My Best Friend's Wedding
Disclaimer: It's still not mine. And that's still not surprising.
AN: This huge chapter is only being updated right now because AliceInSomewhereland/thisislavieboheme/Mary is an amazing person.
Chapter two: We are making evil plans
The flight is going to be long and extremely unpleasant, she knows that much.
But when the flight attendant seats the two of them next to each other in two of the most gigantic first class chairs she has ever seen, her day gets a whole lot better.
"Why are we in first class?" she first has to ask him.
"Because I have frequent flyers miles and I want us to be comfortable," he speaks.
It is probably a lawyer thing, those miles, and she has absolutely no problem with taking advantage of them for as long as she possibly can – starting with the comfy chair even the Angels would be jealous of and the free booze the flight attendants will bring to her any second now. Oh yes, life as the date of Gabriel Enjolras is good.
"The flight is not that long, right?" she gets ready to put her feet up.
"It's still a few hours," he looks like a bit of a nervous flyer.
She should not find his nervousness as adorable as she does, but there is just something about seeing the usually so composed Enjolras wringing his hands and staring at everything inside the plane, but never looking outside – not even for a second.
"I like it," she stares at her temporary kingdom happily. "There's room and free booze."
The chair can even swivel a little, and that is really all that she can ask for from a plane chair. She can really bug Enjolras with that, and that is always a good idea.
"Of course you would think of that," he seems annoyed with her already.
"The love of my life is getting married," she once again has to tell him the obvious reasons for this. "Of course I am thinking of getting trashed."
That is the right response to a situation like this one: her Marius is no longer her Marius, and that leads to her drinking straight out of the bottle – or it would have if she had been home for this. Now that she is in public and on a plane, dependent on the flight attendants to provide her with booze, she is going to make a tower of those tiny bottles and go to town. She just wants to forget about it for a little bit.
"I'm not holding your hair back when you get sick," he warns her.
"Why not, lover?" she gives him a pout and an exaggerated wink.
He gives her the perfect response for that nickname: a reflexive flinch and a twist of his face, and then an exasperated eye roll. There is none of the typical response of trying to picture the two of them as lovers; there is just the disgust at the nickname.
"Is that the latest nickname?" he scrunches up his face a little more.
"Yes, it is," she is pretty proud of this one. "And I kind of like it."
It is very evocative and she knows that it will surely puzzle Marius and his bimbo, which is basically what she is going for with this one. Everyone will be surprised at Enjolras actually being with a girl, and she is sure that Marius will start to wonder how she managed to get him under her spell and into her bed.
"I don't," Enjolras is not working with her this time.
"Yeah, I'm not taking your opinion into consideration," she speaks firmly. "You don't like anything except your last name, and I'm not calling you Enjolras the whole time."
Calling him by his last name for the duration of their fake relationship is not going to impress anyone, especially Marius. Enjolras needs to act as if he is wrapped around her pinky finger, and she needs to act as if she cannot stand to be without him for even the shortest second – and it would not hurt if they would both act like they simply cannot keep their hands off each other. Enjolras looks pretty darn bangable.
Damn her students and their need to use stupid slang!
"I don't see the problem," but sometimes the guy can be rather dense.
Honestly, what is she supposed to do, shout "Enjolras" when she is faking an orgasm or a kiss – either one will work. That is one of the least sexy things that she can think of, and it will make it super obvious for the Amis that they are faking, not that she has any chance of fooling those guys – Marius is the only one oblivious enough to fall for it.
"I'm supposed to be your date," she is raising her voice at him.
"I hate to be the one to tell you," he starts, and she rolls her eyes, "but no one will believe there is anything going on between the two of us. Not just because there is nothing going on between the two of us, but also because I am not interested in relationships."
He is a lawyer, so he should be a decent enough actor to at least make Marius believe that he has changed enough to allow her to be in a committed relationship with him. It has been a while since the two friends have seen each other – she has checked that with R before even bothering to ask Enjolras, because now that she knows that he has not seen Marius in at least a year, she can give their pretend relationship longevity.
"I should have brought someone else," she has now realized her mistake.
