Chapter 3: Marius and Twitter
Cafe de L'ABC, Paris, 8:00
"So, any questions?" said Enjolras as he finished up his speech.
Courfeyrac raised his hand. "If France is a democracy, what's the point of discussing making it a democracy?"
Enjolras frowned. "Alright, any other questions? What about you, Marius?"
At that time, Marius was deep in thought, his head resting in his hand. And if we ever have a daughter, he thought, Adele would be a good name. So pretty!
Enjolras cleared his throat. "Marius?"
"He's thinking about his girlfriend again," said Combeferre, rolling his eyes.
Grantire sleepily raised his head off the table. "Does he even have a girlfriend?"
Marius blinked, snapping out of his daydream. "What?"
Grantire shrugged. "Well, you remember that American football player who Tweeted a bunch with this one girl, only to find out she was actually a prankster who lived in Hawaii?"
"Yeah, so?"
"I think I get what he's saying," said Courfeyrac, "I mean, have you even seen this chick? How do you know she exists?"
Marius rolled his eyes. "Because I saw her in the park?"
"Besides that."
Before Marius had a chance to respond, the door exploded.
"That's mahogany!" someone in the other room shouted.
"Oh, shut up!" yelled someone else.
A man stepped epicly out of the smoke. He was wearing black pants, a purple shirt, and had a bow and quiver over his arm. For a moment, everyone was too shocked to speak. Then Grantire broke the silence.
"Are you a ninja?" asked Grantire, stumbling forward. He adopted a clumsy martial arts stance. "You will never take me alive. Never! Wooooooo-ya! Ki-yah. Ay-yah! Woop! Woop Woop!"
The man rolled his eyes, walked over to Grantire, who seemed to be in a fistfight with an invisible enemy (and losing), and twisted Grantire's wrist back at a very painful angle. Grantire doubled over.
"Pain. Agony. Ow," he whispered.
The man looked around the room. Joly stood up, having fallen out of his chair when the door exploded. "Who-who are you?," he asked, "I-i've got a germy napkin and I'm not afraid to use it!"
The man rolled his eyes. "Relax. I'm not going to hurt you."
Joly gestured to Grantire, who was still doubled over in pain.
"He was being annoying," said the man.
Jehan shrugged. "Can't argue with that."
The man gestured around him to all the present Amis. "To get the answers to your questions, you will have to come with me."
Enjolras crossed his arms. "Why should we? We've all got lives here, and you're a total stranger."
Quicker than he could blink, the man pulled out his quiver and shot an arrow out of it. The arrow hit the wall near Joly's head and exploded.
"...good answer."
"Excuse me, Monsieur?"
The man turned around. Marius ran up to him. "My name is Marius."
Marius held out a letter. "Could... could you please give this to my girlfriend, Cosette? I don't want her to worry."
The man wrinkled his forehead. "Huh... Funny story. I actually ran into your girlfriend earlier. She told me to give you this."
As the man held out Cosette's note, Grantire stumbled by, rolling his eyes.
"How many people are in on this act?" he said in frustration.
Marius opened the letter, read it, and a look of disbelief crossed his face. He slumped down in a chair. Combeferre walked over.
"What's the matter?" he asked.
Marius handed him the letter.
Dear Marius, the letter read.
I fear I will not be able to contact you for much longer. I am probably going to leave Paris today, for I feel I am being pursued.
Roses are red
Violets are blue
I know you love me
I hope you know I love you.
Cosette