My Best Friend's Wedding
Disclaimer: I am not Victor Hugo, but the person pretending to be him on Tumblr is a douche anyway, so I'd rather be me and not own anything.
AN: Okay, so this is the biggest chapter ever. Take water breaks and make sure to occasionally fan yourself when the going gets hot.
Chapter six: Sing your pain away
Since most of his friends can sing, Marius decides that they should all have a karaoke party at a local bar called Musain. Most of the Amis already seem to know about it, since they all live relatively close to Marius and actually get the chance to spend some time with him. She gets stuffed in the backseat of Combeferre's car with Courfeyrac upfront, and R and Jehan already in the back. They are forcing her to sit on somebody's lap – and she knows that they are hoping for that someone to be Enjolras.
"I apologize," 'Jolras knows what the guys are trying to do.
Figuring that she might as well get it over with and give the idiots what they want, she gently climbs on Enjolras' lap and closes the door behind her. Combeferre starts the car, leaving her trapped, perched precariously on the lap of her fake date.
"They have already seen us make out," she shrugs, trying to get comfortable.
"That was not making out," Courfeyrac argues from the passenger seat. "That was barely enough to be called a kiss. There were no roaming hands and there was not nearly enough rubbing of body parts. Remember your inner teenager, Éponine! I'm not saying this to Enjolras 'cause he was never a normal teenager."
That earns Courfeyrac an eye-roll from the man in question.
She just makes herself more comfortable on Enjolras' lap, but he stops her from moving in the middle of a particularly nice wiggle – because she is probably making some things very difficult for him to ignore. She should have thought of that sooner.
"Don't be a shit, Courf," she rolls her eyes, trying to stay as still as she can.
There is no way that she can move into a more comfortable position without providing more friction for him to get distracted by. It would be the coup of the century for any girl to give the Marble Man a hard-on, but this has nothing to do with attraction and everything to do with simple physics and friction. It does not count.
"You can keep breathing," Enjolras is close enough to whisper this in her ear.
"I don't want to make it worse," she whispers back, trying to be mature about it.
The other guys are now trying to figure out what they have been saying to each other in these whispers, and they are not even trying to be subtle about it. Combeferre is the only one who is not leaning in closer, and that is because he is the only other sane person in the car – and because he is actually operating the moving vehicle. Courfeyrac and R are being pretty obnoxious, while Jehan appears to be composing poetry in his head.
"You lovebirds are adorable," R is being an ass again.
"Can we just have a private conversation?" she tries to ask it nicely, but she fails.
Her voice is harsh, because she is more than a little sick of the meddling in her life, and especially the meddling into her fake relationship with Enjolras. They are giving out kissing advice and pushing them onto each other as if this actually means something other than that he was the only person who had no date and she was really desperate to show Marius what he was missing. It is all fake, and they are making a big deal out of it.
"What seems to be the problem?" R is too curious for his own good.
"I know that he is not a marble man," she starts, figuring that she might as well tell them what is going on, "but something is definitely hard down here."
It is a rather crude way of describing things, she knows that much, but she thinks that it works pretty well. She wiggles a few more times, because somehow this is kind of exciting to her. There is a soft sound coming from Enjolras' direction that she quickly identifies as a groan. She guesses that he is excited too.
"Can you not, Ponine?" the groan coming from 'Jolras is part exasperated, part excited.
"I'm sorry," she apologizes for her words and for her movements, because she knows that that is where the excitement came from. "It was the best way I knew to describe it."
Jehan is the writer out of the lot of them, and he undoubtedly has lots of flowery words to use even for a situation like this – when she is stuck with some of the most immature euphemisms for a penis that she has heard while at work. Her students have a wonderful imagination and an immature brain, so just about every euphemism makes them snicker and giggle like kids. She has long ago learned to deal with that.
"I'm so proud of you, Enjolras," R quips with a grin. "You're a real boy!"
He was real before this, but the boys have a very limited understanding of what normal men are like – she doubts that this was his first erection, but it was probably the first one happening because of a girl and in front of his friends. And probably the first one that he has been called on by said girl in front of said idiot friends.
"Shut your mouth or I will shut it for you," she warns, ready to act on the threat.
"Nice girlfriend you've got there," Courfeyrac makes the wrong kind of joke.
She would have absolutely no problem with completely kicking his ass and leaving him crying for his mother and/or a medic. Enjolras normally would not approve, but he would probably go along with her on this one – only the mischievous look in his eyes tells her that he already has a much better plan to teach his friend that there are some things that he just should not say. She will wait and see for a while longer.
