a/n: yo?
disclaimer: nah man
Feuilly ruffled his dark, curly hair as he looked in front of the mirror. He smiled and even winked at himself, he fixed his black tie and caressed the small wrinkles that has been forming on his plaid shirt, he was deciding whether to put a belt around his dark purple jeans or not, he decided he will put the belt on. He brushed his dark brown boots one more time and opened his bedroom door that led him directly to the living room of the apartment he shared with Bahorel, who was sitting slobbishly on the couch with a bottle of beer in his hand and an old cooking show was playing on the TV, which Bahorel seemed to enjoy.
"Hey," Feuilly greeted as he walked past him to grab a glass of water.
"Hey there, perfume, what time's the date?" Bahorel replied without moving his eyes away from the TV.
Feuilly rolled his eyes and turned around to face Bahorel's back, "Okay, we've been through this before, it's unisex. And I'm supposed to meet Azelma at 6:30 at this boho theatre place downtown," He patted Bahorel's legs down and sat down next to him.
"Here," Bahorel reached down his pocket and grabbed his wallet, he looked inside and took a condom out, and handed it to Feuilly.
Feuilly chuckled and looked at Bahorel who started back at him with a serious face, "I'm not going to have sex tonight, but thanks," He reached for his wallet and put it there.
"Yes, well, with that perfume and plaid shirt, who's not gonna wanna have sex with you," Bahorel laughed at took a sip of his beer and laid it down on the coffee table.
Just before Feuilly can make a witty response his phone rang.
"Yello," Feuilly greeted rather happily,
"Oh, Jesus Christ, what the hell was that? If you ever start a conversation with me with that incredibly unbearable substitute for 'hello', I might fire you," Bamatabois sounded annoyed on the other line, but when wasn't he annoyed?
"Oh, I'm sorry Mr. Bamatabois," Bamatabois was the main curator of the Musée d'Art Moderne and Feuilly's boss. Bamatabois was, for lack of a better description, a massive fucking dick, basically making Feuilly's work life a living hell, "What can I do for you?"
"One of our artists for next week's show 'accidentally' burned down most of his works,"
Feuilly raised an eyebrow, it was completely absurd, how can an artists burn down his own paintings just a week before his big début.
"Why did he burn them?"
"Apparently, he was on drugs, like A-class drugs that'll make you wanna fuck your own dog," He could feel Bamatabois' eyes rolling on the other end, bored out of his mind, "So now I need you to find me a new one,"
"By next week?" 'Unbelievable fucking asshole,' Feuilly thought
"By tomorrow morning and if you can't find one then you lose your job."
Click
Feuilly looked down on his phone for a few seconds until he finally realised what had just happened.
"Shit." He let out and Bahorel turned around
"What's up?" Feuilly turned around and surveyed the room before looking at Bahorel, he tried to think of any Parisian artists he knew who could do a show for next week.
"I'm probably going to lose my job,"
"Again?" Bahorel said, this wasn't the first time Bamatabois threatened Feuilly of getting fired.
Feuilly sighed and sat himself down next to Bahorel, he rested his hand on his face and then breathed in, slowly he lowered his hands down and looked up onthe fake electric fireplace he and Bahorel bought at a thrift shop, the highlight of the room, there it was, a framed painting of a woman with a fan, wearing a yellow dress and a fan on the right hand, on the side of the painting was a framed card.
'To Feuilly,
I know how much you love your fans,
R'
"You know what, scratch that, I'm not going to lose my job." Feuilly chuckled and Bahorel kept on looking at him.
"Grantaire," Bahorel exclaimed.
"Grantaire," The young curator already had his phone pressed against his ear.
"Go for Grantaire," Grantaire's voice was slurry but understandable
"Hey,'Taire, you know how I work for the Museé National d'Art Moderne?"
"You mean The National Museum of Modern Art. Yes, Feuilly, I think I do,"
"Well, how would you like a spot for next week's show? One of our previous artists kind of burned down his paintings, and now we have an open spot and I thought 'hey, you know who deserves it? Fucking Grantaire'" Feuilly's excitement can be heard through the phone.
Pause. All Feuilly heard was Grantaire's heavy breathing on the other end.
