Chapter 16:
Eponine was surprised the next morning when the doorbell rang at eight thirty in the morning.
"Cos," She called up to her friend who was still packing books into her bag, "Did you order something?"
"What?" Cosette replied and Eponine shook her head deciding that it was best if she just answered the door anyway.
As she walked through the hall and saw the shadow standing outside, barely visible through the small window she felt the familiar sense of panic. As if she was walking into the lion's den. Her life had never been truly safe and although she was enjoying staying at Cosette's the fact hadn't changed. She was in danger and the simple task of opening the door to someone was laden with dread because of it.
She audibly let out a breath of relief when she saw Enjolras standing on the porch. "Hi." He said, smiling.
"Hey," she said quickly kissing him. "What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to take you to school." He replied simply. "Is that okay?"
She turned to look back into the house, Cosette was now coming down the stairs and quickly waved hello at Enjolras. "Cosette Enj is taking me to school, is that okay?" When Cosette replied telling her that it was fine Eponine quickly grabbed her bag and followed Enjolras to his car.
"So what's the cause for this free ride?" She asked, still a little dubious about his intentions.
"I just wanted to." He said again. But then he ran a hand through his hair and said, "And also I just thought I'd tell you that I recently got a job."
Eponine stared at him. "Really?" She asked, feeling as if she should try to spot the hidden cameras. When she found none and Enjolras nodded she said, "Why?"
Enjolras cringed, this was the part he was slightly worried about. "Well…" He stalled, "First of all I wanted one, you know get out of my father's influence and everything…" Again he trailed off.
"But?" Eponine prompted.
"But also it's because I may be cut off… soon… possibly." He looked at her. She was staring blankly at the road ahead of them.
"Why would you be cut off?" She asked. "Has your Dad's firm failed or something?"
"No." Enjolras replied. "I would be cut off because my father doesn't approve of our relationship." He finally admitted. The air felt heavy all of a sudden. "Which of course is ridiculous! Believe I am probably just as angry as you are and I've told my father that he is a bigot and… well, I didn't call him that to his face but I wanted to!" He was rambling, he knew it. He should give her time to process this but he couldn't let the silence continue. "And I don't care anyway! I would have been cut off once I didn't join my father's firm so really it's not even an issue."
"Gabe," Eponine said suddenly and Enjolras' rambling grounded to a halt. "Just let me… think." He nodded and quickly shut up. The silence was broken up only by the sounds of the other cars whizzing past in the rush hour traffic. "Are you sure it's worth it?" She finally said.
"What?"
"Are you sure you want to give up your inheritance for me?" She asked, her voice a little quieter than usual. "Because personally I'm not sure if it's worth it I mean," She was looking into her hands. Enjolras probably should have been paying more attention to the road but he didn't want to take his eyes off of her. "This is your livelihood, your family."
Enjolras sighed. "Really the inheritance was my father's way to control me." Enjolras told her. "He would hold it over my head to get me to do what he wants. Now he can't control me anymore."
"I'm just… worried you'll regret this down the line." She admitted. "What if in ten years you look back and think 'Why the fuck did I throw everything away for a girl'?"
"I wouldn't think that." He told her.
"But what if you do?" She asked.
They were getting closer to the school and Enjolras took the distraction to think for a moment. "I have been expected to be my father ever since I was born. And ever since I could think for myself I haven't wanted to be. I want to help people. I'm not going to join my father's firm. That's just not what I want to do." He explained. "I know that I would rather be poor and be helping people than be rich and immoral."
They pulled into the car park but neither of them moved to leave the car. Enjolras turned to Eponine but her gaze was still locked into her palm. He took her hand and her eyes moved to his.
"I don't want this to put any pressure on you. If we break up tomorrow then so be it. I won't regret this because it's something I've been thinking about for years." She nodded a little. "I hope we won't break up." He admitted and she laughed a little. "I want to be with you," He told her. "And my father's stubborn but eventually he'll come around to the idea."
