My Book Boyfriend: Peeta Mellark

My Book Boyfriend is a suuuuper fun meme started by the Unread Reader-- find out about it here.

Okay, yes, I am definitely Team Peeta. I just saw the official movie trailer and I am soooo super psyched to watch it! Admittedly, the cast choice is not my favorite (personally, I saw Katniss being played by Lindsay Fonseca from Nikita...) but OH. MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS. The casting director could have chosen a much better Peeta in my opinion. like..... ALEX PETTYFER!!!!!! No offense to Josh Hutcherson or anything....

Anyways, since I started the Hunger Games trilogy, I have been absolutely in love with Peeta! He is so sweet, selfless, devoted, and kind... and the fact that he's attractive doesn't hurt ;)  especially if you imagine him as Alex Pettyfer!

I'm coming back into focus when Caesar asks him if he has a girlfriend back home. Peeta hesitates, then gives an unconvincing shake of his head.
"Handsome lad like you. There must be some special girl. Come on, what’s her name?" says Caesar.
Peeta sighs. "Well, there is this one girl. I’ve had a crush on her ever since I can remember. But I’m pretty sure she didn’t know I was alive until the reaping."
Sounds of sympathy from the crowd. Unrequited love they can relate to.
"She have another fellow?" asks Caesar.
"I don’t know, but a lot of boys like her," says Peeta.
"So, here’s what you do. You win, you go home. She can’t turn you down then, eh?" says Caesar encouragingly.
I don’t think it’s going to work out. Winning...won’t help in my case," says Peeta.
"Why ever not?" says Caesar, mystified.
Peeta blushes beet red and stammers out. "Because...because...she came here with me." 

 “Peeta,” I say lightly. “You said at the interview you’d had a crush on me forever. When did  forever start?”

“Oh, let’s see. I guess the first day of school. We were five. You had on a red plaid dress and your hair . . . it was in two braids instead of one. My father pointed you out when we were waiting to line up,” Peeta says.

“Your father? Why?” I ask.

“He said, ‘See that little girl? I wanted to marry her mother, but she ran off with a coal miner,’” Peeta says.

“What? You’re making that up!” I exclaim.

“No, true story,” Peeta says. “And I said, ‘A coal miner? Why did she want a coal miner if she could’ve had you?’ And he said, ‘Because when he sings . . . even the birds stop to listen.’”

“That’s true. They do. I mean, they did,” I say.

 I’m stunned and surprisingly moved, thinking of the baker telling this to Peeta. It strikes me that my own reluctance to sing, my own dismissal of music might not really be that I think it’s a waste of time. It might be because it reminds me too much of my father.

 “So that day, in music assembly, the teacher asked who knew the valley song. Your hand shot right up in the air. She stood you up on a stool and had you sing it for us. And I swear, every bird outside the windows fell silent,” Peeta says.

“Oh, please,” I say, laughing.

“No, it happened. And right when your song ended, I knew — just like your mother — I was a goner,” Peeta says. “Then for the next eleven years, I tried to work up the nerve to talk to you.”

“Without success,” I add.

“Without success. So, in a way, my name being drawn in the reaping was a real piece of luck,” says Peeta."

 -Peeta and Katniss 

"Remember, we're madly in love, so it's all right to kiss me anytime you feel like it." 

-Peeta to Katniss

 "My nightmares are usually about losing you. I'm okay once I realize you're here."

-Peeta to Katniss

"It's a long shot, it's suicide maybe, but I do the only thing I can think of. I lean in and kiss Peeta full on the mouth. His whole body starts shuddering, but I keep my lips pressed to his until I have to come up for air. My hands slide up his wrists to clasp his. "Don't let him take you from me."
Peeta's panting hard as he fights the nightmares raging his head. "No. I don't want to. . ."
I clench his hands to the point of pain. "Stay with me."
His pupils contract to pinpoints, dilate again rapidly, and then return to something resembling normalcy. "Always," he murmurs." 

-Katniss and Peeta

"You love me. Real or not real?"
I tell him, "Real." 

-Peeta to Katniss