Chapter 7:
Combeferre ran out of the room faster than he'd ever moved in his life, while Enjolras stayed with Lucie. He arrived at Marius and Courfeyrac's room out of breath. He knocked on the door and hunched over with his hands just above his knees, as he waited for an answer. I need to start working out, he thought to himself.
Courfeyrac answered the door…shirtless, "Hey Ferre! What's up?" he asked grinning. He noticed the look on Combeferre's face and stopped smiling, "What's wrong, Ferre?"
Combeferre thought Oh, god not now as he stared at Courfeyrac's chest and arms for maybe too long before snapping out of it, "Where's Marius?"
Marius came to the door, "Right here, Ferre…why is Lucie OK?"
"No she's not…she started sh-shaking and almost fainted. Enjolras caught her but-but she hasn't stopped shaking and she's br-breathing funny," Combeferre stammered.
"Oh, dear God!" Courfeyrac gasped.
"Is she in your room?" Marius asked grabbing his room key and cell phone.
"Yeah, come on, Enj is still with her," Combeferre said walking towards the staircase.
"I'm coming too," Courfeyrac called after them, pulling a shirt over his head.
Back in her room, Lucie was still on the floor in Enjolras's arms. A few minutes after Combeferre left, she'd tried take a few deep breaths, but couldn't pull herself together.
"Lucie," Enjolras said before pausing, thinking of anything he could possibly say to calm her down. It took a minute, but after scanning through everything that he knew about Lucie he said, "Lucie, please talk to me…come on, tell me how wrong I am about Thomas Jefferson, or the women's suffrage movement, or something," he paused and smiled, "Debate my ass into oblivion."
"Enj?" she managed to say eventually. She tried to say more but she still couldn't catch her breath all the way.
"Ssh, you're safe. I won't let go of you," Enjolras said gently.
Lucie took a few deep breaths and smiled a little, "You really want to lose a debate right now?" she asked.
Enjolras sighed in relief, "I'm always up for losing a debate to you, Lucie."
Lucie calmed down more and after a few minutes said, "I think I can stand now."
"Are you sure?" Enjolras asked, stilled concerned.
"Yeah," Lucie replied taking a deep breath, "but I might need a hand."
"Of course," Enjolras said standing up and offering her his hand, "here you go."
Lucie took his hand and climbed to her feet; Enjolras grabbed her shoulders as she stood up. She wobbled a little once she got on her feet, but Enjolras's hands on her shoulders steadied her.
"You scared me a little," Enjolras laughed nervously after about a minute of silence.
"Sorry," Lucie said looking down, "I didn't mean—,"
"No, don't apologize," Enjolras interrupted, "it wasn't your fault; it was his."
Lucie didn't respond, it is my fault, she thought.
Enjolras moved his head to meet her eyes, "Lucie, I mean it," he said, "This was NOT your fault, and I'm not mad at you."
"Uuumm…" Lucie said somewhat grinning, "you can let go now, Enj."
"Oh," Enjolras said removing his hands from Lucie's shoulders and thrusting them into his pockets, "sorry."
"It's quite alright," she said, blushing a little.
Is she blushing? Enjolras thought. Am I blushing?
Before Enj could prove or disprove his suspicions, Combeferre burst through the door followed by Marius and Courfeyrac, "We're here!" he yelled louder than he should have, his voice cracking a little.
"Everything's OK," Lucie said, "Sorry about that, Ferre, I know you were really worried."
"Don't apologize," Combeferre said, "it's OK."
Marius interrupted before Lucie could argue, "What happened, Lucie? Was it another panic attack?"
"Yeah, I think it was, but I'm OK now, Marius," she said.
"That son of a bitch gives you panic attacks?" Courfeyrac asked shocked.
"Well, they stopped after graduation," Lucie explained, "But here we are," she said laughing weakly.
"Are you seriously making a joke about this, Lucie?" Marius asked frustrated.
"What would you like me to do, Marius?" Lucie shot back, "Would you rather I let it get under my skin to the point that I can't even speak about it?"