"I don't know man, I don't think I'm ready for a big show, I mean it's the Museé, it's gonna be a really huge show,"
Feuilly understood his concern but he knows Grantaire can do it and if he doesn't do it he might lose his job. Feuilly didn't want to tell him that because he didn't want Grantaire to think that he is only doing this for the job, in fact, Feuilly has been pitching Grantaire to Bamatabois for months but the main curator kept on refusing. Now was Grantaire's chance.
"Come on, man, I mean it's going to be fun and it's like exposure or something and you know, a lot of people will be there and look at your paintings," Feuilly pleaded
"I don't know, Feuilly, I mean, I have a lot of -"
"Free booze, open bar." Feuilly cut him off
Another pause. Only shorter than the last one.
"Okay, I'm in." He could feel Grantaire smile at the other end.
"Cool. Meet me at my office at eight o'clock tomorrow morning,"
"Too early,"
"Fine, ten AM?"
"Awesomesauce, thanks man,"
"No man, thank you,"
Click.
Feuilly let out a relieved sigh and brushed his hands in his hair.
"You know you still look like you came out of a thrift shop," Bahorel returned to the cooking show on the TV.
"Thank you, Bahorel, but I think I look pretty hip," Feuilly said thinking of Azelma, 'Will she like this?' Feuilly thought. Of course she will, he looks hip and young and he can most definitely pull off the purple jeans.
"You can't pull off the jeans," Bahorel said, his eyes still glued on the TV. "So, you think that Azelma won't pull those jeans off of you tonight?"
"Ha, ha, ha" Feuilly cried sarcastically, "No, it's the first date, plus, I seriously like her, man, like, she's so fucking cool. Anyway, enough about my date, how was your date with that girl you met at that cooking class you took?"
"God, she's amazing, everytime she laughs I can literally hear angels coming down from heaven," Bahorel continued to muse about his laughing mistress. They sat on the couch for a few minutes before Feuilly looked at his wristwatch and stood up.
"I have to go now, Jehan said he's gonna help me pick out flowers" He looked at himself in the mirror for the last time and even winked.
"Good luck!" Bahorel cried out before Feuilly slammed the door shut.
Éponine's eyes shot wide open when a loud crashing sound hit the floor, she was lying in bed, half-asleep and kind of drunk. She stood up and fell back a little because of the sudden movement, she stood up from her bed quietly, trying best as she can not to make the bed squeak, she walked slowly and took the empty wine bottle from the side table, Éponine held the bottle like a baseball bat, ready to smack the would-be robber right in the head. She opened her bedroom door and a thin, silhouette, picking up the materials on the floor made itself present. Éponine sighed and set the bottle in the kitchen counter right next to her.
"Azelma, it's one o'clock," Azelma turned the light switch on and the bright light coming from the white ceiling lighting illuminated the room, she set down the box of office materials on the coffee table where it was once set. Éponine blinked a few times and her eyes immediately adjusted to the light. "Why are you so late?"
"Sorry, did I wake you?" Éponine just stared at Azelma, "Oh my god, 'Ponine, I just had the most amazing night - I mean look at this," She handed the bouquet of flowers to Éponine and immediately lounged on the couch with a huge, silly grin on her face, "it was magical, we went to this really, really beautiful theatre, it was so bohemian and then we went to this really romantic open restaurant..."
Éponine rolled her eyes, as much as she wanted to hear about Azelma's night, she really couldn't be bothered, she was tired and sleepy and her head was pounding, the adrenaline from moments ago seemed to slip away and now she was left with the fatigue she felt just hours before she got into bed.
"And then we walked along the Seine and -" Azelma looked at her sister who seemed to be sleeping standing up, "'Ponine, 'Ponine, are you listening,"
"Yeah, yeah, 'course," Éponine didn't even know she was starting to dose off, she joined her sister in the couch and yawned just as she was about to say "go on,"
Azelma chuckled lightly, "Dude, are you okay?" Éponine just smiled and looked at her sister with sleepy, tired eyes. Azelma smiled back at her sister and put her feet up on the coffee table in front of them, "Hey, why are all your office stuff here?"
Éponine snapped back to consciousness when her sister asked the question. She straightened herself up and looked at Azelma, Éponine knows Azelma already knew the question to her answer.
