Love is Everlasting - An Enjonine Romance

Chapter 3: The Confession

Enjolras' POV

Éponine and I walk down the stairs after our little reunion to join the boys. But it seems that Marius cheekily gave them the wrong idea about us, because when we reach the bottom of the staircase, we are met with an eruption of cheers and wolf-whistles.

"HERE COMES THE HAPPY COUPLE!" An extremely drunk Grantaire hoots, holding up his bottle as if to make a toast. Everyone else does the same.

"Éponine! First you come in with Marius, now you reappear with Enjolras! I never knew you were such a player!" Courfeyrac jokes, laughing uproariously. I thump him on back.

"Shut up. We are not together! We are just friends." I snap back in my usual demeanour.

"We'll see about that. I bet twenty francs that the Marble Man and the Jondrette Girl will be dating by the end of the month. Who wants to bet?" Courfeyrac shouts as he turns to the other people in the room. I groan and wish the floor could swallow me up.

"Hey, don't call me that! I am not my father's daughter; I am not like him." Éponine clarifies angrily, slamming her fist on Courfeyrac's table. But they pay no heed to her warning.

"If you want a new nickname, Jondrette Girl, be with Enjolras so we can call you Mrs Marble!" Grantaire bellows. All the boys laugh; luckily it is just us in the Cafe.

"I'll bet you, Courfeyrac." Jehan speaks up. "Enjolras would never fall for a girl; you know how he is!"

Éponine and I are blushing furiously; this is mortifying for us. "Do you want to go home?" I whisper to her. She nods quickly and we sneak out through the back door so the boys won't notice.

It is raining outside again and to my surprise, Éponine laughs in delight. She dances around merrily while I am using my coat to shelter myself.

"I never knew you liked the rain." I tell her as I catch up to her.

"Of course you didn't. You've only known me for two days. And not even Marius knows." She twirls around, her ragged dress spinning with her.

"And, mademoiselle, why do you like the rain so much?" I ask, amused.

"Because it washes away what's past. It cleans the blood from my cuts, it helps my bruises heal. It drowns out all my sorrow and I am no longer the Jondrette Girl or Thénardier's daughter, I am just Éponine. And since no one is about, I have to streets to myself. Nobody is here to judge me, nobody will force me to steal or do anything against my wishes. In the rain, nobody can tell me what to do." Éponine explains as she looks up to the sky wistfully.

She glances at me trying to keep my head dry with my jacket. "C'mon, loose the jacket!" Éponine grabs my hand and the jacket falls from my head. My messy blonde curls are instantly soaked and I try and shake the water out. Éponine laughs at me and it is a real laugh; not the annoying high-pitched tittering of a rich bourgeois girl. She isn't afraid to laugh loudly and heartily. I stare at her in admiration, but she soon notices and stops dancing.

"Enj, why are you looking at me like that? Is something wrong?" she asks questioningly.

"Since when did you call me Enj?" I tease, disregarding her question.

"Since when did you call me Ép?" she retorts. We continue to laugh and dance in the rain until the clouds shield the moon's light.

Éponine's POV

"That was so fun!" I exclaim, throwing my hands up in the air. "But the moonlight is fading; we should get home before it's pitch black. Or else we won't be able to find our way home!" I can't keep my mouth shut; I am way too deliriously happy.