Why did she have any qualms about tearing another one of the Amis away from his date? Seriously, she knew that her only other option was Enjolras and that things were not going to be easy. She should really have asked someone else.
"If your aim was just to make Marius jealous," he starts, "yes, you should have."
She has more on her mind than just making Marius jealous that he was not the one who got his head out of his ass soon enough to notice her as a beautiful woman who was a great match of him – okay, she is exaggerating a bit because she knows that Marius' fiancée will undoubtedly be a fucking model and she is just the way too skinny girl whose chest never really came in. Her cheekbones stick out too much and her eyes are too big for her face, and her hair is too dark and her mouth is just weird.
Seeing his fiancée will surely give her enough inadequacy issues to last a lifetime.
"What are my other options?" inquiring minds desperately need to know.
"I'm willing to be your partner in crime," he gives her a pretty decent offer.
Is he seriously willing to betray his college friend like that for her? He barely even knows her, and he is still offering to help her basically ruin his friend's wedding. It would indeed be nice to have a partner in crime with her to help her make her evil plans and to shake at least some of the suspicion off her – the plan would be completely worthless if Marius ever found out that she was the person behind it.
"I thought you liked Cosette," she spits out the name with malice.
The name is ridiculous enough. It is French, a nickname for little thing that apparently has been turned into a real name somehow. The girl probably has two beautiful, kind, and rich parents who absolutely adore their little girl and pamper her so much that she is secretly the biggest spoiled brat anyone has ever known. She has to be a blonde, and she has to be super busty – because that is just Marius' type. It has been so far.
"I've never even met her, just like you," he shrugs carelessly.
"I can't believe he's been keeping her a secret from me," her frustration takes over.
Apparently the very real title of best friend means nothing to him whatsoever if he is keeping the so-called love of his life away from her. She has to meet the girl at the wedding with everybody else there to watch for a possible catfight – she hoped that most of the Amis would at least put their money on her, because she definitely has more than a few tricks up her sleeve, ones that the pampered bitch Cosette probably has never even heard of. If she had to face the bitch in combat, she would win.
"He probably wanted to keep you around as a back-up option," he is cruel.
That is one of the cruelest things that anyone has ever said to her. She is better than that; she is better than being anyone's second choice, and that is why Marius needs to figure out that he has been oblivious for far too long. She has figured that he simply does not know how she feels about him, and that is why he has never returned her feelings – because he would never leave her pining after him on purpose because he never bothered to reject her. Marius would never reject her. He just does not know.
"Marius is not like that," she bites out, jaw clenched in anger.
"I'm sure," suddenly Enjolras is being sarcastic as all hell.
How can he even think these things of his friend? Mister high and mighty Enjolras would never stand for bad behavior from anyone, let alone from one of his friends. It is not just that Marius is completely different from the kind of person that he is currently describing, it is also that it bothers her that Enjolras would be the kind of person to just let that behavior go and lie to his friend about appreciating him. Has he been faking being a friend to Marius for all these years? Has he seen bad things in Marius?
"What is that sarcasm supposed to mean?" she turns to look at him.
"You won't want to hear it," now he is a patronizing piece of shit all of a sudden, and that pisses her off even more, "but okay. He's been a crap friend to you for years, and you've always been there for him but when you need someone, he is nowhere to be found for some reason. If he needed a bride, you would have come running."
Yes, it is true that if Marius had not found someone before her birthday, she would have stuck to her promise and she would gladly have married him. She would still gladly marry him, after making him sweat for a little while about that tramp Cosette.
"How would you even know?" she is more than a bit skeptical of him.
"Because I look after my friends," his is definitely a noble sentiment.
It sounds well enough until she thinks again on Marius and Enjolras' claim to be friends with him as well. Why would he say that he looks after his friends when he is saying terrible things about Marius and choosing her side over his? They are not close in any way, and he should be happy for Marius and that girl he is banging.
"We're not friends," she chooses to deny their association.
"I asked Marius about you sometimes," he reveals. "He could never tell me anything new about you. Your dear Grant was a better source of info and he's drunk most of the time."
True, Grant does have a bit of a problem with alcohol, but he is working hard on doing better and getting sober. And he is doing that by himself, without very much help, which pretty much makes him the best man she knows at the moment.
