Hello my pretties! I hope you did not forget about this story! Sorry about the super late update, but the holidays have been one crazy time. I hope you all had a great Christmas and I wish you all a happy new year! Thank you for your patience and here's the next chapter!
Enjolras glanced at his watch for the third time in two minutes. Eponine had told him she would be there in thirty minutes, twenty five minutes ago. He could see Amelie across the bar laughing and hitting shamelessly on her new boy toy, Henry. Saying that he was getting anxious would be an understatement.
"Seriously, quit checking your watch, Enjolras." Grantaire scolded. "You're starting to look like a schizophrenic."
At that point, Musichetta came by their table with another round of beers, as ordered by Grantaire of course. "Here's your drinks, boys." She announced laying them in front of the three friends.
"Well, well, well." Courfeyrac smiled sweetly leaning back on the seat he sat in. "If it isn't the fairest maiden of them all."
Musichetta rolled her eyes. "And if it isn't the cheesy dick." She returned his smile sarcastically.
"Oh, zing!" Grantaire giggled.
"Hey, remember? I'm not being a player. I'm just here at your leisure." Courfeyrac said coolly.
She crossed her arms over her chest and smirked. "Do you know what I did with your number that you wrote down on a napkin, mister 'leisure'?" She asked all too sweetly.
"Put it in a no-no zone?" Courfeyrac asked, earning a slap from Grantaire again. Enjolras was too busy watching the door to be concerned about what was happening.
Seemingly unphased by his crude comment, Musichetta answered, "I ate it." And then she walked away, with Courfeyrac never taking his eyes off of her.
"Man, if she keeps that up, I may just have to marry her." Grantaire laughed.
"Oh, man, she wants me so bad." Courfeyrac said absentmindedly.
"Dude, she just shoved a new one down your throat." Grantaire said. "Maybe I'm the crazy one, but I'm pretty sure that means she doesn't like you."
"You underestimate the power of my charm."
"Your charm?" Grantaire asked giving him a face. "You mean the same charm that got you shot down in the first place? Or are you referring to the same charm that you had on that airport cop?"
Courfeyrac held his hands up. "I just said she had a bomb-tastic ass! She's the one who overreacted!"
"They held us both in that dark room for four hours! And I won't even mention what they did to my collection of Panic! At the Disco CDs."
"Whatever! The point is, I can totally hit that."
Grantaire rolled his eyes, but then got an idea. "Alright, Courf." He said slowly turning his head towards his friend with a mischievous look in his eye. "How about a little wager? If you can get her to give you her number before the end of the night, by free will, I will add, then I'll give you free drinks here for a week."
"Oh, I like this!" Courfeyrac squealed while rubbing his hands together.
"But!" Grantaire held up a hand to stop him from taking off. "If you lose, and you more than likely will, you have to buy my groceries for a week."
"You're on, Skeptical Sally!" He said, shaking Grantaires' hand to seal the deal. "Now, watch and learn as the hook reels in the fish." Courfeyrac then downed another drink of beer and then slunk off to pursue his new goal, leaving Grantaire a happy camper.
"Looks like I'm going to making lobster and steaks next week." He giggled to himself. He then noticed how Enjolras was not moving, turned halfway around and looking at the door. "Enjolras? What are you-?" Suddenly, it all became clear.
In the door stood Eponine. But not the same Eponine they had seen lying in bed and crying her eyes out lately. This Eponine was clean and her hair was brushed to perfection, her makeup done in a natural, but beautiful way. She wore a little black dress that not only complimented her curves but made her legs seem longer. A white and black striped cardigan she had put over it gave it a casual but beautiful look. Both Enjolras and Grantaire were speechless, and many other male patrons in the bar stopped to admire her as she walked to her pretend boyfriend.
"Hey, guys!" She greeted with a smile, and leaned over to give Enjolras a peck on the cheek.
"Hey, yourself." Grantaire mumbled. "Eponine, what happened?"
She looked confused. "What do you mean?"
"He means, you look incredible, Eponine." Enjolras said, suddenly regaining his ability to speak. Again.
