THE MISSING LINK ✧ GLOSS HUNGER GAMES

27 | MAKING A DEAL

"Hey, we're pulling into the station," I say, poking my head into Augustus's room. It's been two weeks since he left the arena, and since then, he's been really quiet. He doesn't even seem to notice that I'm here right now. "Do you... need anything?"

There's a long pause, and I'm almost convinced he's asleep when he finally says, "No thanks, Sapph. I might just need a minute."

"Okay," I nod before softly adding, "I'm sure your family is excited to see you."

He mumbles something into his pillow and turns away. I take that as my cue to leave and walk back into the hallway where Gloss is waiting for me. He kicks himself off the wall the second he sees me and smiles.

"Not so easy, now is it," he smirks. I scoff and try to ignore him by walking straight past him, but he follows me anyway. "At least he has his memory, right?"

I roll my eyes. "He was in an arena for over twenty days, Gloss. He's allowed to be like that."

Especially given how horrifying his arena was. 

The boy was stuck in a lantern-lit cave system with paths so small he had to crawl through them while rabid bats tried to eat him alive. And to make matters worse, all of the lights were turned off the last three days, and Augustus and the final tributes were plunged into darkness and forced to wander around aimlessly until they found each other.

Just watching it made me extremely anxious.

"I know," Gloss nods, bumping my shoulder. "At least it's not your job."

"It's somewhat my job." Gloss's brows curl, and I throw my arms out in front of me with a huff. "I mean what kind of future sister-in-law would I be if I didn't check up on him?"

He tries to hide it, but I see the smile sneaking up in the corners of his lips.

"Not this again."

"Yes, this again!" I say, stopping right in front of him.

"Augustus and Diamond have never even spoken to each other," Gloss laughs.

"Not true," I say. "You're forgetting when he told her 'Thank you' that one time."

"Yeah, yeah, with the pencils." Gloss rolls his eyes dramatically, and I know it's just to get a reaction out of me. Still, it works because I really want to punch him. "How could I ever forget that when you bring it up every single day?"

"Hey!"

"Look, if they actually end up getting married, I'll marry a shoe," Gloss says, amusing himself (and only himself). "How about that?"

"I don't like your tone," I huff. The train stops, and I use it as an excuse to turn around and start walking to the door. Knowing Gloss is only two steps behind me, I continue, "And for your information, they obviously have feelings for each other. You saw the way his face lit up when we talked about her at dinner that first night."

"I saw the way you looked when you talked to him about Diamond," Gloss says, passing me. He starts to walk backwards so he can keep his eyes on mine. "But I unfortunately never saw this supposed lighting up."

I stop in my tracks. "You're the worst, Nicholo."

"Which is why we're friends." We reach the door, and Gloss motions for me to get off first. "We balance each other out."

"Friends," I repeat. It's an odd way to describe whatever is going on between us, but it sounds nice. I hop down the steps to reach the platform and turn to him. "So what are your plans for the rest of the day?"