My Moon: An Enjolras Love Story

yet with you my world has started

SÉRAPHINE POV

After Enjolras confessed that he felt the same way I did and agreed to give a potential relationship a try, I could not contain my joy for the rest of the night. The group left shortly after, Enjolras staying behind for a few moments to say a prolonged goodbye, and it was extremely difficult for me to fall asleep after they left. I stayed up for about two hours, smiling up at my ceiling giddily. I had only known Enjolras for a week, and I had only just confessed my feelings to him, but I could not help but feel extremely jovial. He had told me before he left that he would come to my house the next day at noon, and he would take me out to lunch at a more high-end place than we had been going previously. I laughed my way to sleep that night, unable to wait patiently for the next day. Finally, somehow, I managed to fall asleep.

The next morning, I arose at about ten. I hurriedly jumped out of bed and wished with all my might that noon would come quickly, because I was far too excited to stand the wait. Fortunately, by the time I had gotten ready (it took awhile because I wanted to ensure that I looked perfect!) it was almost noon. I killed a few more minutes by reading a book, and then I heard a knock on the door.

Rising to answer it, my heart thumping more than I thought humanly possible, I answered it. Every possible thought in the world flew through my head in the short amount of time that it took for me to open that door. What would I say? Would I make things awkward by saying something stupid? Did I look okay?

Once I opened the door, Enjolras saved me from every potential embarrassing scenario by flashing me a big smile and a hug.

"Hello, Séraphine. You look wonderful today."

"Thank you," I blushed, noticing that he himself appeared to have donned some fancier clothing than he usually did. "As do you."

"Thank you," he grinned. "Now, shall we head out?"

"Let's," I agreed.

With that, he stepped back and led me out of the door. As Enjolras pulled my door shut behind me, I could not help but blush even further at how gentlemanly he was acting. I understood why I had fallen for him -- he was so gallant and genuine, all without trying.

Suddenly, a new frightening thought occurred to me. Should I grab his hand? Or is it too early? Should I let him do it?

Oh, no. I struggled mentally to make the decision -- I wanted to remind him of my feelings by holding his hand, but I also did not want to take a step that he would feel uncomfortable being taken. A few moments went by of my silent pondering before he paused.

"Hey. Are you all right?" he asked.

"Yeah!" I replied. "Just...well, just a little nervous."

Enjolras smiled warmly. "I am, too. I've never done anything like this before. But we both said we wanted to try, right?"

"That's right," I grinned, suddenly feeling all anxiety dissipate from my mind. "That's right."

"So try to relax. Can you do that? We're going to have fun today."

"Yes," I responded exuberantly. "I can."

With that, we chuckled a bit and I decided to go against grabbing his hand. Although we had shared a tender moment, I did not want to ruin it by holding his hand. This was just a first date, after all -- were we even "boyfriend and girlfriend" yet? Would we ever be?

Stop, I told myself sternly. Enjoy this. Stop worrying about the future. You worry too much about the future. Right now is the present. And you are with Enjolras, and you are going to have a nice time.

I sighed, inhaling deeply. I would not allow anything to ruin this day, especially not my tendency towards overthinking.

To get rid of my anxieties, I decided to start a conversation. "Where are we going, anyway?"

"Well," he replied, "it's a very elegant and cozy restaurant. It's called La Lune."

The moon.

"Oh! That sounds beautiful," I stated. "Where is it?"

"It's actually a bit of a long walk from here," he admitted. "I didn't think you would mind, considering you seem fond of the outdoors and of exploring new places. I hope this is okay with you."

"Of course! I --"

With that, I began to giggle.

"What?" he asked, a quizzical smile on his face.

"I, well," I said, "the perfect first date to me is a walk. A nice, long walk. Getting to know the person, just enjoying their presence. I know it sounds a bit dumb."

"Not at all," he said gently, looking into my eyes. "I think that sounds very sweet. Although, I do already feel as though I know quite a bit about you. So that part may not apply as well in this situation."

I laughed at first, but shortly afterwards I came to a realization.

"I think you're right. I think you know a lot more about me than I know about you," I observed.

"Ah," he breathed, making me feel unsure as to whether he was comfortable with revealing more about himself. It had, after all, only been a short time since we had even met in the first place.

"You don't have to go into any details if you don't want to," I offered.

"It isn't that I don't want to share more about myself with you, Séraphine," Enjolras replied. "There just is not much to share."

"Come on. There has to be something," I said, knowing full well that I was pressing a bit.

He chuckled. "Well, I believe I've told you the basics. I'm from a fairly wealthy family, and I aspire to change the world someday."

"You sure do seem like a world-changer," I admired openly.

"Thank you," he said as we continued to walk.

"If you do not mind my asking," I began, "do you get along with your family? As you've implied before, you don't seem too fond of the bourgeoisie. But your family is among them. How does that work."

"Admittedly," he began, getting the spark in his eyes that I had only seen when he was talking about political issues, "I feel a bit hypocritical in that I do live with them and get along with them despite their class. I do not know what it feels like to be impoverished, but I have seen it so often that I feel it's my duty to do something about it."

