It's been two weeks since Peeta's been gone. Only two more weeks until he comes back. I hear the Skype call ringing and I run to the laptop, and can't stop the smile that breaks across my face when I see that it's Peeta. We've been Skyping a lot since he's been gone, either that or talking on the phone.
I click answer and wait for it to load. Then I see Peeta's face pop up on the screen. "Hey baby," he says with a smile. "Hey." I say, almost jumping in my seat. "How are you? How's the baby?" He asks and I smile. "We're great, although this bump is getting annoying." I say with a laugh and I hear him laughing along.
He must be sitting on the balcony of his hotel because I can see the ocean and horizon and the tops of the palm trees. It looks so beautiful. "What's wrong?" He asks, noticing my daydreaming. "I wanna go to Australia." I say grumpily and he laughs. "One day, I promise I'll bring you here. It's amazing." I smile. "I'm glad you're having fun. How're your brothers going?" I say with a smirk and he groans.
"Don't even mention them! I had forgotten what it was like to live with them. Rye's picked up some chick named Lavinia, reckons he's never going to let her go because she's the love of his life. We're leaving in 2 weeks." He says and I roll my eyes. "Typical Rye."
"How have you been, Peeta?" I ask and he leans on his hand. "I miss you. But if you're talking about the trip, it's amazing. We went to Tasmania first; that was so good, although it was pretty cold and rainy. And then Melbourne, well that was an experience all in itself. There was cities, and beaches, and farm land, and country sides. There was, like, everything there. The weather was pretty funny. I swear it was like four seasons in one day. It was amazing how one minute it was sunny and the next it would be raining. Although, since it's coming into summer here, it was pretty hot most of the time." He says and I nod.
"Yeah, and we haven't been to Queensland yet. We are about to leave in a few days." He says and I smile. "Sounds like it's been great. But I miss you." I say and he sighs. "I miss you too."
I hear a voice in the background "Peeta! Come on, we're going out for lunch now." I think it was Josh. Peeta looks over the top of the camera. "Okay, hang on!" He calls back. He looks back to me. "Sorry, I gotta go." He says and I yawn. "That's okay. I'm tired anyways. I'll just go to bed." I say and he nods. "Love you." I say and he smiles. "Love you, too." Then the camera clicks off and his face disappears, taking me back to the Skype homepage.
I stumble up the stairs and brush my teeth before heading up to bed. Like every night so far since Peeta has been gone, I organise his pillows so they are lying next to me. I hug his pillows to me, where I can still smell his scent, as I drift off to sleep.
The next few days I spend at either Prim's, or hanging out with Johanna, Annie and Delly.
Two days after my last Skype call with Peeta, I get a text from Thresh.
Hey Katniss, is it possible for you to come into work today for your first shift? Sorry for the late notice.
I text back telling him that it is fine and I'll be there soon. I go and have a shower, dressing in skinny jeans and putting on a coat over my top since the weather is getting colder. I find myself getting angry at Peeta who is in Australia where it is going into summer.
I walk through the door to the sports shop even though the sign reads closed. "Hey Thresh, it's just me." I call out and I see him appear from the back room.
"Hey, Katniss. Ready for your first shift?" He asks and I laugh. "Ready as I'll ever be, I guess." I say and I head out the back and put my bag in one of the lockers. "So, today you will just be working behind the counter and hopefully on your next shift you'll be able to go out and interact with the customers, help them with what they're buying, that sort of stuff." I nod.
I stand behind the cash register and play around with it for awhile. Once I know how it works, I pin my name tag onto my top and see Thresh walking towards the door. He flips the sign over and then walks out the back.
The next half an hour I spend leaning on the front counter trying to compete with the boredom. "Thresh, I though you said you needed my help today." I call out and he chuckles. "Katniss, it's only been half an hour since opening time. People will start coming in soon. This is the most popular sport store in the whole of California, that's why we have several stores located all over the state."
"Oh." I call back and I hear him laughing.
Sure enough, ten minutes later people start flooding into the store and all of a sudden my lazy mood has to be switched around. People start lining up with their items and I struggle to get them through the register fast enough. I can see Thresh out in the store talking to a customer about which tent is the best quality.
So far, I have passed though so many items, from tents, to skateboards, to bathers.
When the end of my shift finally rolls around, I sigh with relief when I see another girl with dark hair and brown eyes walk through the back door.
"Hey, you must be the new girl. I'm Clove." She says, holding her hand out. I shake it. "Katniss." I say and she smiles. "Hey, you're the girl that sang that song!"
I groan. "Yeah, don't mention it." I say and she laughs. "Okay, well then, Katniss, I'm here to free you." She says.
"Thank you so much." I say with a laugh as Clove takes my spot behind the counter.
I go out the back and pull my coat on and grab my bag. "See ya Thresh, Clove." I say before heading out the door. I hear a "Bye, Katniss," from both of them.
I walk through the chilly air down to my car. Once I slide in, I drive down to Delly's house where I know all the girls are hanging out today. I walk through the door without knocking and they greet me with big hugs.
Delly crouches down and puts a hand on my stomach. "Hey beautiful, it's aunty Delly. I'm gonna be your favourite aunty." She says and I hear Johanna scoff. "Please, why would the baby like you any more than me or Annie?" Delly shrugs.
I laugh. "The baby is going to love you all." I look out the window and see dark grey clouds rolling into the sky. I can see the trees start to sway dangerously in the growing wind.
"Is there going to be a storm tonight?" I ask and all three girls look at me like I'm crazy. "Katniss, where have you been?" Johanna says. "The whole reason we are all staying at Delly's tonight is because it's supposed to be the biggest storm in, like, a a few years or something, I dunno."
"Oh." I say, as I stare out the window at the growing storm. "Come on, the pizza just got here 10 minutes before you." Annie says and we all walk into the living room where there are pillows and blankets everywhere. Stacks of DVDs litter the floor and the credits of what looks like 'Safe Haven' are rolling on the TV.
I sit down and grab a slice of pizza, only now realising how hungry I am.
After 3 more movies and five boxes of pizza, we all lay on the floor laughing at a story that Delly just told us. The storm outside is furious and only getting worse. The ringing of my phone is what stops my laughter, but I still hear Annie and Delly giggling. I stand up and walk towards the window to answer my phone.
"Hello?" I ask when I see that it is an unknown number.
"Hello, Katniss dear". I hear a woman's voice and I instantly recognise it to be Peeta's mother.
"Mrs Mellark," I say and lean against the window frame. "How is your holiday going?" I ask just to be polite. I don't actually want to know how she is. "Oh good, good. We arrived in Queensland yesterday." She says. "Oh, that's nice." I say awkwardly. "Yeah, well, it was nice until something terrible happened." She says and I hear her sniff a few times. I can tell that she is almost crying. I stand up straight.
"Mrs Mellark, what happened?" I ask and she sniffs again. "Katniss, I'm so sorry but something happened to Peeta. He was- He's in the hospital. They don't think he's going to wake up."
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Edited by SunshineRainbow7
Okay, so I know I said it was going to be a few chapters away but I think this story was starting to get boring since it was like 6 chapters of happy. ~ DO YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH HAPPINESS OR SOMETHING?? WHAT THE HELL?! ~ So I decided to bring my idea into the story now. Please don't hate me, the worst isn't over yet! I don't even know why I'm telling you that! Oh wow. Haha, well, let me know what you think.