G is for Gardening
"Sup, Kay-tay!" Travis said loudly as he plopped down next to her in the Strawberry Fields. After glancing over in his direction and rolling her eyes, Katie went back to planting the small strawberry seeds.
"That's not my name," she muttered, her concentration now on the small plant she was making grow. Her fingers sparkled a slight green and the plant suddenly sprouted out of the ground, already looking a week or two old. She grinned triumphantly.
"Yeah, but Kay-tay sounds so much better than Katie." He'd seen the Demeter kids grow things before and found no interest in the strawberries. "You should change it."
"To Kay-tay?" Katie asked, glancing over at him.
"Yeah. And not only does it sound awesome, but it sounds like par-tay, which is pretty much the whole reason I came over here to talk to you in the first place."
Katie couldn't help but beam. "Pretty much?"
He ignored her comment, but she could've sworn she saw a small blush on his cheeks. "It's Conner's birthday par-tay tonight."
Katie rolled her eyes. "Can we please stop saying par-tay like this?"
"No, and it's also my non-birthday par-tay."
"What's a non-birthday par-tay?"
"Well, you know how everyone always thinks that Conner and I are twins?" She nodded. "Well, every year people get confused and idiotic and they give not only Conner presents but they get me some type of gift too. Same thing happens on my birthday for Conner. It's great, really."
"But didn't you just go off on people, like, last week about you two just being brothers?"
"Yeah, but people never listen to my rants. They always think that everything that comes out of my mouth is a joke."
"It's true. You're not a very angry person."
"As I was saying, there's gonna be music, and food, and underage drinking, and Chiron doesn't know anything about it. Are you coming or are you coming?" Travis asked with a slick smirk on his face. She couldn't help but smile. That grin of his could always make her smile.
"Sorry, but I have a date with Peeta tonight."
Travis's smile dropped along with all the humor in his eyes. "Who in the Hades is Peeta?"
A small laugh escaped Katie's lips. "Is Travis Stoll . . . jealous?" she questioned, mischief in her voice.
Was that a blush on his cheeks, yet again? "Psh! No. I'm just worried for your safety. Who is this Peeta guy, anyways? He might be a pedophile for all you know!"
Rolling her eyes with a smile on her lips, she said, "He's not a pedophile."
"How do you know? Only pedophiles could have the same name as bread."
"I know he's not a pedophile cuz he's a book character."
He was definitely blushing now. "He is?"
Katie laughed once more. "Yeah, he is. I'm so close to finishing this book right now, and I really wanted to finish it tonight."
"Oh." Travis sat in silence and watched as she planted another seed and made it grow. "So you're ditching me - and Conner, of course – for a book?"
He put on his pouty, puppy face. It always worked on Katie. "Poor, Travis," she said while looking up at him. "Would you be happy if I came to the par-tay?"
Travis nodded and sniffled. "Yes."
"Too bad." She went back to planting another strawberry seed.
"You're mean," he muttered.
"That's not very nice, Travis."
"Well you're not being very nice, Kay-tay."
"If I let you plant a strawberry seed will you forgive me?" she asked while holding out her hand with the small seed in the middle of her palm.
"No, I hate gardening. I don't know how you do it all the time."
She smirked. "It might help that I'm kinda Demeter's daughter."
Travis sighed. "Yes, but gardening gets you all dirty, and it kills."
"How can gardening kill?"
"Well, there you are, just planting your seeds and digging around, when - oh no! - you have dirt under your fingernails! No matter how many times you wash your hands or how many showers you take it stays there, and stays there, and stays there. Finally, you go to your last option: a pencil."
"A pencil?"
"Don't interrupt! Yes, a pencil. So you take your newly sharpened pencil, stick it underneath your fingernail, and - oh no! - you've stabbed yourself."
"I have more control over a pencil than that."
He glared at her for interrupting once more. "You stab yourself.The lead than goes into your bloodstream, up to your heart, and," he put his hands at his throat, coughed erratically, and sprawled out on the ground before Katie, squishing the plant she just made grow, "your dead." He closed his eyes and took one last dramatic breath.
Katie stared at him in amusement. "Has that ever actually happened to anyone?"
"I'm sure it has." Travis sat back up and stared at her. Without thinking, Katie brushed the stray dirt from his hair. She blushed and turned back to the plants as soon as she realized what she was doing. "And that's not the only way gardening kills."
Glad that he broke the awkward silence, she turned back to him with a small smile. "There's others?"
"Of course! So you're just planting veggies or whatever, when - oh no! - you have a sunburn. It just seems like a normal sunburn at first, but then you get sores, and it's all red, and oh my holy crap! You now have skin cancer! Do you know what I am saying?"
She laughed. "No need to worry, Travis. I won't get skin cancer."
"Still, gardening kills." They sat in silence as she planted some more seeds. "You can also die of boredom," he mumbled, lying back down in the dirt next to Katie.
She smirked. "It's not that boring."
"Yeah, it is."
"Ok, planting seeds can be kind of boring, but there's other things you can plant."
"Like?"
"Like trees, and bushes, and flowers."
"Which one's your favorite?"
"Flowers," she said without hesitation.
"I've never seen a need for flowers."
"The world always needs flowers."
"Whenever you get flowers, you just put them in a vase and they die a week later. No need."
