He wasn't jealous. Of course he wasn't. That was stupid and juvenile. What was he? A child. No. Of course he wasn't. He was a mature adult. So of course he wasn't jealous. So what if some guy was shirtless in Eponine's house? That didn't mean anything. Not really. Maybe in some cases but not in Eponine's. Eponine - who didn't trust anyone - was certainly not dating some guy after only three weeks. Hell, it practically took them three years to get together. And the guy couldn't possibly be just a fling. Eponine didn't do flings. So obviously there was nothing to be jealous of. Except for the fact that Eponine was happily hanging out with some shirtless guy. But that didn't bother him. He wasn't jealous of that. Eponine had hung out with shirtless guys before and that didn't mean anything. He wasn't jealous. Nope. Not him. Not Enjolras. Nope...yeah ok, screw it. He was raging jealous. He wanted to fly over to California and punch the bastard. He wanted to strangle him and tell him to keep the hell away from Eponine. "Real mature," he muttered to himself out loud. He rolled over in bed and glanced at the clock. It read 3:12. Shit. He needed to sleep. He sighed and rolled back over. He tried to distract himself from how jealous he was.
He reflected on Gavroche's words to him. He never could seem to escape the guilt. Every time it started to ease, something happened to bring all back crashing on him. He would do anything to make the plaguing guilt, the eternal heartache go away. He needed her forgiveness. He needed Gav's forgiveness. Zette's forgiveness. Taire's forgiveness. Everyone's forgiveness. His own forgiveness. He needed to make it all better. He had to. It was the only way. He sat up. He had to make everything better. There was only one thing to do then. He pushed the covers off. He was going to make it better.
"Does anyone know what's going on?" Bahorel whispered. "What's the deal? Are we planning something? Is he planning something? Is there a plan? Why are we here?"
"Nobody knows," Feuilly responded, taking a sip from his beer. "We're just here because our chief has called us." It had been two weeks since he'd firmly resolved to fix everything. Two weeks of planning and preparation. He had become a recluse once more much to his friends' dismay. He evaded their questions, telling them he was fine. He had been fine, too. He felt better than he had since the break-up. Working towards his goals always gave him a certain peace. Bottling up his emotions had never done anything except stress him out even more. Hadn't he told that to Eponine once long ago? The only way to get rid of your emotions is to put them somewhere. He'd gathered his friends that Friday evening, not giving any reasons just ordering them to come. They were all gathered in his living room now.
"Don't know what this is all about but I bet you anything it has something to do with me going to his work and being told he didn't work for them anymore," Cosette said.
"Why were you at his work?" inquired Marius, sharply.
"He left his jacket at our house and I was dropping it off," she explained, soothingly.
"He doesn't work there anymore? Has he gone mad? I mean that literally," Joly asked, "He has been highly unstable. Acting completely uncharacteristcally. It could be a sign of some sort of neurotic break-down."
"You got the neurotic, right," Grantaire scoffed. "I dropped by the other day to check in on him and he barricaded the door so I couldn't get in."
"Why is he being so secretive?" Bahorel began with the questions. "What's he hiding? You don't think it's anything criminal, do you? I mean, with his history, he does tend to overreact and maybe he really went overboard and did something illegal and - "
"Whatever he called us here for, he'll tell us," Feuilly interrupted before Bahorel got too carried away.
"Where did he disappear to anyways?" Marius asked.
"His room. Where else?" Grantaire replied. The doorbell rang and Joly pushed himself up from the couch to answer it. It was Gavroche.
"Hey, what's going on?" the boy asked. "I got a text from Enjolras saying he needed to talk to me in person. He didn't say what about."
"We're all in the same boat, kid," Bahorel said. "He's been in his room the entire time we've been here, too."
"Well, he better not waste my time. I've got curfew and if I'm not home Michelle's going to kill me," he muttered, referring to his foster mom.
