Clove glared daggers at Cato. Oh how she wished she could actually chuck daggers at him instead. Ignoring her visible anger, Cato merely winked at her.

He was nudging her foot with his under the table, and after the past ten minutes of it, Clove had had just about enough. The only thing keeping her from shoving a pastry in his face was the fact that she was at dinner. With Honor Donohue. And, oh, just all the highly respected mentors from District Two that had won the Games in previous years.

No big deal.

Clove was trying her hardest to listen to the mentors and learn from them, maybe even impress them by acting like a mature, capable woman. She finally decided to simply ignore Cato and his foolishness until after the dinner.

Cato had other plans though. Once he realized that he was going to have to do much better than foot nudging, he smirked. He raised his hand from his lap and reached over to Clove's thigh…

BANG! Clove's leg jumped up and hit the table, her heart beating fast. The entire table went silent, everyone looking at Clove. She felt heat creeping up her face and couldn't handle it anymore.

"May I be excused?" She muttered, sliding the chair back and running out the door without waiting for an answer.

When she finally got back to the room she had been given on the train, she fell on her bed. What was the problem with Cato anyway? Why couldn't he just leave her alone? It was like he had made a decision to annoy the hell out of Clove the day he knew they were going to the Hunger Games together. It was probably just part of his strategy to win the Games or something.

Clove sighed, trying to clear her head. She had been around Cato too much these past few days, and it was only going to get worse.

Suddenly, her thoughts drifted to her mother. How was she? What did she think about her daughter being sent to fight to the death? Would she even care? Most likely not, it's not as if the woman had ever loved her. The slightly faded bruises on her body proved as much –

Three loud knocks on the door interrupted Clove's train of thought and she had no doubt it was Cato, probably here to bug her some more.

Sure enough, he said through the door, "Open up, babe. The man of your dreams is right outside the door."

Clove walked to the door, opened it up and looked around. " Where? I don't see him." She craned her neck to look behind Cato, who rolled his eyes.

"You so want me." He said, making his way into the room and flopping on the bed.

Clove ignored him and stood at the foot of her bed, glaring down at him. "Why are you here? Aren't done with me yet?"

One moment she was standing, and the next, Cato had pulled her down on the bed beside him. His bright blue eyes held her own, not allowing her to look away. "I'll never be done with you, babe."

One word. One stupid, mocking word and that's all it took for Clove's head to get out of the clouds and push Cato away. "Don't call me that." She snarled.

He grinned, raising his hands in surrender. "If you say so… babe."

Clove scowled and jumped at him, pillow in hand.

"Say. You're. Sorry." She growled, repeatedly smacking him in the face with the pillow as hard as she could. She'd been waiting to do that for days now, only with something a bit… sharper than a pillow.

All Cato did was laugh and laugh. The idiot didn't even beg for mercy or defend himself! Clove groaned, throwing the pillow aside. It was pointless trying to irritate the master of irritation himself.

Finally, Cato stopped laughing and looked at her, eyes twinkling. "I think I should start calling you babe more often, if it gets us in this position again."

What? Clove looked down, noticing how her legs were straddling Cato, who was now leaning on his elbows, watching, amused, as the blush found its way up to her face.

Quickly, she made to get off, but not before Cato's hands held her waist, stopping her from moving. Clove's eyes snapped to his, which were staring right back. How had she never noticed how brilliant his eyes were, or how adorable that cowlick looked? She felt a force pulling her closer to him. What was she doing? All she could see was his eyes, his faint freckles, his lips, his lips, his lips. She kept leaning in until it came to the point where both their breaths mingled. Her heart thumped inside her chest. All rationale had left her mind by now and he was so close…

The door opened and an audible sharp breath was taken in.

dont hate me omfg just shhh and enjoy the shitty chapter i posted after 24173 months :(((