Eponine wretched over the toilet bowl for the fifth time that morning. She seriously couldn't understand how it was possible for one person to produce so much vomit. When she'd first woken up there had been a few blissful seconds when she had been convinced that the events of the previous day had all been some kind of awful dream. But then that all too familiar wave of nausea had washed over her and she'd been brought cruelly back to reality.
After she'd emptied her stomach yet again she flushed the toilet and attempted to haul herself back to her feet.
"You look how I feel."
She turned round to see a very disheveled Grantaire standing in the doorway. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and grabbed her toothbrush.
"Sorry you had to see that."
"'Ponine I've seen you throw up like a million times."
"Yeah but that was drunk throw up, it doesn't count."
"You OK?" he asked.
"Yeah, fine." Eponine lied.
"You got a stomach bug or something?"
"Yeah," she said, "something."
He stood and watched as she brushed her teeth, unsure of what the proper etiquette was in this sort of situation. When she was finally done rinsing her mouth with mouthwash for the fourth time he decided to break the silence.
"I was gonna ask if you wanted to go out for breakfast, but if you're not feeling too good we can just leave it."
"Didn't you just hear me say I was fine?" Eponine snapped.
"Listen, I think I'm just gonna go home..." he said, knowing all too well when he wasn't wanted.
"No, no, don't go home," she said, immediately feeling guilty for her slight outburst. He really wasn't the one she should be snapping it, after all none of this was his fault; he wasn't the one who had gotten her pregnant. She rubbed the back of her neck and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry R, just ignore me. You know I'm not good in the mornings."
"You sure you don't just want me to go home?"
"I'm sure. Just let me take a quick shower and then we can go OK? Maybe a change of scenery would do me good."
She faked a smile, but she was pretty sure Grantaire saw right through it.
An hour later they were sitting in the diner across the street from Eponine's apartment. It was one of those places that looked somewhat questionable from the outside, but actually served amazing food. They ordered their usuals [an omelette for her, pancake stack for him] and talked about mundane crap for the first 20 minutes before Grantaire finally broke and brought up the awkward bathroom incident.
"So do you want to talk about earlier?"
Eponine shrugged.
"I mean we don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, I'm just saying the option is there," he said, taking another sip of his coffee.
If Eponine was going to let anyone in on her little secret it would be Grantaire. He'd been the first one to confront her about the whole Marius debacle, although she now realized that her unrequited feelings for him were entirely obvious to everyone but Marius himself. After that they'd sort of stumbled into becoming each other's confidant. She knew all his secrets and, up until 6 weeks ago, he knew all of hers. She had considered telling him what had happened with Enjolras before now, but she backed out every time. She wasn't embarrassed, it wasn't exactly the first one night stand she'd ever had, but she knew that Enjolras would be. After all, she had promised him that she wouldn't say anything and she knew there was no way in hell that Grantaire would be able to keep that information to himself. But now this was so much more than just one night she and Enjolras had sworn to never speak of again.
"I'm pregnant." She said quickly, pulling at the hem of her sweatshirt as she spoke instead of looking at Grantaire. It was the first time she'd actually said it out loud and she couldn't believe those words were actually coming out of her mouth.
"What?" he exclaimed.
"Grantaire..."
He cut her off before she could even get started. "Did you actually just say you were pregnant?"
Eponine looked up and nodded.
"Jesus fucking Christ Eponine."
"I know."
"Holy shit."
She started poking at her half eaten omelette.
"And you're definitely sure? You're 100% sure that you're definitely pregnant?"
"I've taken like 5 tests, they were all positive."
"Holy crap," he said, running his fingers through his hair. He sank back into his chair and paused for a few seconds before he asked the next question. "Are you going to keep it?"
She sighed. "I haven't really got that far yet."
"Um, I don't know if this is an appropriate question, but, eh, whose is it?"
