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The distance from my bedroom door to the front door is less than ten steps. But if I don’t time my moves well, I may never leave the house tonight. I press an ear against my door and hold my breath. The TV is on but I can’t hear any talking. Maybe, with any luck, Finnick will be in the bathroom and Johanna will be on the balcony. And I can handle Annie any day; I sort of wish she was our roommate instead of him. I do another quick check to make sure that I have my keys, wallet, and phone. There is no going back in once I leave this room. I turn the doorknob as slowly and as quietly as possible and take a step out.They are both on the couch, but I remind myself that it could have been worse. They don’t seem to hear me and they have their backs turned. If I can just slip out the door… Finnick suddenly turns away from the TV to look at me. Maybe I wasn’t as quiet as I thought I was. He removes his eyepatch as if needing both eyes to make sense of what is in front of him. “Not that costume again! Johanna, I thought you were going to get rid of it!”“I told you,” says Johanna, not looking up from her phone. “I couldn’t find the fucking thing.”“Do you expect me to believe you couldn’t find a traffic cone costume?” Finnick asks, enunciating each word. “And now Peeta will go to the Halloween party looking like an idiot again.”I hang my head and sigh. “Can you just not? Just this time, guys? Can I just leave the apartment in peace for once?”Finnick shrugs. “Sorry, bro. You can’t do that while looking like an orange crayon.”“No, he looks like a Ku Klux Klan member who got his sheets mixed up with his reds in the laundry,” says Johanna.“Oh my god, he totally does!” Finnick’s eyes widen. “Dude, you cannot see this girl again. What if she thought you were a racist and that’s why she flirted with you?”“Just shut the fuck up before you ruin her for me, okay?” I say. “She was nice and I just want her to recognize me if she is at the party again.”“Why are you giving Peeta a hard time?” Annie emerges from the kitchen with a bowl of chips under one arm. “What’s wrong with his costume?”Johanna pulls a face. “It is less what he is wearing and more why he is wearing it. He wants to find his Slutty Mockingjay again. It is pathetic, really.”Annie’s eyes flit between me and Johanna. Poor girl never knows when Johanna is joking and when she is serious. “Who is the Slutty Mockingjay?”I take another deep breath. Maybe I should have slipped away through the fire escape. Not that it would be easy with the costume, but it would certainly be more pleasant than going through this conversation with them again. “For the last time, Jo, she was not a slutty mockingjay. She was just a mockingjay. What would a slutty mockingjay costume even look like?”Finnick closes his eyes and lets his head fall back to the couch. “I am picturing wings and not much else. Like a Victoria’s Secret angel. What color did you say her hair was, again? Black, right?” I do everything in my power to not throw something at his head. I turn to Annie instead. “I met this girl in a real nice, decent mockingjay costume a few years back on the rooftop party. We hit it off but the fire alarm went off and we got separated before I could take her number or even her name. So I am going to go to the party in the same costume in case she is there again and recognizes me.” I take off my cone hat with a sigh and run a hand through my hair. “Do we have to go through this every year?”“Okay, I am with Peeta on this one,” Annie smiles at me with her head tilted to one side and snuggles up to Finnick on the couch. “I think it is romantic. What about this girl drew you in?”I look down at my hands and cannot help but smile a little. It would have been easier if she asked me what about her didn’t draw me in. It was her voice that made me want to talk to her in the first place when I overheard her singing along to the music at the party. I probably wouldn’t have talked to her for hours if her whole face didn’t light up when she laughed. And if she had been just a little less pretty, I could have gotten my act together and just asked her for her number earlier.“She was just really cool, Annie,” I say simply. “Thanks for being on my side.”“Sure, but…” Annie’s eyes take a clouded, confused look. She starts playing with the ends of her blue wig, in the same way she does with her hair when something bothers her. “Did you say you go through this every year? How long has it been since you met this girl?”“Three years,” I mumble.“And you’ve been going to the same party in the same costume every year to find her?” she asks. I don’t like where this is going but I nod.“Then I’m changing my vote. It is more pathetic than romantic by now.” She gives me another smile, tight-lipped and bashful this time. “Sorry, Peeta.”“That’s okay, Annie. None of you get a vote on this anyway.” I turn to look at Finnick and Johanna pointedly. “I'll see you guys at the party unless any of you want to be invasive and inappropriate a little longer?”“Dude, it is for your own good. You are wearing this stupid thing that will turn off all the other girls except maybe the Slutty Mockingjay.” Finnick makes a throwing gesture with the arm that isn’t around Annie. “You should wear something that is not colossally dorky and cast a larger net. This is the only way I can see you getting laid tonight.”“First of all, do not think of me getting laid at all, okay? You creep.” I shake my head. “Second, it is not about sex at all. I just think that we had a real connection.”“God, not that ‘the one’ crap again,” groans Johanna. “I’m with Finnick. Ditch the Lorax look, wear a tight shirt that shows you’ve been going to the gym, and you’ll get lucky.”“See, this is what I’m talking about!” I throw my hands up. “You guys are trying to change me. Make me into some sort of a sex-crazed weirdo who is only going out tonight to get in some girl’s pants! That's not what I want!”“Oh, please. Are you telling me that if another girl comes up to you, you won’t go home with her?” asks Johanna.“I might,” I admit. “Under the right circumstances, I will. But I am just saying that this is not the ultimate goal. I need to believe that someone is out there for me. And yes, make fun of me if you want, but I think that someone might be her.”“No one is saying there isn’t someone for you, dude. But this…” Finnick gestures vaguely at my costume again. “Really? Isn’t this a bit of an overkill?”“At least I’m putting in an effort!" I am getting too loud but there is no stopping now. "Look, I don’t expect you to understand, okay? It is easy for couples. No one bats an eye at your shitty costumes. You wear an eyepatch, Annie wears an insane wig, and you two are suddenly a pirate and a mermaid. Fine, have fun! And Johanna’s clearly given up ‘cause she is going as some sort of a lumberjack this year. But you don’t see me saying anything, do you? ‘Cause you know what, it's her fucking life and I don’t fucking care!”When I finish my tirade, the only sound in the room is my heavy breathing and the canned laughter from their stupid show. The three of them look at me in utter shock and it is Johanna who speaks first. “These are my regular clothes, asshole. And if you end up bringing the Slutty Mockingjay home after that outburst, I feel like we’re legally obligated to inform her you are insane.”“Fine, whatever. As long as you don’t call her slutty to her face.”I turn my back to their laughter and sneak a peek at my reflection in the mirror next to the door. I put my hat back on, adjust it slightly, and smile.I have a good feeling that this will be the year I bring the Mockingjay home, after all.