Eponine beamed. "Thank you. Well, you said you needed a fake girlfriend, so I needed to dress for the part. You don't think it's too much, do you?"
"No." Both Enjolras and Grantaire insisted.
Laughing humbly, she turned to Enjolras expectantly. "So are you going to tell me what's going on now?"
"Well, you see-"
"Richard." Amelie interrupted once again. However, this time she wasn't alone. Henry had his arm wrapped around her waist, sending a rotten feeling to the pit of Enjolras' stomach. Upon seeing them, he threw his arm around Eponine's shoulder. "This must be your new girlfriend."
Eponine regarded the two of them carefully, noticing how her presence immediately made Enjolras stiffen and how she called him by his first name. She plastered a wide smile on her face and held out her hand. "Hi, I'm Eponine." She introduced herself with a sugar coated tone.
"It is certainly nice to meet you, Eponine. I'm Amelie." Amelie shook her hand, with an icy glare but sugary smile. "And this is my boyfriend, Henry." He held out his hand for her to shake, which was surprisingly soft.
"So how do you know, Enjy-poo, then?" Eponine asked, leaning on Enjolras lovingly. She had decided long ago that she was going to play this up good. Enjolras tried to hide a grimace at Eponine's new nickname for him.
"Well, we used to go out." Amelie answered. "But I think it's safe to say that we've both moved on."
"Yep. I know I sure have." Enjolras spoke up. Meanwhile, Grantaire was trying his hardest not to laugh at this whole situation.
"So, uh, how did you two meet?" Henry asked conversationally.
Before Enjolras had a chance to speak, Eponine was already explaining. "Work. We met through work."
Amelie's eyebrows lifted. "You met each other through work? But Enjolras said you're a nurse." It was hard to mistake the look of victory in her eyes.
Seeing a challenge, Eponine said, "Yeah, he had been called to the hospital where I work for some legal issues or whatever, and I happened to be working that day. We've been practically inseparable ever since." She snuggled closer to Enjolras to add emphasis. Enjolras tried not to stiffen under her affection, but it was hard not to.
"It certainly appears that way." Amelie said, regarding the couple's interaction. "Well, it was really nice to meet you. But we have tickets to the Opera tonight, so we better get going."
"Oh, the Opera!" Eponine squealed. "We've seen it at least five times. It is simply amazing. We can't get enough of it."
"Really? I wouldn't think Richard would be an opera enthusiast."
"I've learn to love it, actually." Enjolras answered. "Once you give it a chance, it is really quite beautiful."
"Yes." Amelie said coldly. "We'll see around then?"
"Indeed, you will." Enjolras nodded curtly.
Eponine wanted to really get her, so she turned his head toward her. "Yeah, bye!" She waved at them, before connecting her lips with his in a big wet and dramatic kiss.
Amelie faltered a bit, before dragging Henry out of the bar. Grantaire waved like a girl at their retreating figures, and smirked. "Man, I don't think I've ever seen Amelie that-"
He was cut off when he turned back towards his friends and saw they were still lip locked. Enjolras' hand cupped her cheek, as Eponine ran her fingers through his mop of blonde curls. To anyone outside of the situation, they might have commented on how in love they were, how they truly never cared about anything else but each other. Grantaire suddenly felt extremely awkward and cleared his throat. "Um, guys. She's gone."
They reluctantly pulled apart, both gasping for air. "She's gone?" Enjolras breathed, looking funny with smeared lipstick on his lips and his hair sticking out in odd places.
"Yeah, she left about an hour ago," He joked. "Not that you two would've noticed." Both Eponine and Enjolras blushed. Eponine reached into her bag and produced a hand mirror and a tube of lipstick and started to reapply a new layer. "You guys ought to win an Oscar for that performance." Grantaire teased.
"Shut up!" Enjolras snapped, before leaning forward and lowering his voice. "But do you think she bought it?"
"Bought it?" Grantaire laughed obnoxiously. "She bought that act like it was the last pair of shoes on Black Friday! Ep, you ought to be congratulated. Not many people can think on their feet as quickly as you did."
Eponine shrugged nonchalantly, as she put her mirror and lipstick back in her purse. "This isn't my first time being a fake girlfriend. You'd be surprised how many people ask me for that."
