Chapter 10 - Enjolras' House
A/N Hey guys, I'm aware that this is the shortest chapter I've ever written and for that I'm very sorry but it's completely a filler and hopefully you can find it in your hearts to forgive me :)
Her eyes stung, her throat ached, her palms had marks in them from where she'd clenched her fists so tightly her nails had dug into them. Everything about Eponine hurt when she woke up the next morning, she thought back to the middle of the night when Enjolras had told her she should have let him die. How could he say that? All she'd done was help him and this was his thanks?
She sat up in bed and looked out the window into the street below, a young boy was standing not too far from the house holding up a newspaper. She quickly put a coat on over her pyjamas and slipped on her shoes then picked up some coins on the way out and went to buy a paper from the boy.
"Mornin' Miss, 2 sous please." The boy said.
"Here you are, have 3." Eponine replied, placing the three coins she'd slid off the table into the boy's hands.
"Thanks Miss, have a good day."
Eponine made her way back to the house reading the front page of the paper, the headline simply said "Nobody Joined In Their Crusade" She skimmed the article but she froze in her tracks when she reached the final sentence.
"Police are now on the look out for the leader of this rebellion, known simply as 'Enjolras' this man is wanted for high treason, anyone with any knowledge of his whereabouts should contact the police immediately so not to prolong his capture."
She ran back through the door and slammed it behind her, her chest heaving as she tried to recover her breath.
"Eponine." She heard a quiet voice say from upstairs and she stood back up and followed it to Enjolras' room, the newspaper still held tightly in her hands.
"So you're talking to me this morning?" She asked bitterly.
"Only because I need water." He spat back at her.
"So now I'm just your slave?"
"Well do I look capable of getting out this bed and getting it myself?"
"Maybe I should of left you to die at the barricade." She shouted back at him then bit her tongue as she immediately regretted it.
"Well I'm glad we think the same now."
"As am I." She replied, she didn't mean it at all, she was just angry.
"Good. Now get my water, it's the least you can do for me."
"Oh yeah because saving your life just wasn't enough?" Eponine mumbled as she stormed out the room carrying his glass.
When she returned to his room she saw him sat up slightly more in the bed, a pillow behind his head propping him up and the newspaper she just bought in his hand.
"They're looking for me." He noted as she set the glass down beside him.
"You weren't supposed to see that."
"Why? Because you think it will scare me? I'm not scared of the police, they should be scared of me."
"That's exactly why you weren't supposed to see it."
"Oh, because it will scare you." He replied, the pieces clicking into place in his mind and his expression softening slightly for the first time since they started speaking.
"I don't want you to do something stupid again."
"The barricades weren't stupid." He snapped back.
"No, I know they weren't, they just didn't end the way we all wanted them to, I don't want you to do something something like that again, ok?"
"I won't." Eponine breathed a sigh of relief. "Not for a while anyway."
The two of them sat on Enjolras' bed looking at each other, within the last two days they both seemed to have changed so much. Enjolras' face with it's strong, square jawline had sunk slightly, every feature looked tired and his eyes had lost their usual sparkle. Eponine's face looked almost older now, she no longer looked quite so much like an oversized street child but now more like an actual woman though she was still dressed in the same old rags as before.
A knock from the front door startled them both from their thoughts and Eponine hurried down the stairs to see who it was. She cautiously opened the door and was very surprised to see who was standing before her.
"Eponine?" Cosette squealed and threw her arms around her.
"Cosette? What are you doing here?" She asked in disbelief.
"Marius told me this was Enjolras' house, we saw the newspaper and Marius said that if they hadn't found him at the barricades then he could be here so he sent me to see. I did not expect to find you here, is Monsieur Enjolras here?" Cosette spoke very quickly and excitedly.
"Yes he's here, you'd best come inside Cosette." Eponine replied, pulling the girl in and shutting the door behind her. "Come into the kitchen."
Eponine set about making some food and drinks for the two of them as well as a little extra for Enjolras.
"So Marius is ok?" She asked while she hurried back and forth around the kitchen.
"Oh yes, he's a bit weak and his arm is in a sling but he's a lot more awake and talking again this morning, he won't speak of the barricade though. When I read the newspaper this morning he waited until I was out the room to read it for himself and when he returned he said nothing of the matter other than the fact that Enjolras may be here and I should come and see."
