#keelaree

Johanna, her roommate, stepped into their dorm room. Wrapped in a towel and carrying her shower caddy, she nodded at Katniss before going to her closet.

“There’s a party going on upstairs,” she informed her as she rummaged through her clothes. “Do you want to come?”

“I’ve got two assignments due on Monday,” Katniss replied as she zipped up her bag.

Johanna shrugged. “Your loss. Hit me up if you decide to join and I’ll send you the dorm info.”

“Sure. Have a good time.” Katniss reached for her notebook. “Just don’t bring anyone back to the dorm, okay?”

“Hey! Someone has to get laid around here!”

“I know, but I hate having to give them the let-down talk after you take off,” Katniss retorted. “They look so bummed to be waking up to me and my flannel pajamas.”

“Fine.” Johanna gave her a smile. “Have fun at your favorite place in the world.”

She grinned back. “I will.”

++++++

The Panem Library was three floors of pure bliss for her. Katniss always sat on the second floor, right next to archives because no one ever really bothered to come up there. Here, she could commandeer a whole table, spread out her notes and arrange her highlighters. There was also an outlet for her laptop so she would never have to worry about it dying.

The second floor was mostly empty, and her usual table was free so quickly set everything up, notes to her left and writing paraphernalia to her right with her laptop plopped in the middle.

Finally sitting down, Katniss looked around to examine the other occupants of the second floor. There was an older man towards the far end of the floor in a cubby as well as one girl in the corner. Her eyes moved across her area and she almost yelped at who was sitting just a table apart from her.

He hadn’t been there while she was setting up!

He must’ve felt her stare because Peeta Mellark suddenly looked up from his own laptop to meet her eyes.

Then, he smirked. “Everdeen.”

“Mellark. What the hell are you doing here?” she demanded to know.

He had been a thorn in her side since they sat next to each other in General Anatomy—whenever he bothered to show up. When he did show, Peeta either spent his time trying to look at her notes or tugging at her braid.

The worse part was that when the exam grades were listed, he was always—besides herself—one of the top scores.

“I may not be married to my assignments like you are, but I do study,” he retorted.

Katniss nodded tersely. “Fine. Just try not to bother me.”

He glared. “You looked at me first!”

She looked down, hiding her blush. “Whatever.”

“Clever,” he mocked.

They went silent and with a deep breath, Katniss began to look over her notes about transcendentalism, losing herself in her scribble.

“Oh my God…yes…yes…”

Her head shot up at the thick moan and she looked around, seeing nothing out of the ordinary.

Her eyes went to Peeta, who was also looking around, two crimson spots on his cheeks.

He turned to her. “Tell me you heard that.”

Katniss waved it off. “Maybe someone is watching something on their laptop on the main floor.”

“Well, whatever they’re watching sounds pretty fucking dirty,” Peeta replied.

She found herself chuckling at his words.

Their eyes met for a quick second and she felt a rush of warmth at Peeta’s boyishly handsome smile. His ocean eyes held hers for a moment and her chest fluttered.

Katniss quickly looked down, overwhelmed by her reaction to his penetrating gaze.

Calm the hell down! Yes, Peeta Mellark is a good-looking guy, but there’s no need to get weird over him.

She made a grab for her next set of notes and took her yellow highlighter, uncapping it—

“That’s it…you feel so good…you’re going to make me co—"

The words were followed by a series of moans and grunts.

“Okay, someone is definitely fucking.” Peeta stood up, going to her table, and holding out his hand. “Let’s go.”

She peered up at him in confusion. “What?”

“We’re not going to get any work done if they don’t get the hell out of here,” Peeta told her. “So, we have to find them and let them know that they need to either wrap it up or get out before we alert the library managers.”

“I didn’t peg you as cockblock,” Katniss remarked.

Peeta grinned. “I didn’t peg you as a voyeur of sorts.”

“I just understand that sometimes it’s hard to find places to be alone,” she stated. He looked to her curiously as she stood, taking his offered hand.

Peeta pointed to the far left. “I heard it coming through the archives—that way.”

Katniss snorted. “Oh yeah. That’s just old research on minerals. Nobody is going to be coming around there.”

