Chapter Two
Enjorlas' Revelation
The feeling of warmth engulfed the four as they entered the Café Musain.
"Enjorlas!" Grantaire exclaimed as he noticed that he had arrived. "Who's this?" He whispered referring to Cosette.
He wiggled his eyebrows and took another sip of his beer, only stopping to burp. Enjorlas punched his shoulder and they both began to laugh.
"Her name is Cosette." Eponine replied, unaware if they were still listening, "I must go to show her the room she will be sleeping in tonight." She added taking her through the halls, hoping that Enjorlas would come to his senses in her absence.
"He smelled so strongly of alcohol…" Cosette whispered, stifling a laugh.
"He usually does," Eponine smiled, "but you get used to it."
"Enjorlas seems so kind," she whispered to break the silence, smiling half-heartedly and looking up hesitantly at Eponine.
"What?"
"Why did he come to find me?"
"I –" What was she to say? Enjorlas is in love with you even though you can't bear to be near him…
"I'm not sure." She finally replied, opening the door to their room.
There was no bed on the dusty wooden floors below. Cosette was particularly shocked at the rather large gaping hole in the corner allowing the two to clearly see Grantaire dancing on a table with Gavroche nearly fainting from laughter. She stared back hesitantly at Eponine. Why had she left her warm, clean, loving home for this?
"I have some blankets you can sleep on," Eponine began, remembering she forget where she had left them, "Monsieur Marius may know where they are –"
"Is he here?" Cosette asked anxiously, biting her lip.
"We'll have to find out then, won't we…?" Eponine opened Marius' door slowly and found him sitting solemnly on his bed, watching the people on the street move by.
Only she knew why of course, he had been like this for the past few days, only stopping to talk to Enjorlas or Eponine. He had regretted leaving his Grandfather to join the rebels from the first day, but he knew it was the right thing to do. Even if his Grandfather detested him in every way for it…
"Marius," Eponine began, "this is Cosette."
"Hello Monsieur." She smiled, moving closer to see his face. This was him.This was the face she had seen so briefly in the village. This was the face that had stopped her from moving out of town with her father.
But this face was looking at another, "Eponine." Marius said smiling, "I heard you left but I'd no idea you'd bring back a guest." He stuck out his hand to shake Cosette's.
"We came for some blankets, I'm staying the night."
"I hope we didn't give you a fright downstairs, this is our way to ready ourselves for the barricade."
"The barricade?" Cosette asked, taking a seat next to Marius.
"It's something the ABC society started, lead of course by Enjorlas. It is our fight for freedom." The very idea added a glisten to Marius' eyes.
"Admirable, isn't it?" Eponine added, smiling at Marius who seemed entranced by her.
He had been acting like a lost little boy a lot lately, and it worried Eponine deeply. Both Enjorlas and he were always such leaders in the group, such role models. Without strong figures in the group, who did people like Gavroche have to look up to? Why were they acting so strange…
"Eponine, may I talk to you for a moment…?" Marius exclaimed suddenly, giving her a look. Eponine nodded and excused herself and Marius from the room.
"Enjorlas likes her, does he not?" He asked suddenly, relieving Eponine that somebody had figured it out.
"I suppose but she doesn't love him." Eponine whispered back. She loves you,she wanted to say desperately.
"Perhaps I should persuade her."
"Perhaps not." Eponine laughed sadly, "Besides, she's having a hard time so far, let her get used to him. Maybe he'll grow on her."
"Maybe." Marius smiled and excused himself downstairs.
"Marius!" Grantaire exclaimed as he stood on a chair next to Gavroche.
"Your skating on thin ice Monsieur, talking to the new one." Gavroche laughed, "Enjorlas won't like that!"
"The new one?"
"Closet, was it?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Cosette," Enjorlas corrected as he walked up to Marius, "isn't she beautiful?"
Marius shrugged and took a beer from him, "I think Eponine used to know her…"
"You probably never gave much thought about her, considering your other lover..." Enjorlas winked and laughed.
"Wasn't it you who called me – what was it?" Marius teased, "Oh yes, immature, childish…" Marius took a sip of his beer and hiccupped. "Now you're in the same boat as I am."
"Alright, I misjudged you. To be fair, monsieur, you have fallen for Eponine."
"What?" Gavroche spit, laughing at Marius, "Eponine?"
"Hey!" Marius began, "Keep it down. We already have enough to worry about and she barely cares for anyone but our guest right now. " He could feel his breath shorten, "Not me."
Before anyone could take back their words, Marius had left the café, standing outside in the cold rain and watching the others through the window.