"Grant is one of the best people in the world," she has to defend her friend.
R Grant is not the kind of guy that most people understand, but he is the kind of guy that people come to when they need to have a fun night to get them through whatever is going on at that moment – and he is always there for them, no matter what is going on in his own life. He is a very loyal friend, and she has always admired that about him.
"He's a good guy," at least Enjolras can say that much about him.
"He's in love with you," she has to ruin every illusion he has ever had about that.
This thing was told to her in confidence by R himself, but she knows that Enjolras has to know that or they will never be able to move on from this. He needs to know in order for the friendship between the two guys to work. Enjolras is too blunt not to know; he could really hurt R's feelings if something ever happened to screw up the balance. Now he will actually pay more attention to how R is feeling about things.
"Still?" his world seems to have turned upside down. "He is bringing a date."
Having a date with someone does not mean that you have gotten over the person who came before, especially when this person is an old friend. She has been on dates herself, but she has not deluded herself into thinking that this means that she is over Marius and can move on. She doubts if she will ever be able to move on from him.
"He's trying to get over you," she explains the finer points behind this.
"That's good," he breathes a sigh of relief. "He deserves a good person in his life."
Enjolras appears to be more broken up about this than she had imagined he would be when she pictured herself telling him about R's feelings. She figured that he would take in the information and then move on like the robot that she has always imagined him to be. She has heard him being called 'the marble man' and she has always understood that this meant that he never showed any feelings – his only love is justice and that is the only time in which he is even remotely passionate.
Still, these last few days have changed her perspective a bit.
"How can you both be a dick and a noble guy at the same time?" she does not get it.
"It comes as natural as breathing," his voice is breaking. "I'm a lawyer. Remember?"
He is hard on himself now, and she made that happen just by telling him something that R should have told him years ago – the typical men's mentality probably stopped them from having any kind of serious heart to heart about this situation. Enjolras now has absolutely no idea how to deal with this, and for all of the nice words that he has been taught; he has nothing real to say now, only platitudes and learned phrases.
"It comes with the territory," she jokes lightly. "I should have known."
There is another flinch that she barely catches, and that actually hurts a little.
"When I was in law school, they tried to make us stop being nice completely," he shrugs.
Even though she thinks that he is almost emotionless – or at least that he shows next to no emotions – she knows that he is still a good person underneath his façade of this perfect marble lawyer man. He is passionate about justice and making things right, and while they probably tried to change that in law school, he stayed who he is.
"They did not quite succeed completely," she makes sure to tell him that.
"I like to remind them of that," he wears a big smile now, leaning back in his chair.
Here the mysterious Enjolras is revealing that there is yet another layer to him, and she really wants to find out what that means for him and for her.
All of the talking has managed to distract him from the plane's takeoff and they are now at a height of about 30,000 feet and going fast. Every second is taking them closer.
"How?" the mysterious air he now projects only makes her more curious.
"By helping the poor and the downtrodden," he leans closer to get the desired dramatic effect, "defending widows, small children, and lost animals. Blah blah, woof woof."
She vaguely remembers hearing these words before, which means that he is actually referencing something – which is something she never expected of him, especially not something that does not sound like it was originally written in Latin or something that talks about politics and/or philosophy. This sounds like pop culture.
"Now I really need a drink," she rolls her eyes at his words.
His stupid comment makes her feel stupid and pitied, and it makes her think of the times when she and Marius had movie marathons that lasted a week with only the shortest breaks for sleep and the bathroom. They have not done that in a long time.
"You're going to get drunk, aren't you?" he is definitely not happy now.
"Just watch me," she promises, getting ready to get a hold of a flight attendant.
Those are pretty famous last words.
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"He is going to eat his words," she grounds her peanuts into fine dust with a relish that scares some people. "He is going to leave the tramp without another look."
Yes, at this point some of the other passengers in first class are looking at her with at least some trepidation – which means that she is doing well. Several empty bottles of booze have been removed from her tray table and she has a nice buzz going on that makes her anger burn brighter and makes her pain feel less sharp. And the fact that Enjolras disapproves of the drinking makes it an even better decision.
"Calm down, Éponine," Mister Nice Guy has to admonish her again.
