DESTINE, finnick odair

CHAPTER FOUR

ೃ࿐ ୨⎯ "act one" ⎯୧
CHAPTER FOUR:

RYLIE:

Somehow the morning came, and awoken from her three hours of sleep was Rylie Ashtide, her eyes sore and heavy. The room was somehow still cold, despite the pool of light appearing on the grey floor.

In the kitchen, Finnick Odair was preparing breakfast, the way he always did. It only took Rylie a second to recognise what he was cooking: Mags' infamous blueberry pancakes. The blueberries were likely to be picked from Mags' garden herself.

Rubbing her face in attempt to wake her up, reality hit her. Memories from the night before came flooding in, the bathroom floor, talking with Finnick in the kitchen, her nightmare. It was all so much, but it was all going to get worse. This was just the beginning. A part of her wanted to be normal about seeing her father. She felt so guilty about her attitude, but she knew he should be the guilty one. She knew there would be no forgiveness. But a small part of string tied him to her, the tiniest part of her wanted to see him too.

Kicking the blanket off, Rylie made her way to the kitchen, the smell of the pancakes so enticing she couldn't resist.

"Morning, Ashtide" the boy said, next to a plate of golden brown pancakes. A bottle of syrup in his hand practically made her mouth water at the sight.

"Pancakes? You know me too well, Finnick Odair" She smiled, heading over to the plate.

"Whoa, whoa. Who said you could have any?" Finnick stopped her with his hand.

"Seriously, you're back to being horrible to me. There's hundreds of pancakes there, surely you don't need that many"

"Oh you'd be surprised, I love breakfast" Finnick laughed.

Rylie rolled her eyes, and without asking again, she confidently helped herself to two, large pancakes. Taking them over to the dining table, she didn't take her eyes off Finnick. He was wearing a navy-blue sweater, covering more than the white t-shirt the night before. She had no idea why the boy was so kind to her the night before, perhaps it was just pity and sorrow for the girl. But something felt different. As if they had clicked into place, and they were destined to be kind to each other.

"What you looking at, Ash" Finnick said, eyebrow raised. He spoke with his mouth full, which made Rylie grimace

Gross. She thought

"Don't ever call me that again" She laughed, really, she didn't care. Anything was better than Ashtide.

"If you hate it, I love it." He sang happily, "Hey, how you feeling about your dad" He changed the subject, grabbing a chair and sitting on it the wrong way round so that their faces were too near each other for comfort and somehow his eyes became even more mesmerising.

"Not gonna lie, fucking terrified"

"Oi, stop with the language, Mags would have a fit if she heard that"
His response only gained an expected eye-roll from the girl.

"It's gonna be alright, Ash" he said, noticing the true trouble and distress in her eyes.

Somehow, Rylie wasn't so convinced.
There was one other thing she wasn't convinced by, Finnick Odair. She knew, deep down, he was sweet. But she didn't understand why it was all coming out now, right where she was vulnerable. She felt nothing but weak.