Eponine hid behind a wall holding a blanket in her hand for Cosette. She was trying very hard not to fall to the ground in tears, a hard knot forming her throat. Marius loved her? Her best friend and the only boy who truly acknowledged her loved her? She felt her heart beat faster as she thought of what the others had said. Enjorlas had ridiculedthe very thought of anyone loving Eponine. He only cared for Cosette, not her, and she hated him for it. Dropping the blankets, she ran upstairs and shut the door to Marius' room, sobbing uncontrollably.
"Eponine?" Cosette asked, knocking on the door.
"Go away!" She exclaimed bitterly, wiping away her tears.
Cosette knocked once more, "Please, I just want to help."
"I don't need it Colette!" Eponine covered her mouth. Her parents never knew Cosette's name either.
Cosette's eyes filled with tears, "Never mind then." She ran downstairs and came face to face with Enjorlas who was riling up a crowd.
"Cosette how is your new room?" He asked kindly, trying to hide the fact that he was tipsy.
"Fine, thank you." Cosette mumbled, "I'm looking for some blankets."
"Oh, someone dropped one over there." He pointed, "May I be of any assistance?"
"Not really, thank you." Cosette moved along and grabbed the towel off the ground but was stopped by Marius' voice.
"Somebody's on the streets." He warned, "Says they're looking for Cosette."
Cosette's breath shortened as she eyed Marius carefully. She had to let Eponine know...
"What's 'is name?" Gavroche asked.
"Thenardier…?" He shrugged. "Should I tell him to get lost?"
"Eponine," Cosette whispered, running upstairs to warn her. "Eponine, your father's here."
"What?" She sniffled, wiping the tears from her swollen eyes.
"Eponine open the door! He's looking for me!"
"You?" What was Cosette talking about?
"I'm not sure why…"
"Cosette, tell Enjolras to shut off all the lights and tell everyone to be quiet, I'll go speak with him." She said looking through Marius' window to see her father pacing just in front of the building and flinging the door open.
He'd no idea that she was there, so why was he here? She ran down the stairs and past Marius quickly before calling her father's name.
"Eponine?"
"Why are you here?" She asked bitterly.
"I saw her, that girl you never liked. The girl that wanted man took from us years ago." Thenardier had a wicked gleam in his eye, making Eponine fret for the future.
"Colette was it?" Eponine lied, hoping to lead her father off track. "She's not here anymore. I swear. I heard some people talking about her moving out of town."
"Outta town?" Thenardier snickered. "Well that's just perfect'. I heard Javert's got a big price on her little head."
"A price?" She gulped, looking back at the café. She could see Cosette's eyes looking frightfully at the scene in the darkness of Marius' room.
"You look nervous… are you hiding something?"
"No." Eponine backed away, "Now go home or I'll call for help."
"Eponine, don't you dare. The guards are roaming the city, they'll catch her and her idiot of a father too!"
"You can't be here." She warned.
"Is it because she's with you?" Thenardier laughed, "Thought ya could trick me?"
"Go AWAY or I'll scream, I promise!" Eponine kept her promise and began to shriek.
"Keep it down!" Thenardier begged as Eponine began to scream and scream.
Thenardier raised his hand on her daughter but someone had caught him in time.
"Don't touch her!" Enjorlas yelled, punching him in the face and dragging Eponine into another alleyway nearby and far away from the café.
Marius had made sure to keep the lights down and the children quiet as Enjorlas had requested. Thenardier would never find them. The guards poured onto the streets and he left with them, leaving Eponine and Enjorlas alone. Eponine stood silently for a moment, contemplating what had happened and calming herself down.
"You too! Don't you touch me either!", she said, pulling her arm out of his grasp, her heart still aching from his words.
"Are you too good to have me save you now?"
"Save me?" She laughed, "I could have saved myself..."
"That was obvious." He smirked. "Besides, if I hadn't come, he might have captured Cosette."
"Captured Cosette?" Eponine's jaw fell open, "He might've captured her and everyone else if I hadn't told Cosette to tell you to keep the cafe quiet." She could feel herself becoming more and more flustered, "He might have killed me if you hadn't shown up." Her eyes filled up with tears. "It's nearly happened before…"
"Your father hurts you?" Enjorlas whispered, suddenly feeling his stomach churn..
"It's none of your business." She replied, moving away from him and back onto the streets. "You must miss your Cosette. Time to go back."
"Wait – Eponine!" He called after her, but before he could say much more, she had returned to Musain. Perhaps this girl wasn't as useless as he had thought.