"Stop being asses guys," Combeferre is just done, "it's going to be bad enough in there with Marius still on Eponine's bad side. You don't want to be in that corner with him."
It seems as if the evil plan will have to be put on hold until they are inside and the karaoke frenzy starts. These guys are really passionate about everything, so she has no idea how crazy a karaoke night that should not be a contest will get. They are bound to make it into a contest anyway, and she is going to make damn sure that she will win.
"And I am shutting up now," R finally makes a good decision.
"My poem is finished," Jehan shouts, coming completely out of left field.
Of course Jehan Prouvaire has written another beautiful poem while the rest of the group is busy arguing about hard-ons and whether she is a good girlfriend or not. Jehan always seems to be able to find the poetry in any kind of situation.
"Just tell me that it is not about what is in my pants," 'Jolras has his sense of humor back. "If Marius were here," she replies to that, wanting to think of some sort of dirty or cheeky line to use, "I'd say: I happen like what is in your pants very much."
This is just hilarious to her, because she does not even know what he has been hiding in his pants. Before she felt that hard-on, she was fully convinced that he was a complete Ken doll down there, even though it is not physically possible and the mere idea of it is just ludicrous. He acts as if he is completely not interested in romance and sex, but now he has shown an actual response just to her nearness. It is interesting to her.
She has always loved a good mystery.
"I think I'm going to throw up dinner," R rolls his eyes. "At least have a convincing drunk make-out session tonight, I beg of you. Some of us are not as easily convinced as Marius, and while his girl's a blonde, I do not think that she is that stupid."
Okay, so once again R is critiquing their form, and she does not want to hear it, because she is not a bad kisser, damn it. She is a great kisser, and everyone is going to be able to see that after this night ends. Maybe even the great Enjolras can be tempted by their kisses – only she does not particularly want or need to tempt him. She just wants to prove herself as a viable romantic and sexual partner in front of Marius, and since she cannot kiss Marius, Enjolras is the next best option.
"We're here," Combeferre parks the car in front of the Musain.
"I apologize in advance for whatever embarrassment you're going to make sure 'Jolras endures," she smiles at her date briefly before shifting on his lap.
It is pretty difficult to climb off his lap without shifting too much and making the situation even worse, but she manages to do it reasonably well. The real trouble comes when she trips when getting out of the car and almost face-plants into the parking lot – only she catches herself just before she hits the ground. She has to fix her skirt after her almost fall, because it rode up, probably giving most of the guys an eyeful.
"Thanks for that," Enjolras interrupts her train of thought.
"For the look up my skirt or the apology?" she is not sure which is the right option.
Then again, when she actually takes a second to think about it she knows that Enjolras would never thank her for his ability to look up her skirt. This is still the same guy who called Patria his one true love, and she doubts that he has changed so much over the last few weeks that he suddenly is interested in what is under her skirt.
"There was a possibility to look up your skirt?" Courfeyrac is interested again.
"That is for Enjolras' eyes only," she fixes her skirt. "It sucks to be you right now."
In the meantime, Enjolras has climbed out of the car as well, and he is now standing next to her in the parking lot. He is trying not to be too obvious about using her as a shield to keep the boys from seeing the situation in his pants. The effect of this is debatable.
"The level of maturity here is just astounding," Combeferre is done with the idiocy.
"Let's just move on from this and into this bar," Enjolras holds out his hand for her.
She takes it, and she does not even think that it is odd any longer. She might have trouble getting used to not having someone whose hand she can hold when things inevitably turn out all right for her and Marius. Because things will turn out okay for her and Marius – that is why she is here, after all. That is why she made the effort.
"Are you excited to sing a sappy duet with your girlfriend?" R asks 'Jolras.
"Fuck," they have both simultaneously realized what karaoke night entails.
They are going to have to really fake some chemistry tonight, because the boys will not stand for anything less than a real make-out session and a really sappy duet that might cause cavities in the unsuspecting bystanders. She likes the way his kisses make her feel, so she can at least go along with that, but she is not so sure about them convincingly being able to fake real romantic feelings in a duet.
"I figured you two had already grasped that concept," Combeferre is laughing.
"Nope," she tells him. "I think we both decided to ignore the outside world for a bit, but that idea kind of came back to shoot us in the face. I can sing, can you sing?"
There was never enough money for lessons when she was a kid, but she still have the enviable skill to hit notes without any difficulty. She has once or twice been told that she has a lovely voice, and she still treasures those compliments.
