Peeta sits outside in the back patio with his dad, enjoying the fall breeze, although he doesn't enjoy being back, he did miss the company of his father
"We've missed you here, Peet" he sighs
"I know... it's just hard coming back after that night" he admits, the horrible night that drove him away from this town, thinking back makes his heart feel like it's stopped beating
"It was a horrible night" his father agrees, the night Peetas long time best friend was shot and killed, his best friend who he turned down going out with to rekindle with an old love, the night he could've gone and maybe stopped his friend who was practically his brother from dying.
When he gets back to his apartment he sits on his couch, drinking his beer as he recalls getting the call about his deceased best friend. The funeral was filled with tears and memories, Peeta distanced himself from everyone and once it was all over he left and never looked back.
The weekend comes around and he decides to go to the local tavern after a long day at work. Walking in he looks around, seeing familiar faces but only people he's just walked past with a smile or something, he walks further in but soon hears something shatter, his head shoots to his right and see a dark haired woman picking up the glass of drinks, he rushes over and immediately helps her
"Are you okay?" He asks, the woman nods, his eyebrows furrow in confusion as she turns and walks away, with a shrug he sits down at one of the stools at the bar and orders a beer, sipping it while watching the football game that's playing.
He stays longer than expected and as he looks around only about five or six people are left drinking or eating a late night dinner but something catches his eye, the girl from before is wiping down the bar just a few feet from him, her back to him. He gets up and walks around to look at her face, as their eyes connect his widen as he stares at the silvery eyes he last saw before he left
"Katniss?" He says in complete disbelief, he knew that she was working to pay for her little sister's college tuition instead of hers but he never knew it was at Abernathy's Tavern
"What... what are you doing back here?" She asks, not exactly excited to see him
"Well... my bad is retired and I'm the only one left to take over. I got fired from my job in California, which was kind of a bummer" he says
"Yeah, because living here is just the worst, right?" She replies sarcastically, scowling at him
"So... your still mad, huh?" He asks, rubbing the back of his neck
"No, I mean who could be mad when you sleep with your old high school boyfriend and he tells you that he wants what we use to have again. Only to leave town when things get bad" she snaps
"Look, I took what happened to Finnick really hard" he defends
"And Annie didn't? Annie is still here, you know. Hell, she finished college and came back to raise their little boy by herself" Katniss says
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have left like that. I shouldn't have left you like that" he replies
"Yeah. It was a pretty shitty thing to do. Now, if you'll excuse me" she says and speed walks away to the back room before Peeta could follow her and he sighs, at least she didn't scream at him... but he still didn't expect for her to be this angry.
+ + +
He sighs sitting on a park bench, he decided to get into a routine to run around the park for a couple of minutes just to clear his head about yesterday. As he sips on his water he smiles at all the children playing on the playground in front of him, he's always wanted children but he's never felt like that about any one, well that's a lie because he has but she hates him. A little girl sitting next him interrupts his thoughts, she looks at him with a familiar look, she looks so familiar but he doesn't think he's ever met her before
I'm Home
Start from the beginning
