California Love

Chapter 34: Prim's Return

I wake up to the shrill sound of my phone ringing. I groan and look at the alarm clock that signals it is 2:08 in the morning. I pick up my phone and see Peeta's name flashing on the screen.

"Hello?" I ask, slightly worried as to why he is calling me in the middle of the night.

"Hey, Kat." He says, and he sounds tired. "What's wrong? Is everything all right?" I ask, sitting up against the pillows. "Yeah, everything's fine. We just landed, just calling to let you know." He says. I rub my hand over my eyes.

"Well, I'm glad you had a safe flight," I say with a yawn. "What time is it there?"

"It's 7pm on Friday night," he says with a yawn. "But I'm still on California time."

"Yeah, well, you're ahead in time now. It's only Friday morning here, 2:10 to be exact." I say and I hear him gasp. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'll let you get back to your sleep." He says.

"Oh no, no, it's fine. You can call me whenever, I'll always answer." I say and I can practically hear him smiling.

"So how's Tasmania?" I ask. That was the first place he was going to.

"It's amazing. The sun is just about fully set, but from what I have seen from the airport windows it's beautiful. I wish you could be here. My brothers haven't shut up the whole time." He says with a groan. I laugh.

"Yeah, well, it's all been boring here. Thursday was uneventful. I was tired. It's hard to sleep without you." I say and I hear him sigh.

"Love you."

"Yeah, me too." I whisper.

"I'll talk to you later. I'm going to have a shower now that I'm awake." I say.

"Okay, call me whenever." He says and I nod, forgetting he can't see me. "Kat?"

"Oh, yeah, sure. I'll talk to you later, okay?" I say.

"Okay." I hang up.

I stumble into the bathroom and turn the shower on. After my shower, I get dressed in a white dress and brush my hair and braid it to the side.

I wander through the apartment. It feels so empty and lonely. I have to flip on lights as I go through. It is nearly 3am.

I sigh. I'm tired but it's hard to sleep. I flip on the TV but there is only news. I put up with watching the news while lounging on the couch. Eventually, I drift off to sleep.

I wake up yet again to my phone ringing. "What?" I answer roughly as I answer without looking at the caller ID.

"Um, hey Katniss. Is this a bad time?" I hear Prim say. I pull the phone away from my ear and look at the time: 9:30am.

"Oh no, sorry Prim. Now's perfect, I just didn't get a lot of sleep last night." I sigh.

"Oh, I'm sorry, but, um, Haymitch and I got back from New York last night. Oh, Katniss, it was amazing!" She gushes. "I bet it was." I say with a smile. I'm happy that my sister is happy.

"So can I come see you guys today?" I ask. "Oh yeah, that's why I called. Effie wants to have a mini party, you and Peeta and all your other friends. Rue is coming over too!" She says excitedly.

"Oh, Prim, didn't you hear? Peeta is in Australia for a month." I say and I hear her sigh sadly. "Oh, I didn't get to say goodbye."

"Yeah..." There is a silence before I remember something.

"Did you say Effie wanted a party? Didn't you go to New York so she could go home or something?" I ask. "Yeah, but she changed her mind, wanted to live with us for a little longer."