Chapter 14.

He was supposed to be helping Combeferre get the bags off of the bus, but Enjolras found himself heavily distracted as he looked around desperately for Eponine. He wanted to check she was feeling okay because she suddenly began to look ill when they were talking. Maybe it was just travel sickness? Yes, that's it. He reassured himself. He pushed through the huddle of boys waiting for their bags when he saw her walking away from them with Gavroche's hand in hers.

"Eponine!" He called her, attracting her attention. "Hey."

Eponine lowered herself to Gavroche's level. "Why don't you go give Combeferre a hand with those bags? He could use someone strong like you." He approved of her comment and raced off to help.

They both smiled as they watched him pick up the biggest bags, trying to show off. He loved to think that he was being useful because their parents used to tell him day after day what a 'worthless waste of space' he was. Although he tried to hide it, it had crushed his spirit. He didn't allow himself to become a shy boy, but his self-esteem was dangerously low. Eponine adored the boys for what they did for him. They would go to meet-ups all around France for lectures and talks about politics and laws and sometimes one of them would be asked to speak and they'd encourage Gavroche to come up on the platform with them. The other boys from the Les Amis would be standing in the crowd, cheering wildly and encouraging other people to join in. The look on Gavroche's face when the crowd would erupt was priceless and boosted his confidence so much.

Enjolras turned back to face Eponine. "You alright now?" He asked.

She smiled sweetly at him. "I'm fine. Thank you." She looked at her feet and scuffed them on the ground, shyly. "I ju-" She was interrupted by a loud car horn followed by a cheer from the boys.

Eponine turned to see a snazzy, clearly expensive convertible car roll in to the car park. It shone, almost sparkled, and the music blared loudly. In the driver's seat, a brunette girl sat laughing as the boys ran towards her and Eponine had never seen such perfect white teeth or sharp, chiselled cheek bones. She had large celebrity-styled sunglasses covering her eyes and her long curly dark hair draped over her shoulder, twitching slightly in the breeze. She stopped her car and checked her reflection in the rear view mirror, scrunching up her hair before slowly pushing the door open and stepping out of the car. Eponine frowned as her tanned legs made an appearance, long, flawless and sun kissed. The girl stood up, showing off her model-like figure. She pulled her sunglasses off her eyes and slid them onto the top of her head, smiling wide as the boys approached her.

"Hi, guys!" She greeted, blowing kisses.

Eponine approached Grantaire sheepishly. "Who's that?" She asked, although she knew the answer already. She just prayed that she was wrong.

"That's Isabelle." Grantaire confirmed her worries.

The girl looked at Eponine, eyeing her carefully. "I don't believe we've met," she smiled. "I'm Isabelle. You must be Eponine?" She held her hand out and Eponine hesitantly shook it as she nodded, suspiciously. "The boys talk about you all. the. time!" she laughed, waving at Musichetta who she knew from working at the Musain. "Hey, 'Chetty!" She ran off to hug Musichetta and introduce herself to Emily.

Eponine rolled her eyes. She seemed so cheesy and fake that it made her cringe. She reminded her of Cosette the first night they met, and that first impression never got any better. Deep down, she knew she should give her a chance, but so far, she wasn't at all keen on that idea.

.

Eponine sat still on the double bed in her, Emily and Azelma's hotel room, waiting for Emily's hair curlers to heat up. Emily was fiddling with her hair, pinning different sections up and pulling her comb through it numerous times.

"Shouldn't you be more focused about getting yourself ready, rather than me? I can just shove my hair up into a bun, you know." Eponine said as Emily tugged at her hair, apologising in advance.

"Pft!" Emily laughed. "I don't think so." She put her head next to Eponine's and smiled at her in the mirror. "I'm going to make you look stunning." She started rummaging through her bag of hair accessories and products. "Not that you don't look stunning all the time." Eponine smiled. Emily squealed excitedly as her hair curlers beeped meaning they had heated up enough to put perfect ringlets into Eponine's smooth, sleek, just-washed hair.

