Eponine ran across the street and then down the sidewalk as Courfeyrac, Cosette, and Gav watched her go.
"Where is she going?" Courfeyrac asked, even though he knew the answer to his own question.
"She's going to go talk to Enjolras." Cosette replied softly.
"How does she know where he is?" Courfeyrac was one of Enjolras' closest friends, and even he didn't know where he would go if he ran off upset.
"Eponine knows. Ep's always known." Cosette then directed her attention from Courfeyrac to Gavroche. "Come on, Gav. Wanna go to my house? I can order us some pizza and you can stay till Ep gets back, yeah?" She smiled at the boy, who nodded his head and smiled.
Cosette smiled back as she took his hand and started down the street in the direction of her house.
"Would you like to come as well, Courf?"
Courfeyrac nodded his head, relieved he was invited. He hoped Cosette could inform him on some things that were still unclear to him.
15 minutes later, Eponine reached a dirt road that was somewhat at the edge of the town. She walked down the dirt road, realizing how beautiful it was once you left town. On the sides of the light tan road, flowers were budding in soft, green grass. Trees were also on both sides of the road, almost making it seem isolated. Once the sides opened-up a tad, the road split into two- the right side leading to a grassy clearing with trees here and there, and patches of flowers.
As Eponine walked down the road, she could hear the soft sound of water. As he inhaled she could smell the fresh air- the flowers, the grass, the trees.
"I need to come out here more often. It's lovely." She thought to herself, almost forgetting who she came to see.
Once fully reaching the clearing she could see Enjolras leaning up against a tree right by the river, making something out of flowers.
She slowly approached Enjolras, taking off her long sleeved black cardigan, feeling the warm sun touch her skin.
"Enj? Are you okay, love?" Eponine asked softly, and nervously.
Enjolras ignored her question. "You've been avoiding me." he started, "It's been two weeks since you've gone to the cafe."
Eponine sat next to him and brought her knee's tightly to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. "I know. I'm sorry for that- it was childish." She said, looking at him.
"Don't be 'Ponine- I can understand." he then looked up at her. He felt his heart ache just by seeing her- "What's wrong with me?" he thought. "Why does she make me feel like this?"
"If anything, you should forgive me. It didn't end well that night, and I didn't mean to upset you."
"Of course i'll forgive you, Enj- I always will... But- what you said in the cafe," Eponine lowered her head and looked down, "Did you mean it?" she muttered.
It was silent between the two- the only sound was the smooth running river.
Enjolras couldn't think clear- "Did you mean it? Did you mean it?" Of course he didn't mean it. He loved Eponine, and he could never not. Then it hit him.
"I love Eponine. Oh my lord, I love Eponine. I love Eponine Thenardier, and that will never change. I am just simply and utterly in love with her." He had made himself uneasy.
Did he really mean love? No, there was no doubt- he absolutely did. Part of himself felt warm, and happy, while the other was nervous and embarrassed. But the longer he kept it from her, the farther away she could get from him. He had to tell her.
"Say it. Say it. Say it. Say it." he thought, trying to make himself spit out the words.
"I love you." Enjolras roughly and nervously spit out the words fastly. "Goddamnit Eponine, what have you done to me?"
She was looking up, confused. "Did he say love?"
"I love you, Eponine. I am in love with you, and I just figured it out. I haven't been myself. I've barely gotten any sleep, I can't focus, every time I hear your name or see you I get nervous. And you seeing them make fun of me drove me crazy, so I said what I thought would make it stop. I guess what I'm trying to say is- no, I don't mean it. Not one bit."
Eponine looked up and smiled at him. She could sense the uneasiness on his face.
"Relax, Enj, you've got yourself all worked up now." She started to slowly stroke his curly blonde hair, which did calm him down, but Eponine knew that.
Eponine knew a lot about him- and him a lot about Eponine.
He didn't know why, but it was almost as if they study each other.
"You poured your heart out to me- which I never thought would ever happen. But I love you even more for doing so."
Enjolras gave a relieved smile, hearing the words come from her as well.
"I love you too, Enjolras."
This time, Enjolras leaned in and kissed her, wrapping his arms around her.
Eponine kissed back, ecstatic she was in his arms once again.
She pulled away slowly, "This time you aren't going to tell me you can't be with me, right?"
"Of course not- but what are you going to tell Courf?... After that one night he hasn't stopped talking about you."
"That one night. Oh, shit." Ep thought nervously, biting her lip.
"Oh.. you know about that..?"
Enjolras nodded his head. "Yeah, I do..."
"About that... I was angry. I was angry, and I didn't know what to do. But I knew I wanted to make you upset at that moment, so that's what happened I suppose."
To Eponine's surprise, Enjolras chuckled.
"You're laughing?" Eponine spat out, hitting his arm playfully and laughing.
"I'm sorry, but I'm just thinking about Courfeyrac's reaction. He came to the cafe the next day just dazed. When Combeferre asked him what wrong all he said at first was "Eponine visited me last night" then layed his head down on the table. He was utterly taken aback. Good job."
Eponine chuckled. "Why good job?" She asked.
"Because you wanted to anger me, and seeing that really angered me."
Eponine gave a smirk. "Glad. I mean it was pretty great-"
"Ep, I do not want to hear more about it." He said almost in a teasing way.
