Deceiving Passion

Chapter 8: Enjolras's Reflection

~Enjolras's POV~

Marius almost spit out his tea as I told him my news, "Y-you... you're what?!"

I chuckled slightly at his reaction. "What Marius? You're afraid I'll steal your thunder?"

"No," he responded, "it's just that... Are you sure about this Enj?"

"I've never been more sure about anything." It was true. Besides deciding to lead the revolution, I had never been sure about a decision in my life. I had been thinking about it since I had seen Marius propose to Eponine two weeks before, and my relationship with Cosette had developed a lot more since then. I had thought about it day in and day out about my decision, and I believed I had come to the right conclusion. I just didn't know where to start. That's why I had come to Marius. He knew about proposing to someone.

He sat back a bit in his seat, and began to read the newspaper. I snatched it out of his hand quickly, and held it behind my back. Normally I wouldn't argue Marius on focus on things that might pertain to the revolution. However, this was really important to me. Besides the revolution, I didn't think that I would find anything that made me happy, and Cosette was that thing. At least, I thought she was. We still had our regular fights now and then, but every couple fought. I just thought that we did it more often because we both had rather passionate natures. Other than that, I really cared for her, and I wanted her by my side through everything.

"I'm sorry Enjolras..." Marius finally responded, "I-I just don't think that you proposing to Cosette is such a good idea."

"Wh-what?"

Marius stood up, "You guys haven't even known each other that long. How do you know that you really want to marry her?"

He had me there. I had met Cosette a long time ago, but it wasn't until a month ago that she and I had gotten together. Even when we had gotten together, it wasn't on the best terms either.

*********

1 Month Ago

I had just finished yelling at Grantaire for paying more attention to his alcohol than to our plans of revolution. Suddenly, I heard a door shut over all the commotion in the room. I looked around to see who could possibly be missing. It was no surprise to me though that the missing body from the room was Marius. He was always sneaking off with Eponine to do God knows what, and wouldn't be back until the meeting ended. By now, I had had enough. It was the third time in a week that he had done this, and my patience was wareing thin.

I excused myself, and made my way to the door. I could still hear voices outside, which meant that Marius hadn't left yet. However, the other voice I had heard was not Eponine's. It was a familiar female voice, but I knew it wasn't Ep's. It took me a while, but I soon registered the voice. It was Cosette's.

"... Are you sure about this Marius?" Cosette's voice uttered quietly.

"Absolutely," Marius's voice boomed, "it will be wonderful!"

"I just don't think it's such a good idea... How are you so sure about it?"

Marius paused for a moment, and then replied less confidently, "...I love her..."

I looked through the key hole, and saw that Cosette had her back turned to him. Her voice returned much colder than before, "I don't see why you're telling me this, especially if you're not planning to do this for another month."

"Well, I still have some planning to do, and I would really like your help. Plus, you're Eponine's best friend," Marius placed his hand gently on Cosette's shoulder, "and mine too...I can't do this without your help... And I won't do this without your blessing..."

Cosette turned, and looked up at Marius. There was a silence between them for quite some time. Finally, Cosette's voice softened, "Alright... I-I'll help you."

Marius smiled, "Thank you so much Cosette... I've got to get back inside, but I'll speak with you later, okay?"

Cosette put a smile on her face, but anyone could see that it was a front. "Okay, you go back in there, and be a good little revolutionary."

Marius chuckled, and moved towards the door, which was my cue to move. Lucky for me, Marius was still on his own little cloud, so he did not notice that I was standing there. Once he was gone, my eye moved to the crack of the door. From what I could see, Cosette hadn't left yet. She simply sat down on the ground near the door. I don't know what it was, but something moved me to go out the door. Once I got outside, I looked down at Cosette, who still hadn't noticed that I was there. I could see that she had started crying. I didn't know why though. She and Marius had always seemed to simply be friends. Why would whatever they were talking about upset her?

She looked up at me, and tried her best to wipe her tears. However, it was clear that I had already seen what happened as I sat down next to her. She sniffled, "W-what are you doing out here?"

I stuttered a bit, "I um...Well..."

"You heard what happened, didn't you?"

I nodded slowly, and placed a hand gently on her shoulder. Cosette looked as though she wanted to brush me off, yet she didn't. I spoke quietly, "Might I ask what happened?"

She sighed, "Marius... He wants to propose to Eponine..."

"And why is that a problem?"

Cosette was silent, and she looked down at the ground. Maybe she didn't know exactly why she felt that way, and I didn't want to push her on it. So I didn't want to push it. I simply looked at her, and while looked at her I noticed how beautiful she was. I had never really looked at her long enough to recognize it, but it was true. I couldn't take my eyes off of her. She looked back up at me, and our eyes connected for a moment. For a moment, it felt like we connected. She shook her head slightly, "I-I...I honestly don't know...I guess it isn't."

I gave her a small smile, "I am here for you, if you need me Cosette."

"You are?"

"Yeah," I replied, "you're not the only one who pals around with Pontmercy, remember? I understand."

She giggled, and blushed a bit. She was adorable. We spent the next hour after that simply talking about... Well, everything. We covered a plenthor of subjects, and by then I knew that I had developed some feelings for her. At least, I thought I had. I had never been in love before with anything besides France, so I didn't really know.

After that hour had passed, Cosette stood up, "Well, I think I'd best be going..."

I sighed. I really didn't want her to go. I wanted to get to know her more. However, I couldn't make her stay. "Alright... Will I get to see you again though?"

She looked up at me, and gave me a warm smile. "I would like that very much."

I hugged her softly, which she slowly reciprocated. I looked down at her as her stare gazed back at me. Before I even knew what I was doing, I had leaned down, and pressed my lips softly to hers. Cosette stood there for a moment, and I was about to pull back, and apologize. However, before I could, she had started to kiss back. We stayed there like that for quite some time until I pulled back with the biggest grin on my face. I chuckled slightly, "Promise?"

Cosette smiled back at me, "Promise."

*********

I still smile every time I recall that night. Cosette and I had our ups and downs, but there was no denying that I did feel strongly about Cosette. Was it love? That I didn't know... But it was close enough to love for me.

But there was still one question that lingered in my mind: Did she love me as well?