"Ép," Marius finally had the courage to say.

"Yes?" she said without paying much attention.

"Nothing," he replied before taking a long sip of his drink.

"I think I might visit my grandfather for christmas," he said out of nowhere, causing no reaction in Éponine.

"Excuse me? Were you saying something?" Éponine said, lifting her head from her papers.

"Nothing," he said in defeat. Éponine turned back to studying and Marius moaned in despair.

"Seriously Ép? Nothing can be that important to give up your free time," he said.

"Marius, it is when you're broke and virtually orphan that's striving to maintain a scholarship that can be snatched very quickly from her hands," she said absentmindedly.

"We need to talk Ép," he said seriously. As a response, Éponine gave him her full attention.

"You're really pretty and fun. You make me laugh and we spend a good time together..." he said.

"But still, we're going to break up, right?" she said. He expected her to frown or at least show some hysteric face or something. But Éponine simply smiled at him and took his hand.

"We've been...together for a month or so and it's clearly not working. I don't want to know that my girlfriend is not the girl I love and I dream with and I'm sure you'll get bored of me either way. I'm not Enjolras so whatever you saw in him it's not going to magically appear in my personality. You love Enjolras, I saw it the day you left the restaurant. Maybe it was a very stupid mistake to try and forget about them by getting into a relationship, you know? But we can still be friends?" he proposed as she played with his hand, which was very ironic; she behaved more like a girlfriend now when he was breaking up with her than during the month in which they were together.

"I totally understand, Marius," she said, "and I really think we could still be friends...let's be sincere, it's not like if this breakup is hurtful or anything."

"I agree...how can you feel sorry about not having a hyper jerky boyfriend?" he winked, making her laugh.

"So...friends?" she offered while stretching her hand for him to shake it.

"Friends," he said shaking her hand.

Suddenly, Éponine's smile faded. She stood up and started packing the things she had scattered in the table in a sort of nervous wreck. She had remembered her queer little plan, which results had been much more fatalistic than what she had foreseen; Marius turned out to be a good guy who was now calling her "friend" even though she purposely destroyed his chance to be happy with Cosette. Éponine realized that even if Cosette wasn't currently cheating on Enjolras, she had cheated on him and it was still as bad; he would be hurt anyways. The worst part was that she had made him hate her. She even hated herself for not waiting, just as Combeferre told her to do.

"What happened? You don't have to leave," he said very confused.

"I must tell you the truth..."

"I hear you,"

"Well...when I first accepted going out with you, it was simply because I wanted you to leave Cosette and that she stopped cheating on Enjolras. I had the foolish idea that once she wasn't cheating, Enjolras wouldn't be hurt and invented all of this plan...going out with you, unconsciously making you break with Cosette and torturing you to the most boring month in your dating life," she said with tears in her eyes, "I'm sorry for doing so...and if you don't want to talk to me anymore, I'll understand. I just wanted to protect my friend."

Marius did something quite unexpected in response: he hugged her. Éponine hugged him back and closed her eyes without saying a word.

"I'm really jealous of Enjolras right now...knowing he has a friend like you," he said with a smile, "and let's hope, a future girlfriend".

Éponine smiled back.

"Listen to me. I haven't been to sincere with you either but since you're telling me your truth, I shall tell you mine. I did recognize you went we met in the park and I...kind of used you too. Cosette wasn't giving in, she didn't want to tell Enjolras about our relationship and I was really getting tired of being the lover. I mean, if she really wants to be with me, why do we have to hide from the world? So I thought that if I got her jealous, she would tell Enjolras and we could finally be together...that's why that day we went to the restaurant. I knew they would be there...Now you're the one that has to forgive me," he said. Éponine was open mouthed.

"And I thought I was the one with a malevolent, movie like plan..." she muttered, making him blush and look away.

"Don't tell Cosette I ever planned this...she thinks I really just wanted to try and forget her," Marius said.

"As long as you don't tell anybody about my plans, yours are safe with me," she said shaking his hand once again.

"Bye Ép," he said, taking a seat.

"Bye hyper jerk," she answered.

...

On her way home, Éponine found herself on a much more pleasant mood than most of the days during her last month, in which she wasn't only stressed out because of her studies but also because of her disastrous attempt of a relationship. She was soon in front of Le Café Musain, greeting Madame Houcheloup in an impecable french (the only valuable inheritance from her family) and asking for one of her famous cookies and a cappuccino. She sat in an empty table with a pleasant smile on her face, expecting to take a bite from her chocolate chipped cookie when she suddenly felt somebody looking at her.

The blonde couple who's faces she knew by heart were seating, once again, in a table just in front of hers, casting, especially Cosette, curt glances in her direction. Éponine remembered with bitterness the last time that this had happened and how it ended. She hadn't spoken to Enjolras ever since that day and, according to what she had heard from Combeferre and Courfeyrac, their relationship wasn't going very well. That's why it didn't surprise her when they started to fight in a higher tone than what they should in a public place.

Éponine, cookie and cappuccino in hand, left the place immediately. She felt as though it was all her fault. She didn't know they were once again fighting about nothing. She sat down in a bench near the lake in the public park and ate her beloved baked good before taking out her textbook and starting to study again.

"Are you happy now?" a well known voice said to her.

"Cosette..." Éponine said while closing her textbook.

"NO! DON'T SAY ANYTHING TO ME, BITCH! YOU KNEW I WAS GOING OUT WITH MARIUS...YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I LOVE HIM AND YOU STILL GO ON A DATE WITH HIM? YOU'RE A REAL BITCH!" Cosette said as Éponine stood up.