Katie sighed. "Flowers can turn a plain, old, boring room into a cool, fresh, vibrant room! And you can say so much with flowers. Everything from, 'Hey, congratulations on the new breast implants!' to, 'Oh man! I am so sorry your leg just got cut off!' to, 'Wow. That is a nice boulder!' to," she shrugged, " 'I love you.' " She stared into Travis's eyes as she said those last few words, and he found that his breath had suddenly hitched and his mouth was very dry. They sat there, staring into each other's eyes for quite some time. Once Katie's words had sunk in, she looked away quickly with a blush on her cheeks.
Travis coughed and cleared his throat. "So, uh, what's your favorite flower?"
She smiled, glad that he had changed the subject. When answering, though, she still didn't look at him. She couldn't believe she had actually said that. "Amaryllises," she answered quickly.
"What's that?"
She couldn't help but quietly guffaw. "A flower."
"Well, obviously, but, like, what kind is it? What does it look like?"
"It's a reddish color. Sometimes it's pink or white. They're mostly just grown in South Africa so I've only seen one once other than in pictures. If I ever have a daughter I'm naming her Amaryllis."
Travis laughed. "Good luck getting the father to agree to that." She rolled her eyes and hit him lightly in the chest. "But aren't all girls supposed to like roses?"
She glanced at him through her peripheral while trying to plant another seed. "What?"
"In movies and stuff, the dudes always get their girlfriends roses. Isn't that supposed to be all girls' favorite flower?"
Katie smiled. "I guess so, but I hate roses."
"What? What girl hates roses?"
"This one. I just find them cliché, and the smell of roses always reminds me of old ladies."
He lay in thought for a bit while she finished filling in a hole with dirt. "They do kind of smell like old ladies."
Katie tightened her grip on the towel in her hands. After working out in the fields all day (well, kind of working. She had a very annoying distraction bugging her the entire time. . . Not that she minded it that much), she had finally gotten Travis to go off towards his non-birthday par-tay, and she left to go take a shower. The hot water washed away the dirt and grime and sweat, leaving her skin sparkly clean and smelling like watermelons. Her hair was still wet as she walked towards her cabin in her Strawberry Shortcake pajama bottoms and slippers. As she passed by the Hermes cabin, she heard the music blaring and the campers cheering. She had a strange urge to go in just to see what was happening.
Walking into her own cabin, she switched on the lights. It looked as if all of her brothers and sisters had went to join the fun. Maybe just 5 minutes . . . she thought. No. It's Peeta tonight. Peeta, Peeta, Peeta.
Katie walked over to her bed, and was about ready to plop down and grab her book when she noticed something on her pillow.
There, on the dirty, yellow pillow case, was a small red flower that Katie had only seen once before in her life. She grinned when she saw the tiny note attached.
'Does Pita give you flowers?'
Katie rolled her eyes, pulled on her boots, and walked out the door to the booming Cabin 11.
Once she walked up the familiar front steps, she knocked shyly on the door. Sure that no one had heard her, she grabbed the handle and twisted it, pushing the door open. She slid inside, completely unnoticed.
The bunks had mysteriously disappeared, leaving an empty space perfect for a dance floor. Campers were all over, flailing their arms and jumping around. In the middle of the floor, gathering a crowd, was Conner break-dancing (trying to, at least). Standing moodily in the corner with his arms crossed over his chest was Travis.
Katie quickly walked over to him. He did not look pleased. "How's your non-birthday par-tay going?" she asked.
He looked slightly surprised to see her, but remained frustrated. "Terrible. I haven't gotten a single present," he mumbled, looking back out at the dancing campers.
"I guess your rant worked. Shouldn't you be happy?"
"Not on my non-birthday!" He sighed. Looking back at her, he seemed to finally realize that she was actually at the party. "But it's better now that you're here," he said with a sly smile.
Katie rolled her eyes, annoyed, but she couldn't really help the blush and small grin that came to her face. He had been into the lame and cheesy pick-up lines lately. They were starting to seriously annoy her, but she secretly didn't want him to stop. "How many more times do I have to tell you that those things don't work to make you stop?"
"A billion and two." He smirked wider and stepped a bit closer.
Taking a deep breath, Katie took out the flower from her pocket. "Where'd you get this?" she asked.
He stared at the amaryllis. "Well that's a pretty flower," he said as if he had never seen it in his life. "Almost as pretty-"
"Almost as pretty as me," she interrupted. "I know, but where did you get it?"
"How do you know I got it for you?"
"You're the only person I told that I was planning on reading tonight."
"It could've been one of your brothers or sisters. They were all out in the field, too. They could have overheard us."
Man, she hoped not. They always teased her enough about how she always seemed different around Travis. She giggled and was sweet and she flipped her hair while having no control over her body or her mouth. She hated what he did to her, but absolutely loved it at the same time.
"Yes," she said, breaking out of her thoughts, "but I'm pretty sure none of my brothers or sisters are idiotic enough to spell flowers wrong." She shrugged.
"I didn't spell flowers wrong," he fumed while trying to grab for the amaryllis in her hands. She pulled it back from him before he could harm it.
"I thought you didn't give me the amaryllis."
He dropped his hand back to his side and his cheeks suddenly turned a light shade of pink. "I didn't."
Katie beamed up at him. He was so busted. "Where did you get it?" she repeated.
Travis shrugged. "I know a guy."
She continued to smile up at him and he smiled down at her. Before she could change her mind or the idea could leave her brain, Katie stood up on her tip toes and kissed him on the cheek, leaving them both bright red. Going back down her normal height, she stared back up at him.
"Best non-birthday par-tay ever."