Just going to remind people- and I know you all know this- but because of when they're from, Marius and Cosette are pretty conservative (socially anyway). Plus Marius is Marius, and therefore he makes prudes look like prostitutes.
For a few days, their relationship was slightly awkward, and Marius blamed health class. He was a shy, reserved person by nature, and being forced to learn about the more disgusting diseases one could contract from sexual intercourse was like torture to him. It was only more embarrassing knowing that Cosette was there, too. However, that was pretty much all the class talked about, and it scared Cosette and disgusted her. She couldn't be blamed- they were shown pictures that made anyone's stomach churn. It was obvious what the point of the class was- Don't Do It. However, even that would be shocking to someone who knew nothing about it whatsoever until a week ago.
Honestly, he'd been worried about how Cosette would fare when she finally did learn about this topic- however, that had been beforeit was thrown in her face. The outcome had been awkwardness and a series of misconceptions on her part. He could scarcely bring himself to say something to her, though, for he himself was so embarrassed.
After three days of her discomfort, however, he decided enough was enough. He couldn't sleep, so he left his bedroom and went across the hall- making sure to tread quietly so as not to wake anyone- and opened her door.
"Cosette?" he called, extremely softly, almost hoping that she was asleep so he could be spared this. Of course, she was awake.
"Yes?"
"Can I come in?"
"Yes," she said, and he entered her room, kneeling on the floor next to her bed, right next to where her head rested on the pillow.
"I know you're feeling... overwhelmed," he began.
"Scared," she corrected. "Everything's new here anyway, and then I learn about... about..."
"I know," he said. "But I want to tell you not to worry about any of it. The documents we registered at school with say we're both seventeen here. If we're still here when we both turn eighteen- the majority- then I'll marry you here. If we can't get sent home, we'll just have to adjust."
She smiled at that- they'd do what they could, she knew. He was resting his arms on the bed, and she laid her hand on one of them.
"And about... the rest," he said, and she smiled knowing from the tone of his voice that he was embarrassed. "Don't worry about that either. You're hearing all these extreme things- those diseases that you're worried about... and, well, Cosette you can only get that if you're with someone who has that kind of disease," he said, slightly disgusted at the thought. "And you can only get the disease from someone else, so... you're safe there."
"What do you mean?" she said, confused.
"You've seen me at school- girls terrify me. That isn't a new trait to my personality, Cosette- before I met you, I hadn't spoken to a girl. And now I speak to you... but I don't know. I get so uncomfortable, so it's not as though I could have... could have..." he couldn't even finish the thought, but by now she knew what he meant. "I never loved anyone but you," he finished. "And... don't worry about that. Customs here are different, but where we're from, you're not supposed to give yourself until marriage. And that's what we're going to do," he said with an air of finality in his voice.
She didn't ask any more questions- really, all she wanted to do was stop talking about this. The conversation took some stress off of her, but she was ready to completely bury the issue. She didn't understand it and didn't want to, at least not until the time came. And though Marius had spoken with a fierce and steadfast decisiveness, he still leaned forward and met her lips with his. And though she'd wanted to abandon the topic completely, she felt herself kissing him back. At first slowly, and then more passionately as the darkness and the closeness affected them. Her hands ran up his arms until they hooked around his neck, and she felt the heat of his hands on her back. She was wearing a loose, cotton garment- a tea-shirt, she thought it was called- and could feel his touches through it. What she hadn't expected was to feel the heat of his hands without the buffer of the shirt at all. She gasped when his hands slipped beneath the cotton, touching her lower back and stroking her soft skin as he kissed her. She knew it was wrong, but she didn't find it quite wrong enough to want to pull away. Is this what everyone is telling me is so wrong to do? she thought to herself. Because it doesn't feel wrong at all.
Evidently, it was, because all too soon, he pulled away, retracting his hands from beneath her shirt and pulling the blanket back around her.
"I'm sorry," he said. "That was..."
She heard the word 'wrong' hanging in the air, but he never said it. Instead, he just let the sentence stay static and unfinished, as though he could not bear to add a negative word to the end of it.
"Goodnight," he said simply, standing up.
