Happy December you guys! I know this should be a new chapter of Red & Black, but I'm working on that. Should be up in the next week or so along with a new story idea I have (if my director doesn't call more last minute rehearsals) I know I usually do Newsies fanfics but I decided to try my hand at one of my favorite musicals, Les Miserables! If you know me at all, I am OBSESSED with Les Miserables (though I think that's pretty obvious from the fact that I'm writing the Newsies into it) And one of my huge things about it is that I ADORE Enjonine! They are literally perfect for each other and I'm really upset that they are rarely together in the movie or musical. But I can see they would work out so well!
Also, as I've said before, I promised myself I would post at least one Christmas story a year. Now, this year it is going to be a two-shot and I am hating myself for procrastinating on this for so long! Blame school. I still have 2 finals to take and I don't get out until the 23. But please enjoy this cute little modern AU/Christmas two-shot! And please be gentle as this is my first Les Miserables fanfic!
December 18; One week before Christmas
She could feel his piercing blue gaze on her as she sat in the corner of the café, trying to forget the images of Cosette and Marius declaring their love for each other. It's not like she could ignore his stare. Those azure eyes were impossible to ignore. The Apollo of West End High himself was impossible to ignore. Gabriel Enjolras. Just the mention of his name made almost every girl in the school weak in the knees with his face and body matching that of a Greek god (hence his nickname) and golden halo of curls that would make any guy jealous. Not that he gave any girl a second glance. They could throw themselves at his feet and he would just casually step over them with the kind, dismissive nature he was known for. The only one he ever truly paid attention to was the girl who was at the moment receiving his attention. Eponine Thenardier. Even if she was the only girl in the entire school to get his sought-after attention, she never noticed him noticing her. Her focus was on the always oblivious Marius Pontmercy.
Eponine felt the familiar stab in her heart as she thought of Marius. Just when the thought of him with Cosette crossed her mind, a voice she had only known through impassioned speeches spoke up, "He's not worth it."
She looked up to see none other than Gabriel Enjolras himself standing before her. "Excuse me?"
"He's not worth it." He repeated, his sapphire eyes meeting her chocolate ones. "Pontmercy is far from being worth sitting in a corner sulking all night."
"I'm not sulking." She said defensively. He raised an eyebrow and she caved, "Okay. I might be sulking a little."
He smirked victoriously and slipped into the seat next to her. "What got you so hooked on him anyway? What did you ever see in him?"
"I don't know." She shrugged, absentmindedly playing with the sleeve of her sweater. "I've lived my life being treated like crap and then he comes along and for the first time treats me decently. We started talking and I guess it just… happened."
He was silent for a moment. "Can I be blunt with you?" He asked.
"You haven't been?" She shot back with a small smile.
He gave her a small smile in return. "Fair enough." She snorted a laugh. "But really? Can I?" Eponine nodded. "I don't think you love him at all."
She blinked and took a moment to process what had just been said. "I'm sorry. What?"
"I don't think…"
She cut him off, "I heard what you said!" She turned to face him fully, eyes blazing. "Why the hell would you say that?"
"Because I don't think you do." He said simply, as if it were obvious. "In cliché terms, you don't love him. You love the idea." She raised her eyebrows at him, silently demanding he continue. "I know your life hasn't been the easiest. Not even close. And I think that's part of the reason you think you love him. I think you've had this idea built up in your mind of what the man you love should be like. The minute Pontmercy showed up, you saw a sliver of that in him. So your mind convinced yourself that he was the one for you based solely on that sliver." She gaped at him but kept silent. "I know that's not exactly what you want to hear but you know me well enough to know I only speak the truth." She closed her mouth and turned her attention to the wood of the table. Enjolras sighed. "Look, I may not be the best with emotions but I can listen." He pulled out a napkin and scribbled something on it. He slid it over to her, "My cell number. Call or text me whenever you want to talk or just rant."
He placed his hand over hers and gave it a gentle squeeze. Without another word, he stood and rejoined the Les Amis who were still celebrating finally being on winter break, leaving Eponine to think over his words. Was he right? True, she had dreamed about the perfect man swooping in and rescuing her from the hellhole she called her life. But was the rest true? Did she only fall for Marius because of a fantasy dream that she accomplished on her own? She stole a glance up and caught Enjolras' gaze. Ducking her head, she quickly packed up her things and rushed out the door of the café. The cold air hit her within seconds, telling her they truly were in the heart of winter. She pulled her jacket tighter around herself as she turned and started the walk back to her apartment. The entire eight minute walk, Enjolras' words kept replaying in her head. Even when she sat with a book on her lap wrapped in her warmest pajamas after a nice hot shower. Breaking out of her thoughts, she realized she'd been reading the same paragraph for half an hour.