"Did you get fired?" Her sister asked bluntly
"No, actually," 'Shit' She thought, "It was more of an 'I quit' situation than an 'I got fired' thing," Éponine bit her lip, "I kind of lashed out at my boss and I kind of, maybe, probably told him to 'go fuck himself in the ass with a gigantic dildo,' but I dunno, it was, like, a blur. I did not know what I was doing," Éponine sighed and looked at her sister, "Look, I know what I did was a mistake but I'm not going back there, that place was a fucking shit show. If you don't want me here, I'm gonna move out and -"
"What? What the hell, man," Azelma cut her off, "you're not gonna move out, you're my sister. You kept me alive for three years, you're the reason why I'm not in a fucking homeless shelter. Why in the love of god would you think that I don't want you here." Azelma giggled. "You didn't like the job, so? You can get a new one, maybe even find a job in the music business or something."
"'Zelma, it's not that easy," Éponine was secretly grateful for her sister, in the inside she was laughing like a lunatic and hugging her sister like the way they used to hug when they were children.
"I know, but you're staying, you're my sister." Azelma moved closer to her sister and hugged her, they remained like that for a few moments before Éponine broke the silence.
"Thank you, Azelma. I swear to god I'm gonna start looking for a job tomorrow," Éponine felt awful to be doing this her little sister, she's the older one, she should be the one to provide for Azelma, not the other way around. She hugged her tightly and closed her eyes.
"Don't. Tomorrow we're gonna have a little sister bonding family shit and we're going to have fun and we're going to enjoy ourselves, okay?"
Éponine couldn't refuse, she missed her little sister even when she's been living with her for the past months, "'Kay" She replied softly.
"Hey," Azelma broke away from the hug and looked at Éponine excitedly, "Now that your schedule not as tight as a soprano's ass maybe you can come to the exhibit at the Museé next week,"
"What exhibit?"
"Well, Feuilly is a curator, right? And he asked me, no, us, he asked us to go to the exhibit next week. I think one of your old friends will be one of the artists they will feature, plus, your old uni buddies will be there." Azelma's eyes were filled with excitement and hope and joy and Éponine just shuddered.
"They're not my 'buddies'" Éponine put her hands up and air quoted the word 'buddies', "Jesus Christ, I barely even know them and for sure they don't even know my name," Éponine barely even interacted with her uni 'buddies', she got drunk with them, partied with them, hanged out with them a few times, but she was never actually friends with them. Maybe she had conversations with a few of them but that was it. They were Marius' friends, what were they called? Oh right, the Les Amis de l'ABC. Rich boys with silver tongues who were eager to change the world.
'God, that was such a long time ago,' She thought. 'back when I was deeply and insanely in love with pretty boy Marius Pontmercy.'
"Well, we are going, aren't we?" Azelma questioned. Éponine sighed again and closed her eyes and laid her head at the edge of the couch.
"How about you go and I'll stay," Éponine said, her eyes still closed.
"Oh come on, he invited US, it'll be rude not to go, and, you don't have anything else planned anyway,"
Éponine hesitated but finally agreed, she was curious
'I wonder,' She thought as fatigue finally reached her eyes and she drifted to sleep.
"Hey, so what do you think?" Azelma asked as she emerged out of her room wearing a red dress that was low enough in front to show a bit of her cleavage and the dress ended just above her knee,
Éponine turned around to look at her sister and smiled with pride, "Holy shit, look at you, all grown up, oh my god, you look great,"
"You think so?" Azelma chuckled and walked across the room to pick up the black heels that were sitting next to the front door, "You? What are you wearing?"
"I'm thinking of wearing my see-throughish blouse, wear a white undershirt, my black shorts and tights," Éponine replied.
"What about you dark blue cocktail dress and those beige shoes that you've got locked up on your wardrobe," Azelma smiled hopefully.
"We're going to an art show, 'Zelma," Éponine said as she took her white blouse out of the wardrobe,
"Yeah, but don't you wanna look hot in front of all your uni buddies," Azelma walked in on her sister, "plus, dude, it's like, you can change what those people thought of you, you can totally re-invent yourself. And you might score tonight, how long has it been since you had sex?" They both laughed and Éponine playfully threw a pillow at her sister. Azelma took the shoes out of her sister's wardrobe and had a huge grin on her face.
"That does sound exciting," Éponine took the shoes from her sister, "and these shoes aren't getting any younger," She sighed, "let's do this."
