At last all the preparations were in place. In the final hours they had been compelled to inform Monsieur Fauchelevent who had smiled, delighted that someone had thought of something to entertain his dear Cosette. He and Madame Hucheloup had decided that they would stay downstairs in the cafe for the most part and let the young people have their fun, but still be near enough that should some calamity occur they could on hand to assist.
Grantaire came to the door and knocked, Cosette opened the door and smiled.
"There's something I want to show you" he said offering her his arm. "It's something you'll like, its over at the cafe." He couldn't keep the grin off of his face.
"Just a moment, let me grab my shawl" she said looking out at the fading sky "and tell my papa."
Grantaire waited feeling more excited about this party than he had about anything in a very long time. He had even brushed his pants and bought a new shirt for the occasion. She returned, having obtained her papa's permission, and she took his proffered arm.
The others had all already gathered. Feeling that the more the merrier was a good adage, they had invited some of their other acquaintences. Some of the mistresses of the deceased had been found and invited, along with some of the students whom they had been friends with who had not participated in the meetings of the Les Amis.
Grantaire opened the cafe door, making sure that the bell on the door handle rung loudly as he closed it. Then, leading an eager and curious Cosette upstairs the others all lit the candles as they reached the stairs and the band that had been hired struck up a merry tune when they reached the top of the stairs. Cosette had the distinct expression of a child dropped into fairyland. She was dazed and delighted and showered smiles on everyone.
"This is our surprise for you" Grantaire said leading her over to where Enjolras and Eponine were waiting along with Combeferre.
"For me?" she asked breathlessly.
"Yes" Enjolras affirmed.
"You are all too kind" she said turning in a full circle looking at the pretty decorations in the room and the buffet of food and all the people.
"It is the least that could be done" Eponine said softly. "After all you've done, and all my ingratitude, I only wish I could've helped more with this whole affair" she looked down a bit.
"Eponine" Enjolras said. "We would have never thought of this if not for you, and your intelligence and good taste were a great help." He had been trying to be better about noticing people and all they did for him, and being appreciative, after all, perhaps Combeferre and Monsieur Fauchelevent were right, maybe kindness could change the world faster than guns and revolutions.
Combeferre looked at his friend in surprise that he quickly masked
In order to break the silence that had come over them Grantaire asked, hoping no one would volunteer, "whose going to dance with Cosette to open this ball?" he looked at the other two men, Combeferre declined.
"I will" Enjolras said "unless you would like to do so?"
Grantaire's face brightened a bit
"After all, you are best dancer amongst us three" Combeferre added.
Cosette turned her eyes on Grantaire in surprise, she had not thought of him as being able to dance.
"Yes" he said answering her look "I can dance. Shall we?" he said offering her his hand and signaling to the musicians that the festivities were now to officially commence and appropriate music should be played.
She looked up at him, slightly nervous "Grantaire, I've never danced before" she admitted.
He laughed, "I'll teach you, you're on the easy side of things, you get to follow, I lead." He grinned "don't worry, I won't let you trip or fall, I am very good at this" he said proudly. And so he swept her up into the grandiose waltz happier than he could recall being. His own happiness was fed by seeing her smiling and joyful, fed by knowing he had had a hand in bringing about this event for her, and fed by the fact that he had her in his arms. The turmoil in his mind was indescribable. Part of him was berating him for forming an attachment to his own friend's lady, the other part reasoned that Marius was dead and there was nothing he could do to stop himself from liking her even if Marius wasn't. This storm raged on inside his brain while the rest of him enjoyed the party and the pretty girl he had the pleasure of dancing with.
In his turn Combeferre danced with Cosette, he was a terrible dancer, but he wanted to make sure Cosette felt like she was the belle of the ball, so he did his part and then passed her off to Enjolras who looked confused until his friend nudged him and he decided that whatever it was Combeferre was plotting he should probably go along with it and ask him about it later, after all, he was the people person, Enjolras was not.
He led Cosette out in a dance and all watched in amazement, he was equal if not superior to Grantaire in a slow waltz. He looked very dignified and his partner, her face flushed from all the dancing, looked very pretty indeed. They made a striking pair.
To alleviate the silence that hung over them as they danced, Cosette ventured a remark "I wanted to apologize to you" she said as he lead her in the slow rhythm of the song.
"For what?" he asked completely surprised.
"Ever since I met you I have thought of you as cold and unfeeling and admittedly you frightened me something awful most of the time, and the rest I just felt that you were unsociable and disliked me. I realize now how wrong I have been, you are good and kind even if you are different."
Enjolras laughed, and it was a sound made all the more noticable for its rarity.
