Careers Have Feelings Too | CLATO | GLARVEL |

Chapter 10

A/N This is dedicated to @yolo1200 for just being amazing :D Thank you for dedicating your story to me and for supporting me!!!!! <3 xx

CLOVE POV

After the interviews, I run. 

I don't want to think about anything else that went on, anything anybody else might say to me. I can't deal with it. My flight reaction kicks in and I take off back to my bedroom like a boomerang rather than risking the tears fall. 

Cato might be somewhere behind me, but I don't care. I race back to the second floor and slam the door of my room, finally safe from prying eyes of other tributes. And all of a sudden, I'm furious. The sadness evaporates and is replaced by anger that seeps upwards from the pit of my stomach and fills my head with heated rage. How dare they ask me those questions? What was their right? 

Marching towards my bedside table, I pick up a butter knife I'd been using to eat with this morning. I want to throw it, as I always do back in Two when something happens.

I stand in front of my wardrobe, and throw it with all my might into the wood. It splinters, but sticks, so I step forward and throw it again, and again, feeling the heat of my anger fly out of my hands with every move. A straight line of dents begins to form in the dark wood, and I begin to smile to myself. 

Suddenly the door bursts open and Cato strides in. I jump, not expecting his company, and am about to shout, but he's already cleared the floor space between us. I don't have time to react. He's right in front of me, filling my nose with the smell of fancy Capitol perfume, his hand reaching down to slowly pull the knife out of my hand. 

I try to resist, as if I'm holding onto the power it gives me. 

"Clove..." He sighs. "Leave it." 

I let go. I let him take the knife, and he throws it lightly on the bed, the furrowed blade laying innocently on the sheets. He looks down at me without sympathy in his eyes, but instead with a silent understanding, and pulls me into a hug. 

I don't want to stop him, so I allow his strong arms to engulf me, pressing my cheek up against the crisp folds of his shirt, and breathing out the tension. My eyes flutter closed, and for a very brief moment, I feel warm, and safe, and held. He doesn't have to speak for me to know this is all he has to say. 

But he has to pull away eventually. I know that, but as soon as he does I miss his warmth. Silence hangs heavily in the air as I wonder about what he'll do next. 

I should've been able to guess. His hand moves to the side of my face, and quickly I'm close to him again. He moves his face to meet mine, and kisses me gently. 

CATO POV

She kisses me back, once again. As I feel her lean into me, my stomach flutters lightly, her hands moving up to hug around my shoulders, pulling me closer to her. Her lips are soft and insistent. 

I know what I want. I want to move her towards the bed, I want to stay with her tonight, to hold her and be with her and properly know her. I want to be able to see through the small cracks in her exterior, into the gentle, stoic centre I believe she has. I want her to want me in the same way. Every day we spend together, although there has only been a few moments I've held onto since we met at the Reaping, has made me more and more curious. I don't want to be curious anymore. 

I pull back and smile at her, making her blush. My hands find hers, and I lead her over to the bed, sitting down on the edge and watching her hair fall over her face as she looks down at me.