Eponine leans against the wall outside of Cosette's house, putting a cigarette up to her lips and taking a long drag before blowing out the smoke; watching as it dissipated and dissolved in the air. She takes another drag as she lets her thoughts wander, tapping out a tune with her free hand on the wall behind her, humming along to it.
She's interrupted from her thoughts by the sound of a door opening and it's no doubt Cosette since it's her house. She walks out donned in the same outfit she was before, a simple but fancy white halter top and jean shorts along with a pair of tan boots. Her long blonde hair is put into a side braid resting on her shoulder, her bangs hanging down and framing the sides of her petite face.
"Hey, Cosette," Eponine flashes a warm smile towards her and nods slightly, standing with both her feet on the ground but still slightly leaning against the wall.
"Hey, Eponine," Cosette responds, but she doesn't have that playful, cheery tone that she always does. She seems irritated and bothered by something that Eponine has no idea what it is yet, though the blonde is fidgety and nervous-looking. Eponine catches a small glare at the cigarette in her hand, but Cosette's averts her eyes away almost instantly and focuses on the back of her hands and her nails.
"Is everything alright with your folks?" Eponine asks, blowing smoke out of her pursed lips.
"Yeah, yeah. Everything is fine," Cosette explains with a wave of a hand, as if dismissing the subject. Though, she keeps on talking. "Dad just has to go to work late tonight and won't be back till morning." She explains. Her Dad was quite dedicated to his work, and she remembered when she was little she was brought to his work to witness it firsthand, but he didn't bring her out on any emergency calls or anything, he just showed her around his office and the station, introducing her to other police officers and showing her the phones and innocent things of the like.
"He gonna be out all night again?"
"Mhm," Cosette sighs," Also, he's leaving soon, and I don't think he'd be too happy to see you smoking right outside of the house." There it is, she sounds irritated again. But she seems anxious to bring the topic up, staring at the wall behind Eponine.
"Don't worry, don't worry. I'll be finished with this in a few minutes," The brunette smiles and holds up the half-finished cigarette before taking another drag of the small paper stick, this time blowing out a few smoke rings and grinning to herself as she watches them disappear into thin air.
"Eponine," Cosette lets out a quiet sigh, but it could be heard by the other female.
"Hm?"
"You can't just…keep up with this."
"With what?"
"The smoking. You've been doing it even before we went out, and I've told you that I don't like you doing it. It'll hurt you, 'Ponine," Cosette's tone of voice was a mixture of concern and irritation.
"I can stop when I want to," Eponine says, and it sounds so cliché that she almost rolls her eyes at herself. She's said this many times to different people.
"You've said that before. And look, here you are smoking another one. That's the third one today," Cosette ran her fingers through her loose bangs, twirling the light blonde hair around her finger before letting it fall into place once again.
"Cosette-" Eponine starts, but she's cut off by her girlfriend.
"It has to stop Eponine, I'm worried about you getting sick," Cosette's voice wavers slightly, but she continues to speak," Please stop. I don't anything to happen to you because of this seemingly innocent little addiction."
"It's nothing, Cosette. It's not going to hurt me if I do it in moderation," Eponine took another last drag of her cigarette before puffing out the smoke and throwing the bud on the ground; smashing it under her shoe and making sure it's out for good.
"You have about three or four a day. That's not moderation," Cosette's voice is almost monotone, and she would sound a bit sarcastic if one were to listen closely. "At least cut it down. Two a day? Or better yet, one a day?" She pleads, her two equally blonde eyebrows furrowing together in worry and she lets her hands drop to her sides. Her foot is tapping on the sidewalk as she waits for an answer.
Eponine is silent for a moment, just thinking everything over. She's had this problem way before her and Cosette started dating, having her first smoke at the young age of 14. She's now 16, and she's been smoking ever since. Though she obviously doesn't buy the cigarettes herself, she smuggles them from people at the school and sends the older kids to pay for them for her. They don't reject usually, which is good for her and bad for Cosette since she has to watch her girlfriend go through another pack in about three or four days, at most a week. She wants to stop for Cosette, but it's hard to stop something such as this. Nicotine, and addiction that's hard to break because you crave it after not having it for periods of a time. And she has tried to quit before, but she failed and just went back to the excessive smoking.
"Anything to say?" Cosette asks, and her tone is more of an upset one than angry, but there's still that edge to it.
"Listen, Cosette-" Eponine sighs, running her fingers through her brunette hair that spills over her shoulders and over her face somewhat. "I've tried to quit before. You know that. It's not easy."
"I remember that. But you can, you can. You have to. I really don't want you to get sick," Cosette leans against the wall next to Eponine, crossing her arms over her chest. She's stressed, Eponine can see it in her mannerisms to her posture. Suddenly, she holds out her hand, as if she's expecting to be handed something from the other female.
"What?" Eponine raises an eyebrow, looking down at Cosette's exposed palm.
"Give me the cigarettes," Cosette demands in a more pleading tone of voice, for she hates being too harsh towards her girlfriend. She doesn't like snapping at anyone, even at the people she hates. She always feels guilty and wants to curl up and disappear forever afterwards; usually apologizing profusely to them afterwards about lashing out. But this was rarely.
Eponine looks over to Cosette, and she has a determined, but soft, pleading expression on her face. She glances back for a moment as if to see if her father is coming out, but it was a false alarm and they're still outside alone together. They stand with the silence hanging over them like a thick blanket, only their breathing and sounds around them from cars, birds, and the wind filling their ears to pass the moments.
And it takes a few moments to muster up the courage and will do to this, but Eponine takes out the unfinished pack of cigarettes and places them into the other's hand.
"Thank you," Cosette mutters, and a small smile lights up her features. She slips the pack into her pocket to dispose of later somewhere else where her parents won't get suspicious of her and think she's the one smoking; glancing back up at Eponine. The darker haired girl looks upset, knowing that the same thing is going to happen if she gets another pack from an older kid. Cosette would know if she's carrying another, since she could see the bump in her pocket or see the paper box jingling around in her bag if she was carrying one.
"It's…no problem," Eponine pauses for a moment, letting out a breath that she didn't know she was holding. And before she can say anything else, Cosette pulls her into a hug and kisses her cheek.
"I believe in you, 'Ponine. I want you to be free of this…smoking," She pronounces 'smoking' with a sort of disgust. She's always been a bit disgusted by smoking in general. She knows how it mucks up your lungs, gives you a bad cough and rots your teeth. She cringed at the thought and was upset by the image of Eponine coughing and hacking at the still quite young age of 16, or her 20s.
"Thank-Thank you, Cosette," Eponine almost whispered this back, hugging Cosette and kissing her on her head. "I'll try. I'll try my best." She feels like she's lying. She knows she's going to give up sooner or later and go right back to smoking four or five times or so a day, but for now, she wants to give the blonde hope in her, and hope that she could get better. And deep down, Eponine did want to stop smoking, wanted to be free of the grasp of nicotine and addiction. But that would take time, and Cosette could help her along with that.