Peeta took another sip of his coffee, frowning slightly, though her additional descriptions were sort of beginning to help. "I think they have a recreational activity like that in the Capitol." The Capitol was full of persons who prioritized looks and money over everything, which sort of sounded a bit like the part of her society she was describing.
He appreciated warm and fuzzy encouragement, but he'd never gotten it enough to notice when it was gone. Not from his parents and certainly not from Haymitch and Katniss. Effie had tried to be upbeat and encouraging, but her compliments tended to be accidental backhanded insults. No, he was fine with blunt honesty. "That's why I said 'if I had a chance,'" he replied calmly, "but I guess it would've been better to say 'if I had a choice.'" Art would've been what he'd done if he hadn't had to go into the Arena again, though, and he wouldn't have needed to make more money after that.
'Cardiologist' and 'Ivy League' were more things he didn't quite get, but he was starting to figure out that maybe she just needed to vent without him interrupting her every other minute to ask for definitions. "Sometimes I think seventeen's too young to figure out what you want to do with the rest of your life. Or to be trapped doing something you hate, just to make a living."