The Decade
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Dear Gabe,
The Montparnasse that you know is cruel and vengeful and mean. This is also the Montparnasse that I used to know, but in the days since I have moved in with him, I have discovered another, hidden, side.
He is kind and sweet and still, deep down, I believe, the nice boy that I had known when I was little. The kind that stops and gives food to stray animals because he feels bad for them, even though he cannot take them home.
He has taken me in and given me a home, a roof over my head, food on the table and he has hidden me away from my father, from you and from all of our friends. He has done what I have asked without a single question.
I think he loves me, Gabe, and I think that if I tried, maybe, I could love him too?
The first thing that Eponine does when she finally gets back to her apartment is throw her things onto the sofa, and without pausing, walk into her bedroom and fall face first onto her bed. It's been a long day and she just needs a moment to soak everything in.
She does not get that moment because her stupid phone starts ringing.
Eponine groans and debates on whether or not she should answer it, even as she's getting up and walking out the door and towards the sofa, where, of course, she misses the call.
She does not recognize the number so she decides against calling back. Instead, she heads back to her bedroom to resume her previous position, if it is really important they will leave a voicemail, right?
She is just about to reenter her bedroom when her phone goes off again. It's the same number as before and if this person is really that desperate to talk to someone as uninteresting as her, she will answer.
"Hello?" The person on the other end sounds unsure and awkward, "Is this Eponine?"
"Gabe?" She questions, making a split-second decision to follow her brother's advice on the name. She is shocked that he would already have her number. It has not even been a day since they got reacquainted with each other.
"Yes," He sounds oddly formal, "I took the liberty of calling Courfeyrac earlier and getting it from him. I hope I'm not bothering you? I just wanted to make sure it was really you and he wasn't playing some sort of trick on me."
"No, this is my number, there's no trick," She can't help herself, she just bursts into a fit of giggles at his tone.
"What? Was it something I said? Oh, God, you aren't really Eponine are you? I'm so sorry-"
"No, no, it really is me! It's just, you sound so formal on the phone. At first you were all school-boy unsure but now you've lawyered up on me, I just think it's hilarious."
She can hear the skepticism in his next words, "How do I know it's really you?"
"How can I prove it to you?" She asks, rolling her eyes and lays on her back. She really loves her bed.
"Tell me something only you would know."
"Um, let's see," She thinks about it for a moment before she chooses embarrassing moments from their past, that is what he gets for not believing that she is really who she says she is, "When we were eleven you accidently glued your hands together and then you somehow managed to glue your forehead to the sink while trying to unstick yourself. When we were thirteen you got a tree branch stuck in your braces and almost started crying when you saw a cicada on it. When we were fifteen you-"
"Okay, okay, stop 'Ponine, I know it's you."
She grins, she can almost hear his blush. She forgot how much fun it is to tease him, "Yes, Master. It is I."
She tries to hide her amusement as he groans, "Bye Eponine," he says, and then, a little more hesitantly, "I'll talk to you later?"
"Sure," She says, exuding happiness because things are somewhat normal between them, "Call me, text me if you want to reach me I'm available twenty-four hours, seven days a week. Actually, that's a lie because I won't answer if I'm at work, and if you call me while I'm asleep and that call happens to wake me up, so help me God, I will do unspeakable horrors to you. Just ask Marius about that."
"Okay, 'Ponine, I know all about your crazy sleep needs. Wait, what happened with Marius?"
"Goodbye Gabe." She says sweetly.
"Goodbye 'Ponine."
She will tell him the story, one day. If they ever manage to work through their issues.
Then she takes a moment to go full on teenage girl mode and jump around her room, squealing about how he called her.
It's not a moment she's proud of but it was necessary for her sanity.
The next thing she does is call Cosette to catch her up on what has been happening. She checks the time, it is only nine thirty so she cannot be asleep.
Although Cosette and Marius live ridiculously close to Eponine, she barely ever sees them, as of late it is because they are planning for their wedding but the usual reason is that they are so caught up in each other that they rarely notice anyone around them.
Quite frankly, it is disgusting, but to each their own she supposes.
It does not take long for Cosette to pick up, in fact, she picks up on the second ring. Which is surprising because usually it goes to voicemail and then Cosette calls her back (she prefers not to think of the things Cosette is doing when she ignores her phone, because she is sure the answer is Marius).
"Eponine?" Cosette's voice is melodious and curious and safe. Eponine just wants to blurt out everything right then and there because although her relationship with Marius has been weak and rocky and not so great for a long time now, Cosette has always stood by her, has helped her whenever she needed assistance, even when she did not admit it.
"Hey. I think, no, I know, I need some help."
"With what?" She hears worry in Cosette's voice because she is not one to concede to needing help with anything.
"Nothing really bad. Something kind of good, I think, it deals with-" she takes a deep breath and dives right in, "Gabe."
"Gabe? As in Gabriel? As in Gabriel Enjolras?" The girl is shocked, and who can blame her?
She can see that she has Cosette's full attention now, "Yes, him," and with another deep breath, she dives into her story.
Dear Enjolras,
I saw Jehan today, he was talking to a professor we both seem to share.
Needless to say, things were very awkward and uncomfortable, but he offered me a quiet hello and told me that you were doing well.
That was all he said before walking away, but to me, it was everything.
He always was the sweetest.
A sleepy hello sounds on his line and Courfeyrac frowns, it is still early. Jehan should be awake and alert at this time of night. Perhaps he has the wrong number?
"Jehan?" Courf hesitantly questions.
"Courfeyrac?" So it is Jehan's number, "Why are you calling? Is something wrong?"
