But when you smile at the ground, it ain't hard to tell
You don't kno-o-ow
"You don't know you're beautiful!" Éponine sang along. Grantaire watched her from the passenger seat, an amused smile on his lips. He took a long drag of his cigarette while the trees and rocks rushed by his window in a blur of greens, pinks, greys, and browns. Éponine looked over at him and grinned, her hair blowing across her face. She turned her attention back to the road, only for it to be stolen a half-second later when she saw the sign proclaiming that the entrance to the campsite they were headed to was their next exit.
"We're almost there!" she shrieked in excitement. She turned the music down, giving Grantaire the chance to speak.
"Sorry, but remind me again why we're doing this?" he asked, flicking his cigarette butt out his window.
Éponine let out a long-suffering sigh, mostly due to the fact that Grantaire had asked her that same question fourteen times during the two-hour drive, coupled with the customary "Are we there yet?" of those who didn't travel much.
"I've already told you, 'Taire. Camping is the number one thing that's been on my bucket list since I was little." She glanced over at her companion while she turned off onto the side road. "I promise that it won't be as bad as you think." When Grantaire only grunted in response, she focused on driving again, humming along to the song on the radio.
Grantaire didn't want to press the matter any further, so he watched out the windshield as they drove along a dirt road, the forest on either side gradually getting thicker as they went. Although he preferred the indoors, he had to admit that the lush green of the trees and fresh air was rather beautiful.
Moments later, they pulled up to small shack where Éponine got out of the car and stretched. There was a crunch on gravel as Combeferre pulled up beside them in his car. Courfeyrac got out of the front passenger seat and came to rest his elbows on Grantaire's window.
"Welcome to the great outdoors, 'Taire!" he said, making a broad gesture to the trees surrounding them. He was obviously just as excited for the trip as Éponine was, judging by the way he couldn't stop smiling and bouncing on the balls of his feet.
Jean Prouvaire popped his head out of the back window of Combeferre's car, which was a considerable feat to accomplish, considering the enormous floppy sun hat that he was wearing. "Hello, Grantaire," he said softly, a faint smile on his face. "Isn't it beautiful here?"
Before Grantaire could even open his mouth to respond, Courfeyrac whooped "Yes, it is!" and darted forward to press a kiss to the poet's cheek. Jean flushed scarlet and retreated back into the backseat, fiddling with the long sleeves of his sweater. Grantaire's eyebrows shot up as Courfeyrac skipped away to twirl Éponine around, oblivious to the effect that he had on his friend.
Combeferre's gaze was drawn to the pair as well once Éponine's laughter rang out through the clearing. Grantaire found his eyebrows raising even higher when a small smile appeared on Combeferre's face.
When Éponine and Courfeyrac continued spinning like children, Grantaire stuck his head out of his window and shouted: "What exactly are we waiting for? We're not camping here, right?"
Éponine came over to lean back against the hood of the car, shaking her hair back and tilting her chin towards the sun. "We're waiting for Feuilly and Bahorel."
"And possibly Enjolras," Combeferre chimed in.
Éponine nodded. "I really wish that the others were willing to come as well."
Courfeyrac laughed as he came over to join the group. "Honestly, could you imagine Joly and Bossuet camping outdoors for a week? Joly'd be a nervous wreck and with Bossuet's luck, he'd probably fall into the campfire."
Everyone's laughter was joined by the crunching of gravel as Bahorel's pickup pulled up to join the other two vehicles. Feuilly hopped out of the truck before Bahorel even came to a complete stop, muttering, "He drives like a fucking lunatic," to the rest of the group.
Bahorel appeared seconds after, letting out a loud groan while he stretched his arms over his head. Everyone exchanged greetings, and Éponine said "So, if you were driving like a madman, then why are you here after us?"
Bahorel glared at Feuilly, who chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, we passed a rest stop with a liquor store, so we stopped and picked up a few uh...camping necessities," Bahorel explained.
"What'd you get?" Grantaire asked, interest piqued.
Feuilly huffed, clearly not as pleased as Grantaire. "Four 24's, two bottles of whiskey, three bottles of vodka, and a bottle of rum. Bahorel spent nearly 300 bucks!"
