Trust Me

Later that night, I was sitting by myself on the couch in the living room. Kip and Georgina hadn’t come out of their rooms since supper, and Finnick had gone to try and calm Georgina down afterwards. I was starting to think he’d just gone to bed without saying anything to me when he suddenly walked into the living room, his expression worn with fatigue.

“Are you okay?” I asked softly, scooting over on the sofa to make room for him.

Finnick came over and sat next to me. “I’m fine. Just worried.”

“About what?” I asked. Finnick shot me a questioning glance, and I let out a dry laugh. “Right. Stupid question. But you’re the one who was all confident about me winning.”

“I know you can win. But the Game makers are tricky. The more power they think you have, the more gruesome they’ll try to make your death. They’re more concerned with what the audience wants.” Finnick explained.

I shuddered. “That paints a pretty picture,” I said sarcastically.

Finnick wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me in to his side. “I don’t want you to worry about breaking alliances. Don’t think about what’s right. If you have to leave one of your allies behind in order to save yourself, that’s what you do. I know you told me you would, but you haven’t entirely convinced me.”

“Your lack of trust offends me.” I joked.

“I’m not kidding, Winnie.” Finnick said, his voice even.

“I promise. I promised you earlier and I promise you again. The more I get to know my allies, the more they scare me.” I said.

Finnick nodded. “And any time you feel bad about potentially killing someone, remember that they’d all kill you in a heartbeat. Even your allies will turn against you when you prove to be too powerful for them to control or too weak to protect them.”

I nodded. “They’re already talking about killing Kip. They only let him in for my sake, and they’re placing bets on who gets to kill each tribute.” A shiver ran down my spine as I wondered how many people had mentally claimed the right to kill me. Ingrid and Adri, certainly, but who else?

Finnick misinterpreted my shiver. “Don’t worry about Kip. You can’t save him, not without endangering yourself. If you’re worried about your District, just make it look like you had no idea that they were going to turn on him. There’s no point in District 4 having two dead tributes, so just let him fend for himself.”

I sat up straighter and cleared my throat. “Okay, no more Game talk.”

Finnick looked almost hurt. I knew he was throwing together every piece of wisdom he had for me now, he’d been saving a lot of it for the last minute. Maybe he was worried I was going to tell one of the other tributes. “But—” he began.

“No! No more Game talk.” I repeated firmly.

Finnick looked at me funny. “Then, what do you want to talk about?”

I paused. “I don’t know. What are we going to talk about after the Game is over?”

This seemed to mollify him. He seemed to get a little happier every time he heard me confirm that I was planning on trying to get out of the arena alive. “Probably how bad-ass you are, and how you played the Game like a pro.” He said with a grin.

“Well we can’t talk about that now without jinxing it,” I pointed out. “Plus that’s still technically Game talk.”

Finnick frowned. “Why don’t you want to talk about the Game?”

“Because I don’t want to be up all night thinking about it. I’m going to need my rest.” I said.

“Well let’s see if we can find something interesting on TV.” He’d obviously decided that we weren’t going to find anything to talk about that wasn’t related to the Game and was resorting to TV.

I turned to face the TV and Finnick scooted closer to me – much closer than normal. He grabbed a fur blanket and draped it around me before he started channel surfing. I could tell from the way he lingered on the channel that was broadcasting Hunger Games updates that he wanted desperately to watch it, but for my sake he flicked on to the next channel. We finally settled on some old movie that looked interesting enough, but I could tell neither one of us was really paying much attention to it.

After a while, Finnick draped his arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer to him. I wondered if it was one of his mind games, but I was too comfortable to ask. I allowed myself to snuggle into his side, and I spread the blanket out so it covered both of us rather than just me. I rested my head against his chest and he rested his head on mine. I felt safe and secure with him, like nothing could touch me. If I hadn’t had a friend like Finnick throughout this whole experience, I didn’t know where I’d be.

“Winnie?” Finnick said softly. I jolted out of my thoughts and into the present, looking up at him. “The movie’s over.”

Sure enough I looked back to see the credits rolling across the screen, complemented by soft piano music. “Oh. Sorry, I guess I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Obviously.” Finnick said with a laugh. He turned the TV off but didn’t make any move to get up. I could have been imagining it, but I could have sworn I felt him tighten his arm around me, just a bit. I didn’t move, I just enjoyed being so close to him. “This is nice,” He murmured, echoing my thoughts.

“Mm,” I murmured in agreement. “I could stay like this all night.”

“I wish you could stay like this all week.” Finnick said, and this time I was sure that his arm tightened around me, as if he could hold me here and stop me from going into the arena.

“If you know of a way to make that happen, please tell me.” I forced out a shaky chuckle.

Finnick didn’t reply, he just heaved a great sigh as his fingers began to trace gentle patterns on my arm. I felt my eyelids grow heavy, and I let myself drift off in the warm circle of Finnick’s arms. Some time later I was aware of being carried, and peeked open one eye to see that Finnick was carrying me. I felt him set me down on my bed and tuck me in before gently kissing my forehead, but I didn’t dare let him know I was awake. He sat down on the edge of my bed and I felt his hand gently brushing across my cheek and up my temple before tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. His fingers traced down along my jaw, his thumb gently brushing over my lower lip before he pulled his hand back. He sat next to me in silence for a few more moments before standing up, and I heard his footsteps recede as he headed for the door.

I shot up and, before I knew what I was doing, called out, “Stop!”

Finnick whirled around, his eyes large as he realized I’d been awake. He didn’t say anything, he just looked at me for a moment.

“Don’t leave me.” I murmured, so quietly I wondered if he’d even heard me. He must have, though, as he walked back over to the bed and sat back down next to me.

“What’s wrong?” He whispered.

“I don’t want to be alone right now.” I admitted. I looked up at the ceiling to try and stop the tears that had brimmed up behind my eyes from running down my cheeks.

“It’ll all be okay.” Finnick assured me. “We’ve both done everything we can. You’re going to be just fine.”

“I’m still terrified.” I admitted.

Finnick leaned over and took my hand in his before promising, “I’ll stay as long as you want.”