She snapped the book shut. She couldn't concentrate Erin Morgenstern's dark magician battle (A/N Whoever can tell me what book I'm talking about gets a shout-out in the second part!) with Enjolras' voice insisting she didn't really love Marius. Her eyes drifted to her phone lying on the coffee table in front of her. The napkin Enjolras had written on was lying just under it. Against her better judgment, she grabbed both and quickly typed a message out, (Eponine, Enjolras)
Hey. It's Eponine. Can I still take you up on that offer to talk?
Immediately after she pressed send, she regretted it. What was she doing? The almighty Gabriel Enjolras had much better things to do than talk to her. That thought went away when she heard a chirp and saw a new message on her phone,
Sure. Let it out.
Eponine stared at the screen in amazement. Enjolras actually kept his word to talk whenever. As she started typing, she felt a smile grow on her face. Eventually, they got off the subject of Marius and love and started talking about anything and everything. She found out they had similar tastes in music, books and movies. But not always the same opinion on them.
How the hell can you say Iron Man is better than Captain America?
Because it's a known fact that he is.
Oh please. Captain America could kick Iron Man's ass any day of the week.
Before she realized it, it was almost one in the morning. She had been texting Enjolras for almost six hours straight! It only seemed like a few minutes since she sent him that first text. She quickly typed a message,
Wow. We've been talking for almost six hours straight. I think it's time to call it a night. I should get to bed. And so should you.
Wow. And they say I'm made out of marble.
Shut up and go to bed, Apollo.
You know I hate that name.
:P Suffer. Talk to you tomorrow at the café?
She hit send and went to her room. She plugged in her phone and set it on the nightstand before silently walking down the hall to check on her siblings. When she saw them both fast asleep on their respective beds, she returned to her room. Slipping under the covers, she let herself smile as she realized something. In the almost six hours she had been texting Enjolras, Marius never crossed her mind once. Maybe Enjolras was right. Maybe it was all in her head. But she couldn't help but still feel that stab of heartbreak whenever she thought of Marius with Cosette. Yet somehow, this time… it was duller. Just when the thought crossed her mind, her phone lit up, showing a new message.
Of course. Wouldn't miss it for the world ;) Night!
With that one text and emoticon, Eponine felt her whole body warm up and not because of the heater kicking on. That night, she fell asleep with a small smile on her face that had nothing to do with Marius.
December 21; Four days before Christmas
In the three days that passed, Enjolras and Eponine began seeing each other more and more. They found ways to talk in the café even if she was working (though Cosette's father was helping her with her bills, she still liked to make her own money), and frequently texted each or called each other through the night. Eponine had to admit, she was seeing a whole other side to Enjolras. The world usually saw this cold, statue-like man but she was seeing the funny, warm-hearted side to him that no one got to see. Though she found that side to him extremely attractive, as any girl would, she still wonders why her heart skips a beat whenever he smiles at her and why she feels butterflies in her stomach when he looks at her or even just walks into the room. She couldn't possibly be falling for him? No, that was impossible. She felt the same way with him as with all the boys, now including Marius. As brothers. Nothing more, nothing less.
But she couldn't help the desperation in her voice when he walked into the café and spotted her behind the counter with her boss Musichetta and Cosette, "Enjolras! Thank the Lord! Get me out of this conversation!"
He eyed her curiously but before he could ask what the conversation was about, Cosette piped up, "This conversation would be done if you just agreed already!"
"Why would I agree to something stupid?" Eponine cried, plunking her head down on the counter in frustration.
"Can I just ask," Enjolras finally spoke up, "what are you trying to get her to agree to?"
"A stupid Christmas tradition they saw in a Hallmark movie." Eponine mumbled, still with her head to the counter.
Enjolras raised his eyebrows and looked to the two other girls for the explanation. "It's a Christmas tradition in Austria to celebrate the Feast of St. Thomas." Musichetta started, "Basically, if a spinster, aka the single ladies, follows a few simple steps before she goes to bed tonight, she'll dream about her future husband."
Eponine raised her head to meet Enjolras'. "You agree that it's stupid right?" She asked him.
