Ch. 4
After Musichetta left, Eponine excused herself and left before anyone else could ask anything about her little post office trip, which she never actually completed.
She pushed opened the wooden door of Holsten's and began walking home. She stuffed her hands into her pockets and decided not to tell Gav and Azelma about what happened. It would really scare them.
As Eponine neared her home, someone shouted, "Heads!" In that split second, a baseball whizzed above her, so close it nearly hit her forehead. But no, it just skimmed the top of her head.
Slightly angered, Eponine looked around the scene to see a boy with a little newspaper boy hat on with a patched mitt turned to her, he looked very surprised.
Eponine squinted to see that farther back, there was a boy with a bat, holding it in a mid-hitting position as if he were frozen.
Eponine furrowed her brow. It was Gavroche. The boy with the mitt came up to her and lowered his cap. He started to apologize, "We're sorry ma'am. We didn't-"
"It's alright." Eponine quipped. She stomped over to Gavroche through the middle of their 'field'. His face paled as she grew closer, and closer.
Eponine grabbed Gavroche by the shirt collar gently but firmly. "Where's Grantaire and why are you out here alone?" she hissed through gritted teeth.
Gav sputtered, "H-he's inside! He said we could do whatever." Eponine let go of his shirt collar and raced up the apartment steps.
She practically knocked down the door to see Grantaire sprawled on the sofa limply holding a bottle of brandy.
"Eponine's homeeee!" he cheered. Eponine cried in frustration, "Why are you so drunk?!" Grantaire muttered in reply, "Why are you so uptight? Have a drink babe, you'll be glad you did." He shook his bottle towards Eponine, who moved backwards.
"Where's Azelma?" Eponine demanded. Grantaire pointed to Eponine's room and slurred, "Sh-she's in there room, with some blonde boy." Eponine marched into the room.
In the room, she saw a startled Azelma sitting on her bed, behind a boy. She held a strand of the boy's sunshine blonde hair, but dropped it as Eponine came in. The boy turned his head too, staring up at Eponine with soft blue eyes.
"Azelma, can I talk to you for a sec? Outside?" Eponine choked. Azelma visibly gulped as Eponine lead her to the fire escape.
"Be right back JP." Azelma told the boy as she walked out.
Once the two were alone, Eponine scolded, "Who the hell is that?!" Azelma folded her arms stubbornly and answered, "That's JP. He lives down the block from us."
Eponine asked, "Is this JP your boyfriend?" Azelma furiously shook her head and laughed, "No 'Ponine! JP is gay, he works at the florist and likes to braid hair."
Eponine sputtered. She had heard of gay people, she had nothing against it, but she didn't feel comfortable having a gay in her home.
"Please ask him to leave." Eponine commanded sternly.
"No!" Azelma cried. "Just give him a chance, 'Ponine!"
Eponine whispered furiously, "Well I gave you a chance and found you hanging off of a freaking fire escape!"
As Eponine turned, Azelma pleaded, "I know, I was stupid. I understand that you can't trust me, But you can trust JP. He's the most loyal, kind, loving person I know. And he's a boy!"
Eponine didn't reply. She still walked inside to see JP still looking at her.
JP instantly stood up and held out his hand, he introduced, "Hi, my name is Jean Prouvaire, best known as Jehan or JP as Azelma likes to call me." He sighed and confesssed,
"Yes, I am gay. I work at the florist, braid flowers into my hair, and wear extremely bright clothes." He fingered his teal vest.
Eponine nodded slowly. This guy seemed nice. She'd let him stay for dinner (so she could spy on him), but that would be one more mouth to feed when she could barely feed herself.
Eponine nodded slowly. "Well, it's nice to meet you JP. You're welcome to stay, but probably should head home for supper when it's time." JP nodded.
"Thank you miss." he replied. Eponine tightened her lips and went into the living room.
She took Grantaire's bottle and pointed out the door. "Out 'Taire." She scolded.
Grantaire burped and folded his arms. "Where I will go?" he asked childly.
"Go home Grantaire, you're drunk."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes! Come back when you're ready to apologize."
Grantaire sighed and walked out the door. Eponine followed him to make sure he didn't come back, it'd happened before.
Eponine stood outside and watched him stagger away. She tugged her shawl on tighter and walked over to Gav, who was on second base. She ruffled his hair and crooned, "Hey Gavvie. You winning?" He glared at her and whispered, "Maybe if you stop distracting me I will."
So Eponine let Gav run home, of course cheering him on every run. Once he was home, she went to him and asked, "So you're a good spy right Gav?" The boy wiped his brow with his sleeve and nodded. Eponine asked, "Well do you know Jehan? Or JP?"
Gav looked up at her. "Gay JP? Yeah, he's cool." Eponine felt like scolding him for calling him 'gay', but he was gay after all.
Eponine looked at her feet and whispered, "Can you spy on him for the week? He's been hanging out with 'Zelma and I don't want him influencing her with all that flower crap."
Gav shrugged. "Sure, but I really don't see why you need me to. He is a good guy."
