ignore her,” I say evenly. I refuse to let her see how irritating she can get. “Plus, you still have not told me what did I do wrong, to earn your distrust.” I say trying to hide the hurt I feel on a very personal level, because although she doesn’t really have to give me a reason as to why she wants me to stop talking to her baby sister, I consider myself a good person and I damned want to know what it is about me, she doesn’t like.
She scowls, and again, my fascination with her facial expressions gets the best of me. I berate myself about it, almost missing her answer, because she mumbled it so low as if ashamed of it.
“She’s much too young for you.” Katniss blushes then shakes her head, seemingly angry about something. “Plus, she begged me to let her go to a movie with Dennis Cartwright this weekend, so… she-she’s not interested in you that way.” She rushes it out evidently flustered.
It takes me a second to process it, but my brain finally does cut through the molasses of a response she just threw at me, and finally do the math in my head.
“Oh…” I exhale. “Wait. And you think I am?” I ask equal parts surprised and disturbed, “Interested in Prim that way?” I clarify because this is absolutely crazy.
She scowls yet again, looking confused and uncomfortable. “Well, yeah. Aren’t you? You spend an awful lot of time telling her all this stories about your trips around the Caribbean. She even told me about that cruise you invited her on—“
“Invited?” I interrupt her, because again, crazy! “I what do you mean invited?” I grind.
“You told her she’d love the Caribbean, and that a cruise would be a great way to see it, and you also said—“
“I didn’t actually invited her anywhere! I just suggested she someday make her dreams of traveling come true!” My arms flail around with my growing aggravation.
“She said you told her you'd be happy to help her out!” She counters angrily.
“By giving her pointers, printing out TripAdvisor tips, giving her my old guides and books!” My heart is hammering fast in my chest, there’s an influx of bad excitement flowing through my system, so I try to calm myself, by stepping backwards and breathing deeply. I rub my forehead a moment, then I say tiredly, “I don’t know what you think my intentions are, for being friendly with Prim, but whatever it is, I can assure you’re wrong.” I take a deep breath “She’s a good kid, smart. I like her, but Not like you imagined it.”
I start walking away from her, I don’t have the energy to keep trying to ingratiate myself with her, clearly the little sister approach was a terrible, messy bust.
“I won’t ever talk to her again. Don’t worry. I don’t want to give you the wrong impression any longer.” There’s no bite to my tone, just defeat, and if she felt relief, anger or even believe me, she didn’t voice it either. It’s fine, I need a rest from it all anyway.
