Crush
Disclaimer - I do not own Elphaba or Galinda. They belong to Gregory Maguire and whoever else may own them.
"Elphie?"
Elphaba looked up from her book at her roommate.
"Yes, Galinda?"
"I'm bored." Galinda whined, sighing dramatically, bottom lip jutting out as she pouted.
"And how am I supposed to help you with that?" Elphaba arched a brow at her, amused.
"Let's play a game!" Galinda gasped, clapping her hands together in excitement. Elphaba's eyes widened and quickly she turned back to her book, immersing herself in the pages once again.
"Elphiiiieeee..." Galinda drew out Elphaba's nickname, making it impossibly long. "Please don't be like that!"
"Galinda," Elphaba muttered "I don't exactly like games."
"Elphaba Thropp, are you crazy?" Galinda giggled. "Everyone likes games, especially this one. So please?"
"No."
"Elphie!"
"No."
"Please, Elphie?"
"No."
There was silence, and Elphaba thought she had won.
"Elphie, you do know that I won't stop until you say yes, don't you?"
Elphaba gritted her teeth together and sighed heavily. "Fine." She mumbled, convinced only because she knew that Galinda was not lying when she said she would not stop.
"Yay!" Galinda squealed, sounding like a little girl. She hopped onto Elphaba's bed from hers, where she had been sitting all along, and giggled once more.
"Now, the name of the game we're going to play..." Galinda paused, trying (and failing) to build dramatic tension.
"...Is truth or dare."
Elphaba bit her lip to stifle a groan. She knew this game; granted, she had never played it herself, but she knew exactly how it was played and she hated it. Still, not wanting to upset Galinda, she went along with it.
They went through many meaningless questions ('Why do you always wear black? How can you stand wearing black? Why do you only own black and dark blue clothes?) and even more meaningless dares (Elphaba had to restrain herself from leaving the room and never coming back as Galinda dared her to act like a chicken) until Galinda, face flushed with laughter, declared that the next round of truth or dare would be the last. One more turn for herself, and one more turn for Elphaba, and then the game would be over.
Elphaba immediately agreed; she didn't think she could take anymore.
"Truth or dare?" She asked Galinda halfheartedly.
"Truth." Galinda said, and Elphaba strained her mind to think of a question. Something boring, something she already knew, something that would get her a quick, short answer.
Suddenly, a possible question surfaced in Elphaba's mind, coming from her subconscious.
'It's private. One side of her mind snarled at Elphaba. 'Don't ask her. What will she think? She'd wonder why you asked, because its a question you of all people would never ask.'
'But you want to know. The other, quieter side of her mind reasoned. 'You've always wanted to know, ever since it happened and you began to feel.'
Before Elphaba even realized it, the quieter side had won and she blurted out-
"Do you have feelings for anyone?"
Galinda looked shocked- like Elphaba had thought (or at least, one side of her had thought) it was a question that was very out of character for Elphaba to ask.
Knowing this and cursing herself, Elphaba was about to apologize to Galinda and tell her that she did not need to answer, when she saw that Galinda had nodded.
"I do." Galinda told her. "And I just met them a little while ago, but I'm already so close to them."
"Really?" Elphaba said, sounding neither interested nor disinterested. Behind that though, her heart was picking up speed as Galinda spoke.
Galinda wasn't talking about... was she?
Glinda hummed yes and nodded again, enthusiastically. "When I'm with them, I'm so happy and I feel more special than I ever have before."
"Oh?"
Elphaba's heart beat even faster and suddenly, she could hear it, thud-thud-thudding loudly in her chest.
Was there a chance that Galinda...?
"Yes!" Galinda grinned.
"His name is Fiyero-"
From then on, everything that Galinda said did not reach Elphaba's ears. She saw Galinda's lips- those perfect, pink lips- moving, but no sound came out. All Elphaba heard was the beating of her heart slowing down, and the rush of blood in her ears.
"Truth or dare, Elphie." She heard Galinda say, the voice sounding far away.
"Truth." Her mouth responded, though Elphaba was shocked that she could even get her mouth to move.
"Do you have anyone that you like?"
Elphaba felt herself freeze up. Her eyes had left Galinda's a moment ago, and she dragged them back up to look at Galinda again.
The blonde was looking at her quizzically, curiosity in her blue eyes. A last ray of sunlight from the setting sun outside hit Galinda, and the effect was dazzling. The sun bathed Galinda in its light, making her look positively radiant. It highlighted her blonde curls even further, and as the light bounced off the white dress she wore, Galinda glowed.
Seeing Galinda look so beautiful and so happy made it hurt for Elphaba to look at her.
'Not yours, not yours, not yours.' Her mind taunted.
Elphaba swallowed thickly, and forced herself to shake her head.
"No." She lied. "I don't."
As she spoke, Galinda smiled at her, and Elphaba's heart broke for the first time.