"Congratulations," Enjolras smiled at Grantaire and handed him a glass of champagne, the show had just started and everything was going smoothly,
"Thanks," Grantaire replied, "you know, I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you,"
"Really, what did I do?"
"Oh, I dunno, that little speech you gave me when we were in uni, that really made me think about a lot of things. So, I guess, you deserve a tinsy bit of credit," Grantaire clinked his glass with Enjolras' and smiled. He smiled back and looked at they looked at one of Grantaire's earlier works; a painting of a blonde little girl, dressed in rags and strands of her hair flying across her face, the tricolour silently painted behind her.
"What the hell are you doing, huh? You're always drunk, you're failing half your classes and you have the fucking nerve to come in here and ruin this meeting. You continue this bullshit and you're never going to amount to anything, you're just going to be another pathetic fuck-up. Listen, you can do so much, you have a lot to give to this world and you're just here drinking your fucking livers out. What the hell are you doing with your life? Is everything some kind of joke to you because I'm telling you right now if you treat this world as a joke then world is going to treat you like one."
"Oh, fuck off, like you know shit about the 'world', this, whatever the fuck you're doing here, trying to change the world? Well, here's a wake-up call, the world's not gonna change, everyone is just trying to get through everyday without fucking shit up. That's the world and you can't change it,"
"You don't believe in anything,"
"You'll see, you'll see,"
"Grantaire?" A voice from behind them bursted out, a middle aged-man smiled at them, a smile that looks forced and he looked like he might have been constipated, he had unnaturally white teeth and his perfume was overwhelmingly strong. He looked colourful, his suit was bright pink and he looked like one of those fashionistos in the front seat of every runway fashion show.
"Oh, Enjolras, this is Bamatabois, the main curator," Enjolras politely nodded at him and Bamatabois smiled,
"Grantaire, can you come with me, I need you to stand with the other artists for picture taking and I am going to make short introductory speech and I need you there," Bamatabois said as he dragged Grantaire into the middle of the exhibit.
"Um, okay" Grantaire said and winked at Enjolras, he followed them and found his friends in the crowd that was circling the artists. He joined his friends.
"Hey, Enjolras, I was wondering where you were," Combeferre greeted.
"I was just there, at the back. Anyway, is everyone here?" Enjolras asked
"Yup, no one is going to miss dear George Grantaire big debut," Courfeyrac chuckled as he sipped his champagne. "Anyway, have you guys seen Éponine?"
"Éponine, you mean? Éponine, Éponine?" Marius was interested, he hasn't seen his friend in 3 years and they lost contact, he never intended for it to happen, he was excited, this was Éponine. His very first friend in uni, she meant a lot to him.
"Wait, isn't that that girl that used to follow Marius around and, like, wears an old coat four times her size?" Combeffere asked
"Yeah, that's her, remember her? Well now, she's not wearing your grandpa's coat anymore, she is smoking hot, I saw her just a few seconds ago with her sister, I think - wait there she is!" Courfeyrac pointed at the girl walking with Feuilly towards them, he was with two girls, the other was holding his arm while the other one was walking closely behind them.
"Hey guys," Feuilly walked over to them and smiled, "this is Azelma," Azelma smiled and nodded and shaked their hands "and here's Éponine,"
"Oh my god, Éponine, I missed you, how are you?" Marius walked over to her and gave her a sweet hug, it shocked her but she warmed up to the hug, it has been three years and she realised that her feelings for Marius was just 'puppy love', she loved him but only because he was the first person to show her that there was a beautiful side to life, that not all men are the same, that there are some people who don't want to use you for granted, that there are strangers worth loving.
"I'm fine, I have been well," She broke free from the hug, "you?"
"Good, good, anyway do you remember the guys and do you remember Cosette?" A blonde girl walked over to her and gave her a friendly smile and then hugged her,
"Hi, Éponine, wow has it been three years already? You look great!" The blonde said as she broke away from the hug.
"Thanks, you look amazing," Éponine smiled, she was happy to see familiar faces but if there was an opportunity to leave, she would take it. They made small talk, her and a few of the Amis, Azelma seemed to be having a good time, she was talking to Feuilly, Bossuet, Jean Prouvaire and another blonde, she couldn't remember his name.