Combeferre let out a low whistle and Jean tsked in disapproval. "We already brought a 24 and two bottles of wine, Bahorel. Don't you think that's a bit excessive?"
"God, no," Grantaire and Bahorel responded simultaneously.
"Anyways," Éponine said. "Enough about that. Who's going to come in to book the campsites with me?"
"I will!" Combeferre offered. Grantaire hoped for his friend's sake that he was the only one to notice not only his enthusiasm, but also the fact that he nearly tripped over his own two feet when he walked.
"So, what are we going to do while we're here?" Feuilly asked. Since he didn't exactly plan on going hiking at any point during the trip, Grantaire tuned out of the conversation. His thoughts wandered to something Combeferre had said earlier: there was a possibility that Enjolras would be joining them.
Although Grantaire had a harder time picturing the stoic blond camping than he had himself, he couldn't deny that having him there would be enjoyable. Enjolras probably had as much experience camping as Grantaire did, and he would be a welcome addition to the scenery.
He was broken out of his reverie by Éponine and Combeferre rejoining them. "Alright, boys. We've got two campsites, side-by-side, and I told them to tell Enjolras where we are if he comes asking for us-"
"Are the sites near the bathrooms?" Bahorel interrupted.
"And the beach?" Courfeyrac asked.
"Yes and yes," Combeferre replied. "Now let's go and set up."
By the time that their group got their campsites set up, the sky was darkening through the trees. Éponine couldn't stop smiling while she was wandering around the campsite, making sure that the tents were stable and the tarps were tied to the right trees in case of rain.
She was also taking pictures of everyone and everything, from their tents to the rock in the middle of their site to a very aggravated Grantaire.
"What the hell are you doing?" he asked after hearing the click! of the shutter as he lit a cigarette.
"It's for Azelma and Gavroche," she replied. "Azelma got upset because I wouldn't let her come with us and Gavroche has never been, either; I figured I'd document the trip for them." She turned the camera on him again, managing to snap a photo before he stopped smiling. She cut him off when he opened his mouth in protest. "I've got to document the whole trip, Grantaire."
"Wonderful," he replied, voice heavy with sarcasm. Éponine responded by lightly poking him in the cheek, which earned a grumbled "Fuck off" and small, reluctant smile.
"So, what are the sleeping arrangements, my friends?" Courfeyrac asked, waggling his eyebrows and slinging an arm around both Éponine and Grantaire.
"Well, we have four tents, and there's seven of us, so we should probably figure out who'll be pairing up with who-" she was cut off by everyone trying to speak at once, each of them voicing their opinions.
Once they'd all settled down and figured it out, Éponine repeated the arrangements, ticking each pair off on her fingers: "Okay. So, Bahorel and Feuilly in the other campsite, along with Jean and Courfeyrac in the other tent. Combeferre and I in his tent, and Grantaire gets my tent to himself." Everyone murmured their assent, especially Grantaire, who was sporting a triumphant grin after convincing Éponine to bunk with Combeferre instead of him. Not only did he get the queen-sized air mattress to himself, he also didn't have to put up with Éponine's snoring.
They were all the very picture of happiness, and not even Grantaire could deny that the fresh air revived him. Being away from the city wasn't so bad, after all.
Grantaire settled into one of the folding camp chairs that was stationed around the firepit. He lit a cigarette and leaned his head back, watching the tendrils of smoke float into the trees above.
He was reaching into his jacket pocket for the flask that he carried with him (a bargain that he'd picked up at a local smoke shop) as Éponine dropped into the chair beside him. She sighed happily as she watched the smoke dance lazily upwards, as well. "God, it's beautiful here."
"So you've said," Grantaire replied. He shivered slightly when a gust of wind ruffled his hair. He moved his gaze from the leafy canopy above to Éponine, glaring at her while he rubbed his forearms in an attempt to warm himself up. She responded by sticking her tongue out at him. "Courf and Jean went to get firewood, so just suck it up for a little while longer."
Grantaire took a long pull from his flask and looked around the two campsites. Noticing that their other friends were absent as well, he asked "Where'd Bahorel and Feuilly go?"
"They've gone to the Park Mall. As soon as Éponine mentioned that they sold fudge and ice cream, they were gone," Combeferre explained, coming out of his tent.