"Enjolras is the same, he can't move from his bed yet, he's in an awful mood though. He says I should have left him at the barricade to die, that I was wrong to save him. When he read the newspaper all he said was that he's not scared of the police and I had to tell him not to do anything stupid."
"What have we got ourselves into Eponine?" Cosette asked, taking her friend's hand across the table.
"I honestly don't know any more Cosette, it's a bit of a mess."
"Just a little" Cosette laughed back, Eponine was actually glad to hear her laugh, it reminded her that she did still have people around her, though it was a significantly smaller number than just days before, she still had Cosette, Marius and hopefully Enjolras.
Cosette stayed with Eponine for the rest of the day, not leaving until about 4 in the afternoon. The two girls chatted for hours, drank copious amounts of tea and laughed until their sides hurt.
"Thank you for such a wonderful day Eponine." Cosette said when they were stood back at the front door.
"It's been no trouble Cosette, thank you for your company, we must do this again."
"We must, I shall make sure of it, and when Marius and Enjolras are well again they shall be able to join us."
They shared a tight, long hug on the doorstep before Cosette turned around and walked back out down the street, waving to Eponine as she did so.
Eponine went back inside the house and shut the door behind her, hearing, once again, the small call of her name from Enjolras upstairs.
"Yes?" She asked from his doorway.
"Did you have a good day with Cosette?" He asked.
"Why do you care?"
"I have nothing else to do up here, I thought I might as well make some light conversation to pass the time."
"Well then yes, it was lovely, she was much better company than you are currently being."
"I'm glad to hear of it, I was never one for girly chit chat so at least now I know I shan't have to concern myself with it."
Eponine tried to come up with a witty comeback though she was not able to in time so instead she just stood in the doorway moving her mouth slightly trying to form words, earning her a suppressed laugh from Enjolras.
"Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere, I'll still be here when you think of something." He laughed.
"Urgh!" Eponine shouted and stomped out the room, down the stairs.
"Can you bring me something to eat?" Enjolras called after her, still laughing to himself.
A few hours later when Eponine had composed herself and was calm again she returned back upstairs with two plates of food, for her and Enjolras, and a stack of books.
"Here. I brought you some dinner and some entertainment." She said placing them all down before him.
"You brought me two plates of food?"
"No, one's for me, I didn't fancy eating alone downstairs."
"Oh I see how it is, now you want my company."
"I don't want us to be like this Enjolras, I don't want every conversation we have to be an argument, you're not the only one who lost friends in this. I've lost my friends too, it's hitting me just as hard as it's hitting you. You may have made promises to those boys and they may have made promises to you that I wasn't part of but they made promises to me too and I can't let them down now. We've both got this far and now it would just be wrong to break off our last links to all of them by fighting with each other. We're all we have now Enjolras." Eponine broke down towards the end, her sobs making her words almost inaudible. Enjolras reached out a hand and placed it down on hers, she almost flinched away but when she realised it was nothing but a loving gesture she allowed him to keep it there.
"What do you mean they made you promises too?" He asked quietly after a while.
"Grantaire." Eponine choked out. "Right before he came into the cafe and stood beside you he'd been standing beside me. He told me he'd never seen you happier and that he'd make sure you got back to me." Enjolras sat completely still, only his lip quivered a little.
"That's why he pushed me out the way when they fired." He whispered.
"Now do you see why I had to save you? I couldn't let Grantaire do all that in vain." Enjolras bowed his head and looked up through his messy blonde curls.
"Thank you Eponine." He finally said so quietly that had the smallest breeze gone past the window at that moment he wouldn't have been heard.
The two of them sat for hours, not speaking, just frozen in the same positions. Eventually Eponine felt her eyes slowly close before she fell asleep and her head lolled down onto her shoulder. Enjolras noticed this and, though he knew she wouldn't hear it he whispered into the darkness of the room. "I'm sorry."
A/N Again, sorry for the short chapter, I had absolutely no plan when I wrote this one so it all just kind of fell onto the page.
THERE'S ONLY TWO CHAPTERS LEFT! I'm really sad this is almost finished but I hope you've all enjoyed reading it and hopefully you'll all stick around and check out my next story which I am super excited about as it's very different from this one and very original.
Till next time pals.