"I'm not calming down," she holds her head up. "I'm planning. I'm making evil plans."
The notebook on her lap has not been filled yet, but she has started to write down a few ideas that she can work with in the few weeks before the wedding. Every single time her pen touches paper Enjolras starts to frown more, so her pen is on paper all of the time, even though most of what she writes is either nonsense or doodles.
"You can do that quietly," he looks at her pointedly.
"Of course not," she raises her voice again just to be annoying.
It gets her a few more frustrated looks, but she does not care about that. Nobody gives a flying fuck about her feelings, so why should she care about other people's feelings? It is the stupidest kind of reasoning, the kind she always warns the students against using when school is in session, but right now she's on the worst vacation of her life and she can do whatever the hell she wants, and so she is going to do just that.
"I knew you would say that," he shakes his head. "But since you probably do not want to end up on the No Fly list for the rest of your life, I think you should calm down."
Okay, he is making this a lot more dramatic than it actually is, and she hates it.
"Since when are you such a drama queen?" she is getting more and more annoyed.
"I am not a drama queen," he apparently resents her implication enough to get all stupidly huffy with her and that makes it worse, "I am just concerned, and I have been concerned ever since the stewardesses started looking angry and having whispered conversations while pointing at you. I can help you, but you have to calm down."
At this point, she is ready to pout and stomp her feet like she is a two-year-old throwing an epic temper tantrum – she used to have those a lot when she was really young and her parents still had enough money to oblige her and enough patience to keep from slapping or hitting her. She is sure that Enjolras has plenty of patience, so she can risk trying it again – only there is not even a hint of a real response on his side.
"Ugh, you are such a buzz kill," she groans, looking at the notebook again.
There has been no new line written since she last checked, which is pretty obvious since she is the only person having any ideas about this, when he is supposed to help her as any decent partner in crime would. But no, he is too busy moralizing.
"That is not the first time someone has told me that," he does not seem fazed.
Of course he would have been told that before; he is pretty much known as Major Buzz Kill by most, if not all, of the Amis. He is the one with a reasonable response to just about everything, even when the plans being made are just for fun. There is just always another reason not to do it coming from his lips – she has heard R whine about this way too often for her not to understand how he always felt when that happened.
"Just help me make Cosette very sorry she ever met him," her vindictive side is showing.
That might sound a bit too cruel for most people to go along with, but that is definitely the way that she is feeling at this point – she wants her life to go back to what it was before Marius decided he would rather marry some strange blonde bimbo rather than his best friend of almost twenty years. And for that to happen, Cosette needs to leave.
"I'd prefer to make Marius sorry that he ever slighted you," his tone is darker as well.
"That idea sort of works for me," she grins at him, happy to finally have his help.
Marius just has to see that she is the better option for him, and then he will have to beg on his bare knees to get her to forgive him – and he owes her several dozen orgasms for all of the lonely nights she waited for him. If Enjolras can help her accomplish that, she is going to do whatever he wants for a whole fucking month and maybe solve every single problem that he has ever had. She might even get him laid!
"He needs to see what he is missing," she gets a smile from him in return.
At least Enjolras sees that Marius is definitely missing out on her, and that makes her feel even better – the alcohol is starting to seem less necessary at this point. Still, she cannot help but raise her voice and act more than a little embarrassing.
"That is why I brought the red dress," she gives him a sultry look and watches him blush because he does not know how to respond to something like that.
"I am flattered," he is still blushing. "Are you intent on playing my date?"
Flustering the great Gabriel Enjolras daily is going to be a new main activity for her – and she is going to continue doing that for the rest of her life because this is just never going to get old. She can see why it appeals to R so much; she definitely can. His cheeks turn a bit red, but the back of his neck is just flaming and apparently very itchy, because he cannot stop scratching at it. He also cannot look her in the eyes any longer.
"I am going to be the love of your fucking life," she feels like shouting it out. "You are not going to be able to keep your hands off me – and that is an order."
That makes her consider his hands and his long fingers in a whole new light. Objectively speaking, he has really nice hands for things like sex, and his fingers will hopefully curl enough to make a girl see stars – not that she is considering trying him out, because that would definitely keep Marius from believing their story and from ever taking her back if he found out about it. Also, Enjolras would have to be taught from scratch. Ugh.
