Lost:
Chapter 6:
*2 Years Earlier*
It was almost Christmastime. All of the boys at the ABC Café were so excited. Christmas was the best time of the year. Since a lot of them lived on their own, it was nice for them to have some people to call family. They were all meeting up and Marius decided it was time for everyone to meet his new girlfriend of 3 months.
Marius and Cosette walked into the café hand in hand. Nobody could take their eyes off of them. Marius? In love at last? Nobody could believe it.
"So, Mar," Grantaire yelled from across the room. He seemed to already have downed a few drinks. Nothing new. "Are you going to introduce us to that gorgeous lady on your arm?"
Eponine turned around from her seat to see Marius with this girl. She looked oddly familiar to Eponine, but she didn't think anything of it. Cosette eyed Eponine. She knew from first glance that she had a lot compete with here. She looked around and saw that Eponine was the only other girl here. And she was beautiful; Cosette thought that there was no way that any of these guys were going to talk to her with that girl there.
Eponine felt her heart drop. She hated that Marius had this new girlfriend. Not because she liked him in anyway; she just liked having Marius all to herself.
"Everybody, this is Cosette. She and I have been dating for roughly 3 months now, so be nice, please." He said, holding Cosette close to him.
Enjorlas rolled his eyes and walked over to Eponine's table. She looked up and stared at him.
"Are you still mad?" he asked, sitting down next to her. She sighed.
"I guess I shouldn't be. It's been a long time since we've talked," she said, looking down at her hands. She was pulling at the sleeves to cover her hands completely.
"Are you cold?" he asked, taking off his jacket and putting it around her shoulders. She smiled warmly, but still looked empty.
"Thank you, Enjorlas," she said, lightly holding onto the jacket.
"So, what are you doing for Christmas this year?" he asked, smiling. She sucked in breath. She knew that she didn't want to be around her house for Christmas this year. She didn't want to be around her screaming parents. It was hard for her to watch her parents yell and yell at each other, and then having to be strong for her younger siblings. She wished she could just find a place for them all to stay, but that would mean having to tell someone about her parents, and she knew that couldn't happen. Everyone saw them as the golden family and she wasn't going to let that change.
"Ep?" Enjorlas said, waving his hand in front of her face. She snapped back and looked at him.
"Um, I think I'm going to spend it here with you guys. I might bring Gav and Azelma if that's alright." She answered quietly. She tried to sound as happy as she could, but she knew it didn't come across like that.
"As much as we would love to have you here, don't you want to spend it at home?" he asked, leaning his elbows on the table.
"I would much rather spend it here," She said, the smile gone from her face. She looked down at the table, still pulling her sleeves up.
"Is everything okay?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at her. She still looked away.
"I'm fine," she said. She got up and walked over to the table with desserts on it. Enjorlas followed behind her.
"Eponine, have you been eating? You look extremely skinny," he said, pulling on her arm to get her closet to him.
"Yes, I'm eating," she said and grabbed a cookie. She shoved it in her mouth and made a face at him.
"Okay. Please just let me know if there's anything I can-" he was cut off by Marius' voice.
"Ep! Enj!" he walked over to them with his arm around Cosette, "Cosette, these are my two best friends, Enjorlas and Eponine," he held his hand out to show both of them. Cosette nodded, looking curiously at Eponine. She can't help but feel that she's seen her somewhere before. She snapped back to reality and her smile instantly spread across her face.
"Hi, it's really nice to meet you guys! Marius would not stop talking about you two!" she squeals.
"It's nice to meet you, too," Eponine said, shaking her hand. Enjorlas shook her hand and shot a look at Eponine. She looked away.
"I'm going to go see if Grantaire needs any help…you know…standing up," Enjorlas said and walked over to the bar, leaving Eponine with the lovebirds.
Eponine could barely look at how happy Marius was.
This is it, she thought. My friendship with Marius will be forever changed. It already has been. I guess he doesn't need me anymore.
"Ep, are you okay?" Marius asked her. She doesn't look up to acknowledge he said something. She looks down at the cookie she just bit into. She suddenly feels a gurgling in her stomach. She knows the part of the cookie she ate has already reached her stomach.
"Excuse me," she said, softly pushing Marius out of her way. She walked into the bathroom and locked the door behind her. She went into her pocket and pulled out her toothbrush. She knelt down to the toilet and held the toothbrush to her mouth. She had tears streaming down her face as she put the end of it down her throat.
She couldn't help to think that something was seriously wrong with her, and she had no idea how to fix it.