But what about Enjolras? Will he be the person who makes her ears bleed?
"You are in for a surprise, milady," R is grinning mischievously.
"What kind of surprise?" she is not really up for dealing with any kind of surprise.
If this surprise is bad, she is going to lose her shit. All of the scheming is starting to get to her, and she needs to breathe. Still, she hopes this is a minor thing.
"You are looking at the lead in our high school musicals," R gleefully reveals.
"This I must hear more about," the revelation is not what she expected.
They are moving into the bar, which has been rented out for the occasion. She only sees familiar people around her – most of them Amis and related friends of the group, and the rest she assumes is staff. Cosette's stupid friends are not present.
"I will tell you that story myself sometime," 'Jolras promises her. "Because I fear that R will add some unnecessary embellishments to make it sound more dramatic."
"It is like you don't know me at all," R tries to fake outrage.
Only he knows that Enjolras is absolutely right about that character trait. R is the best storyteller, but his tendency to add these embellishments; that kind of kills some of the believability – if not all of it. So she'd rather hear the truth from Enjolras.
"There you all are," Marius comes to stand with them. "Did you guys get lost?"
Marius is wearing this ridiculous t-shirt that she once bought for him during a college scavenger hunt – he is obviously trying to get her friendship back without having to do all that much about it, and she is not just going to let that happen. Still, the shirt stirs the exact feelings that he wants to stir. She is lost to him again.
"Enjolras had a little problem," R snickers like a teenage boy.
"Trust me, there was nothing little about it," she licks her lips.
There were not that many distinguishing features she could figure out while staying on his lap, so there is not that much that she knows – but that hard-on could not be called little. So she has to tell them that, and give Enjolras some street cred as well.
Boys and their penises – size is not that big of a deal.
"I don't think I want to know anything about this," Marius decides to ignore them.
"I never said that I wanted to tell you anything," she bites at him.
Right now she pretty much does not want to speak to him unless it is to make him feel as hurt as he has made her feel with his secrets and his hiding. She has felt like the last choice on his list of priorities for a long time now, and her vindictive side is so ready to make him bleed for that – metaphorically, at least, because she could never physically hurt her dear Marius. He will always be her dear Marius.
"Eppie…," Marius tries to use the old nickname to get his way again.
"So, what's the plan for tonight?" Enjolras pretends he has not said a thing.
The answer to his question is pretty obvious, but he is not doing this to get any new information – he is doing it to keep her from breaking apart, because somehow he can tell when no one else can. Cosette seems unhappy at the fighting too, and she is just waiting for the other woman to tell her to stop hating on her man.
"It is just a regular karaoke party," Cosette has also noticed the awkward tension and she turns away from Marius to sympathize. "The last person to sing picks the next song and the person who has to sing it. Knowing your friends, this could get interesting."
Seeing Cosette pick her side over Marius' is so surprising that her mouth refuses to form any words in response to Cosette's rather simple distraction. Cosette steps away from Marius tries to wrap his arm around her, and she cannot believe that her plan worked in mysterious ways – because is this not what she wanted to achieve? She has made Marius and Cosette fight, and she should be a lot happier about it than she is right now.
"I think I'm doomed," 'Jolras lets out a wry laugh.
"I'm still here to have your back," she fakes a smile, "and other parts."
She grabs his ass briefly, just to shock Marius into apologizing to her – or being jealous of Enjolras – and it makes him turn a little red, which she always likes. The look on Enjolras' face tells her that she is not going to get away from that so easily, which means another distraction that she can use to fake feeling okay.
"Next up is R, singing the classic Right Said Fred hit," Joe Leigh announces on stage.
"Well, at least he picked a decent song," R rushes off to the microphone.
The song he is about to sing is undoubtedly going to provide a distraction as well, especially with R's tendency to make everything just a little more than it needs to be – and she has no doubts that this applies to sexy dance moves as well.
"Prepare to be scarred for life," Marius speaks, and she chokes back a laugh.
"Your friends are such a strange bunch," Cosette says that almost fondly.
The Amis are indeed a strange bunch of men, ones who should not be so close since they are all so very different. They all have their little oddities that she cannot help but love about them – she does love those boys and she wishes that they all lived in the same city just like when they were in college. Now they spend their days on opposite coasts – most of her boys live close to Marius, while Enjolras and her are the only two who moved away to another coast. Enjolras is the only Ami who lives close enough to her.