She took sections of hair at a time, wrapping them around the hot iron and jutting out her hip as she waited the appropriate amount of time for the hair to spring back in tight curls. She hummed excitedly every time the curl came out perfectly and grunted, irritably, when it simply flopped back down with mere kinks in her hair.

Eponine stared at herself in the mirror and sighed, disappointedly. Thinking about the way she acted, the way she treated people and the type of person she had become saddened her deeply. She looked down.

"Do you think I'm a bad person?" She asked, looking up to see Emily, staring at her in the mirror, confused.

Finally, she laughed nervously. "Why would you even ask something so daft?" She continued curling her hair.

She shrugged. "Because of the way I treat people."

"People?" Emily repeated. "By people you mean Enjolras." Eponine nodded. "That's a person."

"I know bu-"

"No, Ep." Emily put the curlers down and sat down on the bed beside Eponine. "Look at me." She did so. "I can be completely honest with you, right?"

Eponine frowned at her. "I'm not really sure I want you to be now."

She laughed before continuing. "You don't need telling this but the way you treated Enjolras was..." she thought carefully about her choice of words before just settling with: "shit." Eponine's eyebrows shot up. "And we were all so angry when we heard about you and Marius because you finally had a chance to get over him with someone as awesome as Enj and you blew it!" She smacked her arm lightly. "But you're the furthest thing from a bad person. 'Because of the way I treat people'? What about the way that you treat everybody else. How about the first night I ever met you and we sat in the Musain just us two and you got really drunk and started telling me your life story." Eponine rolled her eyes. Stories about her involved her getting drunk far too often. "And you told me about all the sacrifices you made for your family." She sighed. "Remember?" She nodded. "Your father hit you, right? And when Azelma was 10, he made her work in the kitchens and he'd started hitting her when she did something wrong. You were 13 at the time and you dropped out of school so that you could be at home all the time to step in when he went to hit Azelma, resulting in him hitting you instead." Tears sprang to Eponine's eyes. "Then you applied for a child care course at college because it was what you always wanted to do ever since you were left to look after Gavroche when he was a baby. They turned you down. You applied for jobs and nowhere, not even jobs thrat were recruiting toilet cleaners, would hire you. So you sent an application to a university. You got in but turned it down... because you couldn't bear to leave Azelma and Gavroche. When your father gave them work to do, you did as much of it as you could do without getting caught. When your father was angry, you would shield them from his punches. When your father's 'friends' expected... you know... you would do it so that, most of the time, Azelma didn't have to." Eponine had tears rolling down her cheeks by now. "And that's just Azelma and Gavroche. Need I go on about how much the Les Amis simply adore you?" She shook her head at this, looking down. She sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly, dabbing her eyes with her fingertips. "You're not a bad person, Eponine Thenardier. I promise you that." She hugged her friend tightly. "I love you." she whispered.

"I love you more." Eponine smiled. She pulled out of the hug and looked to her reflection in the mirror. "Thank God you didn't do my make up first," she laughed, reaching for a make up remover pad and rubbing at the black streaks that had stained her cheeks.

Emily ran her fingers through Eponine's sleek wavy hair as she coated it with hairspray. "It looks gorgeous!" She sang, smiling at her reflection. She curled her top lip in mock disgust. "Now it's time to get to work on this face," she joked, "We've got two hours so we should have just enough time to make you look half decent."

Eponine reached her arm back and squeezed her side making her squeal and laugh.

.

"Eponine, hurry we need to choose your outfit!" Emily studied the outfits Eponine had bought. Clearly, no one had told her about the reservation at a fancy restaurant as it was all oversized t shirts and skinny jeans.

She tossed her own suitcase onto the bed and flung open the lid. She dug through the clothes she had bought like a dog frantically digging to retrieve a buried bone. Upon finding the dress she had been searching for, she laid it out on the bed, smoothing out the creases caused by it being shoved into her case.

"Ep!" She yelled, impatiently.

The bathroom door unlocked and Eponine walked out, eyeing her suspiciously. "How come you're not getting yourself ready?" she quizzed.

"It won't take me long. Anyway, don't worry about me. Come, come." She beckoned Eponine to come and stand beside her. She picked up the dress she had picked out for her and held it up.

