Love at Sea (Finnick Odair)

Chapter 14

Taiya just shrugged dismissively, rolling her eyes. "Who cares about Buck? He's a big softie anyway." She knew this was not exactly the truth. Buck was secretly, very deep down a softie, but he was also very very scary. But she wanted to rattle Gale, to damage his ego.

"What do you want Taiya?" Gale sighed in frustration.

Clearing her throat awkwardly, Taiya shifted her weight on her feet. "Look, about that gossip you overhead from me and Tyler... it was all a lie. I've been ordered to clear it up. I was teaching Tyler how to play pranks and Gloss is always a fun target. But to tell you the truth, Gloss hates you, and he definitely doesn't have a crush on you," she smiled at him.

Gale simply glanced over at Gloss, then back at Taiya. His scowl deepened and he remarked dryly, "Majority of you victors are chemically unbalanced," before turning and striding away.

Taiya smirked before she turned back to Gloss and shot him a thumbs-up. He just groaned before walking out of the cafeteria.

"What did you do sweetheart?" Haymitch asked, having walked over after observing the interaction.

"Tyler and I pranked Gloss by making Gale overhear that Gloss has a big crush on him," she turned to her friend with a smile. "Turns out Gloss doesn't like being pranked."

"Nicely done sweetheart," Haymitch nodded in approval. Given he was safe from their antics, he liked to encourage her. He didn't feel the need to reign them in, because he was never going to be a target. "Hovercraft's ready to go. Tyler's already on board."

"No," Taiya complained, dramatically throwing her head back.

Plutarch was currently having a stressful fit over the dress that Taiya would wear to this engagement party. Coin wanted them to just wear the District 13 uniform, which led Taiya to agree with Plutarch, saying the occasion called for something else. Oh, how she regretted that now.

Katniss had volunteered to go with Taiya back to her house is 12. Cinna had left a variety of evening clothes in a storage closet there. Apparently, there was quite an assortment of wedding dresses and gowns she wore on her Victory Tour.

The District 4 team (Tyler) immediately refused to let her go alone. He did not trust her not to get up to mischief if left unsupervised. There was no faith. So he was going to tag along. Finnick had sulked about not being able to go, but Plutarch didn't want him to know what dress she was going to wear, so he had to stay in 13.

Tyler was nervous about separating them for too long. Taiya noticeably got twitchy and unstable when they were kept apart for too long, so he was hoping this would be a quick trip. In and out. No complications.

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Taiya stepped onto the hovercraft and immediately met Tyler's eyes.

She hadn't been expecting her reaction, but it was immediate. She was hit with an unexpected surge of panic. Her hands shook uncontrollably, her chest felt tight, she felt hot and her heart was hammering.

She'd only been on a hovercraft five times before. None had ever ended well. Four times they'd been used to ferry her to and from the arena. The last time had been her rescue from the Capitol, the rescue from the Capitol was traumatic.

Her anxiety spiked fiercely, pushing her into the throes of a panic attack. She gasped for air, her body trembling as tears streamed down her face, feeling trapped within the confines of the hovercraft.

Tyler reacted instantly. She hadn't even noticed him racing toward her. But she felt his arms wrap around her, pulling her into his chest. His presence was like a comforting anchor