"But they are just so loveable," she rolls her eyes at R dancing on stage.
"I am starting to see that too," Cosette has a soft smile on her face.
Joe Leigh comes around to their group, probably to talk to her, because they have not seen each other in a very long time. He clearly wants to give her a hug, but he seems to be debating the odds of finding any germs on her – her dear boy.
"That microphone has to be covered in germs," Joe gets out his pocket bottle of hand sanitizer, the one that he takes absolutely everywhere. "Am I turning red? I feel like I'm turning red. And something is itching. Oh, what if it's swine flu?"
Cosette has no idea what is happening, judging by the flabbergasted look on his face that she sees often when people first encounter Joe Leigh. Most of the others are just shaking their heads and laughing at him, because they are already used to his antics – and they have already found their respective ways of dealing with Joe. Combeferre is the only one who is knowledgeable enough about medical issues to deal with the actual facts, but the rest of them have learned to deal with Joe in their own way.
"He is a bit of a hypochondriac," she explains it to Cosette, who is still surprised.
"I am just very susceptible to diseases," Joe argues against that. "Do you know that-"
Joe is cut off by both Marius and Enjolras, because they both know what happens if they let him give his little speech to people. There has been too much trouble with this.
"Let's not scare them all off with your stories," 'Jolras tells him with a grin.
"You look perfectly healthy to me Joe," Marius reassures Joe with the ease of someone who has had to do this many times before. "There's nothing to worry about."
It is usually very handy to have a couple of med students around – at least, it was when they were all in college – but now that most of the boys have graduated and Combeferre and Joe have to work at the hospital all of the time it gets more frustrating, especially when their Joly finds out about yet another contagious disease.
The nickname of Joly is an old one, but it still makes her giggle every time.
"Have you and the other girls sung anything yet," she looks for other women.
"There are no other girls here tonight," Cosette speaks with a casual shrug that belies how uncomfortable she really is. "My friends are not that into the karaoke dive bar scene. Besides, I wanted to get to know some of Marius' friends a little better."
That is timed perfectly with an extremely suggestive hip thrust in R's ever more dramatic stage performance, which does give Cosette a bit of pause.
"Be careful what you wish for," she tells the other woman with a chuckle.
"The singing has actually been pretty good so far," Cosette shrugs with the ease of someone who is already used to these antics. "My ears aren't bleeding yet."
She had already decided to hate Cosette for all eternity, but now she is starting to sound like an actual decent person and the unwanted guilt creeps up on her. Hating a decent person is always the wrong thing to do – and she is the one who has to tell the kids at her school to look beyond a crappy first impression to see the actual person behind that one meeting. Now she has turned into one of her students, and she hates it.
"They are all supposedly pretty good singers," she is still withholding judgment.
"How about your handsome boyfriend?" Cosette teases her. "Is he any good?"
He is allegedly very good in bed – she is the only always making that joke about him.
However, this is definitely not what Cosette wants to know about him, so she will keep the subject relatively harmless and talk about the mythical singing abilities of Gabriel Enjolras. She has very little to say on the topic, though.
"He refuses to sing for me," she pouts at the man in question. "It's very disappointing."
"Stop it," is his reply. "You're not singing for me either."
This would all mean so much more if they were actually in a relationship. Now they are just two people who barely knew each other trying to keep up this story of them meaning so much more than they do. These secrets are silly, but they are oh so normal for the practical strangers that they were about a week ago.
"Enjolras, you're next," R shouts into the microphone. "You're going to love this song."
"I highly doubt that," Enjolras replies in a much softer voice.
Anything that R Grant has chosen for Gabriel Enjolras to sing is going to be a terrible embarrassment; it is only a question of what kind of embarrassment it will be and just how terrible it will be. For that, they only have to wait to find out.
"Your gorgeous girlfriend can come sing it with you," R motions to her.
"That's two embarrassments in one," she whispers to Enjolras, not trying to be kind.
R is intent on embarrassing them, she knows that much, because their friend thinks that they will never be able to pull off a romantic duet of any kind. This just makes her all the more determined to be as fucking adorable as she can be – which might just be R's original goal in making them do this. He is sneaky like that.
"At least we will be going down together," her fake boyfriend is not very happy.
"That is such a romantic thing for you to say," she teases him in return.
He is intent on seeing only the downsides of this, and while she knows that there are many downsides about this silly idea, she also is determined not to let the Amis win this round by default. She is always going to try to give them hell and show them that they are more than those boys ever thought that they could be. She is always determined on showing people that their misconceptions about her are wrong; because she is so much more than people know of her – there is always more under the surface.
