Falling Snow

007

For the next two weeks Coriolanus and Livia Cardew barely spoke a word to one another unless in the company of their families. The soft whisper of their time together outside the university had disappeared from the school hallways and they hadn't even announced their engagement to the public yet.

Livia hated to admit it, but in their short time together two weeks ago, she became quite fond of their routine, getting up, bickering, sleeping besides each other in anger.

The morning was cold and sky grey as the blonde girl tried not to shiver as she exited her bed sheets, a tall figure's energy looming behind her. She didn't want to turn and face him, but figured the act must be completed eventually. She turned her body with a smile on her face only to lock eyes with the image of Coriolanus, half shirtless, buttoning up his dress top.

The Peace Keepers were known to have aggressive routines, hard hitting, but well payed of. Livia agreed they must've done Coriolanus well as she tried not to blush as his toned chest.

In a hurry, she covered her eyes, "I'm so sorry!"

He chuckles as if he has not a care in the world, the utmost confidence dripping from his laughter.
"We'll be married in a couple months, there's no use in being shy."

The implication of his words strung like a melody in the air, each note hitting a string of anxiety in Livia's lungs. What could Coriolanus mean by this?

"Excuse me?" She spoke softly, eyebrows raised in anticipation as he simply finished buttoning his shirt and smirked at her, "well we'll be married, there's expectations is there not?"

"Expectations such as what Coriolanus?" Her tone shocked him, the blonde man assumed Livia would've implied said aspects when agreeing to their engagement.
"Well," he tucks his shirt in without a hint of awkwardness lingering in his mind, "I'll be president of Panem Miss Cardew-"

"Livia." She didn't want the formalities right now.

"Livia.. and.. well with that comes expectations such as children, a lack therefore would only be to have people question our relationship."

It was as if a glass had broken beneath them as Livia heard a metaphorical shatter in her mind. Coriolanus expected not only sexual relations with her, but for her to bear his child? Simply a ridiculous notion.

"Coriolanus this is ridiculous," and she told him such, laughing straight in his face, "you and I both know that the last thing I'd want to do is sleep with you."

"Is it?" Tension laced the air as she only managed to breath in frantic rhythm. He was looking at her through his lashes, eyes piercing her soul.
The idea that Coriolanus knew of her past feelings, let alone noticed them enough to say such words had stuck to her like glue in that moment.

She'd been too careless, letting her past emotions rise so easily, at every moment she tried to force them away but to no avail.
Luckily he'd just made it easier.

"This is stepping over the line Snow-"

"Coriolanus," he copied her correcting, causing a large roll of the eyes and annoyed grunt to escape her mouth, "Coriolanus Snow, if I were to ever even think of sleeping with you I'd want to be hung!"

"I better grab some rope."

His every word laced a sort of lust into the air that only grew her annoyance, she was seething as she stormed towards him, "you are the most arrogant, self centred man I have ever met!" She couldn't tell in the moment if she was mad at the principle of the situation, or his teasing of her emotion.

She thought her old feelings had been subtle and hidden.

"I thought it was implied, an unspoken agreement of sorts." He'd simply shrugged as she shoved her hands into his chest pushing him back slightly and storming herself out of the room, grabbing her uniform on the way out.

***

"Hey," he'd jumped on her shoulders as she walked down the halls, his tall figure standing over her happily as his blonde curly locks bounced and his white teeth shone into a smile.

"Florus!" Livia Cardew hadn't seen her best friend in weeks, the idea itself becoming a small memory into her life of anxiety.

She had flung her arms around him, blonde hair bouncing and body falling slightly as he shuffled backwards at her weight suddenly hitting his chest.

His laugh echoed through the halls, "Livia! You're killing me here I have to breath!" The way he spoke, so informal, so easy. It was like a breath of fresh hair from her current hell.

"I missed you!" She giggles into his shoulder as his eclectic touch courses through her hips, bringing her feet back down to the floor. "I missed you too, exams have been biting my head off," he smiles so casually at her, looking her over with a flick of his eyelashes.

"So, how's life been treating you this past month?" Livia can't help but gasp slightly at the revelation Florus's words give her, placing a hand on Florus's arm in shock, "it can't of been a month since I last saw you can it?"

The last time Livia saw Florus was just before her engagement to Coriolanus, she felt foolish to admit it but it was one of the reasons she was so adamant against the engagement.

Florus and Livia had always been well... Florus and Livia. Everybody thought they were dating, soulmates even.
If there was anyone who could capture her heart better then Coriolanus Snow it was Florus.

"Almost a month, three weeks and one day counting," he had smirked at her, dimples showing beneath his skin. "You counted the days?" The blonde girl smirks back at him, the action itself causing a heat to rise in his cheeks as he looked away flustered.

"I missed my best friend."

Her smile was wider than ever, "I missed you too," she intertwined her fingers in his, dragging him along as they walked down the hallways. Nobody stared when it was her and Florus, it was such a common sight to see the two acting as lovers.

Livia enjoyed the lack of whispers.

"What have you been doing for the past couple weeks miss Cardew?" He teases her wealthy status in his words and she simply smiles, about to reply when a looming presence catches her attention.

He stands at the other end of the hall, he doesn't need to say a word but simply look at the pair with disgust and disappointment, his sense of pride destroyed.

It was all about his pride.
Livia knew Coriolanus couldn't care less who she bedded if they were not to be wed, but their engagement hadn't been announced yet, Livia was free to do whatever she pleased.

She doesn't give him a second look, an action that's slowly becoming harder, his simple month in her life being enough to stick his blonde hair and permanent scowl inside mind.