"What the hell do you mean Snow wanted to talk to you about Cato?" Finnick yelled, evidently shocked at what he had just heard.
"I meant exactly that! He just asked about Cato out of nowhere and threatened me if he found out we were together. You know what he means by that Finnick. He's going to kill my sisters," Celeste cried out.
"He won't. I won't let him," Finnick jumped in.
"What if he hurts Cato? I can't have him hurting Cato just for being friends with me," Celeste continued, anxiety evident in her voice.
"Are you sure you two are really just friends?" Finnick asked.
"Yes. Yes, we've never done anything besides have friendly conversations," Celeste replied, pacing back and forth.
"Celeste. I need to know this if I'm going to help you. Do you want to be anything more with Cato," Finnick questioned, causing Celeste to go still.
"I-" She started before stopping for a second.
"I don't know," she answered, tears pooling in her eyes.
"Oh, Celeste," Finnick began as he pulled her into a hug. Celeste stayed rigid in his touch, but Finnick didn't let go.
"What if Snow finds out? He's going to kill my sisters. He's going to kill Cato," Celeste continued, tears now flowing down her cheeks. Finnick only held her tighter, gently soothing her hair.
"Hey. Snow isn't going to hurt them. Not if you don't let him," Finnick reassured her as Celeste tried to calm herself down.
"But you need to talk to Cato about this, Celeste. He needs to know that Snow is threatening him about you two," Finnick advised, earning a sharp inhale from Celeste.
"I can't do that. He doesn't know about my deal with Snow," Celeste argued, pulling away from the hug.
"Celeste, he threatened Cato's life. He needs to know," Finnick countered and Celeste knew he was right. But she wasn't sure if she wanted Cato to know about Snow's habit of threatening Celeste just yet. Still, she knew Cato's life was in danger.
"Fine. I'll see him tonight and tell him everything. Who knows, maybe he won't even want to see me again after he finds out," Celeste finally agreed, calming herself down enough.
"I doubt he'd ever do that. Especially with the way our conversation went today," Finnick replied, mumbling the last part. Unlucky for him, Celeste still heard it.
"What conversation? Did you two talk today?" Celeste questioned, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.
"What? Who said that? I never said that," Finnick insisted before rushing off to his room.
"Finnick! I'm serious! What did you two talk about?" Celeste yelled out as she followed him.
"I'm not telling you!" Finnick shouted as he slammed the door.
"Finnick!"
-
After an hour of debating on whether or not she should meet Cato tonight, Celeste made her way up to the roof. To no surprise, Cato was already there waiting for her.
"You came," Cato called out with a smile on his face. Celeste smiled at his excitement as she made her way over to him.
"I did," she replied with a short laugh.
"I was starting to think you weren't going to show," Cato laughed.
"I'm not that late, am I?" Celeste argued with a chuckle.
"About an hour, but who's counting?" Cato joked.
"Sorry, I just had to deal with something really quick," Celeste apologized, earning a nod from Cato.
"I saw you earlier today with the sponsors," Cato started, causing Celeste to tense.
"You did? I didn't see you there," Celeste replied, trying her best to keep her composure.
"I didn't get a chance to come over before you were escorted out of the room," Cato explained.
"Oh, too bad I missed you. The old ladies were talking you up," Celeste teased, earning a smirk from Cato.
"Oh yeah? And what were they saying," Cato asked with a sly smile.
"They were just gushing about how handsome and charming you are, asking what I thought of a guy like you," Celeste answered with a smile. Cato's interest only grew more once he heard what was being said about him.
"And what did you say?" Cato replied, moving closer to hear the answer better.
"I said you were the worst person I've ever met," Celeste joked, earning a playful eye roll and a scoff from Cato.
"I'm kidding. I agreed that you were handsome, but admitted that we were just friends," Celeste answered honestly.
"So you do think I'm handsome," Cato accused with a smirk.
"I have eyes, don't I?" Celeste teased back, pinching his cheeks.
"what else were they saying over there? It seemed like a long chat."
"A few things. The men wanted to talk about the games. The women were more focused on my love life," Celeste answered back, piquing Cato's interest again.
"Your love life?" he asked with a smirk.
"My nonexistent love life," She clarified before starting again.
"They were rather interested in our friendship. I had to explain that I don't have time for romance," Celeste explained, causing Cato to raise his eyebrow in interest.