"Shall we, miss?" he holds out his hand for her to take.
"Of course, kind sir," she does a quick curtsey and then takes his hand.
They walk to the stage together, holding hands. The Amis are all loudly cheering for the both of them, just waiting for the embarrassment to start – because somehow they already know the song that R would pick. She has some suspicions that the decision about the song has been made long before this moment, and that R was not the only person involved in that decision. They all decided this together.
"Good luck to the two of you," R is already laughing at the both of them.
"I know places where they will never find your body," she threatens him in return.
R cues up the song, and it is "You're The One That I Want" from Grease. She is now counting the many ways in which she can kill R with just the use of that microphone that he wants her to sing into. She has gotten up to about fifteen – several of those ways including the cord – before she realizes that R has already run off.
"I think I will have to kill him," she whispers to Enjolras.
"Not if I get to him first," is his reply. "I'm just happy there are no costumes."
Though she would love to see him in a tight shirt and/or a leather jacket, she is sure that he is never going to be comfortable like that. The music starts playing and she grabs one of the microphones and tosses another microphone into Enjolras' direction.
"Tell me about it, stud," she takes full advantage of that line.
"I got chills," the voice comes out of Enjolras' mouth is so fucking hot that she barely knows how she can follow this act. "They're multiplying. And I'm losing control, 'cause the power you're supplying, it's electrifying."
The Amis are cheering them on and laughing like idiots. She is still surprised that Enjolras is a pretty darn great singer, so she decides on payback for him because he could have told her that before they started singing. Now she is going to go all out for this number – that is the only way to escape humiliation.
"You better shape up," she pouts her lips, "'cause I need a man, and my heart is set on you. You better shape up; you better understand, to my heart I must be true."
Enjolras appears to be surprised to find out how good she is, and how much she is getting into it – but when he spots her winking, he just follows along. He lets her push and pull him around the stage, and he follows along like a good little boy. She has managed to train him very well in the short time that she has been offered.
"Nothing left, nothing left for me to do," they sing together, and they sound good. "You're the one that I want – ooh, ooh, ooh, honey. The one that I want, ooh, ooh, ooh honey. The one that I want, ooh, ooh, ooh, the one I need. Oh yes indeed."
They are going right along with the song, even doing some of the cheesy dance moves from the old movie she has seen so many times. The Amis are kind of disappointed there is not more embarrassment on their side, which makes it better.
"If you're filled with affection," she wiggles her finger and motions for him to come over to her, "you're too shy to convey, meditate in my direction. Feel your way."
She runs her hands over body, trying to follow the choreography that she already knows, and also trying to make it really obvious that she is going to be all over Enjolras the second the music stops – and maybe even before that. His eyes are following her every move, and she knows that they are plenty convincing right now.
"I better shape up, cause you need a man," 'Jolras is skeptical of this need.
"I need a man," she echoes with a roll of her eyes, "who can keep me satisfied."
She is now obviously seducing him on stage, and he is going along with it. The Amis are flabbergasted. This is not what they wanted to happen here, but it is what she made happen on this very stage, with the help of her Marble Man and partner in crime.
"I better shape up, if I'm gonna prove," he is acting quite well.
"You better prove, that my faith is justified," she replies, now with his hands on her hips.
Yes, they are fucking adorable on stage together, and they are about to get hotter than they have ever been, and that will be for everyone to see. She just hopes that he is prepared to go this far with her at this precise moment. Her fingers are metaphorically crossed as she lets herself be pulled into his safe arms.
"Are you sure?" he has to ask the obvious question.
"Cause I'm sure down deep inside," they stay in each other's arms, singing it only to each other. "You're the one that I want – ooh, ooh, ooh, honey. The one that I want, ooh, ooh, ooh honey. The one that I want, ooh, ooh, ooh, the one I need. Oh yes indeed."
It is time for the grand finale, while the song is still going. She has decided that the grand finale will be this kiss that is hot enough to set the entire room on fire, and she is fully prepared to make him work to achieve that kiss. Since she keeps getting closer, she has a feeling that he already knows what is coming – but since he does not appear to be tensing in any way he is actually going to go for it along with her.
