Dangerous Affection- The Hunger Games- A Cato Love Story

Chapter 14: Her Through His Eyes

"Okay." I say, speaking up to break their conversation, and so she could hear me too, hopefully. "We're getting nowhere heading this way. Let's start heading that way," I point east of the direction we are headed, "and if we don't find anyone in the next mile, we'll stop for the night. Sound good to everyone?"

They all nod, going back to the previous conversation, but start heading the other way, as I had said. Of course, Catcher notices.

"What are you doing?" He asks.

"Just keep going. I dropped my knife around here somewhere and I want to find it in case someone else should come this way and pick it up. I'll catch up with you when I do."

Catcher shrugs his shoulders, and continues on, Drake and Clove following.

I kick the ground, moving leaves around and walking a little each way, in case they did bother to look back at me. It is getting dark, though, and after a few seconds, I can barely see them anymore. I know I can find them again- they leave a clear enough path in their wake- but even if I can't, I don't really care. I don't need those fools.

I drop the act, and look directly up to where Alexandra is hiding in the tree. It was a good spot, and only someone looking hard enough at just the right angle could have spotted her. I am surprised that I had.

Her bright, green eyes are wide awake now, her long hair pulled away from her face. If she had been tired before, I can't tell. She had pulled her bow out when I wasn't looking, and has an arrow notched and aimed right at me.

I'm not exactly great at knife throwing, and since she is so high up, I know the chances are slim that I can kill her. Plus, she would shoot the arrow at me before the knife had even left my hand. Or at least, that's what anyone else would do. But then again, any other tribute would have shot me by now. I was defenseless and standing right in her line of fire. I take a step forward, and when I don't feel an arrow piercing my heart, I take it as a good sign.

I take several steps towards her, and with each one the bow moves slightly downward, keeping it a release away from a kill shot. I am at the base of the tree now, and think, to Hell with it. Even though I know she can kill me at any moment, I tell myself she would have done it already, and small part of me hopes she doesn't want to. I start climbing the tree.

Damn. I have never really climbed a tree before, and she had picked a hell of a one to hide in. This is good for her, but not so great for me. I look up at her each time I make it a little higher, and find a small smile playing at her lips. Somehow, I make it to where I'm less than a foot below her, and even I have the sense to realize that this is the last branch that can support me. I look up at her, and find her eyes staring back into mine. We stay that way, until she finally lays her bow down.

I find I can't think of anything to say, without the possibility of sounding stupid. Luckily, she breaks the silence.

"Wouldn't have thought you could make it up here," she tells me.

"It took some effort," I admit.

"I could have killed you in a heartbeat," she says.

"But you didn't," I counter.

To her credit, she doesn't break eye contact. "I'm still trying to figure that part out," she whispers.

"Let me know when you do," I tell her softly.

She breaks away, her eyes leaving my face, and down to her bow. She picks it up, and I try not to flinch. She only takes the arrow off the bow though, and drops it back into the quiver full of others. She then tucks both the bow and quiver back up above her, in a crevice in the tree.

She leans back against the tree, away from me completely. I can only see the right side of her face, and watch her eyes travel the forest, and up to the stars. "I at least deserve to know," she says suddenly.

I choose my words carefully, aware we are being watched, and probably being broadcasted to all of Panem right now. "Know what... Exactly?"

She thinks too, smart enough to come to the same thought I had. "Why you decided you fell in love with me, when this is our first conversation ever, and before we had made eye contact maybe five times."

"Nine times, actually," I correct her.

"What?" She turns to look at me, startled.

"Nine times. My eyes only got to meet yours nine times, before tonight." I tell her.

She blinks a few times, regaining her composure. What I would have killed for to be able to tell what she was thinking! Finally, she speaks again. "Still, that wasn't the point."

I sigh. "Honestly... I have no good reason to have fallen in love with a girl I'd never met before. I just... The first time I looked into your eyes, I felt something inside me, and I didn't know what it was. But I found myself drawn to you, and every thought and dream of mine consumed by you- and they still are, by the way."

I can see hardly anything, but I think I can make out a blush on her cheeks. "Well... I'm not so quick to trust people. You'll have to excuse me for not opening up to a complete stranger."

"I'd like to change that," I tell her.

"What?" She asks, confused.

"I don't want to be a stranger to you." I tell her.

"Wouldn't that make this easier?" She says softly, a sad look in her eyes.

Then, just then, I can tell she feels the same way I did. She loves me, even if she isn't able to admit it yet. She isn't the type to hope for something, only to have it come crashing down on her. I don't know what in her life made it that way, but I find myself wanting to know. I want to know everything there is to know about Alexandra Cade, and I am determined to find a way to do it.

"Sometimes, the easiest choice isn't the best." I tell her. "And I for one like to make the best choices that can be made."

And with that, I make my way down the tree, far from graceful as one can get. I turn and look back up at her, finding her staring back me. I break away, sprinting back through the trees, back to where the others had gone.

I have a plan forming in my head, and it was just crazy enough that it might actually work.