The Hunger Games

ᴛʜʀᴇᴇ

Aspen was guided off to a small room where she sat on a couch by herself. There were two peacekeepers outside of the door acting as guards. Not even Michael Wilson was in the room with her.

She sat on the red velvet couch, her knees up to her chest and her face resting on the top of her kneecaps. She tried to suppress the sounds her stomach was making. She wasn't hungry, just nervous.

Then, Aspen heard a strange knocking on her window.

She picked herself up off of the couch and pushed the curtain out of the way. When she did, she saw the one and only Gale Hawthorne trying to get in. Aspen quickly undid the lock and opened the window, pulling Gale inside.

"What the hell, Gale?" She asked the boy. After a few grunts and finally making it into the room, Gale spoke up.

"I had to say goodbye." He said. She looked up at him, her eyes wide and shaking her head.

"I don't get it. How did you know I was in here?" She asked him.

"I watched them pull you away on the tv. As to what room you were in, I kind of took a lucky guess." He said. She shook her head again.

"You're an idiot." She said, hugging him. He closed his eyes and hugged her back tightly, his hands gently around her waist. His hand made its way up to her hair as he stroked the back of her head.

"I don't know how much time we have." Aspen said, turning around to glance at the door.

Gale looked at her. He looked at her face and how beautiful she was. He admired everything about her, everything from the baby hairs that messily stayed there across her cheek to the single freckle on her nose, just in case this would be the last time.

"Run away with me." He said, thinking out loud. Aspen let out a sarcastic chuckle.

"I would. And I really, really want to, but they already put a tracker in my arm. I kind of punched one of the Peacekeepers in the dick on my way here and tried to take a run for it." She admitted. Gale let out a laugh.

"I love you." Gale told her. He didn't know if it was fair to say that to her or not, but he had to tell her.

"Yeah. I love you, too." Aspen told him. She was a little confused. She didn't know if he meant as a sister or more. Frankly, she didn't know how she meant it, either.

"What about Katniss? Are her and Prim okay?" She asked. Aspen watched Gale look down, avoiding her eyes. Well, that's not good.

"What happened?" She asked.

"Prim was chosen. Katniss volunteered in her place." Gale informed. Aspen let out a weak sigh, starting to pace.

"Listen, as long as you get your hands on a sword and Katniss gets her hands on a bow and arrow, the two of you will be fine." Gale said, trying to calm her down. Aspen shook her head.

"There's twenty four of us, and only one of us makes it out alive." Aspen said, turning to look back at him. He saw her eyes went watery, and he just wished he could be in her place instead of her. He couldn't lose Aspen.

Just as the girl finished her sentence, she heard people walking outside of the door as if they were about to come in.

"You have to get out of here." She told Gale, who started to panic. She tried to push him towards the window, but he grabbed her face.

And then he kissed her.

This is the moment Aspen realized when he said "I love you", he meant it as more than friends. Now, she was starting to think she did, too.