The dress was undeniably stunning; white with large, red flowers and a halter neck tie. The front would reach her knees and it draped down into a trail at the back. The fabric was smooth and light.

Eponine shook her head. "I can't wear this, Em." she refused. "What will you wea-"

"Will you quit being so bothered about me! I insist that you wear this dress." She passed it to Eponine who reluctantly accepted it. She leaned across the bed and retrieved a blue dress out of her suitcase. "Besides, unlike someone, I came prepared." She smiled as she skipped merrily to the bathroom.

Eponine slipped into the dress and sighed deeply as she viewed her reflection in the mirror. For the first time in her life she felt like one of 'those' girls. She felt as though she would attract 20 double-takes just from walking to the corner shop for a carton of milk. She stepped into Emily's white high heels that she had lent her and made her way over to the bathroom door. She raised her hand to knock but froze when she heard Emily talking in a whisper on the other side.

"We're leaving in a minute and you can't be there... Just tell him that you're going to the loo or something... I don't know but we have no choice but to do this... They'll thank us for it in the long run... Positive... Okay, see you in a minute. Bye." Eponine heard her mobile phone bleep. "Ep?" She called. "Are you ready?"

Eponine backed away from the door. "Yeah," she answered.

The bathroom door unlocked and Emily walked out. She wasn't lying; it hadn't taken her long at all to doll herself up.

She smiled, "You look amazing!" She clapped her hands, "Let's go!"

.

Their hotel was right across the street from the Eiffel Tower in which was the restaurant - 'Le Jules Verne' - where Emily's brother-in-law worked and had managed to get them a discounted reservation. Eponine thanked her lucky stars that she didn't have to walk far and would be able to spend the night sat at a table because Emily's heels were bending her feet in unnatural ways and they were already aching. They waited for a car to let them cross the road at a zebra crossing. Emily grabbed Eponines hand and entangled their arms, pulling her closer so she could hear what she was saying over the roar of music, chatting and traffic.

"How beautiful does it look?" She watched as Eponine looked up at the brightly lit tower.

She was staring in awe at it, a small smile creeping onto her lips. A group of musicians had attracted an impressed crowd by busking under the base of the tower and the music sent shivers down Eponine's spine. A car horn blared snatching the two girls attention from the sight and causing them to jump slightly and rush out in the road, waving their apologies at the frowning source of the horn.

"How could anyone be so grumpy when they live in a place like this?" Eponine pondered. The whole atmosphere was completely magical.

Emily's phone rang in her pocket. "Hey, babe!" She pushed a finger into her other ear to hear who Eponine presumed was Courfeyrac. "Yeah, we're here... By the buskers... Oh, really? I can't s-" she turned around, "Ah, I see him." She waved. "Okay, we're coming now." She held Eponine's hand tightly and they made their way through the crowd.

As they escaped, Eponine noticed Enjolras stood leaning against a wall looking down at his phone. He was sucking on his bottom lip slightly and had one hand shoved into his jeans pockets. She felt her legs turn to jelly underneath her and her heart beat raced. Wow, he looked so attractive. He looked up through his eyelashes and smiled as Eponine walked towards him.

Her mouth was parted slightly and her eyes squinted. Her floral dress flew out behind her in the breeze and hugged her curves perfectly. He felt goosebumps pop up on his arms as a shiver tickled his spine at the sight of her. Wow, she looked so attractive. She returned his smile as she and Emily came close to him.

"Hi," she whispered, nervously.

"Hey," he replied.

Emily's eyes darted from one to the other as she waited for one of them to speak. She huffed when both failed to. She nudged Enjolras.

"Eh, doesn't Eponine look nice tonight, Enj?" She hinted, wiggling her eyebrows.

He smirked at Eponine, "Nice? She looks amazing." She looked down, feeling her face turn as red as the flowers on her dress.

"You don't look so bad yourself," she squeaked.

Emily cooed them. "Right, Courf said they're just around the corner and I'm going to go meet them. So if you guys want to go up to the restaurant, ask for Victor - my brother-in-law - and tell him who you are, he'll sit you down ready and we'll come up to you, okay?" She nodded to them and they nodded in reply. "Cool. See you in a bit then!" She trotted off.