'Did it start with an E or something?' She thought,
"So what have you been doing for the last three years?" Combeferre asked
Éponine smiled and tried her best to answer the question, "I've been touring around Europe, you know travelling," This was what she hated during reunions like this, the usual 'what have you been doing' question. It was a way for people to tell other people that they have their lives together, she wasted three years f her life chasing a dream that would never come true and she just got fired, no, quit, she just quit her first actual job.
"Nice," Bahorel said, "so are you still doing your whole music thing?"
'My whole 'music' thing, really? Was that some kind of joke to them? God, how did became 'buddies' with these people?' That was an easy question because half the time she was with them, she was drunk and the other half, she was only talking to Marius.
"Not really, no, I have been taking a break from my whole music thing," They stood in an uncomfortable silence for a while, until one by one they all started sharing what they've been doing in the last three years,
"Éponine, we're having a party next weekend, you should come," Cosette suggested excitedly and the men all murmured in approval.
"Should I, should I really?" She didn't want to have to talk to them again, it was awkward, why would they want to have her on a party with people she barely even knew. They weren't even friends or anything, Éponine concluded that Cosette was just being friendly and polite and Éponine appreciated that but she just didn't want to talk have another awkward conversation with a group of people who have been close friends since their university years, she felt like an intruder.
"Yeah, you should totally come, we're friends,"
'No, we're not,' She thought and just before she could politely say no, Azelma and the others walked over to them and smiled, Grantaire, who escaped from the clitches of Bamatabois, gave her a tight hug and a glass of champagne.
"Congratulations," She said,
"Thanks, you look great, how have you been?" Grantaire was one of those people she really liked when they were in university, he was this art prodigy who didn't give a damn about anyone or anything, but he was kind. Éponine liked him, they were friends, kind of. They had their own talks, meets, lunches and drinks, they didn't just come together because of the Amis or Marius, they actually were pretty tight.
"Hey, how about I show you my work?" Grantaire chirped and took Éponine away from everybody and into the back, a few people were there, it was quieter and she felt relieved.
"Thanks," Éponine said as she took a sip of her champagne.
"No problemo," Grantaire smiled, "come on, I will actually show you the paintings in here,"
"I would love that," They walked around the halls of the Museum, looking at the paintings and the exhibits and sometimes making fun of them, they were laughing and giggling like drunk, uni kids. They talked, and Éponine told him what happened in the past 3 years, all the ups and the continuous downs and her quitting her job. For Éponine, it felt like no time has gone by.
"I'm sorry," Grantaire whispered as they stood in-front of an Impressionist-style painting.
"Shit happens," Éponine said as she emptied her champagne glass, a waiter walked by and she rested the glass in his tray and took another full one. "At least, that waiter's on-time," She chuckled slightly and Grantaire laughed, "you know, it doesn't feel like time's passed when I'm with you,"
Grantaire looked at her and smiled, "That's cause we haven't changed at all," then both of them laughed. "Look, Ép, if you need a job or some money, I –-"
"No, no," Éponine cut him off, "no, dude, I'm not some charity case, okay? I'm gonna figure this out, don't worry about me."
"We're friends it's fine, I can hook you up with some people," Grantaire said convincingly,
Éponine smiled at Grantaire, "I appreciate that, I really do, but I'm going to figure this out, on my own," Grantaire smiled at her, "And you better rush off, I think they need you back there,"
"Oh, fuck" Grantaire said as he gave his glass to Éponine and dashed off, "I'll see ya later, alright," he shouted, turned and was out of sight. Éponine sighed, there were 3 people looking at the exhibits in the hall, she closed her eyes and tried to really look at the painting in front of her.
'It's a woman,' She thought, the colours that enveloped the whole painting seemed to be out of place but it all felt genuine to her, the woman's face isn't really yellow and pink and blue, but it still felt honest. The brushstrokes were noticeable and heavy but they were perfect. Éponine stood there, a little drunk, and just looked at it, she didn't feel anything, she just thought it was beatiful.
"RRRIIINNNGGG"
She suddenly left her trance and a cold shiver spread through her spine, "fuck me" she whispered to herself, she opened her purse and took her phone out. It was coming from an unknown number.
"Hello?" Éponine tried to say it without sounding annoyed, but she failed.
"Bonsoir, ma chérie", It was him, his voice was so recognizable; it was rough but suave. Éponine could almost feel his dark eyes piercing through her tan skin and for a second she remembered how he would look at her just before she kissed his mouth, teeth crashing into each other, desperately trying to reach the bedroom or couch or the dirty floor. She shook the thought away and cleared her throat.
