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The weeks following the second stupid kiss were slightly uncomfortable. They both closed themselves off from the other. Silently letting jokes slip away that once would have been spoken – the recipient being gently hugged whilst her giggles mixed with his chuckles. However as Spring turned to Summer, the walls of unease managed to fall away and the two felt like they were barely out of each other's company, their mantra "We'll be friends, nothing more, nothing less" never leaving their seemed to bring out the playful side of each other. Almost as though they testing the boundaries of their "friendship and nothing more." Even though the boundaries were clearly stated, it was almost as if they wanted to go over the line.
They were constantly around each other. He would hug her when she wasn't expecting it and pull her onto his lap during Les Amis de l'ABC. She would tease him about his hair and hide his cravats, criticizing his clothes. He managed to sweet talk Musichetta into letting her work behind the bar at the Café Musain and earn an honest wage for once in her life.
Although the presence of a certain street urchin was starting to have a serious effect on his love life.
His eyes were locked on a stunning brunette with sparkling eyes who was sitting alone at the table by the window. She was perched on her chair with a silent confidence that flowed from every pore. Her pale, delicate hand reached for her drink, a gentle tinkling occurring as her long nails came into contact with the glass. Her soft pink lips were slightly pouted, resting gently upon each other to get the best effect. Her blue eyes twinkling by the low light of the café. She was more than aware of her good looks. Those looks combined with her fierce confidence was a deadly combination.
"Good evening." He slid effortlessly into the chair across from her. His smile bright enough to light the café several times over. "Can I get you a drink?"
Her eyes looked up from her drink and just for a split second went wide, almost as if she were shocked that he had chosen her to offer a drink to. It was however the smallest of moments before she turned back to her glass and quickly smirking "I believe I already have one, Monsieur." Her attempt to shake him off came too late. He could see that this woman was interested. More than interested.
"I meant back at my place." He winked, his hand on the table reaching for hers. His grin stretched from ear-to-ear. The cat that got the cream. His smile more than a little wolfish. His eyes darkened with the primal rush that came with "the chase."
"My, my someone's eager…" she laughed but it was merrily rather than scornful "I'm Arielle." Her hand extended towards him, he then enclosed her delicate fingers with both of his warm palms.
"You can call me Courfeyrac."
"Is that your real name?"
"Maybe?" he winked again, gently shaking her hand in a warm greeting.
The hunt was almost insultingly easy for Courfeyrac. He was deliciously charming – if he didn't say so himself. Her wall of defence was falling far quicker than he'd anticipated, body language moving from distant and cold to practically draping herself over the table, clutching his hand, her entire body leaning in his favour. He felt a bitterness in his stomach – he was needed the chase. This girl falling into his arms wasn't doing anything for him. He wanted someone to argue with him. Someone to bounce off his ideas and options. Someone who had enough respect in themselves not to fall for the same old tired clichés but to call him out on them.
Her conversation had quickly melted into physical desires. She admired his face, his eyes his hair, but not him. She'd not asked him about interests or opinions. She was just like the others. However she was beautiful, she clearly didn't want a real relationship, just a night of fun. That's what he wanted – wasn't it? He picked up his coat and offered the girl his arm and they made to leave the café when a pair of thin arms wrapped around his waist.
"Courfeyrac?" Eponine had appeared from nowhere and was hugging him tightly. A huge happy grin on her face "I'm pregnant!"
"What?!" You told me you'd been single for a year!" The Arielle looked at Eponine, completely shocked.
"I-I…She's kidding…" He snapped. He hated it when Eponine would cock-block him in such a manor.
He wriggled out of her grip and almost running over to the other girl, trying in vain to put his arm back around her. Eponine grabbed his sleeve. "Courfeyrac, how could you just leave me…especially with the baby on the way!" her dark eyes filled with tears. She grabbed his hand and placed it on her stomach "You promised to support me! You promised you loved me…"
The girl looked incredulously at the scene "I can't believe I almost fell for that!" she grabbed a drink from a nearby table and threw it into his face. The alcoholic beverage splashing all over his face and the front of his shirt. He stared in horrified silence, making no move to remove the drink from his face. Arielle glared at him for a second before storming off, slamming the café door behind her with such force the pictures on the wall shook.
Upon hearing Eponine stifled attempts to hide her laughter he rounded on her, torn between being genuinely angry or extremely amused. "God I hate it when you do that!"
"You can do better Courfeyrac!" That smirk wrapped around her lips, handing him a napkin to clean himself up "She was all breasts and no brain."
