California Love

Chapter 33: To Australia

It happens in a spilt second. One minute we are laughing together and the next there is a blinding flash of light and the screeching sound of metal on metal. I scream out loud, the sound mixing with the ear shattering screeching and crashes.

Peeta slams on the brakes and I go flying forward in my seat from the impact before gasping as the wind is knocked out of me. "Shit." I mutter and push my door open, jumping out of the car and sprinting over to the car crash. It's hard to see in the dark, but I can tell the crash was bad.

I turn around and see that other cars have stopped and people are flooding out onto the road to see what happened. I can see a lot of people have their phones out and are calling emergency, Peeta being one of them. I run my fingers through my hair, my heart pounding from the rush of what just happened.

The sound of sirens and flashing lights cause everyone to move off the road. The paramedics run over to the car and inspect it. I search around for Peeta but I can't find him.

The paramedics pull several stretchers from the ambulance before announcing over a speakerphone for everyone to please return to their vehicles and evacuate the crash site. I look around again for Peeta but I still can't find him.

I head back over to the car and sit in it, waiting for him. I pull out my phone and call him number.

"Hey, Katniss, where are you?" I can hear him faintly over the sounds of yelling and sirens.

"I'm in the car." I have to talk loudly so he can hear me.

"Okay, I'm coming now." I hang up the phone and a few minutes later Peeta gets in. He reaches over me and tugs on my belt, making sure it's secure.

"You're paranoid." I say and he sighs. "Who wouldn't be after witnessing that." He says, and I take his hand in mine. "I know." I whisper as he starts the car and heads back home.

*************
I lounge on the bed as Peeta walks around the room, pulling clothes and other bits and pieces out and placing them in a large suitcase. "I wish you didn't have to leave." I say, and he smiles sadly at me. "I know, but Mother wants family time or whatever."

"Yeah, I wish I could have family time." I sniff, and Peeta throws a shirt into the bag before coming over and hugging me tightly. "You still have family." He tells me.

"Yeah, but they're all in New York. I wonder when Prim and Haymitch are coming home," I say longingly. "I miss my sister." Peeta pulls me closer. "I know."

"Okay, you need to finish packing so that we have the whole day tomorrow to spend together." I say, and he gets up and finishes packing his bag.

Sometime while he is packing his bag, I fall alseep on top of the covers. I only vaguely notice it when Peeta lifts me up and pulls the covers over me. I fall back asleep before Peeta comes to bed.

I wake up the next morning and see that Peeta is still asleep next to me. I smile softly as I watch him sleep. His hair has fallen into his eyes. i can't believe today is his last day here. He's leaving tonight. His flight isn't until midnight, when most international flights are.

International. The word seems so scary now, knowing that Peeta is going to be not only across the other side of the world but also 17 hours in front of us in time.

I slip out of bed and decide to make him breakfast. I'm not the best cook but I can at least try for him.

I put the kettle on and put bread in the toaster. I take out two pans and fill one with bacon, the other I try to crack an egg into. It doesn't really work, so I try again. And again, and again. I groan and nearly scream in frustration that I can't even crack an egg without spilling it everywhere, or smashing the shell everywhere.

I take the last egg and throw it on the ground in anger. "Katniss?" I hear a sleepy voice call out. "Uh, hang on!" I call out as I quickly clean my hands on a dishtowel and run out of the kitchen, just in time to stop Peeta from entering.

"What are you doing?" He asks, trying to peer around me into the kitchen. "Uh, nothing, don't worry about it." I say quickly, and he raises his eyebrows at me.

Just then the smoke alarm goes off, and all I can smell is somthing burnt. I groan and Peeta laughs. "Nothing, eh?" He jokes.

"Shut up. I was trying to make you breakfast." I say and let him into the kitchen. His eyes widen at the mess of egg and the smoke rising out of the toaster. "You go sit down, I'll clean up in here." He says and I cross my arms. "I'm perfectly capable of cleaning up the kitchen, Peeta, pregnant or not." I say, and he looks at me. "Well, I told you to sit down." He says. "And I told you no!" I snap, and he rolls his eyes and starts to clean up the mess.

I open the window to get rid of the smoke and pick up a cloth and start to clean the bench while Peeta throws away the spoiled food. "I'm sorry." I say and he takes my face in his hands. "Don't be," he says, kissing me. "Let's go out for breakfast, just you and me. I'm going to miss eating breakfast out with my beautiful girlfriend." I look away as I blush.

"Okay, then, let me have a shower and get dressed." I say and head up the stairs.

Once ready, Peeta and I head out and walk down the street to a cafe where we sit down and order our breakfast.

"When do you think Finnick and Annie will get married?" I ask, playing with the napkin that's on the table. "I don't know. People are betting on us getting married first because of the baby." He says and I nod. "Yeah, I know. They keep asking us about it!" I laugh.

"You know, it's our one year in one and a half months." Peeta says, taking my hand over the table, and I smile at him. "I know. God, I love you." I say and he leans over and kisses me deeply.

We hear a cough and we pull apart as the waiter places our breakfast on the table. We both mumble our thanks and we start to eat.

"So, where abouts in Australia are you going?" I ask.

"Uh, I think Mum said Tasmania, then Melbourne, and then Queensland." He says, and I smile sadly. "I want to go to Australia." I whine and he smiles. "If it's good, I might take you there one day." He says and I smile widely. "Really?"

"Really."

The rest of the day we spend walking all over town, hand in hand, along the beach and looking at shops. We get dinner at a small Italian restaurant and I was almost crying when the time came to go home and pick up Peeta's suitcase before heading to the airport where everyone was going to meet us.

Peeta and I walk into the airport hand in hand. I grip his hand tightly, hanging on to him for as long as possible. We walk through the terminals to where Peeta's family and all our friends are standing. "This is as far as you can come." Peeta says to me and I nod, trying to hold back my tears.

"Hey, don't cry." Peeta says, taking my face in his hands.

"I know, I know. I just don't want you to go." I say and let a tear slip. Peeta brushes it away with a kiss and I close my eyes. "I love you." I say and he kisses me deeply and passionately. "Love you, too." He says.

Peeta says goodbye to all our other friends and then comes back to me. He gives me another long kiss. "I'll call you when we land, okay?" He says and I nod.

Annie comes up and takes my hand in hers. "I love you." I say again. "I love you, too. Call if you need me, and stay safe. Please." He says and I nod.

He turns around and walks through customs with his family. I stand and stare until I can no longer see him. He is gone. Only for a month, but it feels like it's going to be a lifetime for me.

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This is once again unedited, as you can probably tell. ~ Not anymore... It's now been edited by your favourite editor, SunshineRainbow7! xx ~ But I'm getting more updates up lately.

3 for CL and 1 for FL in one weekend! Usually there's only one update a weekend!

I'm in a pretty good mood :)