Enjolras was behind the counter when Eponine walked in the next morning at 7 (for once, she had managed to get a later morning shift). He acknowledged her presence with a glance and a nod, an act which was his version of a friendly greeting, then turned back to the line of customers. Eponine raised her eyebrows in response, going straight to the back room. Grabbing her apron and shedding her coat, she looked around for evidence that Combeferre was there. He was rarely in early, but it was still helpful to know whether the boss was lurking anywhere.

Satisfied with the fact that his messenger bag was nowhere to be found, she lazily tied her apron on and took her place beside Enjolras, taking the cups he scribbled orders on and filling them with very little enthusiasm.

Once the counter got less busy and people had scattered onto armchairs and clustered around tables, Enjolras turned to Eponine. "Cosette hasn't been in yet."

She stiffened at the information. "Thanks, but really, no need to keep tabs on her or anything."

"So you're not interested in her, then?"

Eponine decided to remain silent and give a half shrug, which Enjolras definitely wasn't buying. Busying herself with wiping off the counter, she tucked some hair behind her ear and looked at him again. There was still an expectant look on his face, so she gave up and faced him. "I just don't see the point. It's not like she's going to ask me out anytime soon. She barely knows my name, for God's sake."

(She elected to leave out the fact that she resorted to repeating that over and over in her head during class yesterday to stop her mind from wandering to Cosette.)

"Well," Enjolras began, "I think that you should ask her out if you really want to."

Startled, Eponine raised one eyebrow at him. Enjolras certainly wasn't the type to give out romantic advice. "Really?" she asked tentatively.

"There's certainly no point in sitting and waiting for her to come in every day."

She made a sound that was somewhere between a laugh and a scoff. "You'd be surprised at how many times I've said that to myself," she admitted, suddenly realizing that she had basically told him that she did, in fact, think of Cosette that way.

It was ridiculous, really, and she knew it. She shouldn't be watching the door and waiting for Cosette to come in for five glorious minutes. She shouldn't be planning what to say to her when she should be paying attention during class. She shouldn't spend so much time thinking about a girl she barely knew. Daydreaming, smiling to herself – doing those things wasn't very much like her, and she certainly didn't like to admit to them. Hell, she could barely admit it to herself.

Maybe she should have cut herself off from Cosette from the beginning. If she kept herself to polite employee-to-customer small talk, maybe she could go back to when work was just work, not an opportunity to talk to some random student.

"Maybe there's no point," she answered Enjolras, "but it's the only plan I've got right now."

"What if you wrote your number on her cup? That way it's in her hands."

Grantaire had already suggested that, but she considered it. "Maybe. But we all know I'd never go through with it."

He shrugged and turned back to a customer.

Sighing, she took the cup he handed her with an order for a cappuccino. The music playing was smooth and the atmosphere was calm, but Eponine had never wanted to rip something apart more. Somehow, she had gone from someone who never gave relationships much of a thought to someone who sat behind the counter, chin in hands, pining about some girl who most likely didn't give Eponine a second thought. She was acting like a twelve year old, for God's sake.

When she was done making the cappuccino, she poured one shot of espresso and downed it in a quick gulp, grimacing at the bitter taste. Despite her shift starting later, she was more tired than ever.

All of a sudden, Enjolras was at her side, looking to the side. "Alright, so she came in, and I respect your plan to silently admire her, but do you want me to take her order or do you-"

"Don't be fucking ridiculous," she said seriously. "Of course I want to take her order."

Enjolras stepped out of her way, and Eponine silently blessed his existence as she stepped into place behind the register.

She wasn't enough of a hopeless romantic to say that Cosette standing in front of her again was a heaven-sent miracle. It was more like when a ray of sunshine came in her window after a great night's sleep, just enough of a warm presence to make her smile.

Good lord, maybe I am a hopeless romantic, she thought.

Cosette looked up after fishing her wallet out of her bag and smiled when she saw Eponine standing there. "I was hoping I'd see you," she laughed, resting a hand on the counter.

This girl could stab her in the chest, and Eponine would probably thank her.

"Same here," Eponine laughed. "What can I get for you?"

"Same as yesterday," Cosette smiled.

Eponine nodded and wrote a name and the appropriate abbreviations in the small boxes on the cup, passing it to Enjolras, who was trying not to look like he was listening.

"So how do you make those?" Cosette asked. "Tea and milk?"

"If I told you, you would stop coming here, wouldn't you?" Eponine laughed.

"Not a chance." Cosette said in a low voice, her lips curling into a soft smile as she passed Eponine a few dollar bills.

Was that – was she -? Before she could say anything, Enjolras was tapping her on the shoulder and making discreet gestures at Cosette. It took Eponine a second to figure out that he was trying to get her to ask for Cosette's number.

With a barely imperceptible shake of her head, Eponine turned back to Cosette and handed over her change. "Play your cards right," she started, "and I'll give you my recipe sometime."

Cosette laughed again, then gave Eponine a half-wave before going to wait for her drink.

"So?" Enjolras immediately asked.

Eponine jumped. "God, you're almost as bad as Grantaire with this stuff." Dropping her angry façade after a split second, she whispered, "I think she was flirting with me."

"And?"

"That's it."

Enjolras seemed to accept this, and he turned back to finish the drink.

Nobody else was in line, so Eponine pretended to wipe off the front counter while stealing glances at Cosette, who was looking at the mugs for sale, carefully arranged on the shelves. Her outfits all had the same color palette, cream and grey, and they really suited her. She was just as light and beautiful, really.

Enjolras called out Cosette's name as he slid the cup onto the delivery counter, and Eponine watched as Cosette picked up the cup and seemed to inspect the writing on the side. She then grinned and came back over to Eponine's perch on her stool. "I'm expecting the recipe, then," she said, tapping the side of the cup before she waved and started out.

Confused, Eponine glanced down at the cup and felt her stomach drop immediately.

Her phone number was scrawled on the sleeve Enjolras had put the cup in.

"Y-yeah!" Eponine laughed, her face turning millions of shades of red at once.

Once Cosette was safely out the door, she stormed over to Enjolras and spoke as loudly and harshly as she could without disturbing any customers. "You wrote my number on that fucking cup, didn't you?"

"You said maybe, and that you would never go through with it." He gestured proudly at the door. "And from what I saw, you got a pretty good reaction."

Eponine couldn't even hide the smile that broke through her strong resolve. "I'm still mad at you."

"You can thank me later," Enjolras smiled back.

She had never wanted to punch someone and hug them all at the same time, but it looked like today was just full of surprises anyways.