"I would have enjoyed finding that out for myself." Not that he considered breasts and little brain was necessarily a bad thing! A slightly goofy smile appeared at his mouth, his eyes drifting off. She had, had quite the figure.
"You total arse Courfeyrac!" She playfully smacked him on the arm, bringing him back to reality. "How your tricks actually get women into bed I'll never figure out..."
"You love it really!" He laughed, as she made to walk away he wrapped his arms around her from behind. Lifting her right off the floor. He was no longer taken aback by how he could feel her ribs through her clothes, for now he could barely feel them. Her legs kicked happily trying not to laugh. "Don't deny the laughter dear, it's easier just to go with the flow!" He smirked right in her ear.
"Put me down you idiot!" She bit down on her lip trying hard not to let the massive grin inside her show. "I'm trying to work!" too late the laughter had escaped.
"I'm encouraging you to take a break, I'm being chivalrous!"
She squirmed about in his grip until she was facing him, a playful smile on her lips "Chivalrous or misogynistic?"
"Chivalrous….Always chivalrous." He smirked hugging her a little tighter. Then , from her curls, he caught just the hint of that familiar smell. "You're wearing my bloody cologne again." He laughed.
"No I'm not!" she her cheeks flushed scarlet. He noticed for the first time in how the passing time had been generous to her. Her painfully thin face had filled out a little since she had begun living with him.
"Yes you are! I can smell it on you!" He put her down, smiling to show that he wasn't really angry with her. "You are aware that stuff costs a fortune."
"Can the little rich boy not afford it?" She winked playfully at him "Speaking of money." She fished a slip of paper from her dress pocket "Here. I was given my first payment and well…I owe you so much… "
"Eponine….I can't take this." He looked down at the slip of paper she was pressing into his palm.
"Yes you can." She closed his fingers around the paper. "I never wanted to live off you. It's time I started to give back some of what I owe you. The dresses, the food, the board…I am in your debt in more ways than one."
"I will not take your money."
"Yes you will. You're a good man Courfeyrac and I know after all we've been through that you still see me as someone who needs help but I don't anymore. You helped me out of that life…Now I have to pay you back. I need to stand on my own feet, so eventually I will pay you back everything I've taken from you."
"I never thought of you being in my debt."
"But I am." She gently pushed his hand closer "So please, take this…"
"If you insist…But you don't owe me anything Eponine."
"I do…I really do…"
"Courfeyrac!" both jumped apart. "Stop flirting with the staff please." Musichetta was grinning that knowing smile of hers before disappearing behind the bar again.
"In that case I shall try my luck elsewhere." He grinned at Eponine. He seized his coat from the chair, tipped his hat in her direction and winked again before disappearing out the door.
"I'll have a whiskey waitress." The voice shocked her back into reality. Tugging her gaze away from the door and turning it upon the owner of the voice. Gavrouche was standing there, shooting her that wicked, crooked smirk. "Go on Ep. Throw ya brother a bone."
"Food yes. Alcohol no." She said with a small smile, ruffling his knotted hair with her fist. She stepped up to the bar "Musichetta…I hate to ask you this but…Could you make something for my brother…I'd offer you money from my pay check…but Courfeyrac just took it you can take it from next months if you like…"
She held up her hand "Think nothing of it...You are part of this family now…that means he is to. Besides…" she smiled at the younger girl "a sandwich is hardly going to bankrupt us. It's your break anyway...So take five sweetie…" Then she disappeared. Eponine dutifully took a seat at a nearby table and watched as Gavrouche clambered into the chair facing her.
Later that night she woke from another nightmare, in a cold sweat. Tears fell from her eyes but she roughly brushed them away letting out a shaky sigh… Don't cry Eponine….Whatever you do…Please don't cry! Don't let that bastard back into your head! She could still remember her father's face from her dream. He horrible crooked sneer. The small, yellowing, pointed teeth bared. His hands –with their large rough palms and thick fingers, the hands covered in scars and scrapes. The way they would hold her down. Hold her by the arm, the waist, the neck, the hair. How they would strike her again and again. She had grown unaccustomed to the life she had lead. She grown resigned to her fate. Then Courfeyrac had offered her another way to go so that her nightmares would remain just that. Nightmares. Part of her wanted to go through to him. Thank him once again for all that he'd done for her but noises from his room pulled her from her thoughts. .
His voice murmuring something and then distinctly female giggles. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was happening behind that closed door.