"Goodnight," she whispered back. She wanted him to stay with her as he had that night the week before, but it was obvious by his tone of voice that he would not. "I love you."
"I love you, too," he said, and then left.
At school, Cosette had been making progress. She didn't ask so many questions, after she learned that it was not doing her any favors. One Monday, a girl in her class named Emily leaned over and talked to her. She seemed nice, but Cosette was nervous because Emily was asking her all about where she'd come from and why she'd transferred schools. Mags had instructed her and Marius on what to say if someone asked them this- they used to go to private school, but it hadn't met the testing requirements and couldn't stay open- but the encounter was still nerve-wracking. Emily was also in chorus with her, and had a friend named Hannah who was also friendly with Cosette.
After she left the convent, she hadn't had friends like this. All week, they talked and joked, and Cosette found that easy companionship like this was really enjoyable. It was so easy to talk to girls. They said a lot of things she still didn't quite understand, but she liked them all the same.
On Friday, she was surprised when they invited her to go out with them.
"A bunch of our friends are going to see a movie," Hannah remarked.
"Oh... cool," Cosette said, proud that she'd used a word that seemed to be popular, and managed to act like she knew what they were talking about at the same time.
"Boys and girls. I know you have a boyfriend, so he can come too if you want," Emily said. "We're meeting at the mall at six. The movie's at seven, but we can get dinner first."
"The mall?" Cosette asked, knowing it was a stupid question, but needing to know all the same. What was a Mall?
"The one in town," Emily said, taking out a sheet of paper and writing down directions. That wasn't what Cosette meant, but she shook it off. She'd get Mags to tell her what a Mall was, if it meant that she could fit in.
When she left school that day, she was ecstatic. Marius had agreed to go with her- reluctantly though, because of course, girls would be there, but she made him promise to come, too- and Mags had explained everything and agreed to drive them. Cosette and Marius even learned what a movie was- 'like a play, only it's two-dimensional, and you can watch it over and over.' Cosette was so excited to see one.
They met at the mall, and Marius was relieved- the girls there weren't as frightening as some of the ones he saw at school. They talked to him like a human being, not like something they wanted to eat. His heart rate went down, and he could enjoy the outing.
"What movie are we going to again?" one of the boys asked.
"Um, well 'Saw V' just came out, I thought we could see that," Emily said. "I want to. Does anyone not want to?"
The other kids seemed excited about it, so Cosette and Marius played along, acting as though they knew what the first four 'Saw' movies were about, and therefore would want to see a fifth. When the other kids were engaged in conversation, Marius leaned over to Cosette.
"Why would anyone make four movies about the same thing?" he asked. "And have you heard anything about it?"
"No," she said. "And I have no idea. It sounds dreadfully boring. But we'll only have seen one, so it should be tolerable. Besides, we've never seen a movie at all. I'm looking forward to it."
Thirty minutes into the movie, though, she didn't remember why she wanted to see one in the first place. It was disgusting and horrific at the same time- she'd never seen so much blood in her life. Why did people find this entertaining? It was horrible and frightening, and all it did was upset her. She hated violence, for one thing, and that was all this movie was. But aside from that, it was all too realistic. Several times, in the dark of the theatre with the huge screen, she had to convince herself that it was not real. She felt bile rising in her throat, her eyes were swollen from tears, and by then, she wasn't even looking. She was turned completely away, with her fingers in her ears. She still managed to hear screams. The other kids she was with looked frightened, but she and Marius were a completely different story. She was sobbing with her face buried against him, and he was shaking in his seat. She felt a hand on her back, and she forced herself to look up.
"If you're scared," he said, looking terrified. "We can leave... I'm, er... not to keen to stay myself," he said. She jumped up and ran out of the theatre as though being chased by the villain from the movie. The other kids looked up and saw her run away, and Emily and Hannah looked guiltily at each other.
"I guess she doesn't like scary movies," they said.
That night, the phone in Mags' house rang. Cosette was still recovering- she didn't let Marius leave her side, and was sitting in the garishly pink bedroom with all the lights turned on. When the ringing began, she jumped and screamed. So did Marius.
"It's for you," Mags called, and came in to hand the phone to Cosette. Mags had taught them each how to use one, but it was still confusing- they heard someone's voice, but didn't get to see their face. Strange.