"I frightened you?" he said shaking his head. "I apologize most sincerely" he said gravely "and will attempt to not be so distant and anti-social in the future."
"No, its alright" she said smiling "I don't mind, you don't frighten me anymore. I understand you, or at least a little bit of you. You do care, just not quite like I'm used to, if that makes sense."
"It makes as much sense as it needs to" he said bowing as they finished the dance and handing her to Grantaire who was watching with a wide mix of emotions, all of which had flashed across his face at one point or another, but the smile that Cosette showed when he took her hand erased any negativity he had had in his head.
Enjolras stood to the side.
"See, these balls aren't so bad after all" Eponine said standing beside him. "You laughed, I didn't know you did that" she teased though not in a rude way.
"I don't, not often at least."
They were silent together some minutes until at last as the song ended she turned to him.
"Do you only dance with pretty bourgeois, or would it be too much to ask?" she gestured indistinctly towards the dance floor. She wanted to dance, and seeing as Grantaire was glued to Cosette's side, and she knew no one else except Combeferre, who having discharged his chivalrous duty to Cosette had sequestered himself by the buffet with a book.
Enjolras looked at her, it taking a moment to discern what she was asking.
"It would be my honor" he said offering her his hand with a small bow. After all, he may not enjoy dancing that much, but if the woman who had saved his life wanted to dance, he would oblige with no reservations.
He lead her out onto the dance floor, a smile appearing on his face without his own knowledge. She was so athletic and not a burden to dance with at all. She had grace in her lean muscles and he was surprised when he looked down at her that she was smiling, and not her impish sort of usual smile, this was a radiant smile of joyfulness.
Eponine felt aquiver with supreme happiness. She was being treated like a lady. Granted she had had to ask him to dance, instead of the other way around, but it was Enjolras after all, and he was slow on the uptake on most things that didn't have to do with politics and revolution. As they danced a slow realization came over her, she looked at Enjolras and she saw a man she admired, one who was kind and good down to his core, a righteous man. But there was more than that, when she looked at him she felt her heart beat a little faster than usual. She tried to discard the budding feelings, she was in love with Marius, true, he was dead, but was she losing her heart to another after only three months? Had latent feelings and admiration been her motivation for aiding Enjolras all along. She didn't know, and it was too much of a mess to sort out. She just focused on having a good time, which surprisingly she was.
Enjolras got some punch for Eponine after they finished dancing. He looked around the room, noticing faces that were familiar but he was unsure why. He studied the crowd and found that while he hadn't thought he had been paying attention to things before the barricades, he really had. He saw the faces of young women, several of whom he remembered being in the company of Courfeyrac at one time or another. He saw young men he had had classes with at the university. He didn't remember noticing any of these people, but he remembered who they were surprisingly, or at least why they seemed familiar.
He brought the glass to Eponine.
"Thanks" she said smiling despite herself. She drained the glass a little too quickly to be ladylike but Enjolras didn't notice, and he wouldn't have cared anyways.
"Would you care to dance again?" he asked her, unsure why, he just felt that they ought to be doing something.
She took his hand as her answer and they went out onto the floor once more.
Enjolras lead her to the music. For the first time in his life he noticed the shape of a woman. With Eponine in his arms, her hand in his he felt feelings strange and new to him. His cheeks turned pink without his knowing it as he noticed how the deep red dress flattered Eponine and made her usually sallow face brighter and lively looking. He noticed so much that it staggered him a bit. He was not used to this at all. He had sworn that he was immune to the sickness that seemed to riddle all of his friends. He had never noticed the garters that girls occasionally showed when they leaped gutters, and if his attention had been forced into that direction, he was unmoved by it, but just the sight of Eponine in the form-fitting but modest dress warmed him.
As soon as the song had finished he politely excused himself and once out of sight he nearly flew to the door of the cafe, accidentally running into Madame Hucheloup.
"I am sorry madame" he said apologizing as he insured that she was alright.
"What's the matter, you look pale, is something wrong upstairs?" she asked concerned.
"No, nothing, everyone is fine" he assured her trying to get to the door.
"Except you it would seem" she said arching an eyebrow as she took his hand and led him to the kitchen where they could talk undisturbed. He followed like a child who was lost and being rescued by a kind stranger, everything seemed vague and unfamiliar to him, his world was being shaken by the feelings he had just had. "Now what's wrong?" she asked sitting in front of the big fire and looking up at him.
He sat down beside her "I don't know" he said and was silent.
"Come on" she said squeezing his hand "I've been looking out for you and the others ever since you were a bunch of whippersnappers who were wet behind the ears and nervously embarking on university life, if you can't trust me, who can you trust?"
