16 Unicorn Street | Friday Afternoon

[playsforkepesh]

It wasn't until Sam left to get her coffee that she realized that something strange was going on. The only reason she knew anything was happening at all was because of that man she saw singing happily about the ketchup stain on his pants finally being gone -- which would have been strange on its own, but when two people joined him as backup dancers, she felt fairly sure that this had Fandom's influence written all over it.

Sam, however, didn't seem to be affected, for which she was very glad. She got home, drank her coffee, and holed up in her living room, playing chess against herself.

As you did.

[[expecting one, but open!]]

Comments

[filleauloup]

Yes, Éponine knew where Sam lived, but to her (dubious) credit she hadn't actually followed her home or lurked outside the house of anything. Well, until now.

She'd just stopped at the bank to cash her paycheck. She was in the area. What else was a girl with a mildly fixated crush and a terrible sense of boundaries supposed to do under those circumstances?

Lurk outside and sing to herself while watching through the window, yes, but it was Éponine, so it was a good answer on any other day, not just this one. The only reason she noticed anything different was that she usually sang songs she already knew. Not, well . . .

Think I'm going for a walk now, I feel a little unsteady

(Which was true, since she was slightly drunk at the moment.)

Don't want nobody to follow me except maybe you
I could make you happy, you know, if you weren't already
I could do a lot of things, and I do
To tell you the truth, I prefer the worst of you
Too bad you had to have a better half
She's not really my type but I think you two are forever
And I hate to say it but you're perfect together

(Okay, now maybe she was getting some old bitterness mixed in with the new pessimism. And lying to herself because Cosette was totally her type. Did you expect her to be completely rational?)

So fuck you and your untouchable face
And fuck you for existing in the first place
And who am I that I should be vying for your touch?
And who am I? I bet you can't even tell me that much.

[playsforkepesh]

Sam didn't notice any of this, honestly. The windows were closed, and besides that, she tended not to pay attention to much else when she was engrossed in a chess game. So as terrible as she would have felt if she had known that Éponine was outside, she was, as usual, fairly oblivious to the lurking.

She did glance out the window for just a moment, watching a squirrel scamper up a tree -- but not Éponine.

[filleauloup]

Yes, the downside to being too good at lurking was going unnoticed. Éponine didn't hold that against her anyway; she was used to not being noticed, to the point that after almost half a year in Fandom it was still always a pleasant surprise when she was.

This did not mean she didn't resent it, somewhat.

She glared at the smug-looking squirrel up in the branches overhead (it was probably laughing at how some of the words got lost thanks to her broken voice) and continued, looking simultaneously hopeful and annoyed.

I see you and I'm so perplexed: what was I thinking?
What will I think of next? Where can I hide?
In the back room there's a lamp that hangs over the pool table
And when the fan is on it swings gently side to side
There's a changing constellation of the balls as we are playing
I see Orion and say nothing, the only thing I can think of saying

Is fuck you and your untouchable face
And fuck you for existing in the first place
And who am I that I should be vying for your touch?
And who am I? I bet you can't even tell me that much.

She had no idea what a pool table had to do with anything, but she didn't really care.

She trailed off into glassy-eyed, thoughtful silence for a few minutes, then snorted derisively; she'd started contemplating the idea of actually going up and knocking on the door like a normal visitor, but that was stupid. (The thought was far too ingrained that people like her only got doors slammed in their faces if they tried.) So no. She pressed closer against the trunk of the tree and stayed right where she was for a while longer, breaking out into other fragments of song every now and then.

Eventually, though, and as furtively as she'd arrived, she disappeared again.