"Hi, Cosette." It was Emily. "Sorry about the movie today. It was kind of a fail."
"It's alright," Cosette said. "I haven't seen that many movies, so I wouldn't know what to pick." Or any movies at all.
"It wasn't good anyway," Emily said. "Look, I feel really bad that you had such a bad time. So Hannah, our other friend Danielle, I are getting together, and we're watching, like, good movies."
"Oh? Better than 'Saw'?" Cosette said, her eyes widening in fear. And what was a 'sleepover'?
"Yeah. Movies you'd like. You can come over if you want," she said. "Here's my address if you want to come..."
When Cosette hung up, she decided to go.
"Since I'm here, I might as well have fun, right?"
"I just hope you have more fun than you did tonight..." Marius said.
"So here's the selection for tonight," Emily said, taking out a stack of thin, flat boxes with pictures of people on the outside.
"I thought we were watching movies?" Cosette said, confused. Weren't movies on huge screens?
"We are, silly," Hannah said. "DVDs?"
"Right," Cosette said, giving up. She'd just let whatever happened happen.
"So, you decide. 27 Dresses, A Walk to Remember, or Titanic?"
"Um... you decide," Cosette said. The girls put in A Walk to Remember.
Two hours later, Cosette's face was again covered in tears, but this time, they were good tears. All the other girls were crying too, and talking about how unfair it was that she died. Danielle was crying the most, and kept talking about how cute the boy was and how much she liked a boyfriend like him. Cosette noticed that she was a soft one when it came to romance.
"He was so nice to her," Cosette said. "That was horrible!"
All the girls agreed, and Cosette decided she liked love stories- they might end sadly, but at least there had been happiness before that. She mentioned this, and Emily piped up:
"Better to have loved then lost then to have never loved at all."
"What's that?" she asked, before deciding that the phrase was true.
"It's just a quote," Emily said.
"Who said it?"
"I have no idea. It's one of those phrases that people just know. You know?"
No, she thought, but went alone with it anyway.
Then, the girls put the movie Titanic in.
"I can't believe you haven't seen this!" Danielle said. "Emily showed it to me last year, and... oh my god. So sad. But it's amazing. So. Good."
Cosette was ready to take her word for it. When it started and the leading man came on, the girls shrieked and started talking about how 'hot' he was. But she liked it- she thought it was sweet. Danielle kept claiming that he was 'making her melt!' Cosette understood the sensation, though it wasn't exactly from the movie.
"This is, like, my favorite part," Hannah said, and then all the sudden the woman was naked! Cosette blushed furiously as the man on screen started drawing her. "Watch him," Hannah instructed. "Watch how he looks at her."
Cosette did, and saw attentiveness and concentration on his face. Wasn't that what one needed to draw someone? But there was something else there, too. Something that she recognized.
More of the movie went by, and then the couple was in a car. The woman whispered something, and then they were kissing and touching...
Oh, Cosette thought. That's what it is, and then she suddenly understood.
At the end of the movie, she was once again in tears, though the sadness didn't cover up her excitement for the epiphany she'd had before.
"Does one of the lovers always die at the end of the movie?" she asked.
"Usually," Emily said bluntly.
It was time for her to go home, but she asked if- next time- she could watch a movie with a happy ending. Pleased with her progress for the day, she got into Mags' car and went home.
"Hi!" Marius said when he saw her. "Why are your eyes all red?" he asked, looking more concerned than he needed to be. Her heart swelled, thinking of Jack Dawson and the cute boy from the movie about the sick girl...
"You, monsieur, are coming with me," she said, dragging him upstairs. When they were alone, she shut the door and looked at him seriously. "Marius," she said. "I understand now."
"Understand what?" he asked, and when she didn't answer, he knew. "Then why are you crying?" he asked incredulously.
"I'll tell you later," she said, pulling him to her and kissing him. True, when they were back home, they weren't allowed to do this. But, she decided, best take advantage of the opportunities one has.
Hey! Please let me know if you liked this, or if was too much about the movies. I always got the impression that Cosette would be a total sap and would love 'Titanic,' though...