Smoke Screens

Chapter Twenty-One

The rally was going according to plan. The people seemed engaged and the revolutionaries were well-spoken. Aurélia checked each of the meeting locations and they were all clear. She had hope for another smooth sailing rally. That hope quickly diminished when she slipped while climbing up crates to pull herself onto the roof and toppled to the ground instead. She was fine, just a little bruised and battered, but Enjolras didn't know that. So when he jumped off of the stage to rush to her, chaos ensued. The gendarmes filled the square and all of the men scattered. The revolutionaries had their plans in mind. They knew where they had to go and what they had to do. Enjolras only had one thing on his mind; Aurélia. And he lost her to the crowd. He pushed through people, desperate to find the redhead. He didn't care about the gendarmes, all that mattered was her.

He hadn't noticed but a gendarme was only a few yards away from him, searching for anyone wearing the tri-colored pins of the revolution. Before he could be spotted, he was grabbed, pulled into an alleyway, and pinned up against the brick, a hand over his mouth. He struggled for a moment until his eyes met the sapphires that haunted his every thought and he stilled. She had one hand over his mouth and the other on his shoulder while she stood so close to him, her cheek touched his chest, as she looked to see if the gendarme noticed.

"What the hell were you thinking?" She whispered, turning her glance from the street back to him. All words failed him for a moment. She was so close to him; just a few inches away. It would be so easy to press his lips to hers. Even with her furrowed brow, she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

"Are you alright?" He asked, gently grabbing her arm to inspect the scrapes that went through her sleeves onto her skin. She ripped her arm out of his grasp but placed both of her hands on his shoulders.

"Enjolras, I am fine. You are the one who just threw away the plan just because I fell a few feet. You almost got yourself caught! You could have been killed over what? A scrape?" She let out a sigh and ran her hands through her hair. "Why would you do such a thing?"

"I was worried about you." He could tell by one look at her shocked expression she wasn't used to having someone worry about her.

"But you don't need to-"

"And I'll still worry even then," He cleared his throat. "You're a very important part of this revolution and I don't know what we'd do without you." He didn't notice the hurt fill her eyes because he was too busy looking at the ground. He had to cover his tracks. If she knew he had feelings for her, he would never see her again.

"Of course. I'll be off then," Without another word, she disappeared from the alley, leaving Enjolras in her wake wondering what he did wrong. Did he make her uncomfortable with his worry? Was she that desperate to get away from him?

She had to get away from him. Otherwise, she didn't trust what she would say. She did trust herself to blurt out how she too feared for his safety when he rushed to her. To reveal the way her heart dropped when the gendarme almost saw him. This "illness" of hers was beginning to make less and less sense.

None of the revolutionaries were at any of their locations due to her tardiness, she took it as a good sign. If this rally ended poorly and people were arrested, she would be blaming Enjolras. He completely disregarded the plan they spent hours creating at the drop of a hat...for her. She shook the thought from her head and quickly hurried back to the café.

"Is everyone-"

"Everyone's here," Enjolras eagerly responded. Aurélia nodded, relieved that everyone was safe, before glaring at the leader.

"If this ended poorly, this would have been on you. We have a plan for a reason. The lives of the many out way the lives of the one. You should have stuck to the plan even if I had fallen off of the god damned roof," She hissed. "You put everyone's life in danger for what? Just because you don't trust me to take care of myself?"