Sydney Carton walked into the bar and frowned. There were no empty tables. Sighing, he sat in one of the ones at on the corner. It held two people, a guy and a girl.
"Can I help you?" the girl frowned.
"I just need a chair and a drink," Carton said. "My name's Sydney Carton."
"Éponine," the girl smirked slightly.
"Grantaire!" the man belched.
"Well, what are you two doing here?" Carton asked, retrieving his drink a waiter brought.
"Drowning out our feelings," Grantaire mumbled.
"Trust me, I know how you feel," Carton said, staring into his drink.
"You do?" Éponine narrowed her eyes. "Is the love of your love currently in love with someone else?"
Carton laughed, "She's married and has a daughter."
"Does your love look at you like a pity case?" Grantaire asked, his eyebrow raised.
"Yes and her daughter as well," Carton said.
Grantaire sighed, "We're here for you buddy."
Carton didn't know why he was sharing this information with a bunch of drunk strangers. But then again, it was nice to get it off of his chest.
"Here's what we're going do!" Grantaire exclaimed. "We're gonna-"
"Forget about them!" Éponine pounded her fist on the table.
"How?" Carton said miserably.
"How?! How?! I'll tell you how! They don't deserve us! They don't want us! So, we shouldn't want them!" Éponine declared.
"But...Apollo's perfect Ép," Grantaire frowned.
"We'll make a pact. The pact is to not feel bad around them! They could have had us, but they didn't! We should make them jealous!"
Carton raised his eyebrows, "I'm listening."
Éponine grinned and took another sip of her drink. "We'll all hang out and be like 'look what you can't have' and they'll get so jealous, that—"
"That idea won't work," Grantaire said. "Marius would never look away from Cosette long enough to look at you, and Apollo has a revolution to plan, after all."
Éponine scoffed.
Carton sighed, "Shouldn't you kids be in school? I don't think you're old enough to start a revolution."
Éponine glared at him, "I'm seventeen, Monsieur."
Carton smirked, "twenty-five, Mademoiselle."
"Twenty-nine," Grantaire informed him. "Don't lecture strangers."
"I am sorry," Carton raised his hands in surrender.
"So, we're screwed basically," Éponine said.
"Oh yeah," Grantaire ordered another round of drinks.
Carton sighed, "we shouldn't care. Caring's a weakness, it'll hurt us."
Éponine nodded, "But…it's like if Monsieur Marius was going to be shot. I'll take the bullet for him, no matter if he still loves Cosette."
"And if Apollo's executed, I'll stand with him until it's over," Grantaire said.
Carton nodded, "and if the time comes when I have to die in place of Darnay, I will. For Lucie."
"A toast!" Grantaire cried out.
"To our loves. May they live and prosper and when we die, let us watch over them and guide them. Let us die like heroes."