Enjolras offered to give her a ride home, but she decided against it. Her house was close enough and she felt like walking. Today had just been so difficult. She didn't want to love Marius, she wanted to love Enjolras and stay with him forever. They had been right to cut it off, but she really wanted to cuddle on his couch again. To feel safe and protected and leave all the hurt from Marius behind her.
She walked aimlessly home, feeling numb. Her body was used to the same old routes so she just let her body go wherever it was going. She didn't much care if she got lost. Something else to think about instead of this. Her tears also blurred her vision.
She found herself at a park near her house. She never used this way, but she could still easily reach her house from here. She smiled, for once today she was happy. She remembered bringing Gavroche here, when they were both young. She taught him how to swing. She remembered running around, playing tag, swinging on monkey bars, leaping from platform to platform. The park was one of her favorite memories. Cosette would be with them, sometimes. When she was, they'd play make believe with Gavroche. Sometimes he was a pirate, a director, a train engineer, an astronaut, or a pilot. Those were the good times. They had escaped from their horrible, abusive parents, and been adopted by Courfeyrac's parents. Courfeyrac completely adored Gavroche, and sometimes all four of them would come. When it snowed, they'd have snowball fights- girls against boys. Eponine and Cosette would always let Gavroche win. He was adorable whenever he won anything.
"Thinking?" Eponine jumped at the voice behind her. She turned around to see Combeferre. He always had a way of sneaking up behind people. Silent and observant.
"Oh, hey, 'Ferre," She snifled and tried to blink away any of her tears.
"Sorry if I scared you," he apoligized,
She laughed, halfheartedly, still recalling the good ol' days with Gavroche. "It's okay,"
"So, what are you doing?"
She shrugged. "Walking home. You?"
"Getting dinner. You want to join me?"
"Sure," Eponine could use someone to talk to right now.
So the two walked quietly to a nearby place to eat. They ordered sandwiches and got a seat in the back.
"What's wrong?" He asked, immediatly, as if he had been waiting the whole time.
"What?" Eponine asked, startled.
"Is it about Marius?"
"How do you know about that?"
"I was at the cafe today..." Was it really that obvious? Or was 'Ferre just using better observation skills?
"Uh, yeah. Marius."
"And Enjolras and you broke up?" He said it more as a statement.
"How do you know these things?"
He smiled. "Just inferencing. If you're upset about not having Marius, you'd go to your boyfriend. And if you're not with Enjolras now, then you two might not be together anymore."
"What if I just wanted to be alone?"
"Well, people want to temporarily be alone, but they'd rather be with their boyfriend or girlfriend later. But you were headed to your house. Enjolras' and my apartment is the other direction."
"So, when you see someone, all this stuff goes through your brain? Not what other people think of you, or what you think of them- just what's happening in their lives right then?"
"I think of all those things." He stated, plainly. He had noticed how Eponine looked. She was upset today, but she was still pretty in her skinny jeans and converse, with a large sweater. She also had one of her many knit caps on. She looked really adorable today. And when he saw her, he did consider momentarily how he looked, but when he saw her face and saw that she looked as if she were crying, he didn't care much anymore. He began to think of what was going on. But now they were in a restaurant, she had calmed down, and she was looking at him with those big brown eyes of hers. He was having a hard time trying to concentrate on his words. He was paying extra attention to sound normal, so she wouldn't realize it.
"You do? Wow," they just sat there, looking at each other. "You're different from most guys, you know that?" Combeferre wasn't sure what that meant. "Oh, not in a bad way," she said, hurriedly, after seeing his confusion.
Combeferre smiled, again. Eponine liked his smile. It wasn't shown often. She also liked how he could just see when something was wrong, and how he could probably figure it out without any words.
He continued smiling, and it made Eponine want to melt. She had already fallen in love with her best friend's boyfriend and broken up with her boyfriend, and now she was starting to like another guy? She was getting ridiculous. Maybe she should stop hanging out with guys...
Their orders were ready, so they went to the counter to pick it up. They ate, and then Combeferre walked her home.