Enjolras shrugged. "It sounds sorta silly but I can't help but wonder if it has some merit to it." He said sheepishly.
Eponine gaped at him. "You're kidding me right?" Enjolras shrugged again. She slapped his arm, "You're supposed to be on my side in this!"
Enjolras rubbed his arm where she hit him but couldn't help the smile that worked its way onto his face. "See Enjolras agrees that you should try it!" Cosette pressed.
"Why do I have to do it?" Eponine groaned.
"Because you're the only one of us who's single here." Musichetta told her.
Eponine sighed and blew some stray hair out of her face. "If I agree to do it tonight will you both please shut up about it?"
"Yes!" They shouted together.
Eponine groaned and ran a hand through her hair. "Then fine. I'll do it." She relented. Cosette and Musichetta squealed and clapped in excitement. "But I don't want to hear another word about it!" She glared menacingly at the two of them.
"This is going to be great!" Cosette squealed, picking up her back and hopping off the bar stool. "I'll text you the instructions tonight." With that, she turned and left.
Eponine turned her glare on Enjolras, "This is what happens when you're not on my side."
That night, Eponine stepped into her room and went to plug in her phone when a message vibrated on the screen. Before she could even see who it was from, another one popped up. Both texts read the same, Don't forget about tonight! We'll be checking with Azelma to see if you do it! Cosette and Musichetta. Of course they would make sure she was doing it.
"Are you doing the spinster tradition?" Her sister's voice piped up from the doorway. Eponine groaned. And of course they would get her sister to check if she was actually doing it.
"Yes, Zelma." Eponine said tightly, turning to glare at her sister, "I'm about to pull up Cosette's instructions on this… stupid spinster tradition." Azelma raised her eyebrows at the hesitation but Eponine shooed her off, "Just go to bed. I'm doing it for Christ's sake." With a quick 'I'm watching you' signal, Azelma left the room leaving Eponine in silence. She didn't want to admit that after doing a bit of research and reading through some stories, that maybe, just maybe, Enjolras was right and this tradition did have some merit to it. She was actually getting a little jittery to try it tonight. What if she did end up having a dream about a possible future husband? What if it was a guy she couldn't stand and would never want to be with?
Groaning, she realized the only way to solve this was to do the freaking tradition that started this. She pulled up her messages on her phone and found Cosette's instructions. Step 1: Climb into bed using a step-stool. Eponine rolled her eyes. How was that the first step? She went to the hall closet and pulled out a small step stool. Going back to her room, she set the stool next to her bed and climbed on top of the bed. She went back to the message. Step 2: Still standing, remove your shoes. Eponine quickly pulled off her slipper boots and held them in her hand. Step 3: Spin around three times. Eponine was starting to go back to the 'this tradition is idiot' sense of mind but did the turns either way. Step 4: Throw your shoes at the bedroom door. She threw the shoes against the door where they landed with a thump. Final step: Sleep with your head at the foot of the bed and your feet at the head.
Eponine plugged her phone in to charge and flopped down on the bed. Grabbing one of her pillows, she placed it at the foot of her bed. Putting her head down and pulling the blanket around her, she let the dark of sleep overcome her and pray that if this tradition was right, her future husband would be someone decent.
The clock read 3:27 in the morning when Eponine jolted up in her bed, eyes wide. "No way." She breathed. She ran a hand through her ragged hair as she kept repeating, "No way, no how." She grabbed her pillow and threw it onto the head of the bed. Righting herself on the bed she finally spoke, "No way did I just dream about him. There is no way in hell that was him!" She flopped down on the pillows and thought over her dream. "My future husband is Enjolras?!"
Okay. Left you on a bit of a cliffhanger but truth be told I did not know how I was gonna end this. I kinda went with the Hallmark movie bit where she says she dreamt about the guy but we never see the dream. Anyways, part 2 should be up before Christmas and Red & Black after that. It's just I have finals and another story to write so… we'll see if I don't end up hating myself for this. Anyways, I hope you all liked this and please R&R but if it has to be criticism, I totally accept that. I get that it's my first Les Miserables fanfic but please let that criticism be constructive. Thank you and I'll see you soon!
Quote of the Day: Christmas is the spirit of giving without a thought of getting. It is happiness because we see joy in people. It is forgetting self and finding time for others. It is discarding the meaningless and stressing the true values –Thomas S. Monson
Song Suggestion: Last Christmas –Wham!