There are some repetitions of the chorus left, but they let themselves get swept away, dropping the microphones as they embrace. Their lips find each other with ease now, and he grabs hold of her ass, letting her wrap her legs around his waist as their tongues tangle and dance. Her skin feels like it is tight and hot, and the friction between their bodies is starting to drive her absolutely wild. She is rocking her body against his, noticing that there is a now familiar hardness where their bodies meet. She is climbing out of her skin – because the physical chemistry is not a problem between her and Enjolras, and if he keeps sucking on her neck like that, she might have an embarrassing moment in public. She is already moaning a little too much, and not faking it.
"You win," R interrupts the two of them. "Okay, just quit it already. You win!"
They break apart finally at that last bit, the both of them still breathing heavy. Enjolras' hair is a mess, and she can feel that her top is pushed up, revealing her tanned stomach to the entire bar. That and most of her legs – because her skirt seems to have a persistent problem with staying down. She cannot look at him, but she still stays close to him, because his 'problem' should not be revealed to his friends.
"That is all I wanted to hear," she manages to see after some deep breaths.
"Who are we going to pick next?" Enjolras is just as flustered as she is.
The evil smile that they share an evil smile as they look over the people in the bar is a frightening thing to behold for most of the Amis. Each and every single one of their friends looks pretty scared of the both of them, and that is just what she wanted to accomplish. So she is definitely happy about that.
"Courfeyrac, get your butt down here," Enjolras orders. "You're up next."
It is obviously revenge for him being an idiot in the car. Bad luck for him, but she is definitely not going to feel sorry for him, because he dug his own grave.
"You should have just killed me outright," Courfeyrac says as he reaches them.
"That is not how we operate," she replies and walks away from the stage.
Courfeyrac should know that she would not just let this go without repercussions for him. And for now, these repercussions are limited to an embarrassing song choice at a karaoke party – but the next time he tries to be a dick, he is going to have bigger and badder things to worry about. She can promise that.
"You two did really well up there," Cosette smiles at her. "That was wonderful."
Yeah, she can actually be proud of herself for that performance – and she is not just talking about the singing. The kiss was one of the hottest things she has ever experienced, so Enjolras is definitely getting a fake Oscar nomination in the mail come winter. Well, she will think of some other things as well, because she still cannot believe that he would be able to kiss her so passionately and then turn back into the same old Marble Man that everybody knows. She is impressed with her grasshopper.
"The song is super cheesy," Marius is being a shit again.
"Do not pretend you haven't seen the movie several times," she knows him much better than he thinks, so she has secrets to share. "And the sequel too."
There is a pointed silence from Marius, which is definitely surprising Cosette. Please, she has made him watch those movies several times when they were both in high school, and she knows for a fact that he knew some of the songs by heart back then.
"Guess who is getting subject to a movie musical marathon?" Cosette is cheery.
"I am guessing it is not going to be Enjolras," this does not make Marius very happy.
Oh no, she has completely different and interesting – albeit fake – plans for Enjolras after this positively dazzling party ends. If any one of the boys is so inclined, she will be able to list every single one of those plans until they beg not to hear anymore because their brains are filled with the mental pictures. She has lots of plans.
"Enjolras is the one who is getting lucky tonight," she promises with a big smile.
"I am already lucky," his reply is almost absentminded, but also too corny.
This just does not sound like something that he would ever say, unless he was either being terribly sarcastic or he was being forced to in some way. Either way, it just does not sound like him at all, and it might give the entire game away if she acts like this is even remotely normal for the two of them. She has no idea what is wrong with him at this precise moment, but she will forget about it if he can act normal again.
"That was too cheesy, 'Jolras," she rolls her eyes at him.
"Yeah, that was a little too much," he agrees, standing close to her.
They kiss each other briefly, because they have to keep the charade going – kissing is a good way to do that, since they have found that it works for them. She is surprised to find out that it is starting to become normal for them to do this. There are no awkward moments in their kiss anymore; she now knows exactly what to do to make him moan or to make his pants tighten. She just has to tug at his lower lip or scrape her nails near his nape. Also, she would not be surprised if he knows just how to turn her on.
"We must sing together later, Éponine," Cosette speaks as they break apart.
"Sure," she says before even taking the slightest bit of time to think about what she is actually saying. "That is, if the boys can refrain from picking something terrible for us."
Knowing the boys like she does, she can easily say that there is no way that those guys are going to let the only girls walk away from karaoke night without getting them to do an embarrassing duet together. Hell, Cosette does not even know the guys that well and she can tell that the embarrassment level is very high this night.
"That might be asking too much of them," Cosette is laughing with her now.