She scolded herself for being surprised. The situation she awoke to was not uncommon, or unexpected. He'd still been out on the prowl when she'd gone to bed. Clearly the hunt was a success and even if she couldn't hear what was happening behind closed doors – at least not properly. She shifted uncomfortably under her blanket. Feeling like a dirty little pervert for being able to hear everything. Images flashing before her eyes, of Courfeyrac and that beautiful girl together. Kissing. Touching. Skin brushing skin. Bodies entwining in the soft light that was spilling out from beneath the door. She rolled over completely unable to drift off. Their voices keeping her there in the moment. With the angry rush in her stomach. Instead she sat up, let out a soft moan and decided to go make herself a cup of tea.
"I have earplugs if you like 'Ponine."
The voice came as such a shock she nearly dropped the sugar. "Marius…you startled me." She let out a nervous giggle before turning to look at him leaning on the doorframe, wearing a sleepy smile. His dark hair flopped into his eyes. She turned that look appearing on her, the one that if he were to truly look, he would see what she was trying to tell him.
"You learn to live with that…Well at least I have…Usually he's kind enough to let people drift off to sleep first…Still easier to be prepared." She barely noticed what he said, her eyes focusing on his soft, pink lips and the way the moved to form words. The adorable freckles upon his face. He did look somewhat like Montparnasse but his features were softer. Kinder. The innocence and sweetness that shone from him.
The silence brought her back "Monsieur Marius, I can cope…but thank you."
"Well if you change your mind…" he placed the spare earplugs on the kitchen table, before stepping over and taking over the tea-making, taking the cup from her hand. As his skin brushed hers, she felt her cheeks and yet at the same time Courfeyrac popped into her head. The numerous times he had taken her hand, his thumb brushing against the back of her palm. Her heart began to race and her breath caught in her throat. Her cheeks began to flush deeper, so much so that she turned away. "Enjolras was saying earlier how all these mistresses…" Marius' voice was still making noises. His lips were moving but she wasn't paying attention to what they were saying. She just stood in a confused trance, mug in hand. Wondering why Courfeyrac always appeared in her thoughts this way.
The tea was soon finished and when they could no longer hear noises from behind the bedroom door so decided to call it a night.
Eponine was the first awake a few hours later, she rose and went to make herself another cup of tea. Half asleep she stirred it gently, appreciating the gentle tinkle of the spoon on china.
"Oh…Good morning." Came a somewhat discomfited voice from the door. Eponine turned to find Courfeyracs date standing there, wearing Courfeyracs robe. Her blonde hair tumbling down her back. Her slender hand was resting on the door frame. She was almost shimmering slightly in the light streaming through the window. Her big blue eyes blinked back at her looking almost annoyed "Please tell me you aren't his wife…"
"No!" Eponine laughed gently "Goodness no! I'm just a friend fallen on hard times…I am no threat to you…"
The girls eyes looked her up and down, taking in the stuck up bed hair and scruffy nightgown – the one thing that Eponine had insisted on buying herself, 'It's my nightware, you picking it would be weird…almost like you buying me underwear." The girl then smirked murmuring something that sounded suspiciously like "I can see that sweetheart!" Eponine glared at her but decided against fighting with Courfeyracs date – for if she was like the others, she would never be seen again.
"I'm Sophie."
"Eponine."
The girl simply raised an eyebrow as if wondering why this information could possibly interested her and why this little girl would bother passing it on.
"Mam'zelle. Good morning…" he pulled the girl into his arms from behind, gently burying his face into her neck. Desperately trying to remember her name…Amber? Claudette? Sylvie? Did it even matter…She wouldn't care for his name either. His brain was trying to tell him that this was foolish. That he should be growing out of these impulsive one night stands but he never could.
Her entire persona changed from cold and uninviting to a giggling schoolgirl. Her hand running up his arm before turning her head and gently kissing him on the lips "Monsieur your roommate's here."
"'Ponine doesn't mind. Do you 'Ponine?" He grinned that charming half smirk at her before going back to his date.
Eponine she couldn't take her eyes off the pair for five or six seconds. A lead weight hit her stomach before she quickly gave the couple an uncomfortable nod "Oh, don't mind me…" she took her mug and quickly exited.
Courfeyrac could have noticed how swiftly she had left him alone with his "date". He could have noticed the expression of her face – blinking back something. Maybe tears, maybe it was simply her trying to hold her tongue about how she didn't approve of his date. He could have noticed. He probably should have noticed.
However His date smiled at him. She had a gorgeous smile. Soft pink lips, bright, straight teeth and the way her lips twisted upward and the dimples at the corners of her mouth. Besides Eponine would have been honest with him. She wouldn't stand about and let something happen she wasn't happy with. So he allowed himself to be distracted. He spun her by the waist catching her again in his arms. His hand slipped further and further down her back as his mouth collided with hers in a deep and passionate kiss