"And you think Marius will believe that?" he turns into a skeptic again.
"We are damn well going to make him believe it," she shouts again.
Her gestures have gotten progressively more dramatic as well, but she cannot seem to find a problem with that – except for that her own voice is starting to give her a headache, but she cannot decide if that is because of her voice or because of the alcohol.
"Ma'am, if you could please lower your voice," there is a flight attendant next to her. "You are disturbing some of the other passengers on this flight."
Of course the lady is using her stern voice when she has just started getting the first hints of a headache – and she usually handles alcohol so very well, but she does not drink that often during the school year and now she is really paying for her extremely well thought-out decision. Her students are smart enough to get into all of the bars, and she really does not want to be found blackout drunk by one of her students.
She really should be starting to suck up to the nice flight attendant lady.
"I do apologize for my friend's loudness," Enjolras is trying to get the attendant wrapped around his finger by being charming, "but she has just gotten some very upsetting news. You see, the love of her life has just announced that he is marrying someone else, when he promised her that they would be married this year. She's heartbroken."
There is a faked sniffle from her – she learned that trick before she could read – and the woman is right along with them on the being angry with Marius train. She is considering asking the woman to help her think of some more lovely plans, but she thinks that that might be going too far, and she would not want to do that anymore than she already has.
"That's terribly rude of him," she gets a pitying look from the other woman.
"Really, we are intent on making him see how wrong he has been," Enjolras goes on to explain at least some part of their epic plan. "They have been friends since childhood and he just ruined a twenty-year friendship for some tart."
He actually called Cosette a tart – that definitely makes her day! It is a little bit too old-fashioned of an insult for her tastes, but she definitely likes that Enjolras is playing up the sympathy card and that he is finally starting to see the Cosette issue her way. She needs him on her side, because he is pretty much the most intelligent guy she knows, and she can always use a guy like that on her side. This should be good.
"Damn right you should make him pay," the woman across the aisle speaks up.
She is actually getting support from this strange woman, who has probably only heard Enjolras explaining her situation succinctly and eloquently.
"You should jump out of the cake at his bachelor party," a teenage girl shouts.
That suggestion is probably the best thing she has ever heard, because the mere idea of it makes her burst out in the deep kind of laughter that is probably too embarrassing for public places – because she has the tendency to snort. Still, she is laughing loudly because she is trying to picture the reactions she would get to that stunt, and the mental pictures she is getting make her a very happy woman.
"I kind of love you," she shouts back at the girl, grinning happily.
"I kind of want to be there," Enjolras is already picturing the mayhem that would ensue.
The fact that he is actually going along with this suggestion once again proves that he is much more devious than anyone would ever give him credit for – which shows several traits that she likes in an accomplice. He is more subtle than she will ever be and people will always continue to think that he does not have a mischievous bone in his body, when in fact, between the two of them, he is probably the evil genius.
"Of course you will be there," she pats his shoulder. "You're my accomplice."
He does not even flinch at the contact, which makes her happy. If they are ever going to completely fake being a couple he should be comfortable with her. She is going to try to build up his tolerance for her touches on this flight. That is a good plan.
"I prefer the term partner in crime," he twirls an imaginary mustache.
"That is very criminal of you, love," she blows him a kiss.
As she leans in closer to him, intent on pecking him on the cheek, he is quick to turn away with his chair – he is trying to increase the distance between them.
"Please do not do that, Éponine," he shakes his head, and she sighs.
How are they ever going to fool Marius now?
e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e- e-e-e-e-e-e-e
When the doors finally open and they are ready to get off the plane, she looks at her list in the notebook again, happy to see it filling several pages.
"Thank you so much," she calls out to the Parker siblings as they walk away.
"That is a long list," Enjolras is looking over her shoulder.
She has gotten so many wonderful suggestions from so many wonderful women on this flight that most of the men either got really uncomfortable or started making phone calls to their wives or girlfriends apologizing for some tiny, stupid mistake they made.
"I'm very happy with it," she places the notebook in her bag with care.
