Éponine sat her back against a tree, once in a while taking a peek at the scene behind her. Marius and Cosette. She couldn't even stand her name! The pretty brunette had stolen any chance of Éponine gaining Marius' affections, if she had ever had one.
Had she? She had as much entitlement over Marius as Montparnasse had over her. Then again 'Parnasse thought he had entitlement over Éponine just because he could pin her against a wall at knife point usually and have his way with her. But, Éponine had no say over Marius.
At least Cosette was… pretty. Well, compared to herself Éponine thought just about everyone was beautiful. Cosette had light brown hair that fell down her back in perfect curls, it was never appeared dirty like Éponine knew hers was and her skin was perfect and clean, not a hint of the bruises Cosette had gained as a child from Éponine's mother. But, did Cosette deserve Marius? Or the other way around, did Éponine deserve Marius? Did it matter now? Marius had been sneaking off to go see Cosette now everyday for a week, and every day Éponine had followed him and sat under this tree, watching them, and thought about how things could have been different. But it wasn't meant to be, was it.
Éponine sighed and stood slowly, swallowing the lump in her throat that was begging to come out as a sob. She leaned against the tree and took a deep breath letting her eyes close for a moment before taking another quick peek into the garden before turn to face the tree. Maybe she couldn't have Marius in real life, but she could still have him in her head and in her heart. She reached down and took out the small knife she kept in her boot and dusted off the loose bark on the tree trunk in front of her before carving a carefully:
M. P.
É.T.
As she added the heart around the names she smiled timidly. Perhaps she still did have him, they were still friends after all, and if he really was happy with Cosette then she was happy, if only because he was happy.
When she was done she stepped away to admire her work, then realized she forgot something and added it quickly before disappearing down the street leaving the message:
M. P.
É. T.
Fin