"It's weird, huh?" Eponine said, gathering the few clothes she had from her drawers and shoving them into a bag. Grantaire laughed, lying on the bed, wearing Enjolras' jacket.

"I guess. If you mean weird as in the best thing that's ever happened to us," he said; Eponine was still unsure about the whole thing. She was so confused, and had spent the last half hour packing and unpacking her things, "other than finding each other, that is."

"Marius is getting back later today," she said hopefully, but then broke eye contact and looked down, sadly, "so is she," Eponine threw the bag of her things across the room, and lay down on the bed next to Grantaire.

"She has a name, and I thought we talked about the M word," he replied, sitting up and looking at her sad face.

"I'm trying, R. Really," she said, sighing and closing her eyes, "and I am getting better."

"I know you are," he said, taking her hand and pulling her up into an embrace, "I'm still there for you, even though you don't live here anymore, and I know you have Courf, but still," he said; Eponine tried to smile as she pulled away.

"I still don't know if I should go. It seemed like such a perfect idea at the moment, and I really want to, and I know you'd love to live with your new boyfriend, Mr. Perfect…" she trailed off.

"Eponine, you know I'd love you to stay, don't consider my feelings when you're making this decision," he said, meaning it. He was sort of nervous to have Eponine leaving, and he was worried about what would happen if he ever had a break down, but at the same time he knew how good it would be for her.

"I'm not…" she said, getting up off the bed and picking her things up, "and I know it's gonna be amazing. What time is the 'welcome back' party again?" she asked.

"It's in like two hours," he answered, "I think. I so don't wanna go…"

"But you'll get to hang out with Mr. Perfect," she said, smiling.

"No, I get to watch him yell at Marius for getting married too young, and then they'll argue, and ugh," he complained.

"Marius is getting married too young," Eponine said, "and you're always talking about how hot he looks when he's arguing. Stop complaining."

"There's no right or wrong age when it comes to love," he said, smiling, as Eponine rolled her eyes, "and sorry, I really shouldn't be complaining about this around you," he said, sitting up.

"It's been four days, Grantaire, and suddenly you're the expert on love," she teased, walking over to stand in the door, "jeez, you're just like Marius. I'll see you in an hour or so."

"There's nothing wrong with letting yourself be happy!" he said, as she walked out the door, laughing.

Eponine really was nervous though, scared she would become upset at seeing Marius and Cosette together and need Courfeyrac to take her home, which he would gladly do, but she still felt guilty about the whole situation. She walked over to her new dorm room, unpacked her clothes that she had brought, and went to go get ready. Enjolras and Courf were already at the café, getting everything set up for the party along with a few of the other debate team guys. She showered, blow dried and straightened her hair, and put on a pretty peach colored dress that brought out her olive skin tones. For some reason she wanted to look pretty, as if it would make a difference somehow.

"You look amazing," she jumped around, startled, to see Courfeyrac standing in the doorway, casually leaning against the wall.

"I-um-thanks," she said, wondering how long he had been there, "I-," she started, but then just shook her head and smiled, "is it time to go already? Oh, and you too."

"No, it's not; you still have half an hour," he said, walking into the bedroom, "you know, we don't have to go if you don't want," he said, but he really did want to go. It wasn't just that; he wanted to go with Eponine, and he wanted her to be happy about it, but it probably wouldn't happen like that.

"Enjolras will kill you," she said, smiling and laughing slightly. It was so impossible to be unhappy around him, despite the intensity of her dread at attending this party, "besides, you want to go. I can tell."

He smiled at the way she had relaxed and was smiling, "can you? Anything else you can tell?"

She walked over to him, wrapping her arms around his waist and looking up at him with big eyes, "I can tell that you're happy right now, but I don't know why," she said, as he smiled, looking down at her and pushing hair out of her face.

"I'm happy because it's our first time really going out in public together, even though we're not really together, and I'm happy that you're officially moving in," he replied, smiling and closing his eyes as he squeezed her tightly for a moment and then pulled away.

"Congratulations on having such a wonderful day," she teased, following him into the front room.

"I'm serious Eponine, we don't have to go. I'm happy to just sit here and watch a movie and text Marius that I'm sick and am forcing you to take care of me. I don't care," he said, turning around to face her. She just smiled and grabbed his jacket off the table, starting to put it on.

"You used to be a lot more fun," she replied, smirking as he tilted his head at her and raised his eyebrows, grinning.

"That sounds like a challenge," he said, and she laughed. He pulled the jacket off of her and picked her up like a baby, "I am so much fun, and by the way, we don't have like twenty minutes before the party, we're late already. I just wanted to spend more time with you, alone."