"I'll go see what he's up to," Marius volunteered. But there was no need for Enjolras emerged from his room at that moment.
"Sorry guys. I was just finishing some stuff. Didn't mean to keep you all waiting," he said.
"Yeah, way to be a good host," Bahorel muttered.
"Yeah, yeah, sorry," Enjolras said, running a hand through his mess of curls."Ok, as I'm sure you all know, I called you here for a reason."
"Oh, please. Here comes the speech," Grantaire groaned, "Is that what you were doing in there? Perfecting your speech?"
"What? No!" he spluttered in a way that told them all he had been. "Shut up and listen."
"Listening intently. Still not hearing anything," Granatire said. Enjolras fixed him with a glare.
"Ok, so here's the deal. I have majorly messed everything up," he began.
"Understatement of the century," Grantaire stage-whispered. Enjolras ignored him and continued.
"I don't like things being messed up. Especially if I'm the one who's done it."
"Just cut to the chase," Grantaire interjected.
"I'm getting there. Just shut up. Ok where was I? Oh yeah, so I messed it all up and so now I feel obligated to fix it. And not only an obligation to fix everything but a desire, a compulsion. I have to fix it. I feel like if I don't, I can never be happy again."
"Get on with it," Grantaire sighed.
"Shut up, Taire! I know what I'm about to tell you may seem rash and stupid but I have given it serious thought and I consider it highly logical and really the only way to fix things. This is the only way I see," he paused.
"Good grief! You're such a drama queen," Grantaire murmured. "Just tell us al-freaking-ready."
Enjolras glared at him again before taking a deep breath. "I'm moving to California." He had expected shock. He had expected the questioning of his sanity. He had expected some sort of protest. What he got instead was a barrage of exasperated ejaculations.
"FINALLY!" Cosette exclaimed.
"Well, that didn't take you forever to figure out," Bahorel muttered.
"Yeah, even I knew you had to do that and you guys call me clueless," Marius pointed out, smugly.
"I think the break-up created some emotional unbalance that impaired your thinking process," Joly said.
"I was wondering if you'd ever figure it out," Feuilly said.
"Wait!? You guys were expecting me to go to California?" Enjolras exclaimed, in surprise.
"DUH!" Cosette yelled. "How else are you supposed to get her back? Look, Enj, darling, You screwed up. You hurt Eponine. You were a royal asshole. But you love her. We all know that. And she loves you. That's why it hurt her so badly. So when two people love each other, you obviously expect them to get together. Only way for you two to be together is for you to go to California. Case closed."
"So you guys think I'm making the right decision?"
"YES!" they yelled.
"Gavroche? You haven't said anything," he singled out the boy.
"Look. I hate you for what you did to her but I'd hate you even more if you didn't do anything to fix it," he said, solemnly.
Enjolras smiled at his friends, feeling a great weight lifted off him. He was glad they all were on his side. Not that their disapproval would have stopped him, but it was nice to know he wasn't alone.
"Hey, hey!" Grantaire called for his attention. "This is only step one in proving your worthy of Eponine." The others all nodded in agreement. "You still gotta do everything in your power to make her happy and keep her happy, got it?"
"I had no other thought in mind," he replied.
"I told you I wouldn't let you near her until you manned up and I'm still holding to that," Grantaire said. "You've been such a little shithead you know that she's gonna be pissed as hell at you." Enjolras nodded. "You're going to have to do some serious groveling to get back in her good graces."
"I know," Enjolras said. "I didn't expect anything else."
"Man, well if you can win Ep back then I guess I'll have to allow it. But you hurt her even in the tiniest way then I will kill you," Gavroche said, so seriously Enjolras couldn't help feel the kid would actually make good on his threat.
"I swear I will do whatever I can to make her happy," he promised. "I'm gonna fix this."
A/N: Bum bum BUM! And the plot thickens. Thanks everyone for the follows/favorites and reviews. You are all divine!