"You're right, Lu, I'm sorry," Marius said, "It just makes me so angry that Montparnasse would think to put you through this again. I didn't mean to take it out on anyone, especially you."
"I know, Marius," she said. She waited a couple seconds, "You guys can go back to whatever it was you were doing before. I'll be fine."
"You're sure?" Marius asked.
"Yep, I'm sure," Lucie smiled.
Of course she wasn't really sure that she would be OK, how could she be? She just hated it when Marius worried about her.
"Well, if you need anything, call me," Marius said before turning and walking out of the room, "See you later, Lu."
Courfeyrac followed, "See you guys at dinner," he said before waving a nervous goodbye to Combeferre. They heard him through the door saying, "Come on, Marius, let's go to the gym!"
Once Marius and Courfeyrac were gone, Combeferre asked Lucie and Enjolras if they wanted to go to the bookstore with him.
"You sure you don't want to go to the gym?" Lucie asked, raising an eyebrow at Combeferre. After catching his look of disapproval, she followed up with, "Just kidding, you know I'm always up for the bookstore, Ferre."
"What about you, Enjolras?" Combeferre asked.
"I would love to, guys, but I should really go do my homework," Enjolras replied.
"You're no fun," Lucie teased.
"Well, I have to do the reading for history, and I lost my textbook somewhere in my room. It'll take me at least an hour to find it," Enjolras explained.
"Enj," Lucie said, giving him the how-can-you-be-so-smart-yet-so-stupid look.
"What?" he asked.
"Think about what you just said," she told him, giving him a moment to think.
"What about it?" he asked.
"Enj, I'm in your history class," she said.
"Yeah, I know…and…?"
"Enjolras, I bought the damn textbook," she almost yelled, "Just borrow mine!"
"But don't you need it to do the reading?" he asked.
"Enj, I've already done the reading," she said, laughing and handing him the textbook.
"Of course you have," Enjolras sighed, honestly he should have known that Lucie would have done the reading already.
"So, is that still a no from you, Enj?" Combeferre asked.
"I'm afraid so, Ferre," Enjolras said, "I've got to get cracking on this reading now, or I'll keep procrastinating, and never do it." He turned back to Lucie, "I'll give your book back either at dinner later or tomorrow."
"No rush," she grinned, "I read all the assignments for the next two weeks already," she paused as Combeferre and Enjolras stared at her, "They were about the Revolution and Constitutional Convention. Come on, you guys know that's my favorite part of American history," she still got no response from her friends as their stares became more…knowing, "Fine! I wanted to make sure the author didn't bad-mouth Hamilton!" she admitted.
"That's more likely," Enjolras said.
"Watch it!" Lucie said, "You still owe me a debate."
"Oh, no," Combeferre laughed asking, "Enj, what have you gotten yourself into?"
"I'm not even going to tell you when it's going to happen," Lucie said, "I'm just going to wait until you're wrong about something, and pounce! It could happen in class, at a meeting, in a minute, or in three weeks. You'll never know, until it happens."
"Oh, dear god, help me!" Enjolras muttered as he buried his face in his hands.
"No one can help you now, Enjolras," Lucie said with an evil laugh.
Enjolras rolled his eyes, "I'll see you two later," he said walking out of the room.
"Later," Lucie called after him.
"So," Combeferre said as they headed to the bookstore, "looking for any book in particular?"
"Now that I think of it, actually, I do need a copy of Common Sense by Thomas Paine to write my research paper for the end of the semester," she said.
"I meant for fun," Combeferre said, "You do read for fun, don't you?"
"Of course I do!" Lucie almost shouted, "In fact, now that you mention it, I could use a new fiction book. Musichetta told me to read Where the Heart Is. Maybe I'll look for that one."
So Lucie and Combeferre went book shopping, and if just for a moment, Lucie forgot the rest of the world. As she cleared her mind of Montparnasse, however, she realized that Combeferre was right…she most certainly was in love with Enjolras.