His Tango
Eponine walked briskly down the street, her head bent low against the biting December wind. It hadn't snowed yet this year, but it looked and felt like it was really trying to. Eponine sighed in frustration, knowing that her life would go to Hell after the first snowfall, and there would be nothing she could do about it until the next spring. What could you do when you lived on the streets and had nowhere to go? Absolutely nothing. So Eponine did the best she could during the winter and never complained to anyone but herself. "Finally!" she whispered, looking up for the first time in an hour. She was looking at a huge stone building that was standing on the street corner. It was the ABC Café, where Eponine joined her three friends – as well as dozens of their other friends – and her younger brother every day. She was pretty sure that there was no one there now – it was the middle of the night, after all – but at least she would be warm and protected from the wind. She walked the rest of the way to the Café and grasped the handle of the door, hoping and praying that it would be unlocked. It was, and she went inside. She closed the door behind her and was both relieved and surprised to see that a roaring fire was lit in the fireplace. She gratefully went over to the fire and knelt in front of it, trying to warm herself up. It took her a couple of minutes to get feeling back to her fingers, cheeks, and feet, but, once she had, she sat there on the floor, hugging her knees and gazing into the fire. She was lost in thought, thinking about the four people that she cared about. There was her younger brother, Gavroche, who was five years her junior, and who had been living on the streets for five years. At only thirteen, he was very street-smart, quick on his feet, and resourceful. Eponine's family's fortune had plummeted five years previously, and so Eponine's parents had kicked Gavroche out of the house, banishing him to the streets and leaving Eponine alone with her sister, Azelma, who was two years younger than Gavroche. Eponine didn't see Gavroche for a year, until her parents kicked her out of the house, and the two reconnected. Gavroche had taught Eponine everything she needed to know about living on the streets, and then brought her to the ABC Café to meet his three closest friends. All three of them were University students, and one of them was Eponine's long-time best friend and love interest, Marius Pontmercy. Eponine had been in love with Marius almost her whole life, but he had never loved her as anything more than a friend, and he had a girlfriend, Cosette Fauchelevent, who he loved dearly. So by the time Gavroche brought Eponine to the ABC Café, her love had turned from a blazing inferno to a small flame. She loved him as a friend and brother, and nothing more. She had even decided to stay single for a while, wanting to adjust to life on the streets before dealing with a romantic relationship. But all of that had changed the night Gavroche had brought her to the Café… Gavroche had reunited her with Marius, and then he had introduced her to one of his other friends, Grantaire. Grantaire was the loud, crazy drunk of the group, and he and Eponine had gotten along very well for the first year after they met… before everything had turned sour… The last person that Gavroche had introduced her to that night had been the leader of their small group, Enjolras… Enjolras was a revolutionary at heart, kind, firm but gentle, philosophical, impassioned, and also quiet. He longed for a Utopia in France, where everyone had enough money to live comfortably, and everyone was free. He was very charismatic, and he drew people to him easily and made friends with them. He was tall, tan, and muscular with golden-blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Eponine had fallen in love with him instantly… Enjolras had always been very kind, friendly, and gentle to her, but he had never showed any interest in her other than friendship, so she had stayed quiet. And after several months, she realized that Enjolras didn't seem as interested in women as Marius and Grantaire were. Marius talked all the time about Cosette, and Grantaire talked nonstop about whatever girl he had screwed the night before, but Enjolras never joined in these conversations. Eponine knew he was single, and she soon realized that he was more interested in freeing the people of France than dating girls… So she hadn't told anyone about her feelings… And then a year after falling in love with Enjolras, she realized that she did have competition… Enjolras was single, but she wasn't the only person who was in love with him… Grantaire, it turned out, was secretly bisexual, and had been in love with Enjolras for nearly two years… There had been a night when Enjolras had been sick and Marius had been with Cosette, so it had only been Eponine and Grantaire at the Café. They had both gotten drunk and confessed their feelings for Enjolras to each other that night… And what had once been a good friendship had turned into a bitter rivalry… None of their friends had noticed the change in them, not even Enjolras, who they both fought for attention from. And it was a rivalry that had continued to this day… Eponine had been sitting there lost in thought for several minutes when she heard someone coming down the creaky wooden staircase that led up to the second floor… She turned sharply as someone came slowly down the stairs. The person came into view at the bottom of the stairs, and Eponine felt her heart go cold as white-hot hatred flared up within her. It was Grantaire… Eponine stood up sharply. Grantaire looked startled for a second, and then his eyes narrowed as recognition crossed his face. "Eponine?" he demanded, his voice as cold as ice. "What are you doing here?" "I might ask you the same question!" Eponine replied sharply, her voice just as cold. "I couldn't sleep, and I wanted a drink." "I couldn't sleep either. I was freezing out there, and I had nowhere else to go." The two glared at each other for several more seconds, and