"It's just a big deal for us only being together for such a short time." She said and he laughed.
"I know." He brought her hand to his lips. "But for us it was never going to be easy."
"True." She said smiling now. Enjolras hoped that he'd been able to smooth this over. "So does this mean no sleepovers at the Enjolras house?"
"Well considering what happened last time…" He trailed off and she laughed before pulling him into a sweet kiss.
If truth be told she couldn't quite believe it. That someone would give up something that seemed so important in Eponine's view. It was a big gesture but that somehow felt right. In the relatively short time they'd known each other so much had happened. It seemed fitting that one last piece was thrown in to the air. Now, she hoped, everything would fall into place and they'd be allowed to be happy.
Everything suddenly seemed back to normal. Well, back to a new normal. A normal in which it was common to see Eponine and Enjolras hand in hand, smiling and making gooey eyes at each other. But the boys soon got used to it.
"To the girl who was able to reduce the stone man to rubble!" Bahorel had toasted at the first proper meeting since Eponine's disappearance. The boys had cheered and Enjolras had blushed the appropriate amount.
They had decided to meet at Grantaire house. It was a perfect relocation, there was more food, better drinks and a much cleaner floor. As his parents often travelled they'd doubt they'd be disturbed and it was a lot safer than the Musain. This unspoken fact lay between them and Eponine felt the familiar anxiety that plagued her, making her look quickly over her should far too often.
"So," Enjolras said once everyone had sat down. "Our first order of business is deciding our new mission." He began. "Now two options have been put forward. The first, invest more time in bettering the social issues that are evident within our local community. The second, use our time campaigning local and wider government about the issues within our education system." There was a little bit of murmuring between the group and Enjolras waited for it to die down. He'd missed this. "The floor is open."
Eponine quickly stood up. "I am very much in favour of continuing our efforts within the local community," She began. "And I feel that our work would be more effective and better received if we focused on the social issues such as homelessness, and the growing drinking and drug problem within youth." She took the time to look at all of the people sat around her. "As you remember, the support and help we gave to the local homeless centre created actual good, we were able to positively affect those people's lives. I have seen the benefits of the centre and I know that the owners struggle with volunteers and funds. We can campaign to local government in the hopes that they will provide the centre with more funding and we can also volunteer our time."
Eponine sat down quietly and watched as Joly stood. "I disagree." There was a rumble of interest from the group and Eponine smiled as Grantaire raised an eyebrow at her. "I think that although the social issues are important, we have more experience with the education system. Therefore we are more qualified to comment on it and therefore will be taken more seriously." Eponine watched as Enjolras nodded. "I think if we petitioned the government on social issues they will be able to bat us away with the comment that we don't know what we're talking about. That we're just teens with big ideas."
"Interesting point." Enjolras said and Joly smiled. "Eponine, do you want to rebuttal?"
"Yes." She said and that earned a laugh. "I just think that the Education system is too big for us. We can petition and protest all we like but will we actually make any change? Teachers and people within the school system strike every year and yet they make almost no difference. Can we really expect that a group of teenagers will have more power than full unions?" There was a murmur of agreement. "If we focused our efforts on short-term, achievable goals we will create an actual difference."
"But what of Joly's point?" Enjolras asked her. "That our knowledge would be questioned?"
"That's why we need to volunteer and actually work at the shelter." She replied coolly. "So that we can state we have first-hand experience."
"Joly-rebuttal?"
The debate was a good one. It went on for a couple of hours. Grantaire, Combeferre and Marius took Eponine's side; Bahorel and Joly fought their corner. Everyone looked to Enjolras.
"I see the value of both points." He said. No one was sure which way he would go. "But in order to be fully democratic I will side with the majority." Eponine whooped. "We will focus on social issues within our local community."
Joly protested, "This is a clear example of favouritism!" he yelled. "I bet you'd have taken my side if I was sleeping with you!"
"If I were sleeping with you Joly be sure to never listen to a word I say because I would have clearly gone mad."
"Screw you!" He said finally before walking out in a huff.
"He'll be okay." Bahorel said. "Just a wounded ego." He trailed after Joly who was kicking anything in sight.
Around four weeks after she moved in with Cosette, Eponine was sat opposite Enjolras as they enjoyed their classic Friday Date Night. Due to his now heavy schedule as a newly appointed Assistant Manager (a rising through the ranks that was remarkable but not totally unexpected as it was Enjolras after all) and Eponine's equally limited time Enjolras decided that creating a designated date night was necessary. On this particular date night it was Eponine's turn to organise the night's activities and so Enjolras had been taken to the cinema to watch some incredibly sappy love story that Eponine loved and Enjolras tolerated because it had a vague message about true love. Not that he would admit it, but at this moment that kind of ideal was something he liked to indulge in.
Now they were sat in an Indian restaurant and Eponine was laughing at Enjolras' incredibly low tolerance for heat.
"You are such a wuss!" She cried as he gulped the water in front of him.
"I'm not a wuss!" He protested, sweat dripping from his brow. "It's just this is ridiculously hot and the fact that your mouth is still intact makes me think that you are a robot."
She watched as he tried to cool himself down, half a curry still in front of him. It had been an amazing month together, she hadn't expected it to be so easy. The only bump in the road had been the problem with his parents but it's not like she didn't come with her own baggage. They'd had a few small arguments especially when they'd spent a full two days together. That second night when he'd stayed over at Cosette's she had snapped and told him that he had to leave or she'd be forced to strangle him. Over the last few weeks they'd endured the millions of sex jokes thrown at them by the boys after Cosette had complained to Marius. She couldn't quite believe that he was actually still with her. And he seemed to genuinely enjoy the time they spent together. At this moment he was calling the waiter over for some more water and Eponine couldn't help but smile as she examined how his hair had curled a little more than usual with the heat of the restaurant.
"I love you." She said before she even realised she was saying it.
He stared at her. "What did you say?" His voice was breathy from the spice and she smiled.
"I love you." She told him, confident this time. Because she did.
"'Ponine," he breathed and she suddenly panicked that he didn't feel the same way. "I love you too." He said just as her heart was beginning to wither.
"You do?" She said. He just nodded and quickly moved around the table to kiss her.
As they kissed she felt her phone buzz in her pocket. She quickly took it out and saw Cosette was calling.
"Take it." Enjolras encouraged.
She nodded, kissed him again quickly and put the phone to her ear. "Hiya!" She said.
"Ponine." Cosette said and Eponine's demeanour changed instantly at the tone of her friend's voice.
"What's happened?" Asked Eponine.
"They're here." She told her. "Your father and a few others, they're sat outside the house in their car."
Eponine's heart thudded to the floor. Enjolras quickly sat up, "What's happened?" He asked.
"What are you going to do?" She asked.
"Dad's going to call the police if they don't leave in five minutes." Cosette said. "Ep, I think this means they know where you are."
Eponine nodded slowly. She could practically see it. That beat up old Ford sitting on the drive, her father at the wheel. She wondered whether he still had a beard. She couldn't imagine him being clean shaven. In her head he was hairy, dirty and foul. And he was ruining that lovely sanctuary. "I'm so sorry Cosette." She whispered, feeling the lump in her throat bob.
"Don't be stupid." Cosette said firmly. "They're not going to come in."
"But…" Eponine began but Cosette cut her off.
"Dad's ringing the police, he doesn't want to take any chances." Eponine nodded. "So I think that you should probably avoid this house tonight. Do you have anywhere you can stay?"
"I'm not sure. I'll have to ask around." She said. Enjolras was looking at her, completely worried by the tears in her eyes. "Thank you, stay safe." She said.
"I love you." Cosette told her before hanging up.
"Eponine, what's happened?" Enjolras asked again.
"They found me again."