.

Eponine felt like a celebrity or royalty as she and Enjolras walked confidently past the long queue of people waiting for a table to open up at the 5 star restaurant. They approached the woman who sat at a desk with a book of reservations infront of her.

"Good evening," Eponine greeted, politely. "Is there any chance we could see Victor?"

The woman smiled and nodded sweetly and picked up the telephone which sat on her desk. She dialled a short number and held it to her ear. Finally she said, "Luca, would you send Victor to the entrance, please? ... Thankyou," she put the phone down, "He's on his way."

They waited for a few moments before a man dressed smartly in a white shirt with a bow tie and a black apron tied around his hips pushed the door open.

"You rang?" He leant on the desk.

The woman gestured to Eponine and Enjolras. "This beautiful young couple asked for your assistance." She informed.

They both jumped at the statement, laughing awkwardly as they were quick to defend themselves.

"Whoa!" Enjolras chuckled.

Eponine shook her head. "We're not a couple."

Victor looked to them, smiling. "How may I help you?"

Eponine spoke up. "We're friends of Emily's. She got us a reservation here tonight."

He nodded. "Ah, of course. Table for two, right?" He turned the book around to find his sister-in-law's reservation.

They looked at each other with puzzled expressions. "No. More like..." she counted in her head. "thirteen."

He looked at her, completely baffled. "Well, here," he turned the book for them to see and pointed to the reservation that read 'E. Natel. Two. 7:00', "it clearly says table for two. Where's Emily and the rest of your group?"

They looked to each other again and Enjolras admitted, "We're not entirely sure, actually."

"Let me guess. Are you Eponine and Enjolras?" They both nodded and Victor laughed, "I think you may have been set up."

In unison they replied, "What?"

He continued laughing, "I remember Emily telling me and her sister that her and the 'Les Amis' were trying to get you two back together. It sounds to me like they've secretly booked this table for just you two. Like a date." They both smiled, shyly before Victor finally asked, "Would you like me to escort you to your table?"

Again, they eyed each other and Eponine scrunched up her nose and nodded. "Go on, then." she smiled and Victor picked up two menus off the desk.

"In that case, please come with me, Monsieur and Madame." He held the door open for them and led them through the restaurant to a table by a window with a perfectly picturesque view of the field and ponds that surrounded the tower. "Would you care for drinks?" He pulled out a pad and pen.

Enjolras looked at the prices on the menu and his eyes almost shot out of his head like on old Saturday morning cartoons.

Eponine smiled, mischieviously at him before turning to Victor. "Well, seeing as the reservation is booked under 'Natel', I do believe I quite fancy a bottle of your finest champange. Wouldn't you agree, Monsieur Enjolras?"

Victor smiled, understandingly and Enjolras clapped his hands together. "Well, Madame Thenardier, I think that's a grand idea."

Victor scribbled on his pad. "Coming right up." He turned and wormed his way through the other tables in the busy restaurant.

Once left alone, they caught each other's eye and laughed.

" You don't think that's a bit too harsh, do you? " Enjolras asked, guiltily, "We can't expect Emily to pay for everything."

"Oh, of course not!" Eponine agreed, "But I'm 99.9% sure she didn't set this up on her own." He eyed her, suspiciosily. "When we split the cheque between her, Musichetta and the boys, it won't cost them that much individually."

He laughed, "True," he looked out the window at the skyline of city lights. "But you have to admit, this was nice of them."

She nodded, "I know. It's nice to have some time together, to talk properly without being watched like a hawk," she looked around, "Although, I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out they're in here somewhere in disguise. Dressed up like a plant or something."

He pointed to an old man on the table next to them with a long, thin, grey beard. "They could have gone to a joke store and got a fake beard." She looked, subtly and they both burst into laughter. People in the restaurant turned to stare at them, tutting and rolling their eyes.

Victor returned with their drinks and attempted to guess their order of food. Of course, he presumed the most expensive things on the menu and succeeded. He laughed before leaving them alone again.