In the background Courfeyrac hears mumbling and another phone goes off, this time, he recognizes the ringtone.
"Nothing's wrong, per say..."
Courf hears the other person grumble "Hello," and his suspicions are confirmed as Jehan tells him to "Hold on, just a sec."
Quickly, he rushes into the kitchen and mouths what he has learned to 'Ferre who just looks at him, clueless, as he is speaking to R.
"I sound funny because I got punched in the face, now shut up and listen!"
Courfeyrac can hear the laughter from where he stands, not just because Grantaire laughs loud enough to be heard from Combeferre's phone (which is true) but also because he can hear it through his own phone.
'Ferre is trying to get R to shut up and listen, while Jehan is questioning R on what's going on and Courf finally manages to scribble out a note to Combeferre telling him exactly what's going on, what he's figured out.
Honestly, he doesn't understand why people think he's the dumb one of the two.
'Ferre's eyes get huge as he reads the note, and his jaw drops.
None of them ever saw this coming.
So far, it seems like Jehan and Grantaire do not know that Combeferre and Courfeyrac are in the same room and that they know that Grantaire and Jehan are in the same room.
This could get interesting.
Courf smirks, there are so many possibilities. He can go so many ways with this.
The world is his oyster.
"So, Jehan, are you ready to talk yet?"
"Yeah," Courf hears a door shut and he assumes that R is left behind, in the bedroom, "What's up?"
Quickly, Courfeyrac explains that Combeferre wants to sabotage Enjolras' relationship with Amelie, how Enjolras isn't really happy in his relationship anyway; the standard lines that 'Ferre wants him to say.
How Eponine is back in the picture. How Eponine and Enjolras should be together because that is the direction their relationship had been going ten years ago.
On the other end, he hears Jehan gasp, then swear and something clatters to the floor.
"Jehan?"
"What? Yeah, I'm here, sorry. I was making some coffee and accidently spilled some on myself," he says, quickly brushing off Courf's concern, "Eponine's back? That-Do you really think we could fix what happened?"
"Combeferre wants us to try."
"I want to try too. What we did was cruel. But..."
Courf sighs, "There's always a 'but'."
"It's nothing too big," he reassures, but he sounds uncertain to Courfeyrac's ears, "I just have to talk to someone about this first."
Dear Gabe,
I wonder how many hours I spend staring at your number on my phone.
While Courfeyrac is speaking with Jehan, Combeferre is focused on getting Grantaire to show up in the first place, he is afraid of mentioning Eponine, "It's just an emergency, we need to break Enjolras and Amelie up. He's not happy, not with her."
Grantaire sighs, "He's a big boy, 'Ferre. Remember when we cut," He hesitates before continuing, "Eponine out of his life? I still think it was the right move but he's still not the same. Something is still missing, we have all always known it."
"She's back, you know," Combeferre says, also hesitating just for a second.
Grantaire is silent, "I don't know. I still don't think so 'Ferre."
"Grantaire, R, just, just think about it okay? If you change your mind, be here by the end of the week."
Dear Enjolras,
If I had a penny for every time I missed you, I would have exactly one penny because the ache is constant, not something that comes and goes.
While 'Ferre sighs and frowns at his lack of triumph with Grantaire, Courf smirks and corners Jehan, "That's alright, 'Ferre's talking to Grantaire as we speak," He turns to face the other man in the kitchen, "Right 'Ferre?"
He moves his phone away from his face and yells, "Right," in the direction of Courf's phone, having no idea as to what he's agreeing to but making a swapping motion with his hands and the two switch phones. Maybe Courfeyrac will have better luck with Grantaire.
"Hey, R, I can't believe you and Jehan got together and didn't even tell the rest of us. I'm hurt man, it's like someone shot me in the chest."
"How, how did you-"
"How did I find out?" He smirks, "Didn't you know that I'm psychic?"
"Psycho, more like," Grantaire murmured into the phone, "You heard me on Jehan's side, didn't you?"
"Yup. You're not very stealthy." He teases.
Grantaire just swears.
"Are you showing up? At the end of the week? Are you going to help us with 'Ferre's crazy plan? We can be like spies," Courf says, dangling the bait. Being a spy is on Grantaire's bucket list.
"I'm going back to bed," Grantaire says and hangs up.
"Hey!" Courf yells into the phone, "Well that was rude," he mumbles, placing Combeferre's phone on the table.
While the two of them were bantering, Combeferre managed to use his super powers to convince Jehan to bring R down with him, "He needs closure. Convince him."
Jehan sighs, "I'll try."
Combeferre hangs up and sighs, rubbing his eyes, "Two down."
Courfeyrac just groans, "It's going to be a long night, isn't it?"
Dear Gabe,
I was wrong. I was so, so wrong.
Montparnasse's sweet side does not stay long. When his evil side emerges it is worse than my father.
He has done unspeakable things, horrible things, not just to me but to other people as well.
I am scared.
I do not think I can fall in love with him.
I do not think I can last the summer.
Help me. Please, please, I know I have done you wrong, but help me.
I am stuck here and I don't know how to get away. I want you to rescue me but I know you can't.
No one can help me now, and it's all my fault.
I put myself in this situation. I cannot go back.
Hey! Look who updated, pretty quickly, if I do say so.
Thank you to all those who favorited/folllowed/reviewed! Your support is awesome!
This is a lighter chapter, I think, and I'll see how quickly I can get the next chapter up (hopefully as quickly as I got this chapter up).
Remember, I love hearing your opinions. So tell me what you liked about this chapter, what you didn't like and what you're looking forward to!