"Where'd you get this number," She asked, trying to sound intimidating
"Well, I'm fine, too, you're not very hard to find, 'Ponine," He chuckled on the other end
"What do you want from me, Mont?" Just as she said it, she regretted it.
"Oooh, I just love it when you call me that." Éponine rolled her eyes, she took a sip of her champagne and before she could say anything, Montparnasse cut her off."I was just thinking about you little wolf," There was a long pause in between,. Éponine was so eager to hear what sort of lie will come out of Montparnasse's lips this time. "I miss you."
For a moment, Éponine thought that she had stopped breathing, the other line was quiet, she could still feel him there, 'This is exactly what he wants,' Éponine thought. 'Don't fall for it again,' she swallowed hard before she spoke, her voice was low and emotionless, "I don't," She clicked the 'end call' button and proceeded to just turn her phone off and put it on her purse. She finished her bubbly and walked back to the centre of the museum where everyone was, her eyes drifted to the paintings as she she walked past them and before she knew it she had bumped into somebody.
"Oh shit, sorry," she brushed the strands of hair that had fallen into her face and she looked at the person she had bumped to.
"It's okay, just watch where you're going," the tall, blond man in front of her tried to help her as she fumbled back.
Éponine recognised him, his dirty blond hair, his shirt that looked like the buttons were about to break because of his muscular torso. "Wait, it's you!" Éponine grabbed his arm as he was starting to walk away, "you're that guy. The guy from the rooftop, three years ago."
"Yes, I was that guy," Enjolras smiled at her, he was relieved that she remembered him. He wasn't that easy to forget.
"And, I remember, you were also that protester guy, you used to walk around the campus with, like, a poster with you all the time," She laughed and he couldn't help but laugh, he probably looked silly, but he didn't care, he believed in something and what he looked like wasn't very important to her. "Your name starts with an E," She squinted her eyes, trying to remember a name she had forgotten, hoping that the guy in-front of him would just say it.
"Enjolras," He said with his deep voice, "Aiden Enjolras,"
"Right, I'm Éponine, it's good to see you," Éponine smiled at him and smiled, "so, you here with the boys?"
"Yeah," Enjolras hated small talk, it was worse than getting booed by a crowd, at least there, it's only a matter of who gets to shout louder. "Yourself?"
"I'm here with my sister, who's with her date, who's with the boys, who are back there," She said pointing at the gathering behind Enjolras, he pursed his lips into a small smile and whispered a small 'Yeah'.
"Not your scene, huh?" Both of them chuckled and sighed, trying to recall what had happened at that rooftop, three years ago "Yeah, that was a pretty awkward moment, wasn't it,"
"Not really," Enjolras replied, "More like pretty drunk and sentimental,"
"Yeah," She let her word hang in the air until she finally said something, "So, where you going?"
"Looking for the staircase that will lead me to the rooftop," Enjolras tried to joke.
Éponine snickered, "I don't think they would allow that," She looked down on his white shirt, the button between his chest desperately hanging on to the clothing, trying it's best to not expose the surely muscled, tone body that Enjolras has been hiding. She realised that he might have noticed her looking at it so she looked directly into his eyes, his blue eyes that seem to radiate almost made her knees weak.
"Hey,"
"Yeah?" Enjolras asked without breaking eye contact.
"You wanna get out of here?"
"Yeah," Enjolras smiled, he didn't know why but it just felt like it was the right thing to say. He didn't where they would go or what's going to happen, it was the heat of the moment, it was a mistake, he wasn't thinking and he realised that, but this time, he didn't want to miss the chance.
She smiled at him and they ran from the small hall to the large crowd of people in the centre of the museum, they were clapping their hands, there were five people at the very centre. Enjolras noticed Grantaire and he smiled at him, but only for a split-second because he noticed Éponine was out of sight he looked around for a few moments until he noticed her dark hair have ran past him, she was carrying a bottle of champagne. He ran with her and then as they were out of the museum, she stopped, gave him the bottle and took her high heels off.
"Where'd you get this?" Enjolras asked, adrenaline running through his veins, he was excited.
"Um, the bar," Éponine said and took the bottle from him and started to jog on.
