"This is horrible," Éponine groaned. "Can't we go out?"
Cosette glanced up from her textbook and rolled her eyes, although she countered the gesture with a fond smile. "I told you if you insisted on coming over, you'd have to be quiet. I'm not using my laptop just yet, why don't you plug in the headphones and watch a movie?"
"Nah," Éponine shook her dark curls. "I'll just wait."
Cosette chuckled and returned to her ethics notes. They were in Cosette's dorm room, with Éponine flopped out on the bed and Cosette herself perched at the little desk. Her roommate had taken advantage of the Friday night and hit the city, leaving Cosette to study peacefully. Of course, almost as soon as she had sat at her desk, her phone began to ring with messages from her girlfriend, released from her afternoon shift and looking for a fun night. Cosette's plans for the evening had left Éponine rather disappointed and restless.
"Really, 'Ponine," Cosette scraped her hair up and out of her eyes. "You don't have to stick around."
"I said I wanted to hang out, didn't I? I'll wait here and then we can go out. I know that basically everyone's at the Musain, of course, if you want a drink. Or we could go dancing or something if you want to just stick to the two of us."
"Maybe later," Cosette rifled through her binder. She looked up to see Éponine shooting her a very pathetic and wide-eyed look.
"What?" The blonde girl asked with narrowed eyes.
"Come on, my lovely lark," Éponine rose and sashayed towards the desk. "It's Friday night, and you've been working hard all week. You'll do fine, you're a fucking genius. Let's go have some fun, we deserve it."
Cosette took Éponine's hand and squeezed it. "I'd love to, but finals are so close and I'm starting to freak out a little."
Éponine chewed on her lip, rubbing lipstick onto her teeth. She bent down and kissed the corner of Cosette's mouth. "Fine. I'll be patient."
"Hey, have you put in any thought about going back to school?" Cosette asked as Éponine returned to her place at the end of the bed. "You don't want to work at that dumpy restaurant all your life, do you?"
Éponine shrugged and leaned against the wall. "I need the money first. And since I send a lot of what I make to Gavroche and Azelma…"
"Sorry," Cosette murmured, feeling stupid for having brought it up. "But you'd grab a good scholarship a lot easier than you think."
Éponine flipped Cosette's laptop open and shrugged non-committedly. Cosette returned to her textbook, but could not help noticing that Éponine had typed "university scholarships paris" into Google. She gazed at the pages of papers and colourful sticky notes spread across her workspace. The sky was almost completely dark, and the open window let in the beautiful spring air. With a sigh, she shut her textbook, and stood up, stretching her arms towards the ceiling. Éponine shut the laptop and hopped off the bed.
"Are we going out?" She asked hopefully.
"Yes," Cosette grinned, running her fingertips through Éponine's hair. "I'm going to put on something nicer than sweatpants, and then let's go join the boys and 'Chetta for a drink or five."
Éponine pumped her fist in the air and pulled her boots on. Cosette donned a pair of dark jeans and a flattering purple v-neck and grabbed her purse. The girls left the little dorm room hand in hand. The early night whispered promises of rowdy friends, shitty karaoke and flat beer. It would be perfect.