18 | DISPOSITION
Greyson heard her name being called by Johanna, paired with Finnick's as well. The latter was by her side as they walked towards the group, his hand delicately placed on the small of her back. He'd been doing that a lot lately; touching her in the smallest of ways. Whether it be holding her hand or simply laying his hand on her knee, he was always there. Greyson wasn't an idiot, that was for sure, and with the recent events, she could tell that Finnick just wanted her close to him. Maybe fearing that she'd slip away between his fingers like dry sand.
But now wasn't the time to reassure him that she wouldn't, because who knew what would happen in the next hours or days or prolonged weeks in the arena. And with some kind of slim chance; outside of the arena.
Standing amongst the group, Beetee made sure everyone was listening before speaking. He had a plan, Greyson thought inquisitively. It amazed her how brilliant Beetee was, she could only wish she was that smart.
"Where do the Careers feel safest? The jungle?" He questioned, fixing his glasses and pushing them up on the bridge of his nose.
Johanna answered him, "the jungle's a nightmare."
Subtly, Greyson felt Finnick's hand slide into her own, and timidly, she rubbed circles into the back of his hand quietly. She was so new to all of this romance and affection. The only affection she received was a long time ago, from her parents. Now they're gone.
"Probably here on the beach," Peeta said, who stood by Katniss with his machete.
"Then why are they not here?" Beetee asked.
"Because we are, we claimed it," Greyson said, pairs of eyes drifting over to her. She shifted her feet in the damp sand.
"And if we left, they would come." To Greyson, Beetee reminded her of a teacher, egging the answers out of students to make them think and believe that they were the ones who came up with the idea on their own, when actually, he was the successor behind this master plan.
"Or stay hidden in the tree line," Finnick said from beside her.
"Which in just over four hours will be soaked with water from the ten o'clock wave." Beetee concluded. "And what happens at midnight?"
"Lightning strikes that tree," Katniss was staring at Beetee with her catlike eyes, curiosity in them.
Curiosity killed the cat, Greyson thought unhumorously.
"Here's what I propose," Beetee started. "We leave the beach at dusk, we head to the lightning tree. That should draw them back to the beach. Prior to midnight, we then run this wire from the tree to the water. Anyone in the water, or on the damp sand, will be electrocuted." Beetee grabbed a handful of sand, crumbling it in his hand.
"How do we know the wire's not gonna burn up?" Johanna asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Because I invented it. I assure you, it won't burn up." A smile played at his lips. Greyson knew why he had won his games, he was probably one of the smartest people she would ever meet. But Finnick doesn't have to know that.
"Well, it's better than hunting them down," Johanna said. She was up for anything if it meant getting a few steps closer to going home.
"Yeah, why not?" Katniss shrugged. "If it fails, no harm done anyway, right?"
"Alright, I say we try it." Peeta agreed.
Greyson looked over to Finnick, "I'm in if you are."
Finnick turned his attention over to Beetee, a glimmer of hope in his eyes. "So what can we do to help?"
"Keep me alive for the next six hours. That would be extremely helpful."
* * *
The sun was lowering, and Greyson couldn't stop herself from gazing up towards the sky. This could very well be her last night in the arena. Her last night alive. Colors of deep purple and faded orange blended together in the sky like a perfect painting, the orange clashing against the edge of the rough water. The sun was falling out of the sky and heading into the ocean, where soon the moon would take its place.
Greyson felt the need for a cup of tea, but she wasn't back home in District Four; she was in an arena, the arena.
Finnick came over to her after conversing with Johanna and Beetee, laying back in the sand like her and staring up at the sky. Like magnets, their hands found each other in a fumbled blindness.
"Isn't it beautiful?" She wondered, her stormy eyes underneath a fake sky that mesmerizingly allured her.
Finnick didn't respond for a moment, but when Greyson turned her head to look at him, he was already there, staring at her with an abundance of love. "You're beautiful, you're always beautiful." He calmly stated, reaching out a hand to outline her jaw. And she blushed, even after everything they've been through together.
She thought maybe this moment would be the last that they'd share, if any harm was to come to either one of them. Unintentionally, her eyes glazed over with a gloss of tears. "Always isn't forever," she whispered in a tight voice. Her grip on his hand tightened and Finnick could see just how afraid she was tonight, and how afraid they both were to let go. Because letting go meant possibly the inevitable void of death.
"Grey," he said lowly, watching helplessly as she shut her eyes. "Greyson, look at me." He said more urgently than forcefully. Her steel eyes were the anchor to his untamed green ocean eyes, and without her he was drifting away, lost at sea.
Greyson opened her eyes, forcing herself not to cry. She was strong, she was not weak. She couldn't be, at least not now. "I'm okay, I'm sorry." She apologized.
"Don't apologize, kitten." He said empathetically. "None of this is your fault," he added bitterly.
Greyson gave his hand another squeeze, but for his reassurance. "I want to think about something else, anything just for a little while."
Finnick nodded twice, focusing back on the darkening sky. "Remember when we first met?" Greyson hummed in acknowledgement. "I was only there so I could meet you. I didn't care about the women that threw themselves at me, I just cared about meeting the one woman Johanna had been telling me about for so long. I pictured this gorgeous, incredible person who was perfect in every sense of the way, even if I knew there were some flaws tangled in her seams."
Greyson was slightly shocked to hear that Johanna had been telling Finnick about her, and for a long period of time. She felt oblivious. "And what did you think after you met me?" She bravely asked.
He turned to her and without any warning, kissed her in a way she wasn't sure he'd ever kissed her before. It was delicate and light as if he was afraid he'd break her, but as it progressed she could feel the sweet essence of love and that passion working its way into their kiss as their lips moved slowly against each other. Greyson wished the kiss never ended, like she was trapped in a photograph that replayed itself, so they could stay in that moment.
Finnick broke their lips apart, breathing deeply and resting his forehead against her forehead, his loving eyes gazing into hers. "I thought, damn, I'm going to marry her one day."
Greyson smiled widely, murmuring softly, "and marry her you shall." She pressed her lips to his again with more need, savoring the time they had before it was taken away from them.
A/N: aw so many feels. I really liked this chapter, even though it was sort of a filler for what's to lay ahead in the next chapters to come. also, thank you all so much for getting this story to 35k, that's incredible! my goal for this year is to get this story to at least 50k before 2017 so hopefully I can reach it. I've realized things are getting a bit slow and I apologize for that immensely, but things have been a bit hectic.
ALSO INFELICITOUS HAS HAD ITS HIGHEST RANKING YET EVEN THO IM NOT SURE BC I CANT SEE IT ON THE WHATS HOT LIST LIKE WHAT. oh well we're gonna pretend. and I have facts:
anywho, moving on from that...
since we've reached a new height in this book, I'm going to start having goals to reach for the chapters. that doesn't mean if I don't reach them in a certain amount of days I won't update, but it'd be nice if we could reach the goals I set out. it will also enable me to update faster ;) so keep that in mind as you read.
Goal: 30 votes and 15 comments
thank you for reading! xx