"They just gave it to you?" Enjolras asked as he kept up.
"Not exactly," She said, "the bartender isn't really very focused,"
They ran farther and farther away from the museum until they reached a small park. Enjolras showed Éponine his bottle-opening skills and they drank from the bottle.
"So, what have you been doing?" Enjolras asked as he passed the bottle to Éponine, they were walking around the park; the park lights were quite dim but he didn't mind them, the night was getting late and it was quite cool, he could see that Éponine was cold but he didn't have his coat with him to offer it to her.
"Making really bad life decisions, you?" Éponine gulped and passed the bottle to Enjolras who gladly accepted, he put the top of the bottle into his mouth and drank.
"Oh you know, law school, carrying posters around, hanging around in a park with a girl who's making really bad life decisions," Enjolras smiled, they've been walking around for a few minutes now, maybe even hours, he just couldn't tell, he was a bit drunk already. They kept on walking and talking until they saw a group of intimidating teenagers walk by, as the group left, they just laughed about how they looked like they were just little babies trying to act tough. They saw a small bench and there they sat down. Éponine looked up into the sky, it was just a dark blue colour, with a few flickering lights, from the airplanes that were flying high above them.
"Hey," Enjolras broke the silence, "three years ago, you were saying something about writing songs and living, how did that work out?" He looked at her, the question was brooding in his mind for so long, what had happened to her? Her dream. She just kept looking at the sky, she sighed then finally looked at him.
"I wrote songs and died." She replied and that was it, he felt bad for asking but he just really wanted to know.
After a long moment of just sips from the bottle and sighs and quiet chuckles, she said, "Do it,"
"Do what?" Enjolras asked
"What you wanted to do to me three years ago," She looked at him, Enjolras cupped her face and he closed his eyes and without thinking, he kissed her. Her thin mouth was warm, a contrast to the sudden breeze that stroked past them, she tasted sweet like the champagne, he tilted his head to the side and slowly moved his tongue into her mouth, she put her arms around his neck and kissed him slowly. He tilted his head to the right and he paused for a millisecond to breathe in oxygen, his nose touching hers, his hands went to her waist and her hands ruffling his blond hair. Slowly, his lips escaped his mouth, he kissed her cheeks, her jawline and, finally, her neck. He could hear her breathing heavily, his hands were still on her waist, and slowly he moved them up to her neck, his tongue warming her cold neck and he moved up and kissed her on the lips again, and she accepted.
And then, a little drop of cold water rained down on Éponine's shoulder, she could feel it trickling down but she just didn't want to stop. And then, as if all at once, the rain just poured down on them and he took her hands and ran, looking for a place that has a roof. They got out of the park and saw a small bus stop, there they took shelter from the rain.
They stood in silence for a while and Enjolras looked at her and she looked back, she's carrying her shoes and her purse, he could still remember the taste of her lips and how desperate he was to kiss her. She laughed at him and he chuckled back.
"I feel like a 16-year old," She said in between her laughs, "making out in the middle of the night in some park," she put her arms around herself and tried to stop the shivering, Enjolras was still carrying the bottle of wine and so he took a swig. He looked around and realised that this was the street that was right next to his apartment.
"Hey, my place is really close to here, you can dry up," Enjolras said without trying to make it sound weird between them.
"Sure," Éponine replied, he took her hand and they ran across the streets.
–-
Azelma looked around her as dozens of people walked out of the museum, the show was over and the museum was closing. Feuilly was right next to her holding her hands.
"Hey, Feuilly, have you seen my sister?" She asked as she tried to look for her sister's dark brown hair from the sea of people.
"No, not since, arriving here, anyway,"Feuilly said, "Maybe she's waiting outside." Feuilly said as he tried to reassure her.
Combeferre caught up to them and patted Feuilly's back, "Hey, guys, do you know where Enjolras is?"
"What, no, why? Is he missing?" Azelma asked
"I don't really know, he's not the kind that would just run off without telling anybody," Combeferre replied.
"Maybe Éponine and Enjolras are just waiting outside," Feuilly said once more.
As the three of them head out, they noticed the others were already forming a small group circle outside, Joly was the first one to notice them.
"Hey, what's up? Have you guys seen Enjolras?" Joly inquired
"No, we were hoping they're here," Feuilly said as he started to also look around for a tall, blond man
"They?" Joly asked
"Yeah, we couldn't find Éponine anywhere, too," Azelma replied.