"Don't feel bad," I consoled. "You can't hold anything against them for being on the wealthier side of the spectrum. You're not hypocritical."

"It's not so much their wealth that bothers me. It's the fact that it doesn't bother them. They seem perfectly content to ignore the issues that France is facing right now. And I wish they would contribute more to the poor and to the cause."

"The cause?"

Enjolras appeared to freeze up, almost as if he had said something he should not have said. "I...well, basically my school friends and I are planning on doing some rallying. Nothing dangerous or big. We just want to get other people to join us in working towards making the nation a better place for everyone."

"But how? What kind of working?"

After a small pause, he responded, "We, uh, are not really sure yet what we plan on doing. Probably a bit of consultation with some of the important people in Paris. Peaceful methods of making change."

"Oh!" I smiled. "That sounds lovely. I would love to help you all out, if you don't mind."

For a reason I could not explain or fathom, Enjolras suddenly stopped in his tracks. His face turned white and his eyes developed an absence from the situation. He hesitated for a short while before nodding at me for us to continue walking.

"So? Can I help?" I asked.

"...Sure," he said. His tone seemed a bit dismissive.

"That's not the Enjolras brand of certainty I've grown used to," I teased.

"You can help," he stated, more finality in his voice than before. "I'm sorry, I just...I was thinking about something else for a moment. Of course you can help."

The sudden halt appeared to be more than just "thinking about something else for a moment," and I thought I knew what it may have been. Enjolras, I thought, was probably going to do more than governmental consultation in order to make change in France. I assumed he probably intended on vocal street protests -- something a bit more public than direct conversation, something with the potential to become more violent. But I had seen street protests before, and I was not afraid of joining in with them. Enjolras, I was almost certain, was going to be doing some outdoor work and wanted to spare me from any possible dangers.

I understood upon witnessing his concern for me why I had fallen for him so quickly.

"Great!" I replied to his earlier comment. "Thanks so much."

He himself appeared to calm down a bit too. "Of course. It's really great to know someone like you, Séraphine. Someone who's fully aware of her own status in society yet still is willing to fight for those less fortunate."

I grinned. "Well, it's just something that's important to me."

Enjolras's next statement appeared to echo the thoughts I had had just a moment prior. "I think this is part of the reason I've grown to like you so much."

"What?" I blushed.

"I just love how much you care about other people. It's extremely admirable. Even just with little Thierry it was evident. Your dedication to mercy is wonderful."

"Aw," I fawned. "That's so sweet! Thank you. And so is yours. I must say I'm very glad you like me so much, because I like you a lot too.

"It's kind of funny," he chuckled as we stepped, "the way I discovered I liked you."

Yes! I could not wait to hear this. "How, Enjolras?"

"Okay. Do you remember when I punched Gilles Lavoie in the stomach after he insulted you?"

"It was a few days ago. And it was extremely climactic. But I still think I've forgotten somehow," I joked.

"Funny, funny. Well, anyway," he continued, "you may not have caught onto it, but when we went out to lunch that afternoon I could tell that I was a bit distant for parts of it."

"Yes! You were!" I recalled. "I mean...sorry. I do remember."

"That was when I realized I had feelings for you," he confessed. "I had never, ever done anything so impulsively or so rash before I punched that man. And the reason I was so lost inside my own head during lunch that day was because I realized that I punched him for more than "justice." I punched him because I had feelings for you, and it hurt me to hear him saying those kinds of things to and about you."

"My, my," I beamed. "We have a Romeo Montague of sorts here, do we?"

"Again," he said, "very funny. But, yes. That was the day I realized it. I remember paying for your meal that day because I wanted to hint at my feelings."

"I remember that, too," I told him. "I spent the entire night wondering if you paid for me because you had feelings for me."

"Guilty," he smiled, putting his hands up in a motion of mock surrender.

I could hardly contain my excitement. Enjolras had done all of those chivalrous things out of romantic feelings! The punch to Monsieur Lavoie, the paying for my meal -- although it was consistent with his character regardless, the fact that he had done it for the reasons he did was definitely enough to make my smile widen.

"That's the other thing I like about you. I can joke around when I'm with you," he mentioned, referencing his "guilty" remark.

"I like that about us too," I noted.

"I'm a stressed-out person a lot of the time. Always planning, always needing to be doing something productive. But you help me unwind a little, and you bring out the joker in me. It's...well, it's nice to have that calmness in my life."

That may have been the sweetest thing anyone had ever said to me. Everything I did in my life, every interaction I made with others, every little word I spoke was in an attempt to make the people around me happy and at ease. To know that I was able to do that to the person for whom I had developed an attraction was extremely satisfying.

With that final thought, Enjolras stopped. We were finally standing at the door of the restaurant.

"You know, Enjolras? I think I've ended up learning a bit more about you than you led me to believe I would on this walk."

"I guess you have. Good job," he chuckled as he opened the door of La Lune and ushered me inside.