"Seems like the old ladies think there's something between us, Butterfly," Cato joked with a smile. Celeste's smile deflated at the idea of Snow finding out about her chat earlier with the other women.
"What's going on with you today? You seem distracted," Cato suddenly spoke again, noticing Celeste's sour mood.
"I met with President Snow today," Celeste answered, keeping her eyes on the city line. Cato on the other hand, kept his gaze on Celeste.
"What? Why? Is that where you went earlier?" Cato questioned. He didn't like the sound of this.
"Yes, one of his secretaries came to get me today. I thought he was just going to ask another favor of me, but-" Celeste started too scared to finish her sentence.
"Favor? What kind of favors?" Cato interrupted, though he was sure he already knew.
"Right after I won my games I made a deal with Snow that I would entertain a select few of his colleagues and report back to him on what they say. If I didn't do it, he would've killed my sisters, so I agreed. The guys you saw me with earlier were two of the men he assigned me to," Celeste replied, finally turning back towards Cato, whose eyes shined with worry.
"This is exactly what Finnick was talking about, wasn't he?" Cato mumbled to himself, though Celeste could still hear him, causing her to tense.
"You talked to Finnick?" Celeste accused, though her tone was more full of confusion rather than anger.
"He came up to me after Enobaria left. He told me a little about his obligations. I asked about you, but he wouldn't tell me much," Cato lied, he didn't want Celeste to know he knew something she wasn't comfortable with saying. Thankfully, Celeste seemed to believe him seeing as she let out a breath of relief.
"Finnick has it much harder than I do. You don't have to worry about me when it comes to that," Celeste answered with a short smile earning a nod from Cato.
"So what did Snow want to talk to you about?" Cato urged, curious about what else Snow had to say.
"You," Celeste breathed out, trying to gauge Cato's reaction. Cato's brows furrowed deeper as he tilted his head in confusion.
"Me? Why did he meet with you about me?" Cato questioned.
"He was asking about our relationship because he thinks we're dating," Celeste mumbled, turning towards the city again.
"Okay? And what's the big deal in that?" Cato objected, unaware of the seriousness of the situation, frustrating Celeste beyond belief.
"Because Snow threatened to kill you if people began thinking we were together, Cato. It's more than just him asking me if we were together," Celeste retorted as she whipped her head back to meet his eyes.
"Did he threaten you too?" Cato asked instead, shocking Celeste by glossing over the fact that Snow threatened him.
"Only through you. He knows we're close and now other people are starting to notice too. He'll punish me by hurting you," Celeste admitted, neglecting to mention Snow's previous threats about her family.
"But we aren't together. You don't have to worry about that happening unless we are together," Cato replied, causing Celeste to shake her head.
"It doesn't matter if we aren't together. People are already assuming there's something going on between us and I don't know what to do to stop Snow," Celeste rebutted, letting out a frustrated sigh. Cato thought for a second before speaking up.
"We'll be fine, Celeste. We hardly interact when we aren't on the roof, I'm sure it'll all die down," Cato reassured, placing a hand on Celeste's knee. Celeste smiled gratefully at the gesture as she slowly relaxed.
"Right. You're right. I'm sorry, I shouldn't be so frantic about this," Celeste replied, glancing at the hand on her knee.
"Hey, no need to apologize. We'll just keep our friendship between us. It's just us and the roof," Cato added with a gentle smile as he moved his hand from her knee to her own hands, intertwining their fingers.
Celeste let out a gulp as she looked up to see Cato already looking down at her.
"Okay," she whispered, squeezing his hand a little tighter.
After a few more moments of silence, Cato began to shuffle.
"I should be heading to bed. Gotta meet with more sponsors tomorrow," he reluctantly mumbled, slowly pulling his hand away and standing up.
"You coming?" Cato questioned, offering a helping hand for Celeste to get up as well, but Celeste only shook her head.
"I think I'm going to stay here for a few minutes. I don't think I'll get much sleep anyways," Celeste replied with a smile. Cato nodded and walked toward the exit before turning back.
"Make sure you're not here too long. I'll see you tomorrow, Celeste," he warmly advised. Celeste let out a chuckled and waved him off.
"Get to bed," Celeste responded.
"Goodnight, Celeste."
"Sleep well, Cato."
As soon as Cato was out of sight Celeste put a hand to her pounding chest.
Fuck, I think I like Cato, she thought.