That was the question she'd been dreading; she'd been waiting for it, she knew it was coming, but she still wanted the ground to open up and swallow her when it finally did.
"Oh, oh, is it that guy from the book store?" Grantaire said, rather excitedly.
Eponine suddenly regretted beginning to tell this story. "No, it's not the guy from the book store. Grantaire, I've never even seen that guy outside the freakin' book store."
"Well, I don't know everything you do in your free time."
"Well I can assure you that I haven't been doing the guy from the book store in my free time."
"Is it someone we know? Is it Courfeyrac?"
"Courfeyrac, seriously?" Eponine said, starting to feeling slightly exasperated.
"This sounds like the sort of thing Courfeyrac would be responsible for."
"No R, it's not Courfeyrac."
She began wondering if she should just make up a fictional father, at least to get Grantaire off the scent until she finally got round to telling Enjolras. But what was the point in prolonging the whole thing? He was going to find out eventually, she may as well get telling him over with now.
"It's Enjolras," she said, almost in a whisper.
"I'm sorry," Grantaire said, practically throwing his coffee cup down on the table, "did you just say Enjolras?"
She nodded.
"Enjolras got you pregnant?"
Eponine glanced around the crowded diner. She couldn't see anyone they knew, but you never knew who was hiding in the nearest darkened corner. "R, keep your voice down," she hissed.
He just continued, clearly ignoring what she had said. "Hold up, let's take this right back, you've been sleeping with Enjolras?"
"It was just the one time."
"It doesn't matter how many times you did it, you still did it. Holy shit, holy shit," he said, almost tripping over his words. How did you do it, how did you break him?"
Eponine sighed. "I don't really think that's the most important matter in hand right now R."
"I actually can't believe this, I can't believe you had sex with Enjolras and didn't tell me," he said. "I seriously think I'm going into shock."
"You're in shock? How do you think I feel?"
"Oh shit Eponine, I'm sorry, I'm being a shit friend," he said, as he suddenly reached over and grabbed her hand. "Are you OK?"
"I wouldn't say OK, no, but I got out of bed today which is a vast improvement on yesterday."
"You are going to tell Enjolras, right?"
She hesitantly attempted to reply. "I... well..."
"Eponine, you have to tell him. You shouldn't be going through this by yourself, this is as much his mess as it is yours."
"And what am I supposed to say? How do you even start that conversation? 'Hey Enjolras, remember that night we got drunk and had sex? Well turns out I'm pregnant with your kid. So anyway, how's the manifesto coming along?'"
Grantaire shrugged. "That sounds alright to me."
"Grantaire," she said sternly.
"I'm serious, you just need to get it over with and tell him."
"I know," she said, staring at the table. "I know I do. I just don't want him to hate me."
"Eponine, he won't hate you," he replied sympathetically.
"Oh really? You really think he's going to take this well?"
"I didn't say he was necessarily going to take it well, I'm just saying he won't hate you. I know Enjolras is what he is, but he is a decent human being and he will do the right thing, whatever the right thing is in this situation."
She knew that Grantaire would give Enjolras the benefit of the doubt, he always did. Despite what Grantaire said it was obvious to everyone that he secretly idolized Enjolras, secretly wished he could be more like him, and would definitely be right by his side if he ever did get round to staging that revolution he was constantly going on about. Yes, Enjolras was passionate and committed about the things he believed in, but he didn't exactly strike her as the father type and and she still wasn't entirely sure what he really thought of her. Before that night they had never really even had a proper conversation, despite the fact that they had mixed in the same friendship group for nearly 8 years. But that night he seemed like a different person to her, he seemed like someone capable of actual human emotion. Of course he had reverted back to his usual self the moment they had opened their eyes the next morning.
"It's going to be OK 'Ponine," Grantaire said, trying to sound reassuring.
She just hoped he was right.
A/N - Thanks for reading! Sorry about the lack of Enjolras so far, I promise he'll be making his grand entrance in the next chapter!