"They're like giant children," Éponine quipped, Combeferre and Grantaire both murmuring their agreement.
The comfortable silence that the trio then fell into was interrupted by Courfeyrac's loud laughter as he and Jean Prouvaire walked back to the campsite. They all turned to watch the pair, Courfeyrac with a bag of firewood in each hand and Prouvaire balancing a large bouquet of flowers in one hand and a bag of kindling in the other.
Courfeyrac dropped the firewood on the ground near the pit before dramatically dropping into a chair. "Well, that's one job done. 'Ferre, where did you put my bag?"
"It's still in the back of the car, where you left it," Combeferre replied, rolling his eyes.
"Excellent," Courfeyrac replied, bouncing back onto his feet and making his way towards the car. Prouvaire settled down into a chair and set to work linking together the flowers that he had collected.
Grantaire would have been content just watching Prouvaire work away at his chain of flowers, but his attention was drawn to the red canister that Courfeyrac extracted from his duffel bag. "What the hell is that?"
"Camping fuel," Courfeyrac responded, making his way over to the firepit.
"Right. What's it for?" Grantaire inquired, taking another sip from his flask.
"Starting the fire, obviously," Courfeyrac replied.
"Oh, Christ," Éponine groaned, while Combeferre attempted to reason with Courfeyrac. "Surely there must be safer ways to start a fire, Courfeyrac."
Courfeyrac just snorted. "Trust me, this will be much more effective."
As effective as the camping fuel was, Courfeyrac managed to light his sleeve on fire, causing him to topple backwards into Jean Prouvaire's lap.
After Courfeyrac apologizing profusely to the blushing poet, the group managed to settle down around the fire. Bahorel and Feuilly arrived moments later, and the received a very warm welcome when the rest of the group discovered that they had bought about half a dozen different flavours of fudge from the Park Mall.
"Shall we break out the marshmallows?" Bahorel asked the group.
"I'd rather break out these hot dogs," Grantaire said, holding up the package that he found in the cooler, waving it a couple times and then returning to his search for the bottle of whiskey that Feuilly had mentioned earlier.
Éponine clapped her hands in excitement. "Ooh, hot dogs cooked over a campfire sound amazing!"
Everyone set to cooking the hot dogs on the massive steel forks that Combeferre supplied. They all ate their fill quickly, everyone eagerly devouring the hot dogs after smelling them cooking.
A couple of hours flew by with the group laughing around the fire. Grantaire could feel his cheeks getting increasingly flushed as he switched out his flask for one of the bottles of whiskey. He watched the group around him, thinking that he much preferred their company to his sketchbook and empty bottles in his flat.
He watched as Éponine tossed a marshmallow across the firepit and laughed with everyone when it landed in Bahorel's mouth.
Éponine reached over and grabbed the bottle from Grantaire's hand, earning a shout of protest from him until she returned it after taking a sip.
"Isn't this fun?" Éponine asked with a smile, the reflection of the flames dancing in her eyes.
Grantaire had to admit that it was, and he found that he didn't regret saying so when a huge grin spread across Éponine's face.
He was left to himself when Éponine turned to her other side to talk to Combeferre. Grantaire continued watching everyone else while the fire flickered in the darkness in the middle of their circle. He watched as Prouvaire and Courfeyrac chatted together, each of them taking the moment the other looked away as an opportunity to stare. Bahorel and Feuilly, in the meantime, were reading through the park's newspaper to find out if any of the special events were worth attending and to decide on the best way to bear-proof the campsites.
The sudden noise of a car pulling up to their campsite drew everyone's attention. No one could see what type of car it was, as the visitor was hidden from view by the other vehicles and the darkness of the night.
"Shit, I hope that isn't a park ranger," Feuilly said.
Éponine scoffed. "Oh, please. The 'rangers' are all about eighteen years old. They're probably ten times the disruption to the campground that we are." She got up and grabbed a flashlight and shining it at the intruder in their campsite.
"What the hell are you doing?!" an angry voice complained, having just gotten the entire beam of light in his eyes.
Grantaire nearly dropped his whiskey; he'd know that voice anywhere.
"Enjolras!" Prouvaire cried in surprised delight, waving from his chair.
Wonderful.