"On behalf of my friends, I feel insulted," Marius interrupts the nice moment.
Marius, the asshole, just has to interrupt the one moment that she is actually getting along with his formerly secret fiancée. She is still so angry with him, and she is not even remotely charmed by him wanting to enter into the conversation all of the time. She does not want to talk to him, and he should really learn to respect that. She always thought that he was the nicest and most decent guy.
"Well, you go on and do that," now she just wants him to shut up.
"Can you go and get me a drink, dear?" Cosette is trying to keep him away as well.
The girl who should be her enemy, the one and only Cosette is actually helping her out, and that surprises her. Marius walks away from the both of them and Enjolras quickly follows him, making a non-verbal promise to get her a drink as well with a few simple hand gestures. He knows her well enough to get her some real booze.
"Thank you, lover," she calls after him.
"I'm sorry for whatever stupid thing Marius said to you," Cosette surprises her again.
It is a noble gesture on Cosette's behalf, and she feels a rush of fondness towards the other woman that makes her cringe at her own feelings. She should not like Cosette in any way, and now that she does – at least a little – she is even angrier with herself.
"He is the one who should be apologizing," she gently reminds the other woman.
"I know," Cosette nods and grins. "But I think you also know that he usually just waits the anger out and hopes that will solve everything. He's a dolt that way."
Her description is pretty spot on, and she both loves and hates that. She loves that one of Marius' girlfriends is finally calling him on his shit – but she hates that the girlfriend in question is not she. She had always thought that she would be the first girlfriend Marius had who was different than the others. She did not entertain any other possibilities.
"You know him better than I thought you did," she ponders, feeling irrationally hurt.
"Because he never told you about me?" Cosette understands her too well. "Well, I think we both found out this week that he is a lot more secretive than we thought he was."
That is most certainly true. She does not believe that he has ever kept such a big secret from her in their entire lives – most of which have been lived together. They told each other just about everything until they started building this house of cards – and she does not even know how long ago that was, because Marius has not told her even the slightest thing about Cosette. She does not even know how long he has lied to her.
"How long have you been together?" she asks the painful question herself.
"We've been seeing each other for almost two years," Cosette seems apologetic.
Two years? It has been just about two whole years of lies? So when he reminded her of their promise several months ago he was lying? All those words were lies?
"So he's been lying to me for that long?" that is definitely not her voice cracking and breaking. "He promised me… Oh forget it. I can't talk about this anymore."
Marius is the only guy who would never lie to her – he promised her that too, many years ago. It came years before he even bothered to make that other fake promise to be her forever if they could not find anyone. Guess dear 'Jolras was right about him: he did want to have a second option available if things did not work out.
Fuck! How could she have been so wrong about Marius for so fucking long?
"Here's your drink, love," there is her knight in shining armor on his white horse.
"Thanks," she does not even take the time to look at her drink before downing it.
The burn making its way down her throat feels comfortable and safe. She wonders if she can make Enjolras get her another drink, or if she should just go and sit at the bar for the rest of the night, to save her friends the trip back and forth.
"What did you say to her?" Enjolras immediately turns on Cosette.
Wow, that is probably a really mean thing to do, but the righteous fury that is Gabriel Enjolras simply will not be tamed. She is not even going to try to stop him.
"We talked about Marius and his secrets," Cosette explains.
"Of course you did," Enjolras is not very happy with her.
The distance from her current position to the bar seems way too large for her to consider, and Marius is standing between her and her goal. She is going to have to persuade her dear fake date to go get her that second drink.
"Can you get me another drink, 'Jolras?" she pouts at him, hoping the trick will work.
"I was thinking about going to find a dark corner first," he offers another option.
Making out with Enjolras is a perfect way to get distracted from the feelings currently churning in her gut. Maybe she will even be able to get an orgasm out of it – because that always helps her feel a lot better. She would feel a lot more ashamed of letting herself use him like this if she was not so damn angry at everything and everyone.
A twenty-year friendship has just turned into a big fat lie.
"Let's do it," her enthusiasm is back. "Come on, lover!"
She practically drags him away, because he is offering her a way out of the bar and she just really wants to be distracted from her feelings at this point.
"Slow down, Ponine," he says as they move past the boys. "There is no rush."
"I want to feel the rush," she says when she finally feels the summer air.
