DESTINE, finnick odair

CHAPTER NINE

ೃ࿐ ୨⎯ "act one" ⎯୧
CHAPTER NINE:

RYLIE

Rylie had been awake for hours. Lying alone in bed watching the still ceiling. It didn't make time move any faster.

Eventually, minutes turned to hours and golden light stretched through the curtains.

Today was the day. She was always nervous about filming, but this time everything was worse. With whatever happened the night before, she knew pretending to be best friends with Finnick was going to be difficult.

Every year the two were Capitol favourites. Their comedic appearance and the way the two smoothly bantered were adored by everyone across Panem. No one could even pick up that it was a pretend act, it came so naturally to them. She always thought that was all Finnick, without his attitude, there would be no chance the two of them could pretend the way they did.

Their humour made the rest of Panem forget the troubles, it was like a breath of fresh air from all the horrors the country saw. That kept Rylie going, she knew she was making a difference.

Glancing at the clock on her wall, the time read seven. With that, her team burst through the doors. Halle holding a blazer and skirt set in her hands.

"Morning, honey. Orna will be with us soon, she was just dealing with Mr. Odair." Halle spoke, as two other people, assumably part of the media team.

Swishing her auburn hair behind her shoulders, half of it already arranged in a confusing knot-like braid at the top of her head, with the rest flowing down to her lower back. Halle put down the gorgeous set on Rylie's bed. 

"Morning, Halle" Rylie yawned, climbing out of her bed. Before she could say another word, the two men behind Halle began making the bed for her.

"Oh, thank you" She smiled, appreciatively, barely noticing the other person in the room.

Leaning against the doorway, his hair a mess on the top of his head stood the one boy Rylie did not want to see that day.

Finnick Odair.

"Morning to you too, Ashtide" He laughed awkwardly, knocking her out of her trance. She wasn't sure how long she'd been staring at him.

Clearing her throat, she managed to squeeze out two words, "Yeah, morning"

Halle, obviously, unclear of the situation looked between the pair with confusion.

"What's with this tension, I didn't think you two were capable of creating any more of it since we arrived, but here we are" She giggled, watching the two.

"I'm waiting for the day you two give up hating each other" she muttered

Finnick and Rylie each gave a forced giggle in reply.

"Uhm, anyways" Halle awkwardly moved on, "Finnick, have you heard from Fletcher this morning? It's about time we get styling the two of you"

"No idea, that's why I came here," Finnick replied.

"Oh for goodness sake." It wasn't a surprise that Halle was annoyed at Fletcher. His lack of punctuality never failed to irritate her on shoot days. "Right, Finnick. Go find Orna and tell her that Fletcher is missing"