"Well, I really appreciate it, Eponine. Thank you." Enjolras said sincerely, looking her in the eye.
A small smile appeared on her face as she nodded. "You're welcome, Enjolras. But now, I'm going to go get us a couple of drinks, and you are going to explain everything to me." She stood and made her way towards the bar, which was being attended to by Musichetta.
When she saw the girl approaching, Musichetta smiled brightly. "What can I get for you, dearie?"
"Just a couple of Budweisers." Eponine shrugged.
Musichetta nodded, but hesitated. "So, who's the man candy you were sucking faces with just now?" She asked bluntly with a smile.
Eponine's eyes widened. "Excuse me?"
"Honey, I'm no fool. I can see the chemistry... hell. I can feel the chemistry you guys are putting out, and it's enough to make a volcano to erupt."
Blushing, Eponine lowered her eyes and fiddled with the bottom of her dress. "We were just pretending to be a couple. I'm guessing it was for an old girlfriend or something."
"Wait, you didn't even know why he needed a fake girlfriend? You just came anyway?"
"Yes." Musichetta gave her a look. "It's not what you think, though."
She put her hands up. "Alright, alright. I'm not your mother." Musichetta then leaned in closer and lowered her voice. "But sweetheart, that man is one fine catch and it's obvious that he likes you. Take my advice and snatch him up before some other little belle comes rolling along and steals him away first." She then laid the two beers on the counter in front of Eponine, and then goes down to where Courfeyrac is seated at the bar and starts back in a conversation as if nothing had happened.
Eponine regarded the redheaded girl carefully, before grabbing the beers and turning back to the table where Enjolras and Grantaire were at. As she returned to them, and Enjolras regaled his story of "what used to be" with Amelie, Musichetta's words itched at the back of her mind.
Just as Enjolras was finishing up, Courfeyrac slowly sat down next to Grantaire again, with a red mark on his cheek, as if he had just been slapped. His face was downcast, which was very unlike him. "Did you just get hit?" Eponine asked concerned.
Courfeyrac nodded slowly. "Yep."
"Dude, was that Musichetta?" Grantaire asked, trying to get a closer look at the red hand mark on his friend's cheek.
He nodded again. "Apparently, my charm doesn't really have a filter."
"And you're just now realizing this?" Grantaire teased, hoping to get a smile at least from him.
"Well, it hasn't really been a problem before now." Courfeyrac shrugged his shoulders. "Can we just go home now?"
"Yeah, let's go." Eponine said, rising out of her chair and putting a hand on his shoulder. "Do you wanna tell us what happened?"
Courfeyrac shook his head. "I don't get it. All I did was show her my amazing bilingual skills as a romantic gesture and she got all mad."
"What exactly did you say?" Enjolras asked.
"Well, I took a couple years of French in high school, and it turns out she has family in France and is practically fluent. So, I thought it would be nice to show her that I knew the language…"
"Courf, what exactly did you say?" Eponine repeated.
After a short pause, he sighed. "I said, 'Votre visage est comme un cochon qui a été allongé au soleil toute la journée.' And then she slapped me."
Eponine laughed hysterically, while the others just stared at her. "Oh, come on. Neither of you took French?"
"I took Spanish." Enjolras stated.
"And I'm just drunk. I don't know how to properly speak English right now." Grantaire said.
"But why is that so funny?" Courfeyrac asked somewhat frustrated. "All I said was that her face reminded me of a beautiful sunset."
Eponine held back more laughs, before saying, "Courf, you literally told her, 'Your face is like a pig that has been lying in the sun all day.'"
At the sound of this, Grantaire laughed obnoxiously. Even Enjolras had trouble maintaining a straight face. "So, I guess this means that you're buying the groceries." Grantaire said, slapping his friend on the shoulder. "How does pig sound?"
Hope this chapter was worth the wait! Thank you for your constant support on this story, and remember to keep those reviews coming! They are seriously better than getting a christmas present! Okay, maybe not. But they do give me joy.
I'm not sure when I'll be able to update this again, but hopefully it will be soon!
REVIEWS AND THANKS!