"Cosette I need you to go..." Éponine was about to say but was interrupted.

"What did you say Cosette?"

Éponine closed her eyes, wishing that the voice behind Cosette didn't belong to the person she thought it belonged to.

"Love..." Cosette said.

"ANSWER TO ME COSETTE!" he barked. Cosette looked away.

"I'm in love...with Marius," she said. Enjolras' eyes turned cold and firm, making Éponine shiver.

"and you knew about this?" Enjolras said to Éponine with disdain.

"I...I just wanted to protect you," Éponine said in a whisper.

"I don't want to talk to either of them again," he said coldly, "Cosette, you might know we're not together anymore."

Éponine and Cosette looked at each other with mixed feelings. Éponine was on the verge of crying and Cosette, who had hated her since that night at the restaurant, felt her heart broke. She knew Éponine genuinely loved Enjolras, and knowing he was talking to her so cruelly was really sad. On her part, Éponine felt everything was shattering. He had said that before but now it felt so terminating that she couldn't handle it.

Enjolras stood there, feeling betrayed, more by Éponine than by Cosette.

"I thought I could trust you," he said to Éponine, not measuring the impact of his words.

"Enjolras, don't say that to her!" Cosette said, gaining a crossed look from her now ex-boyfriend.

"Please be quiet..." he said.

Éponine gave her back to them with tears in her eyes. Then she turned around. "You should really go to see Marius...he'll explain everything to you." Éponine then left without saying anything else, leaving a very upset Enjolras and a confused Cosette.

...

"I don't know what to do Combeferre!" Éponine said while grabbing her head with both of her hands.

"Tell me explicitly what happened," Combeferre answered while patting her back softly.

Éponine arrived to the house after the encounter with Enjolras and Cosette. She wasn't expecting what happened. Combeferre found her packing her clothing and belongings in a suitcase and some bags. She was leaving the house.

"Cosette made an imprudent comment and Enjolras found out. Now he hates me because he thinks that I'm sort of an "accomplice" or something," she said rocking herself back and forth, "why didn't I wait like you told me to?"

"Because you are you," he said patiently, "what do you plan on doing?"

"Do you really think I know?" she said, thinking for a while.

"Calm down Ép," he said.

"I'm going to tell you something," she said, "When my mother's family didn't let her marry my father, she fled with him and they arrived to New Orleans. When she realized he was no good, she fled again, this time with me and my sister, to her lover's arms. When her lover and later husband became just another version of my father, she fled once again. And when the economic situation in this country turned unbearable for her, she fled once again."

"And now that Enjolras told you he doesn't want to see you again and you think everything's lost...you'll flee?" he asked her.

"I won't flee...I'll just move out of this house. It's not fleeing. You'll see me every day," Éponine said before hugging him.

"Where are you going? You can't pay a house...you need to study!" he said.

"I'll go to Miss Houcheloup...we already talked. She'll let me stay in the rooms above Le Café Musain and maybe later in a dorm for a while," Éponine said.

"I won't dissuade you Ép...but at least let me accompany you," he said while taking the suitcase.

"Thanks 'Ferre," she said.

...

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Enjolras thought as he sat in front of Marius. He didn't know whether if it was out of curiosity or annoyance, or the fact that he couldn't take Éponine's broken voice off of his head, that he had accepted Cosette's proposal to accompany her to see Marius. He felt he hated both of them, especially as they had the courage to shamelessly look at each other with the eyes of lovers in front of him.

"Éponine told us we should come to talk to him. But I guess...we could solve our issues later. Tell Enjolras what you know about Éponine, for him not to hate her," Cosette said.

"Hello...Enjolras," Marius said, trying to be polite.

"I have no time for this," he said rolling his eyes.

"I'll say this as quick as possible...in a summarized way, Enjolras. Éponine wanted to protect you. She dated me because she thought that if I left Cosette you wouldn't be hurt and believe me...our month together wasn't our best dating experience. She really loves you Enjolras," Marius said.

Enjolras sighed. He thought about Éponine's broken face as she told him they had to go and see Marius. Her expression when he said he didn't want to see her again made his heart ache. He was such a monster! He then realized how much he cared for Éponine, how much it really hurt him to fight with her. Enjolras remembered all the lazy nights in which he stayed talking to her, watching movies or simply admiring her smile. They would laugh, cry, go on dates without knowing so and trust in each others blindly. He loved Éponine. He loves Éponine.

"Thank you," he said to Marius before standing up and leaving, he had to search for her.

The road home was really stormy for Enjolras. All of the lights were in red just when he was about to cross. More than once he had to witness grannies crossing alone through the streets. He was in the middle of a traffic jam and when he arrived, he was sweaty and nervous. He opened the door to find an empty house.

He ran to Éponine's room, to find a note for him pasted in the door.

Enjolras:

I don't love you.

Don't want you to marry me

and I'm not going to like you forever.

simply, I like you.

Like the way I like to see the sky at night,

I could like you for a long time

Or maybe just until tomorrow.

Be happy to know that...

-Forget about all that crap, I've fallen for you.

I don't know why I wasted so much time pretending I didn't care but I'm totally and completely in love with you and I don't care if it's too late. I'm telling you anyways.

-Ép

You guys...let me tell you that this is the end...

Of the chapter of course ;) I hope you liked it! Please comment!