There is no way to tell for sure, but she believes that he is mighty impressed with all of the things that she has managed to gather for her list, even though she did not have to think of all of these things herself. She has gotten a lot of help, which definitely makes the endeavor a bit easier for her and her skeptical partner in crime.
"I cannot believe all of those people helped you plan this," he still does not get it.
"Hell hath no fury like all of these women scorned," she understands this special power.
While most news stories about the female sex feature all of the mean girls in the world, she has now found out that women will be solidary if another woman has her heart broken in any kind of way. When she worked as a waitress in college, she definitely helped some girl who had just been broken up with at their restaurant – some men are enough of an asshole to dump someone in a very public place.
"I can see that," 'Jolras points at the list again, at a very – creative – point.
That one in particular, coming from the nice old lady with the sweet smile, was a lovely surprise. She did not see it coming, but that does not mean that she is not very happy with the lady's suggestions – she hopes to try several of them.
"Don't piss me off," she warns with a teasing smile.
"I won't piss you off on purpose," he cleverly avoids any false promises.
Of course he would have learned in that fancy law school of his to never promise anyone anything that he cannot make true – and he would never be able to keep a promise to never piss her off. It is not as if she is easily pissed off, but she has some hidden triggers that he could hit without even knowing it and completely alienate her forever.
"There's that typical lawyer use of words," she mockingly bows for him.
"I guess that they taught me well after all," he is trying not to sound bitter.
They are now at baggage claim, waiting for all of their crap to come rolling in. They both have a humongous suitcase and the bags that they are already carrying that were allowed onto the plane. Whichever cabbie is going to be fortunate enough to take the both of them to the house is going to need room for junk in the trunk. According to Marius, there will be plenty of room for both her and her date and all of their stuff in their room. She's going to assume that he forgot the plural s at the end.
Actually, she is hoping that he forgot the s, because things could get awkward.
"What do you think about the plans, partner in crime?" she teases.
"I rather like some of them," he seems pretty surprised at his own words.
She is most definitely not surprised, because she knows that there is mischievousness and deviousness in him that he does not even know of himself. There are many hidden depths to him, and if she were interested in anything other than getting Marius back, she would probably go spelunking in that cave – if you know what she means.
"I brought some nice underwear," she ponders, "so I can definitely jump out of the cake."
This particular set is not red – though she brought some lovely red sets to wear for her pretend date, since it is his favorite color and a good girlfriend or date would get the right color underwear for a trip such as this one – it is all in the details.
"And I will be there to prevent anything odd from happening," he is trying to be the good guy and announce his intention to take care of her, but he gets it wrong.
It is really sweet that he is worried about things happening to her at a bachelor party, even though he must know that she is a strong woman who can take care of herself in just about every situation. She has absolutely no problems with defending herself, and she knows that most of the guys present at that party will be too distracted either by the booze of by her lack of clothing to do anything really hinky.
"You do know that odd things tend to happen at a bachelor party?" she asks him.
"I've never been to a bachelor party before," he then confesses something unsurprising.
Oh, wow, that is like the most surprising thing that she has ever heard him say – only really not, because he is just about the last guy she would expect to be having fun at a bachelor party. Also, since Marius is the first person in their group of friends to be getting married, he never had the opportunity to be present at one.
She has been to many a bachelor party – and she wasn't even in the cake every time.
"Shocker," she curls her thumb and her ring finger and gestures at him.
"I should not know what that references," he turns red.
Now that is an actual surprise; him actually knowing what that gesture stands for without her telling him. And she succeeded once again in making him blush.
"I actually figured that you wouldn't know," she laughs loudly.
At what moment in his undoubtedly sheltered life did he learn anything about dirty hand gestures? She is sort of curious about that, as she is now picturing some kind of all-boys boarding school scenario that is just off with what she knows about him.
"Well, R is very thorough when it comes to embarrassing me," he admits.
"Yeah, that was the other option," she nods. "Either you didn't know, or R told you."
R knowing this type of things is not that much of a surprise at all. If anything, she could still learn a few immature things from R – and she is the person who spends most of her year with the most immature teenagers in the county. Most of these teenagers have little respect for her, at least when they come into her office, and she still manages to deal with them – while occasionally learning some dirty new vocabulary.