Eponine smirked and kissed his cheek.
"Be home in 5."
The next morning, Eponine walked to her station in the factory. She sat down to see that sullen girl sitting in front of her again. "Hi." Eponine muttered. The girl looked up at her and narrowed her eyes, then started working again.
Eponine shook her head and started up her sewing machine.
All of the sudden, she felt someone tap on her shoulder. She timidly turned her head to see her boss staring at her with his eyebrows scrunched. "In my office Thenardier. Now." Eponine's legs trembled as she stood.
As she followed her Boss, she could see Azelma in the corner of her eye. 'Zelma's face was clouded with confusion. Eponine pretended not to see.
Her boss pushed open his office door and sat at his desk. Eponine looked over to Marius, who sat in the corner reading a book on law. 'His grandpa probably made him.' Eponine thought.
"So Thenardier," the boss grumbled as he reached for a cigar.
Eponine nervously folded her hands in her lap and stared at her trembling hands.
The boss lit his cigar and continued, " I found somethin' very interesting in my mail this morning. "
Eponine wondered if Marius could see her heart pounding out of her chest. The boss reached into a cabinet and slammed a file onto the desk.
The boss boomed, "Look at me when I'm talking, you little thief!" This made Marius look up questioningly. Eponine rose her head quickly with a pale face.
The boss slammed a hand on the file. "Read it aloud." he commanded through gritted teeth.
Eponine cringed and picked up the file with trembling fingers. She could feel her boss smirking at her, and Marius' soft blue eyes burning through her. She opened it carefully and her heart sank.
They had found out.
In her trembeling voice, she read,
"On the night of March 10th 1911, Eponine Thenardier was caught stealing from Mr. Happy's Toy Store on Charlton Street. Miss Thenardier was charged with thievery and sentenced to prison. Instead, Miss Thenardier bailed with a total of $100."
Eponine looked up at her boss, whose face was red. She could only imagine Marius' expression.
The boss snatched the file from Eponine and screeched, "You Miss Thenardier, are fired!"
Eponine burst out of the factory. Her eyes stung from tears that were going to come.
She ran towards her apartment, wanting to get away from the world.
Once inside, she locked the door and fell onto the couch. Her tears began to flow. She dropped her head into her hands and sobbed uncontrollably.
Through her tears, she cried out, " I dreamed my life would be so different than this hell I'm living!" All of the sudden, her door burst open.
Eponine didn't even bother looking up. She already knew who it was-Marius.
"'Ponine!" he practically yelled into her hair-curtained face. This only made her cry harder.
"Why the hell didn't you tell me about this?!" he demanded. Eponine cried, "Because you're a freaking god! A rich god! I don't expect you to understand."
Marius put his hand on Eponine's bony shoulder and crooned, " I know 'Ponine. But you could trust me. We've been best friends since we were like, 12."
Although Eponine was mourning, his kind words soothed her heart, bring her tears to a stop.
She pulled her hair out of her face and smiled a little. He grinned at her in accomplishment. "What about Azelma and Gav?" she dreered.
Marius thought for a moment then whispered soothingly, "I'll tell them. You stay here while I go tell my grandpa to pull Azelma out early. And where does Gav work again?" he stood up and brushed off his trousers.
Eponine's throat tightened. "No!" she pleaded sticking out a wobbly, defensive arm. Marius crouched down in front of her as if she were a small child. " 'Ponine it's for the best. You're siblings are great kids- I'm sure they'll understand." He took Eponine's hand and squeezed it gently.
That was all Eponine needed to win her over. She scoffed, "Gav works at the Upland Household. Two blocks down from here." Marius stood back up, smiled, and ran off.
"You what?!" Azelma's voice screeched as she burst through the door. Eponine looked up as her sister stomped in. Gav and Marius followed behind, both trying to calm the beast-mode Azelma.
Eponine's heart pounded. Marius' words echoed in her head: 'You're siblings are great kids- I'm sure they'll understand.' Not. If that happened, Azelma wouldn't currently be whirling through the apartment like a fruit fly, and Gav wouldn't look like a stressed business man.
Marius pleaded, "Azelma! Please, get ahold of yourself." Azelma fumed, "No! No one in the Thenardier family steals!" Gav corrected, "Not true. Dad stole from the king once and Mom's just a dirty old-"
"Shut up!" Eponine boomed. The room went dead silent.
Tears began to drip as Azelma crouched next to Eponine. "Why'd you do it 'Ponine?" she asked steadily. Eponine gulped. Azelma was furious at her and there was no way to make her happy now.
Eponine explained slowly, "It was for poor children….they looked so upset." "Bullshit." Azelma shot back. "It's true!" Eponine sputtered.
Azelma sighed, "Eponine, I'm sorry to be harsh, but you've ruined everything!" she stomped off to her room and slammed the door.
"Baby." Gav muttered.
_A/N: I'm really sorry guys! I wrote the second half of this story when I came back from my two week vacation in Alaska- no lie.