"This is the most boring party I've ever been to," Grantaire whispered.
"You'll only saying that because there's no open bar," Eponine whispered back.
"If you weren't with child you too would be pissed about the lack of open bar," he replied. "Seriously, these people have so much money they don't know what to do with it, but they can't stick a few grand behind the bar so their beloved Marius and Cosette's friends can drink to to their future happiness? Not cool."
Marius and Cosette's very elaborate engagement party had been going on for several hours. It was a reasonably fancy affair held at Cosette's father's home in the city. Apart from her own group of friends Eponine knew none of the other attendees and had found herself spending most of the evening standing in the corner with Grantaire, passing judgement on all the other party-goers.
"Do you think the wedding will have an open bar?" Grantaire asked, starting to sound like a whiney child.
"I don't know R," Eponine replied, "you'll have to ask Marius and Cosette about that one."
"I've just had a devastating thought," Grantaire dramatically announced.
"If this is more musings about the lack of free alcohol I don't think I can listen to anymore..."
"It's not, it's about you."
"Oh," Eponine said, "sounds ominous."
"Well I was just thinking about how sad it is that you have to be all tee-total whilst you're carrying Enjolras Jr, but then I realized that when you're not pregnant anymore it'll be because you'll have pushed that baby out and you'll be a mom, and you're gonna have to stay home all the time and do mom things." He sighed. "Our glory days are over Eponine, it's tragic."
"Ack R," Eponine said, resting her head on his shoulder. "Don't be sad."
"Soon it's just gonna be me and Courfeyrac left, the rest of you will all be off marrying and reproducing and we'll be the only ones hanging on, still trying to live the dream."
"It was going to happen one day," Eponine replied.
"Yeah, but I didn't think you would be jumping ship so soon," Grantaire sighed. "It's a tragedy."
"Now just you hold that very deep thought," Eponine said. "I need to take a quick bathroom break, do you think you'll be OK on your own?"
"I'm sure I'll be fine," Grantaire said, taking a sip of the same drink he had been nursing all evening. "The lack of open bar has forced me to cancel my plans to drink myself to death.
Eponine laughed as she kissed him on the cheek. She made her way out of the packed room and into the hallway. When she reached the top of the stairs she was annoyed to discover the bathroom already occupied. She knew there was bound to be more bathrooms in Jean Valjean's sprawling home, but she couldn't be bothered to start wandering around in an attempt to find one, so she just decided to stay put and occupy herself by staring out the large window across from the bathroom door.
It was then that she saw him; Enjolras sitting on one of the benches in the garden, deep in conversation with a woman Eponine had never seen before.
Despite feeling slightly stalkerish, she watched them for a few moments. The woman looked around their age: she was quite pretty and blonde and was listening intently as Enjolras spoke. He looked pretty aggravated, and Eponine was desperate to know what was being said between them.
Just then the bathroom door opened and Eponine was forced to leave her observation point.
When she made it back to the window Enjolras and the woman were gone.
Eponine waited until they had dropped off a still complaining Grantaire before she broached the subject of Enjolras and the mystery garden woman. When he had finally returned from his outdoor liaison he had been in a foul mood and had barely spoken for the rest of the evening, despite Grantaire's many attempts to taunt him into conversation.
"So are you going to tell me who your lady friend was?"
"Hmm?" Enjolras said, staring straight out onto the road ahead.
"That woman you were talking to in the garden?"
"I didn't see you in the garden."
"I wasn't in the garden, I was upstairs. I saw you through the window."
"Spying on me were you?" Enjolras said, a hint of a smirk creeping onto his face.
"I wouldn't call it spying, it was more like looking somewhere you just happened to be."
"Her name is Cecile Henry, we grew up together; our parents were, well are, friends. I haven't seen her in years." Enjolras sighed. "She was the last person I was expecting to see tonight."
"So it wasn't a joyous reunion?"
"Not exactly."
"Did she say much about your parents?" Eponine asked, not sure how far she should push the subject.
Enjolras rarely spoke of his parents, all Eponine knew was that they had fallen out several years previously. Apparently they disapproved of Enjolras's decision to stay in the city after school; they wanted him to return the family's estate in the south of the country and join his father's law firm. When he refused they cut him off, assuming he wouldn't be able to survive without their money and would have no choice but to come running back to them. But of course things hadn't worked out exactly how they had planned.
"My mother's ill apparently." Enjolras didn't flinch as he spoke, continuing to stare straight ahead out the windshield. "It's cancer, but according to Cecile they caught it early enough."
"Fuck." Eponine didn't know what to say, that was the absolute last thing she was expecting and she wasn't sure exactly how to gauge Enjolras's reaction; his face was completely emotionless. "Are you OK?" she asked softly.
"I'm fine," Enjolras replied, finally turning his head to look at her as he reached over to grab her hand.
"You don't have to put on a brave front for me," Eponine said, running her thumb along the back of his hand.
"They could have told me," Enjolras said, the anger in his voice starting to seep through. "I know things are the way they are between us, but did they really think I wouldn't want to know that my own mother had cancer? My father was probably hoping it would turn out to be more serious so he could call me up six months down the line and throw that in face too, accuse me of abandoning her when she needed me most, despite that the fact that I'm sure he's still entertaining his mistresses behind her back; cancer or no cancer."
He pulled up outside their apartment building and let go of Eponine's hand to put the car into park. She waited for him to make a move and get out but he just sat there, leant over the steering wheel, staring intently ahead into the empty street.
"Everything is going to be OK Enjolras, I mean that Cecile woman said she was OK," she said trying to sound as reassuring as possible.
"Yeah, she's fine, or at least Cecile said she was fine. She just kept saying that they had caught it early, that everything was fine because they had caught the thing early," he replied, still staring straight ahead.
"I'm sure she's totally fine babe, if they caught it early that has to be a good thing."
Enjolras sat back and began rubbing his temples in a harsh circular motion.
"If you've got a headache we should go inside," Eponine said, still entirely unsure what to do. "You should try and get some sleep, it's late."
"I need to go and see her," Enjolras suddenly announced. "I need to do something."
"Do whatever you need to, if you want to go and see her then go, I'm sure she would be so happy to see you. I'm sure they would both be so happy to see you," Eponine replied, even though she wasn't sure at all as to how Enjolras's parents would react to a surprise visit from their prodigal son.
"Will you come with me?"
"What?" Eponine said, sounding slightly more startled than she had intended.
"Will you come with me to see them?"
Eponine knew that she had to say yes, of course she had to say yes, she couldn't tell him that she wasn't going to come and support him, of course she wanted to support Enjolras; she just wasn't sure she was quite up to meeting his estranged parents. She'd never met a boyfriend's parents before, she wasn't sure how to behave in that situation in normal circumstances, never mind the circumstances she had found herself in.
"I know it's a lot to ask," Enjolras said, turning to face her. "But I really don't think I can go by myself, I just don't trust myself to try and face them alone."
"Of course," Eponine replied, shocked by the really quite desperate tone of Enjolras's voice. "Of course I'll come with you."
He leant over and took Eponine's face in his hands, kissing her gently.
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it."