literature

Coming Clean 4

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"You must go to the Corinth, please," Éponine pleaded into her phone as she talked to Andre, currently she was multitasking as she dressed for work and was trying to put on her pantyhose. "It's my first day back and I really could use the moral support Andre, please?" Éponine continued to plead.

Andre laughed, "Alright, alright, I'll be there."

"You rock!" Éponine exclaimed when her phone slipped out of the crook of her arm, "shit!" she swore as she finally got her nylons on all the way. "Sorry about that."

"Just get dressed I'll see you there," Andre chuckled and hung up.

Éponine tossed her phone on her bed and straightened the  black skirt of her dress, it had a faux shirt front in white with black buttons, almost like a proper waitress. She then slipped on a pair of black, patent leather t-strap shoes and smiled at her reflection. Tonight was to be her comeback you might say and she wanted to look her best, she had been clean a little more than a month and she was proud of that fact. Checking her reflection one last time she grabbed the coat she had recently purchased and left her apartment.

As she came in through the back door she was accosted by Musichetta, "Oh thank god you're back!" The blonde girl exclaimed, "it's been hell."

"'Chetta... You're breaking me!" Éponine squeaked.

Musichetta loosened her grip and Éponine breathed in deeply, "Jesus, I was in rehab! It's not like I abandoned you."

"You might as well have," Musichetta put her hands on her hips, "boss hired a new girl to take your place while you were recovering, but now he wants to keep her on!"

"Come on 'Chetta, she can't be that bad," Éponine laughed as she hung up her coat.

"Oh yeah?" Musichetta glared at the brunette, "tell me how you feel at the end of the night."

Éponine laughed lightly and went back out to the front of the house, all of the students were in front of  and Courfeyrac was sitting at the bar with a friend.

"'Ponine!" Courfeyrac hollered.

With a jaunty swing in her step Éponine happily approached the two men and leaned her elbows on the bar top, "alright boys, what's your poison?"

"I'll have a rum and coke," Courfeurac grinned, "what about you Jehan?"

"Just a coke, thank you," Jehan replied.

"Come on buddy loosen up a bit!" Courfeyrac teased.

"No, besides I bet your friend here is a good enough bartender that she would card me," Jehan replied.

"You've got that right," Éponine winked, "so cough up that card before I mix your drink."

Courfeyrac grumbled as he reached into his pocket and withdrew his ID card, "here."

Éponine quickly checked it over and handed it back to happen, "Good, I'll go get your drinks."

She turned to get the drinks when she ran into another girl, who wasn't Musichetta. Nonetheless Éponine apologized for being so careless.

It didn't even seem to faze the other girl, she simply cocked her head with it's short, curly, blonde bob, "Are you Éponine?"

"Yes?" Éponine replied incredulously.

"Oh my god! I'm so excited to meet you!" The blonde exclaimed cheerfully, she then gasped loudly, "woah! You are so skinny!"

Éponine stared at the blonde girl blankly, and she all of a sudden became conscious of the idea that she was very skinny, but it wasn't her fault.

"I wish I was skinny like you," The blonde sighed, then she started bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Oh! Can you tell me how you did it?"

Éponine looked at the girl, she already looked like a twig, she certainly didn't need to lose weight."Sure I can," Éponine nodded her head slowly.

"Really?" The blonde clapped her hands together, "so what program did you do?"

Éponine smirked to herself, "It's called heroin withdrawal, now if you excuse me I have to go and take care of these gentlemen." She pushed her way past the girl who looked on in confusion.

"I wonder if that's like a juice cleanse," The blonde wondered aloud.

As Éponine was mixing Courfeyrac's drink she started chatting with Musichetta who was mixing a drink for another patron.

"So what do you think of Nicole?" Musichetta giggled.

"The fluff ball has a name? Can't we just call her Tribble?" Éponine turned to Musichetta with wide eyes.

"I suppose you can call her whatever you want behind her back," Musichetta continued to laugh.

"So why is Mr. Huchelop keeping her on? She seems completely incompetent!" Éponine whispered.

"Tell me about it," Musichetta rolled her eyes, "I think it might be best to continue our work as if she isn't here."

"That's going to be like trying to avoid a mosquito that's in your house and won't leave," Éponine sighed.

"I'm going to die!" Musichetta wined.

"Just don't start drinking on the job," Éponine smiled, "she's not worth it."

Musichetta pouted, "Can I pre-game?"

"Do you think I care?" Éponine shrugged, "anyway gotta go give these boys their drinks." She carried the drinks over to Courfeyrac and Jehan, "Sorry fella's just having a little chat with a coworker, hope the Tribble didn't bother you two much."

Courfeyrac sipped is drink, the sting of the alcohol stinging at first, "The Tribble?"

"Nicole," Éponine sighed.

"Oh," Courfeyrac put his glass down, "her... You know she's kinda cute."

Jehan laughed which caused him to choke slightly on his coke, "You say that about every girl."

"Well she may look cute but I can guarantee there is nothing going on in that pretty little head of hers," Éponine replied, "and as much as I would love to chat with you boys I've got drinks to serve."

"Wait 'Ponine," Courfeyrac called out and held out his hand.

Éponine shook his hand and when they parted she found herself with a twenty dollar bill in her palm, she was stunned. "Wait, Courfeyrac did you mean to-" she stopped talking when she realized that he and Jehan had left the bar and now he and his friends were moving their meeting to the back, even Andre followed them.