"Hey guys, this valet says he saw a tall, blond man and a petite, dark-haired woman get out a couple of hours ago," Courfeyrac ran up to the rest of the group and tried to reassure them,
"How about we go looking for them tomorrow, maybe they're just catching up or drinking or something," Cosette tried to reassure Azelma and the rest of the group, Cosette had always been the voice of reason and clearance for the group. "I'm pretty sure they'll turn up later or tomorrow, so, let's just go home."
And so they did, Azelma tried to call her sister but her she wouldn't pick and Enjolras was complaining before coming to the museum about how his phone wasn't charged enough.
They also found out that Enjolras' car was still parked, but they just tried to reassure each other that he was fine.
"Hey, you ready to go home?" Feuilly asked Azelma as he put his coat around her.
Azelma smiled and thought that if Éponine was with Enjolras, she must be okay. "Yeah," She replied with a grateful smile
–-
"Cool place," Éponine surveyed the room, everything was in red, white and black. The walls were white, the carpet was red and the appliances, the couch, they were all black.
"Thanks, here" Enjolras said as he handed her a towel, "You can take a shower if you want, I can put your dress in the dryer," Enjolras looked at her petite body, her dress stuck to her body and revealed her shape, a small drop of water trickled down form the top of her neck and slipped to her cleavage. Éponine took the towel and murmured a small thanks then walked directly to the bathroom that Enjolras led her to.
As the door closed behind her, she rested her back against the door and closed her eyes. Éponine could see the lining of Enjolras's muscles through his shirt.
'God, he's hot,' She thought to herself, her small trance was broken by him knocking on the door.
"Hey, do you want to give me your clothes," He said through the door.
"Yeah, gimme a minute," Éponine closed her eyes and smiled to herself mischievously, "Hey, I've got a small problem," Ah yes, the 'unzip me' move, a move she has mastered over the course of her teenage to young adult years. Éponine opened the door and standing there was Enjolras. "Can you unzip me?"
Enjolras suddenly felt a lump on his throat, he's not a virgin, and he was pretty sure he wanted this. The confidence given to him by the alcohol has been washed away by the rain. But then he started overthinking, 'What if she really needs someone to unzip her?' 'What if she's not seducing me?' 'Why won't she be seducing me?' 'What if she doesn't like me?' 'Why won't she like me, was I a bad kisser?' 'Was I just being too forward?' 'God, I don't even like her like that?' 'I mean I like her, but not like like her.'
"Enjolras," Éponine said as she waved her hand infront of him, "If you're not comfortable, it's cool,"
"No, I got it," Enjolras said, Éponine turned around and he put his fingers on the zipper behind her, he slowly unzipped her dark blue dress and her wet back felt so welcoming. After reaching the end, he put his hands back to his sides as fast as he could. Éponine turned around, "Thanks," She smiled and went back to the bathroom.
'Fucking hell,' she thought, 'Maybe he doesn't even wanna, ugh fuck, I just embarassed myself, I can't believe that didn't work, am I really that rusty?' She took her dress off and wrapped herself with the towel he gave her. She picked up the dress and opened the door, but before she could fully open it, a strong hand has placed itself on her wait and the other on her face, Enjolras's blue eyes pierced through her own and he closed it and kissed her hard. Teeth clenching into each other, they were breathing heavily, and he moved her lips into her neck and gently bit her skin, his hand slowly arching its way into her back, he kissed her again, slower but with the same intensity. He stopped and rested his lips just above hers, "What are we doing?" He whispered, his eyes still closed,
"Does it matter?" Éponine replied.
"It's a mistake," And with that he broke free and took the dress with him, he wanted it, he wanted it bad, but, to him, it was a mistake.
Éponine smiled disbelievingly and pursed her lips, fixed her towel and walked up to Enjolras. "God, why are you so terrified? It's like you're floating in space. Touch the ground, Enjolras. Live in the world, make a mistake. Make this mistake."
Enjolras turned around and looked at her, she looked beautiful even with just the towel on, her hair was wet and it was all over the place. He knew this was a mistake but how is it? He dropped the dress and walked up to her, he loosened her towel and kissed her, he picked her up and walked carried her to the bedroom. He closed the door.
That's all i got from now, byiieee
