Deceiving Passion

Chapter 5: Cosette's Surprise

~Cosette's POV~

My eyes fluttered quickly as the light of day hit them. The world was still rather fuzzy in my mind, for I was still not awake. However, I could swear that I felt a certain warmness permeating near me. That was rather peculiar for this time of year. Normally, my room might as well have been placed in the Arctic. I didn't question it for a couple minutes, until I turned around. There, to my surprise, was a sleeping Marius. My eyes widened at the sight of the sleeping man beside me, but the next sight to hit me nearly made them pop out. I looked down to see that I wasn't wearing anything... And that he wasn't either. That was when a scream escaped my lips.

My scream shot Marius straight up, and made him roll down to the ground with a large thud. He made a loud yelp as he hit the ground, and lifted his head up slowly. I held my covers close to my body as he did so. I could see his eyes pop open as he came to the same realization that I had. He backed away slowly, covering himself with a lone sheet. God, what happened last night? I couldn't remember anything, especially with such a pounding in my head. I heaved a large breath before I spoke, "Marius, what the hell are you doing here?!"

"I don't know," he responded hastily, "all I remember is walking home last night!" I didn't even remember that. The last thing I remembered was being at the bar last night. It wasn't important to remember what happened before I got home though. The thing that mattered the most was finding out what happened once we got home that resulted in Marius and I ending up in bed together wearing absolutely nothing. Then, it hit me. "M-Marius? Do you think that we... might have.."

"No," Marius stated sharply, "we can't have. That's impossible..."

"Well I'm not seeing any other possibilities Marius!" Crap, this wasn't good. What would everyone think? I froze in my tracks. What would Eponine and Enjolras think?! Enjolras was my boyfriend, and Eponine was Marius's fiancée along with being my best friend. They would kill both of us if they found out. I might not have been in love with Enjolras, but that did not mean that I wanted to betray him in such a way. However, I was a bit more scared of Eponine's reaction rather than Enjolras's. Eponine was my best friend, and the last thing I wanted to do was hurt her. No matter how much it hurt me that I was not the holder of Marius's heart, I would never wish to do this to her.

Or did I? I had to admit. Deep down, there was always a part of me that wanted this. There was a part of me that prayed that Marius would suddenly drop everything, and be with me. A part of me that hoped that he would realize that he was truly in love with me, and come running towards my door to seal me in his loving embrace. Now, I had been given that satisfaction, and I couldn't even remember it. I did not know what events had lead to it, and most of all, whether or not Marius had gone along with it willingly. Was it possible for him to have wanted it almost as much as I had?

I shook off that feeling almost instantaneously. There was no way on this planet that Marius would want me. He had Eponine. Why would he choose a grain of sand off the coast when he already had a pearl? The answer to what happened in my mind was obvious: Marius and I were just drunk and confused. Nothing more and nothing less. Marius would never choose to be with me, and sacrifice his future with Eponine within his sober mind. For in the end, I was no Eponine, and I never would be.

Marius moved frantically throughout the room, searching for his clothes. He muttered several obscenities under his breath as he searched around the room. His voice raised a bit in volume, "Oh God, Eponine is going to have my head... I promised her I would be back... Damn it..." He continued to mutter and rant for a while, then stopped for a moment to look at me. It was the first time that morning that we had truly looked at each other. Even though I wished it hadn't, my heart continued to pound with the same velocity it always had when Marius looked at me. He sighed a bit, "Cosette... What are we going to do?"

I couldn't answer him. I didn't know what to say to him. I didn't think I could really say anything to him. I did not want to face the facts of what had happened, or the consequences I knew were soon to follow. I just wanted to avoid it all. I wanted to deceive the passion that was burning deep inside of me, and simply forget that any of this had ever happened. I wished to pretend that I hadn't slept with Marius, and betrayed Eponine. I wished that it was Enjolras who I truly loved, and wanted to spend the rest of my life with. But I simply couldn't. You can't deceive passion. No matter how much I had wanted to. I couldn't. It was too late.

"I-I don't know," I stuttered, "I say that we tr-"

I was interrupted by a loud pounding at my front door. I looked over at my clock, and noticed that it was still rather early. I pondered who could possibly be at my door at such an early hour. I did not do much pondering as the voice at the door soon answered my question, "Cosette? Are you up? It's Eponine. I really need to talk to you!"

I gulped. There was no way that this could possibly turn out well.