"Well, it was door number two," he still looks embarrassed.
He is quickly distracted from his embarrassment by her spotting his bag rolling towards them and pointing it out to him without using words. He does not particularly seem to want to speak to her at this point, so they need to move on a bit.
"Are there any other plans that you feel like being a part of?" she changes the subject.
"You can just tell me when you need me," he shrugs, yanking his bag onto the floor.
They are now both waiting for her suitcase to come by, and they will both recognize it when it does come by – because it the brightest red she could find. Fine, she will admit that she liked the color red long before she found out that it is his favorite color. To be honest, it is pretty much her favorite color to. Also, she likes the color blue.
"Aren't you going to be an active participant in this?" that frustrates her.
"Of course I am going to help with everything," he raises his voice slightly.
It is just not sounding like he will be of very much help, and her buzz is now definitely gone so she is a lot less tolerant towards his stupid mood swings.
"Then tell me: what is your plan?" she sees a hint of red in the corner of her eye.
"I just want Marius to see that he cannot treat you like that," he romanticizes.
Marius really does not treat her that badly. They have just lost touch a little since college, but their promise was still valid so she could still wait for that. She sent him a text a month before getting the evil invitation just to remind him that he was twenty-eight and she was almost there too. She asked him if he remembered their pact – he even replied to tell her that he did remember. Though he did not promise again that time.
Her suitcase is yanked onto the floor so hard that she might have broken something.
"You're a weird one," she has to state the obvious at this point, because she still does not understand him. "You care too much about things being right with the world."
They head towards the exit together, looking every bit the tired couple arguing because the vacation already is different from what they had planned. Still, she thinks that no matter what the people watching them might think, she could eventually form a friendship with Enjolras that might last the years. They are way too different for this to work, but somehow she is already growing fond of his brand of strangeness.
"More people should care about that," he is ready to get on a soapbox.
"People have their own problems, 'Jolras," at this point she is almost fond of his tendency to want the best for people even when they do not ask for it. "They have more important things to deal with than your equality and your righteousness and justice."
Some people are more worried about having enough food to last them the week, or more worried about how they are ever going to get enough money for rent, or worried about if their parents are still hitting her siblings, and – fuck. She might be taking this a bit too personally, but she is never going to tell him about that. Equality and justice can be luxury goods in some homes, and she knows that all too well.
Sometimes all she wanted to was live through the day or night.
"But these things should matter to them," his voice cracks a little.
"Maybe they need someone like you to care about these things for them," she offers.
Way back when, when her parents lost the hotel and they had to move away or risk facing criminal charges, she could have used someone looking out for the welfare of her siblings – she took care of herself even back then. Sometimes she thinks that she can still use someone like Enjolras looking out for her – when Marius is not around.
She refuses to ask him, because she is an independent woman who takes care of herself.
"We could always order Marius a hooker," he ends the silence.
"I like the way you think," she laughs loudly, as they finally get to the long line of taxis at the curb. "You're more devious than people give you credit for."
There is a young cabdriver eyeing her in such a creepy way that she wants to take a step back behind Enjolras and let him freak the guy out – he can start playing her hot date early, if he has no problems with that. When Enjolras goes right to a different taxi and pretends the creep does not even exist, she knows that he noticed how awkward she felt and acted on it without making her feel weak. That makes her feel better.
"That always seems to surprise people," he helps her lug her suitcase as well as his.
"I kind of like it," she makes sure to tell him that truth.
He helps the cabbie put their suitcases in the back, while she watches and attempts to figure out who he is – because somehow she still barely knows.
"That is good, because you need deviousness in your partner in crime," he grins.
He actually holds the door of the cab open for her, as if he is some Victorian Era gentleman who got stuck in the wrong time period. No one ever does that kind of thing for her, and she is not sure if she even likes him doing that for her, because even though it is a simple gesture that has no meaning for her self-sufficiency, she still feels unsure about him needing to do that. She feels off balance somehow.
"I need more than deviousness," she whispers softly, climbing into the cab.
She might need more of him.
AN: This chapter is really long. I know. This was a lot of time writing, so I hope you all appreciate it =P.