He sighed "it's not lack of trust madame, I just don't know myself. I honestly have never given a second thought to this sort of thing before, I never even gave a first thought. I feel that to feel things like what I just felt upstairs is to betray my ideal. To think of a woman as something other than just a fellow citizen is to betray Patria. I don't know what I feel and I don't know if it's wrong or not" he said talking though it was almost as though he had been speaking more to himself than Madame Hucheloup.
She smiled and looked up at him. "I can asure you, what you're feeling is not only not wrong, its a good thing. To love someone is the best thing that can happen to a person. You've spent your whole short youthful life focusing on loving your Patria, giving your devotion to an ideal, but it's not the same, not near the same as having an actual flesh and blood person to hold in your arms and talk to. You're not betraying your ideal, to love another person is the only reason to live at all. Ideals can fade and change, but to win someone's heart and to be able to trust them with all your dreams and ideas and to love them and to have children, there is nothing to compare with it." She gave his hand another squeeze "you don't need to deny yourself love in order to fight for the ideas you have. There is no reason you can't have both dear boy" she said leaning over and hugging him before standing up. He sat there, looking serenely thoughtful.
"Bless me! how you are all growing up" she said and wiped a tear away "I'm very happy you're starting to act like a proper young man and lose your heart" she said laughing softly and pulling him to his feet. "Incidentally, is this lady responsible for inspiring these new feelings a fine brunette from a poor family?" she grinned at him as his cheeks flushed. "She's quite the catch if you can get her." She said.
"That's just the thing, even if I were to actually develop serious enough feelings for her to pursue something, I don't even know what I'm pursuing, and I can't say things well" he protested in duress. "How do you win a girl's heart, I've never bothered to try before, I didn't pay attention to how Courfeyrac went about it, not that I want to win her like that" he hastily added. Eponine was a valiant young woman, he had no intentions of whisking her to his bed and then depositing her back on the street after he was done. "What do I do? I am not good at words, not pleasant ones. I can chastize the government but how on earth do I endear myself to a woman?" He leaned his head against the wall, it felt like it might explode for all the confusion and consternation that was swirling around inside of it.
Madame Hucheloup looked up at him "I'd say if you're that worried you've fallen more than you'd care to admit" she smiled maternally. "The right words will come, if not, she will understand the words you do use, even if they don't sound like you hoped they would. Pay attention to her, find out what she likes, find out about her. If that doesn't win her she's a fool, to have a heart like yours offered, she'd be mad to snub you" she assured him. For after all, if she were young, she knew she would have gladly accepted the advances of a man like Enjolras, he was exemplary in all ways and was quite the handsome young man too.
He nodded before paling a bit "Please don't mention this conversation to anyone else... especially not Grantaire" he said. He was not up to being teased for his new discoveries.
She laughed "Of course not, I will tell no one, it's safe with me" she said.
"Thank you" he said bowing over her hand.
"Now go on, get back to that party before they come looking for you" she said shooing him out of the kitchen. He smiled and slowly ascended up the stairs. He suddenly thought of Marius and how suddenly love had seized his friend, he was following in his footsteps it would seem. He went to her side, swallowing hard a bit, now that he had noticed her, it seemed impossible to not notice her, even when he tried.
The two of them sat down with Combeferre and started talking. Amelia looked at the dance floor longingly, she had been doing so the entire duration of the party. Enjolras noticed this, surprised at himself, he was noticing people, he was not used to doing this.
"Would you like to dance?" he asked her.
Her eyes lit up "really?" she asked happily.
He smiled and offered her his hand.
Combeferre looked at him and then at Eponine. "I've never seen him so... personable and well, warm" he said smiling.
She nodded "He's been very considerate all night" she remarked sipping on some wine he had gotten her. She smiled as she watched Amelia enjoying herself to the extreme. She was dancing and Eponine knew from observation and a few statements Amelia had made that she had a schoolgirl crush on Enjolras. And who could blame the thirteen year old girl for doing so, he did have a storybook prince look about him with the blonde curls and chiseled jaw. Eponine found herself observing all the things that she found admirable in Enjolras' person. He had a lean build and long blond lashes that only added to the intensity of his azure eyes. She shook herself out of her reverie, but not before Combeferre noticed and smiled to himself. He had distinctly seen her watching Enjolras intently with that look on her face that he was used to seeing girls throw Courfeyrac's direction when observing him from a distance. He smiled and sipped his wine silently hoping that Enjolras might finally come out of his chaste shell and do something to claim the heart that was leaning in his diresction.