Now the front of house became awfully quiet and Éponine was serving up the beer on tap to one of the regulars when Marius burst in.

"Well look who decided to drop in," Éponine called to him.

Marius made his way to the bar, "Oh 'Ponine, the most wonderful thing has happened."

Éponine passed the beer to the patron, "And I bet you are going to tell me all about it," she smiled.

"This girl came into the bookstore today," Marius began.

"Oh?" Éponine leaned on the counter trying to seem interested, but her stomach felt like it was turning into knots, she wasn't sure she liked where this was headed.

"She was looking for books on fashion design," Marius continued, "so I showed her where they were kept and I-"

Éponine was hardly listening anymore to what he was saying, her heart just felt like it was breaking into a million little pieces. She knew it seemed foolish, and stupid, why did she think that she even had a chance with Marius? Had she learned nothing from the hundreds of times she had seen "He's Just Not That Into You"? If a guy likes you he's going to make it happen, and Marius certainly didn't try to make it happen, so why did it hurt so bad?

"We are going out later this week," Marius finished.

"That's great," Éponine replied trying not to sound as dejected as she felt inside. "Well your friends are in back, you better join them before the great stone dragon burns you to a crisp."

"Do you mean Enjolras?" Marius smirked, "great stone dragon," he snorted, "that's a new one... We'll see you later."

Éponine was left to her thoughts and broken heart, as she continued about her night but a sense of listlessness hung around her like a dark cloud. Just as they were closing up for the night Éponine went and told the students it was time to go.

"You don't have to go home but you can't stay here," Éponine leaned against the doorway.

Slowly the students filed out of the former speakeasy, "Hey don't forget this one!" Éponine pointed to the one who had fallen asleep on the table, "this is a bar, not a hotel."

"I'll call a cab," A student with glasses and light brown hair replied to her, "glad to see you back on your feet."

"Excuse me, do I know you?" Éponine asked, but a guilt washed over her knowing that her question came out a lot harsher than she had intended, tonight was certainly not her night.

"Luc Combeferre, I'm a friend of Joly, we are doing residency at the hospital you were at about a month ago," he replied calmly as if her stinging words hadn't fazed him one bit.

"Oh," Éponine blushed slightly, "well just get him out of here okay?" She then returned to the front and wiped down the bar as Musichetta and Nicole put up the remaining chairs, the kitchen staff and most of the waitstaff had left long before. Once done Éponine grabbed her coat and walked outside.

Andre was leaning against the wall smoking a cigarette, "You waited for me?" Éponine cocked her head.

"Figured I'd walk you home," Andre shrugged, "it's not safe to have a pretty girl such as yourself roam the streets by herself at this late hour."

"I've done it many a night before," Éponine commented as she started to walk away.

"Is something wrong?" Andre.

"No," Éponine replied coldly.

"Uh huh," Andre replied, "right, nothing is wrong."

"You wouldn't understand," Éponine spoke gruffly as she fumbled in her coat pocket for a cigarette.

"Try me," Andre replied as he handed her one of his own cigarettes.

Éponine was seriously thinking about it as she took the cigarette and lit it, "Nah, you would think I'm a stupid, irrational, fool."

"You think I don't think that already?"

"Hey!" Éponine playfully punched him in the arm, "besides why do you care so much?"

"Hate seeing you down like this," Andre admitted, "there's a new invention called smiling, you should try it some time."

"Smartass," Éponine couldn't help but laugh.

"Just trying to make you laugh," Andre smiled, "so are you going to tell me what's wrong?"

Éponine smiled to herself, "No, it doesn't matter anymore."

"Are you sure?" Andre stuck out his bottom lip in a sort of slight pout.

"Yes, just stupid girl stuff that shouldn't even be bothering me," Éponine shrugged her shoulder slightly.

"Alright," Andre pushed his long blonde hair behind his ear, "but if you ever want to talk you can always call me, okay?"

Éponine gave him a small nod, "Thanks."
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When she came back to apartment she began rummaging around in her drawer of silverware for a spoon. The strangest craving for cereal had over come her so she was looking for a utensil to accompany her bowl of Lucky Charms.

"Gotcha!" Éponine smiled as she held up the spoon in victory, but in the fluorescent lighting she could see there was something on it. "Just my luck," she grumbled as she rubbed the spoon  roughly with the sleeve of her coat but it didn't go away, holding it back to the light her heart seemed to stop. The smudge wasn't a smudge, it was a scorch mark from when she used it to prep heroine. She threw the spoon into the garbage and searched for another, upon finding one she realized it had a similar scorch mark, all of them did. Éponine threw all of them into the trash and was not hungry anymore. Instead she dragged herself into her room, unzipped her dress, pulled on a tee shirt and boxer shorts while climbing into bed which creaked as she moved. She pulled her blankets tightly around her her as her eyes grew heavy as she fell asleep.
The fourth installment of Coming Clean complete with my rendition of what some of the characters wear courtesy of Polyvore! www.polyvore.com/coming_clean_…
© 2013 - 2024 MimiMarquez16
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Lord44's avatar
Finally getting caught up on these! 

Haha, "great stone dragon". I'm never going to keep a straight face watching Mulan :XD: