Chapter Two: First
Éponine wandered through the streets later that evening, her mind still whirling with Enjolras' words. What had Enjolras meant when he said God was preparing her for something? God surely would not use someone like her.
Would He?
A hand was on her shoulder. She twisted around, ready to defend herself— there were many different people in the streets of Paris after dark— and recognized Marius.
She heaved a sigh and gently removed his hand from her shoulder. "You scared me half to death, Marius."
Marius seemed dazed. "Do you know who that girl was, 'Ponine?"
Her light tone faded. "A rich bourgeois doll, that's who."
"You have to help me find her!" Marius grasped Éponine's shoulders as if he were to shake her.
She looked in him in the eye evenly. "I have to? She's that important to you? You don't even know her name, Marius!"
"She dropped her handkerchief, and it was embroidered with the initials U.F. Her name could be Ursula!"
"Marius, listen to yourself! You've seen her once and already you're obsessed with the idea of her!" That's what you're doing, 'Ponine, a voice in the back of her mind chastened her. She pushed it in the back of her mind and focused on the situation at hand. "You don't know anything about her!"
Marius did not listen. "Say you'll help me, 'Ponine! Please! I'll do anything!"
"Really?" Éponine said quietly, almost saying the word as a statement, not a question. She did not think of what she could gain from the situation. She only thought of how sad, how pitiful, it was, Marius obsessing over a girl he had seen once before.
Marius reached in his pocket and drew out a sou. The coin glinted in his palm, reminding Éponine of the day they met. She backed away slightly. "Don't offer me money, Marius. I'm not that desperate. But I'll help you if you stop badgering me about her."
"Thank you, Éponine!" Before she could leave, Marius leaned forward and kissed her quickly on the cheek. Then he ran, leaving Éponine in the street. Éponine stood still, her fingers brushing her cheek.
Her first kiss.
It wasn't as satisfactory as she had thought it would. It had almost been too fast to remember the sensation of his lips on her cheek.
She walked down the street in a daze, not sure of where she was going. Stop it, 'Ponine, she told herself. Find where the girl lives, and this will be over. It was only a kiss.
And did anyone catch what Marius is saying when he calls Cosette "Ursula"? It's in The Brick as well…