Eponine eyed Enjolras as he chewed his finger nails, nervously and clearly intentionally avoided making eye contact with her.

She wanted to wait for him to look her in the eye but doubted it would happen anytime soon, so she began, "Right, we've got about..." she checked her watch, "..half an hour," she estimated, "until we're interrupted again and we both know deep down that we need to be serious at some point and talk about what's gone on," she sighed, "Unfortunately, we can't just forget about it." He nodded. He still hadn't looked her in the eye. Eventually, she continued, "I'll start, then." She cleared her throat, inhaled and exhaled deeply with her eyes shut as an attempt to calm the fluttering butterflies swarming in her stomach. "What I did to you was... awful. Absolutely unexplainably, inexcusably awful. I was a complete bitch, to put it bluntly. But I need you to know - even if you don't forgive me and we stay awkward, unlikely friends forever - that it was a huge mistake that I will regret for the rest of my life." This caused Enjolras to stare into her big, brown eyes and, oh, how they sparkled with threatening tears. "I don't know what came over me that day. It was just..." she scowled, "Him." She didn't even want to say his name. "The amount of times I've been reminded: 'He treats you like shit for two years and then, finally, Enjolras, the sweetest guy in the whole world comes along to treat you like a princess, and you blow it,' just proves how true that is." He blushed. "I took you for granted and I apologise profusely. I didn't know what I had until it was gone." There was a brief moment of silence. She huffed and forced her face to brighten up. "Okay, glad that's over!" She pushed her champagne glass to her lips and threw her head back, swallowing the contents in two gulps. She slammed it back down on the table and refilled it.

Enjolras rubbed his head, nervously before taking a deep breath and opening his mouth to talk but changing his mind at the last minute. He did this a few times before finally forcing the words out, but even when he managed to, he muddled them up. "Eponine - Listen, I -It's like -." He bowed his head. "I wish I could talk to you and tell you how I feel, but you make me so nervous," He accidentally knocked his fork on the floor and dived under the table to retrieve it. He took the opportunity to have a mental word with himself. Right, stop being so ridiculous. Just talk to her. Okay. Here we go.

He shuffled backwards and straightened up, whacking his head off the table as he misjudged his position. He cursed loudly, "FUCK SHIT OW FUCK FUCK SHIT CRAP OUCH!"

A comedy of errors began as the champagne bucket fell off the table, the champagne glasses tipped over, spilling their contents all over Eponine and the candle in the centre of their table began to fall but was caught, just before it made contact with the tablecloth. He stood up properly, rubbing his head. Eponine was staring at him, the shock rendered her speechless. He could feel the disapproving stares of the other people of the restaurant piercing into his back. Slowly, he turned around to be met by every eye in the room on him. A deep chuckle emerged from the far end of the restaurant, contagiously encouraging others to erupt. A trend went through the restaurant like a Mexican wave until, suddenly, every face he could see was plastered with an amused smile and shaking from a hearty laugh.

Utterly humiliated, he turned to Eponine. He shrugged, helplessly and mouthed 'Sorry' before fleeing the restaurant as fast as he possibly could, ignoring the mocking fingers that pointed at him as he passed them.

"Enjolras!" She shoved her clutch bag under her arm and followed Enjolras' path towards the doors, frowning and shooting disappointed looks at every eye she caught along the way.

She stopped and looked both ways as she came out of the restaurant. He was nowhere to be seen.

"Enjolras!" She called, worrying about him. Crowds of people pushed past her and she tried to attract the attention of anyone she could. "Excusez-moi? Have you seen a man with curly blonde hair wearing a black suit and a bow tie? Please?" Her questions were answered by the irritated grunts of people who didn't care and dismissive 'No's of the people who had somewhere to be.

Finally, a smartly dressed middle-aged man stopped to listen to her. "Oui," he turned and pointed towards the lifts. "He just got into one of the lifts."

She patted his arm before she ran off. "Thank you, Monsieur!"

.

The crowd poured out of the lift as it reached the very top of the Eiffel Tower. Eponine frantically looked around for Enjolras. Finally, she spotted him, leaning on the bars, looking over at the city in a deep daydream.