He smiled wickedly at her as they headed in that direction.

“Didn’t you hear the guy—obviously somebody’s going to be coming.” She laughed at his words and he turned back to her. “You have a nice laugh.”

“It’s a pretty normal laugh.”

“Well, maybe it’s because I don’t hear it that often,” he said as they headed down the corridor.

They went silent as they traveled along the shelves of dusty papers and weathered books. As they got further in, it started to get warmer and Katniss could feel the sweat build at the nape of her neck. She pulled at his hand to stopped them and he whipped around, swift as a ninja.

“It’s fucking warm,” she hissed. Quickly, she pulled her navy sweater, revealing her grey tank top, and took her the hair tie from her wrist to pull her thick, dark hair up into a top knot. “That’s better.”

Katniss looked up to find Peeta staring at her. His jaw was taut, and his usually light eyes were thunderous, her core suddenly throbbed as he reflexively licked his lips.

“What?”

The question came tightly from her mouth.

Peeta shook his head, pulling himself out of his reverie. “Nothing. You just look…different.”

“I suppose you see me as more asexual,” she replied as they continued down their path. Peeta grunted in response. “It’s probably because I’m not blonde and my tits don’t bounce when I walk—”

She was suddenly slammed against a bookshelf, dust flying at the sudden motion, and staring straight into Peeta’s electric eyes.

“Don’t presume to know how I see you,” he whispered against her mouth. “Trust me, sweetheart. You are sexy, and I’ve fought temptation when it comes to you, Katniss.” His nose went to her neck, inhaling deeply. “And for the record, your tits definitely bounce—I had to stop myself from yanking your top down and pulling one into my mouth while you were yammering.”

Katniss was acutely aware of the fire kindling between them—their mission forgotten—she wrestled with her need to be sensible and her need to reach down to feel…him.

Carefully, her lips went to his, pillowing his bottom lip between hers, dragging it slowly before pulling away.

The little motion filled her body with an ache so harsh that she almost fell to her knees, her core pulsed, and she could feel the wetness between her thighs.

This had never happened before—this hunger—but she wanted more.

Peeta breathed shakily, his hand reaching for the nape of her neck to press his forehead to hers. “Wow.”

Her mouth melted into a smile reflecting his own.

He looked at her shyly. “Do you want to…um…study…at my place? I have my own apartment; it’s quiet and much more comfortable.”

She laughed softly. “Why do you study at the library? You have a perfectly private place.”

“Because of you,” he told her. “I overheard your roommate once saying that you usually come here on Fridays. I thought if you saw me here that you’d take me a little more seriously.”

“Why would what I think matter?” she asked, her heart racing.

“I like you.” The words came out like a treasured wish. “Katniss, you have no idea of the effect you have on me.”

They both went silent at the declaration.

“Yes…yes…oh YES!”

The tension broke and they both burst into laughter.

“Well, I guess it’ll be much quieter now so you can study,” Peeta told her, his gaze traveling down disheartened.

She smiled to herself. When the hell did Peeta Mellark become so endearing to her?

“Okay.”

Peeta’s head shot up. “What?”

“Let’s go to your place,” she told him simply, tugging him back to their tables. “I hope you have snacks.”

He was flabbergasted. “Snacks…uh yeah…I can bake, too.”

“Oh good. I get hungry after a study session,” Katniss rattled on. “And after sex, of course.”

“What?”

She turned to him, an amused smile on her face.

“We’re not going to be like those two in the stacks, especially since we have perfectly good bed, right?” Peeta nodded. “Then, let’s go.”

She turned but was suddenly yanked back and into Peeta’s arms.

“Yes?”

“I’ve been wanting to do this since the beginning of the semester.”

Then, he kissed her.

++++++

Sunday

“Where have you been?” Johanna asked as she entered her dorm. “I feel like I haven’t seen you since Friday.”

Katniss put her bag down in a daze, thoughts on the man who had spent most of Saturday between her thighs.

She also got both her assignments done—a feat when she discovered how good Peeta was going down on her.

Katniss turned to her roommate, giving her a serene smile.

“I’ve just been…studying.”