then Grantaire crossed the room to Eponine. He sat down on the floor in front of the fire, and Eponine reluctantly sat a little distance from him. Silence fell over the couple, and Eponine realized that Grantaire had a bottle of wine when he uncorked it and took a drink. Tension was thick in the air between them, like electricity, and everything felt very awkward. They sat there for several minutes in the silence, both of them staring into the fire and avoiding all contact with each other. Grantaire took an occasional swig of wine. Finally Eponine couldn't stand it anymore, and she held out her hand for the bottle… Grantaire raised his eyebrows slightly but still handed over the bottle. Eponine took a long, deep drink, and then handed it back to Grantaire. He took another drink as Eponine felt herself relax a little. "You were thinking about Enjolras, weren't you?" Grantaire asked, finally breaking the silence. He turned his head as Eponine slowly nodded. "Yes. I was." Grantaire handed her the bottle as he said, "So was I. That's why I couldn't sleep." "Me too." Another silence fell as they passed the wine bottle back and forth, taking long drinks, nearly emptying it. "You know Enjolras isn't ever gonna love either of us, right?" Grantaire looked at Eponine and she looked back at him. "You seem certain of that." "I am." "And how would you know?" "Enjolras is my best friend. I know him. And I've known him longer than you have. He's not really interested in dating anyone. He just enjoys watching us fight over him. It makes him feel good about himself." Eponine felt her heart jolt. "He knows!?" Grantaire nodded. "He's known about both of us since before we knew about each other." Eponine looked away as she found herself fighting back tears. Grantaire gently reached out and touched her shoulder. "I'm sorry Eponine…" he said quietly. Eponine reached back and smacked Grantaire's hand. "Don't touch me!" she hissed. Grantaire slowly drew his hand back. There was another silence, and then, after a few more minutes, Eponine let out a frustrated sigh. She threw the now-empty bottle into the fire. It smashed against the stone and broke, exploding in the fire. Eponine stood up and started to walk away. Grantaire stood up too. "Eponine!" he called. Eponine stood frozen in the middle of the room. She was angry and sad and she didn't want to be with Grantaire anymore. But she didn't want to go back out into the cold either. Fighting back a tidal wave of emotions, she began to sing… "This is weird!" Behind her, she heard Grantaire crossing towards her. He sang back to her. "It's weird." "Very weird." "Fuckin' weird." "I'm so mad that I don't know what to do! Fighting with my feelings, freezing down to my bones, and to top it all off, I'm with you!" Eponine turned sharply to face Grantaire, her eyes blazing. He was leaning casually against a table, his arms folded across his chest, smirking at her. Eponine wanted to smack that smirk right off his face… He continued smirking as he sang back to her. "Feel like going insane, got a fire in your brain, and you're thinking of drinking gasoline." "As a matter of fact…" "Honey I know this act! It's called: 'The Tango Enjolras'! The Tango Enjolras! It's a dark, dizzy merry-go-round! As he keeps you dangling!" Eponine shook her head, and they started arguing as Grantaire kept trying to convince her that Enjolras would never truly love either of them. "You're wrong!" "Your heart he is mangling!" "It's different with me!" "And you toss and you turn cause his cold eyes can burn. Yet you yearn and you churn and rebound…" "I think I know what you mean…" The two looked at each other as doubt slammed into Eponine like a brick wall. "The Tango Enjolras!" Grantaire started walking towards her as they continued singing, more doubt, fear, and sadness creeping up on Eponine with every word. "Has he ever pouted his lips and called you 'baby'?" "Never." "Have you ever doubted a kiss or two?" "This is… spooky… Did you swoon when he walked through the door?" Grantaire nodded. "Every time! So be… cautious." "Did he moon over other boys?" "More than moon." "I'm getting nauseous…" Eponine truly was feeling sick. She was numb. All this time she had believed that Enjolras had naively overlooked her and Grantaire's feelings for him, but instead he had just been getting a kind of high off watching them fight over him… Grantaire gently took Eponine's hand in his, and she turned to face him with sad, angry eyes. She let Grantaire pull her into his arms, and the two started to dance a tango as they continued singing, Eponine facing the inevitable truth. "He cheated!" "He cheated!" "Enjolras cheated!" "Fuckin' cheated!" "I'm defeated! I should give up right now!" "Got to look on the bright side! With all of your might…" "…I'd fall for him still anyhow…" Eponine and Grantaire joined their voiced and continued singing, dancing around the room and pouring their hearts out. "When you're dancing his dance, you don't stand a chance! His grip on romance makes you fall!" "So you think, 'Might as well…'" "'…dance a tango to Hell!'" "At least I'll have tangoed at all! The Tango Enjolras! Gotta dance till your leader is through! You pretend to believe him, cause in the end you can't leave him! But the end, it will come… Still you have to play dumb until you're glum and you bum and turn blue…" As they continued dancing, Eponine and Grantaire could see the tears in each other's eyes, and they could each feel their own hearts breaking. Grantaire whispered, "Why do we love when he's mean?" "And he can be so obscene?" The two stopped dancing and just stood there, holding each other, thinking of Enjolras with aching hearts and tears running down their faces. Then they both whispered, "My Enjolras…" When the last note died on her lips, Eponine sank into Grantaire's arms, sobbing into his chest. She knew she should have known better. She knew she should have known that Enjolras would never love her back. But it was too late to turn back now. She was deeply in love with Enjolras, constantly dancing his tango…