HOME | DD

Description
"Clove," he said, the intensity of his blue eyes seemingly boring into my soul.
I just looked at him. What was I supposed to do? I wanted to run up to him, be held in his comforting embrace, for him to tell me it'll be okay. That we'll both be home some day.
But that's impossible.
Angry tears formed in my emerald eyes, the eyes Cato always talked about so fondly. Will he be the one to see them go lifeless right before his own?
The strong look on his face collapsed, and he walked over to me. I met him in the middle of the room, ignoring my head telling me to distance myself from him. To make the pain easier.
The tears fell silently down my face, for the first time in years. Cato is my weak spot. I stop being the angry, alone child I grew up being around him. I'm...I'm myself around him. I'm raw and vulnerable and honest, my heart on my sleeve.
But he didn't hold me.
"You don't cry," he said, wiping a tear away from my cheek with his thumb. His voice was hollow, and I could tell his head and heart were battling, like mine.
"No. I don't," I replied, looking down.
He tilted my chin up, looking at me, searching for answers.
"I'm going to loose you," I tried to say it plainly, but my voice cracked on the last word. Cato seemed to crack, and pulled me into him, stroking my hair and murmuring.
"No. No, you'll never loose me. I'm going to stay by you. And we're going to be together. Forever."
"Cato, not forever," I said, pulling away. "One or both of us is going to die in these Games."
"Clove, I..." he stopped, running his hands through his light, golden hair.
"We have to decide," I said, the tears gone now. "Between our heads and our hearts. The smart thing to do would be to just try to end it. But the part of me that's in love with you just wants to spend every single moment we have before the Games with you."
He just looked at me, the intensity from when he first entered the room back.
And he kissed me.
A good, soft kiss. His lips up against mine, not quite passionate but loving. He pulled me closer to him, his muscular arms around my waist. My arms found their way around his neck.
And in that moment, I knew what his decision was.