The bell was ringing, and he could hear faint sounds of students filing out of their classes and of someone yelling.

“Gale!”

He heard her call out to him but didn’t stop walking towards his destination. He had to get out of here. 

“Gale!”, Madge yelled. 

He pretended he didn’t hear her. His mind was scarred with the images of Katniss, Peeta, their ‘stolen’ kisses on t.v. and how she had almost gotten herself killed for Peeta. He increased his strides. 

“Gale, please wait”, she pleaded.

He sighed with exasperation. He really didn’t need to hear sympathetic words from Madge at the moment. All he wanted was his best distraction: hunting. He stopped and waited while Madge hurried to fill in the space between them. She was wearing a dress similar to the one she had worn when he and Katniss had given her those strawberries. The dress outlined her thin frame making her look very delicate. Her wavy hair was down and famed her face which looked paler and thinner than he had remembered. He had a sudden impulse to embrace her, but resisted and shook his head thinking how ironic that would be. Him with Madge and Katniss with Peeta…..Again he felt the need to escape into the woods and looked at Madge expectantly while she caught her breath.

“I know you’re thinking that since you see them together all the time now, that Katniss doesn’t love you”, she paused, “but you’re wrong”. 

Gale rolled his eyes, and turned around to continue towards the exit. 

“And I know you love her too”, Gale walked faster. ” I can see it in your eyes, you have the same expression my father has”. He stopped to hear her finish. 

“My father, whenever he goes to check up on mom, returns with the same expression on. It’s a mix of undeniable love,anguish and hopelessness,at the headaches he knows he can’t fix. I saw the same look in your eyes today, seeing Clove hurting Katniss”. 

This time shock keeps him in place. He had never really thought of the Mayor as a man in love. Katniss had told him once that his wife had terrible headaches that caused her to stay bedridden. He had thought that with a situation like that there wasn’t much love or anything that those two could give to each other. He stared at Madge, her brown eyes instantly warming his heart. This time he knew he couldn’t stop, he had no other way t thank her for being able to relate with what he was going through even if it was by the most infinitesimal amount. He took the few small steps that were separating them, leaned in and kissed her. 

What happened next was what he hadn’t been expecting. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. He knew what he was doing wasn’t right, but couldn’t stop. All that was in his mind now was the heat coming off of Madge and the softness of her hair in his left hand, while the other was on the small of her back. Too soon Madge pulled away her brown eyes smoldering and a sad smile on her lips. Before he could apologize, she turned around and walked away. 

(Source: sharetheturnips)