Who: Katniss Everdeen and Anna of Arendelle Where: The Pie Hole When: Mid July, before Anna admitted she loves Peeta. What: Random Encounter Status: Complete Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Peeta was working at his new job, and Anna was thrilled to visit him there. Not that she’d minded visiting at the other place, but pies were amazing. All the different things you could do with them! Anna loved pie. Especially chocolate cream.
She headed into the Pie Hole and up to the counter. A little frown crossed her features when she was told that Peeta wasn’t working. Maybe she was just early. She ordered a slice and found a booth to sit and eat. And wait.
Katniss pushed the door to the bakery open and headed up to the counter. She wanted to talk to him about the Dreams and figured this was the best place to find him. Approaching the counter, she leaned on it and gave the girl who came over a quick smile. “Hey, uh...is Peeta working today? Peeta Mellark?” she asked, raising her voice a little to be heard over the coffee machine.
Anna couldn’t help but hear the voice from the brown-haired girl asking for Peeta. For a moment, jealousy flashed through her. But she bit that down. “He’s not here,” Anna said, sitting up a little and leaning over. “It’s starting work soon, though. You want to sit and wait with me?”
“Oh,” Katniss looked between the girl and the waitress, who confirmed. “Um, ok, I guess,” she shrugged before moving to sit opposite the girl. Feeling nervous about sitting with someone she didn’t really know, she started fiddling with a packet of sugar anxiously. “So uh...you know Peeta then?” she asked.
Anna cleared her throat. There was a pie sitting in front of her. Not just a slice, but the whole pie. “Yes. We’ve uh… we’ve been dating for a couple months.” She said, going rather pink around her neck and cheeks. Did this brunette know him well? How would she not know who Anna was, then? Wait, did Peeta not talk about her to his friends?? “...How do you know Peeta?”
Katniss’ eyebrows raised at that. A girlfriend? she thought, alarmed at how conflicted that made her feel. Happy for him of course, but the Dreams made her feel so much closer to him, protective. “I uh...we met a little while ago, we have...common interests,” she told the girl, a little awkwardly. “Dating, wow...so uh...how did you guys meet then?” she asked, a little reluctantly because she knew it was the natural course of this type of conversation. She didn’t particularly want to hear all the details of Peeta’s personal life here when their lives were so entwined in the Dreams, especially since Katniss was having trouble separating them from real life.
“We met when he was working back at Baxter Bakery,” Anna explained, breaking into a shy smile as she spoke about him. “I mean, he’s always been kind and friendly, but he’s been really supportive, too. I’ve had a lot of bad stuff happen lately, and he’s… he’s become my rock.” She said, then tucked loose hair behind both ears. “Are you interested in art or baking or something like Peeta?”
Katniss couldn't help but laugh. "Art? And baking? God no, I don't have an artistic or culinary bone in my body," she chuckled. "No, Peeta and I...we share the same vision," Katniss quirked a smile. "Has he ever spoken to you about his Dreams?"
Anna’s eyes went wide and whatever small smile she’d had on faded. “You dream about the Games, too?” She asked, softly. It sounded horrible. Anna couldn’t imagine what Peeta’s horrible dreams were really like--he handled them so well--but this poor girl was dreaming the same things?
Katniss just nodded grimly, eyes fixed on the packet of sugar she was still fiddling with in her hands. “Yep, wonderful ain’t it,” she replied sarcastically.
“I’m so sorry,” Anna said, then swallowed hard. She really had no idea what else to say besides ‘I’m sorry.’ She hadn’t pushed Peeta to talk too much about his dreams, but she knew they weren’t good. Her dreams were a cake walk in comparison. “...you lived, though, right? You made it through the Games with Peeta?”
“Oh yeah, everything’s all happy as Larry,” Katniss joked bitterly. “Being the only surviving pair in the history of the Games and getting the public to like us really did wonders for our relationship with the Capitol. I’m seeing a long and peaceful life stretching out ahead of us,” she sighed sarcastically.
Anna really had no idea what to say to that. She stuck her fork into her pie. “I’m sorry,” she responded gently. “I… I guess, it’s not real?”
“Yeah...it’s hard to remember that sometimes,” Katniss replied darkly, watching Anna stick a fork in her pie. It was almost too normal, mundane and suddenly the normalcy of the situation was too much. “You know what? I’ll see Peeta another time, have a good….evening,” she stood and grabbed her bag on her shoulder, remembering to cast an awkward smile over her shoulder before trying to make her escape. It would have been a perfect exit had she not run straight into Peeta.