She smiled and kissed his cheek, which then made him smile.
"Come on, Enj."
"Where are we going?"
"To Cosette's to talk to Courfeyrac. Or at least I have to." Enjolras got up as she did, and placed a flower crown made of light pink flowers on her head.
"So that's what you were making when I walked up? Creative." She smiled, and he hugged her. Eponine liked hugging him, and kissing him- she liked it a lot. The two walked hand in hand onto the dirt road to once again enter the city.
Upon walking up to Cosette's white door with lovely gold decals around the small window on it, Enjolras stopped and looked at Eponine.
"You're comfortable doing this, right?"
Eponine frowned. "I'm not comfortable with it, but I can handle it. I've been practically by myself since first grade. I can handle things, fine Enjolras. Don't doubt me."
"Hey, no offense, madame- I trust you have this under control."
She smiled softly at him, then took the key to Cosette's house out of her small over-the-shoulder bag.
"I'm back-well, we're back!" Eponine screamed as she entered the house.
"We're back in the living room!" Cosette screamed back.
Eponine and Enjolras walked into the living room.
"Gav, sweet heart- can you go outside with Cosette for a moment?" Eponine asked her brother.
He ran out the back door, Cosette following him, but not going far from the door so she could still hear what was being said.
"Courfeyrac, love- may we talk?" Eponine sat in the middle seat of the couch, Enjolras on one side and Courfeyrac on the other.
He nodded his head, looking slightly confused, as Eponine began to speak.
"Courfeyrac, you know I find you so lovely, but you also know how I have always greatly adored Enjolras, right?"
Courfeyrac looked at Eponine who had a sincere face, and then at Enjolras who was awkwardly looking down.
"Ep, love, I knew this was coming. It's completely fine. Be with Enjolras. You two are beautiful together." Courfeyrac practically whispered to her as he held her hand lightly.
"You're going to be able to get over a couple of weeks ago? From what I hear you were pretty stricken." Eponine said jokingly- relieved he was completely okay with what was happening, as Enjolras chuckled into his hand.
"Dammit, who told you?" Courfeyrac exclaimed. "Enj, did you really tell her that?"
"Well, yes- I may have." Enjolras said with a straight face, as if he didn't think twice about it.
"You're a jerk, Enjolras." Courfeyrac said to him with an embarrassed smile and pink cheeks. He didn't like knowing that Eponine knew that, but it wasn't too big of a deal for him. Courfeyrac was more upset about what had happened. He knew that Eponine would eventually leave him for Enjolras. While to them he acted completely fine, he was aching on the inside. He would protect Eponine to the max- even die for her, he loved her so much. But he loved seeing her happy. And Enjolras was his friend. He rather have both of them be together than sulk about his own feelings and make big deal out of something that could be ended so easily. Courfeyrac didn't know exactly why he let his responsible, mature-self make the decision. Did he really care that much for her that he rather see her easily happy? It didn't matter now. He made an excuse to leave by looking at his watch and saying he had a small homework assignment due at midnight that night.
Eponine smiled at him as she walked with him to the door.
"Thank you for being so nice tonight." she whispered in his ear as she hugged him goodbye.
"Of course- you're one of my closest friends. I wouldn't ever do anything to hurt you."
He left, and Eponine closed the door behind him. And that was it. Her and Courfeyrac weren't together any more. Though they were never exclusive, Eponine wondered if Courfeyrac thought of them like that. Normally if he see's a girl, they aren't "exclusive" so to say, and he has another date the next night.
That wasn't the case with Eponine, though. She brushed the thought out of her mind and went back to join Enjolras, Cosette, and Gavroche.
Enjolras, on the other hand, felt rather awkward still. Courfeyrac had been apart of their group .While Enjolras knew everyone, he didn't specifically hang out with any of the separately besides the cafe. He still thought of all of them as close friends, though. He still had unsure feelings. Courfeyrac had always been Gavroche's role-model, and he knew Cosette almost as much as he knew Eponine or Combeferre. Enjolras almost felt as a new-comer.
"Enjolras, you 'k, dear?" Cosette said, realizing he was staring as if he was thinking.
"Oh, yes, I'm fine, Cosette." Enjolras informed her with a smile.
Together the four of them sat in Cosette's living room and talked for awhile before leaving.
Later, as Enjolras walked Eponine and Gavroche to their home, as Gav asked a quite abrupt question.
"Ep, did you leave Courf for Enjolras?"
Eponine laughed at her brother's question. "Well, yes, I guess if you want to put it bluntly."
"Okay. As long as Enj is good to you." Gavroche popped out, as he ran up the front steps and to the front door.
"Gav loves you a lot, doesn't he?" Enjolras said, with a small smile of admiration for the boy.
"Yes, I suppose so. I mean, sometimes when we do something fun, he'll say 'Dad would have never taken me to do this.' and I just think about how happy I am- and about how happy he is to be away from our father." Eponine told this to Enjolras with a sad tone.
Enjolras never truly understood how much Eponine had gone through as a child.
"Well, just know, 'Ponine- I'll never treat you bad."
Eponine smiled and kissed his nose lightly. "Thank you, Enjolras."
(Authors note: Sorry if it isn't too exciting at the moment! It'll get better. Also, I love your feedback, so don't be afraid to give your opinion! Thanks for reading, loves!)