It would just be so easy to grab a hold of him and not let go until the tension in her body has dissipated completely. She can feel it in her bones, running through her bloodstream and churning deep down in her gut, coming up as bile that she cannot keep down. All of the things that she used to believe in are gone, and while she should be pretty used to that, she now learns that she is still that little girl who learned that her Mom and Dad were by no means perfect. She is twenty-eight years old and once again she is being left behind all on her own. She should be stronger than this.
"I should have fallen in love with someone else," she is not even really speaking to him at this point, because that would mean that she was confiding in him. "Marius is just about the worst option I could have picked. I know you can't pick, because that's simply not possible. Still, I should have known better. I always know better."
Things have never been normal for her, so she is stupid for believing that her life could suddenly turn into a romantic story in which Marius just suddenly realizes how much he has loved her all of his life – and then he takes her away from all of the pain until she is finally happy again. But that's stupid, because that will never happen. Fairytales are sexist anyway, and she can just work to make herself happy – even though that has not worked so far. Though she doubts that has anything to do with Marius. It is more closely related to a shitty past and a refusal to deal with things.
"And I should not be telling you all of this," she chokes. "You can just go back inside and tell them some lame excuse about me breaking up with you or whatever. I can't do it."
The lies are just another thing that is bad in her life, and she really does not want to be dragging Enjolras down with her. He deserves a lot better than this, and she has no doubt that her stupid ideas have done nothing but make him uncomfortable.
"Slow down," Enjolras urges her yet again. "Tell me what the problem is."
"Cosette is not a bad person," she feels so terrible. "I wanted her to be a bad person."
It would have been so much easier had Cosette been a bitch who appeared to have arrived straight out of a high school movie – but the other woman is kind and gentle, and while that makes her feel stifled and patronized at times, she also appreciates that Cosette would even bother with her after everything that has happened.
"Marius is the one who hurt you, not Cosette," that reminder still stings so badly.
"Marius is my friend," she needs him to understand. "Marius is my only friend."
This is what she has been telling herself for most of her life, and now she is broken because she does not even have him anymore. She has her job and she can live on that, and she has her siblings when they have time for her, and that is all of the love she will need from now on. She can be perfectly content with her life again, rather than hurting over Marius the idiot. She can be a lot better off without him.
"He is not your only friend anymore," Enjolras must be losing it, because he is just telling crazy and random stories at this point. "I can get all of the Amis out here one by one to tell you that they all consider you a friend. I would be first in line."
And after all of this, this fancy lawyer guy still wants to be her friend. She must really have him checked for masochistic tendencies, because she is bad news for a guy like him; he is all celibacy and smarts and strength. They have more in common than they originally thought, but can they really build a friendship on this past week?
"Ugh, I am not weak," she takes another deep breath. "I am not. Let's go back in there."
She steels herself, taking cleansing breaths and waiting for him to follow behind her, as the building gets ever closer – or they get closer to the building, really.
"Just tell me that you heard what I said," he stops her from walking away.
"I heard you," is all that she can say to him at this point.
There is nothing else to say right now because she still needs to process what he means with all of this. She just wants to get back inside, finish the night – meaning that she will stay a bit longer and then make up an excuse to head back early for some reason, which most of the boys will see as her wanting to hook up with Enjolras. It all works out.
"You might want to make us look a little more debauched," 'Jolras offers up a pretty good suggestion. "Since we have been away to make out in dark corners."
He makes a good point. She has barely managed to fix her outfit from their last make-out session, so she is reasonably good – and the hickey that he has undoubtedly left on her neck is a credit to his passionate nature. He is the one who basically looks like a choirboy even after all of these imagined shenanigans between the two of them. No man walks away from her looking that put together, so she has to do something about that.
"It would be my pleasure," she shoots him a flirtatious look.
She will take any excuse to mess up those darling curls – she is starting to have a real thing for those crazy curls, but not for the man attached to them. She still has trouble understanding Enjolras, and why he is letting her pull at his shirt and mess up his hair again – but she will let it go for now because this is definitely not the right time to be thinking about all of these things. She has enough on her plate as is, and adding Enjolras to this mess is probably only going to make it worse.
"I have your back," he makes a solemn promise that makes her feel safe.
"Is that a promise?" she teases, moving her hips in time with her strut.
Okay, it is a stupid and juvenile joke, but it is working for her, so she really does not give a shit about the frustrated groan coming from the man following her.
Yes, she can make it through this day.
AN: Take a deep breath… That was epic chapter six! As always, tell me your favorite parts/lines/thoughts/anything in your comments/reviews! I love all of you people, even if you don't review and only lurk. So yes, I'm talking to all of you!