She approached him, slowly and silently and leant on the bars next to him. He failed to notice she was there until she began to speak and snapped him out of his daze.

"Her, klutz," she teased. "Why'd you run off?"

He let out a sound of indignation. "Why do you think?" He snapped. His tone took her by surprised and when he saw the look on her face, guilt soared through him and he sighed, turning back to the beautiful view of Paris. "I completely humiliated us both."

"Nah!" she insisted, "As if! Do you -"

He scoffed, "You can't fool me, Ep. I saw the look on your face. You were so embarrassed." He looked down, completely ashamed. He felt as though he wanted the whole world to swallow him up and spit him out on the other side.

She nudged his arm with her elbow. "If you can forgive me for what I did, I think I can - maybe, just about, at a push - forgive you for that." She smiled at him. "Deal?" She winked.

He let out a huff of laughter, shut his eyes and, finally, nodded slowly. "Deal."

An uncontrollable grin tugged at her lips.

"I understand why you did what you did." Enjolras nodded. "I know how you feel about hi -"

"Felt." She corrected.

His eyebrows went up in surprise, "Okay, felt." He continued, "Do you know how I know?" She shook her head and he took a deep breath, "Because it's the same way I feel about you."

She turned to face him and, more unsurely and less confidently, repeated, "Felt?"

He shook his head, "Feel."

Her throat rattled with a relieved burst of quiet laughter and they both, turned back to take in the breathtaking view. After giving it a lot of thought, Eponine decided to lean to her left slowly, until she came in to contact with Enjolras' forearm, just as she'd done that night on the bridge in the park. She nuzzled her head into his arm and felt his muscles slowly relax. They both sighed and smiled contently as the rest of the world and everything that kept them grounded disappeared and their heads went wondering up to the clouds.

.

They stayed there, neither moving or speaking, until all the people around them slowly began to make their way back down to earth and away from the tip top off the Eiffel Tower where earth seemed so far away and so insignificant.

Enjolras put an end to the still, silent night. He moved his arm out from under Eponine's head and held his hand out for her to take.

She looked at him, puzzled. "What?" She asked.

"Dance with me," he whispered.

She laughed. "But, there's no music."

He shrugged, "So?"

"You're crazy," she slowly walked over to him and slid her hand into his, the other caressed his shoulder. He cupped her waist and smiled nervously at her. "Relax," she reminded him.

They swayed to the imaginary music that played in their heads. Enjolras began to hum quietly making them both giggle.

Their attention was snatched away from each other as the sound of violins playing Can't Help Falling in Love met their ears. They exchanged confused looks as to how coincidental this was until their questions were answered. Emily and Courfeyrac appeared from behind the group of musicians and waved at them, their smiles ridiculously smug.

Eponine shook her head and laughed, irritably. "I swear to God, when I get my hands on those two-"

"Shh," Enjolras soothed, closing his eyes and pulling her closer as he continued swaying and turning slowly. "They mean well."

She caught her breath as the scent of his cologne made her lightheaded again. She rested her head lightly against his chest and was relieved to hear his heart beat was racing, too.

And in that place where earth seemed so far away and insignificant, where the rest of the world and everything that kept them grounded disappeared, they lost themselves in the quiet hum of their song, the soothing feel of their bodies being so close and the sweet smell of each other's sweet cologne. It didn't feel real. Eponine felt as if she was imagining this happen to herself as she watched it on the screen in a cinema or curled up on the sofa under a duvet with Azelma, a tub of ice cream and a box of tissues. But she wasn't. This was her. This was happening. This was real. And she wouldn't have had it any other way.

A/N:

I was watching the Holiday as I wrote this last bit so I was feeling really emotional and cute and vulnerable and lovey-dovey. I just had to get Eponine and Enjolras back together because I was annoying myself SO WE'RE BACK ON TRACK *applause*

As always, reveiws, follows, favourites and reads are so appreciated and make so happy and I love you. Also any opinions and suggestions are welcomed and encouraged to my Personal Inbox!

Thank you all. I love yaaaa

-Beth xxxx