Title: Curious
Summary: "Oh Miss Elphaba," said Galinda, "you terrible mean thing, you're pretty."
A/N: I found the following quote while pawing through one of those books of totally useless, random facts. Turns out they're not quite so useless (at least, they aren't to my imagination). All credit goes to Gregory Macguire and Oscar Wilde.
Curious
"Wickedness is a myth invented by good people to account for the curious attractiveness of others." - Oscar Wilde
It was her eyes that revealed her curiosity. They glinted, polished obsidian, in the dimly lit corridors and corners of the library as they traversed page after page of information. She seemed to digest facts, as a plant would sunlight, or a flame would oil; they fueled her. Her hands showed her innate inquisitiveness, as they gracefully - how could someone with skin the color of moss be graceful? - turned page after yellowing page of book after leather-bound book. Her slim, nimble fingers delicately caressed the parchment of history books, flipped quickly, eagerly, through volumes of natural science, and traced the decorated capital letters that resided in tomes of ancient scriptures and sermons concerning the Unnamed God. While her body remained stationary, whether she was jackknifed across her bed, slumped under a blossoming tree in the apple orchard, or curled up in the crimson plush of a library chair, her mind leaped and bounded across acres of data, consuming and retaining countless bits of knowledge.
Which is what, in turn, fueled her roommate's curiosity.
Why did she spend so much time reading? Why didn't she prefer human company to that of ink-stained paper? What was so captivating in those novels that she would skip meals to find out what was on the next page? And why the hell was she so... well, pretty when she read?
That's ridiculous, Galinda thought incredulously as she sauntered through the halls on her way back to the dorm room she shared with Elphaba. She's not pretty. She's green. Green as sin. She scowled, the gesture contorting the face that many of the young men across campus dreamt about. That must be it. She must be... blasphemous. Wicked. No wonder her skin is the color of a jungle canopy. I bet she's doing research, learning how to utilize black magic, that's why she carries around all those damned books. Satisfied with her explanation of why her roommate immersed herself in literature, she tossed her sleek blonde curls with her dainty, pale hand, and then reached out and gripped the polished doorknob that would lead her into her dorm.
She flung open the oak door, and was frozen in mid-flounce. Elphaba lounged on her bed, leonine neck bent precariously over a tattered book. She held the text in her left hand, her long fingers reaching beyond the middle of the spine, while her right hand rested absently on the flat plane of her stomach. Galinda swallowed thickly as she noticed that her roommate had her long, dark hair draped across her bare shoulders. It was the color of raven's feathers, and looked to be woven from silk, and it contrasted nicely with the emerald skin and navy-blue, sleeveless frock that Elphaba wore. I would love to braid that hair, Galinda found herself thinking, then blinked and shook it off. At this moment, her brain decided to allow her to notice that Elphaba had ceased reading and was now staring curiously at Galinda, who stood, still unmoving, in the entrance of their dorm.
"...Miss Galinda?" she asked, the cadence of her voice pulling the blonde out of her mesmerized state, "Are you alright?"
Galinda flushed, feeling the color rising in her cheeks. She looked away, frowning, and quietly, though in a slightly annoyed voice, responded, "I'm fine, Miss Elphaba, thank you."
Elphaba's chocolate colored eyes widened slightly, then she raised her elegantly arched eyebrows and returned to her reading. If I were a model in Hozzywood, I'd kill for those eyebrows, Galinda thought, catching her roommate's actions out of the corner of her eyes. She was bent over the rack of shoes in her corner of their room, pretending to reorganize them. Only when she realized that she had plucked all of her stilettos from their places and laid them haphazardly on the floor did she stand up, heave a dramatic sigh, and collapse onto the pink fluff that served as her bed.
Elphaba hardly budged, merely turning another page with the index finger and thumb of her right hand, and then pushing her glasses back up her sloped nose. Little did her roommate know that Elphaba was quietly observing her, and wondering what in Oz she was up to. Finally, her curiosity overcame her.
"Miss Galinda," she stated, marking her page and laying her book down on the scratchy covers of her bed. As Galinda turned her head to look at her roommate, Elphaba found that she could not find words to piece together her query. The small girl lay on her back, her thin, but strong arms curling around her halo of golden hair, pale, pink lips slightly parted, cerulean eyes sparkling up at Elphaba. The verdant-skinned girl balked, mouth hanging agape as she desperately searched for words.
"Yes, Miss Elphaba?" Galinda spoke, a hint of intrigue lacing her voice. Elphaba shut her mouth with a click and blinked. When she opened her mouth again to speak, she was delighted to find that her vocal chords had not failed her.
"Well, I was just curious -" Like Hell you were, Galinda thought, "- as to what you were doing."
"Whatever do you mean?" Galinda retorted, faking astonishment. "Was I doing something differently than normal?"
Elphaba paused, and tilted her head to one side as she sought an answer, letting her hair cascade over one shoulder. Galinda tried not to drool.
"I suppose I just wondered why you took your shoes off the rack," Elphaba finished, looking pointedly at her roommate for an answer, her eyebrows raised. Galinda felt herself blushing again as she grappled for a response.
"I just felt like it, that's all," the blonde answered lamely. Then, noticing that Elphaba had quirked her lip up and raised one eyebrow at this, she fired a question back at Elphaba. "What were you doing?"
"Reading," Elphaba answered simply. She was turning back to her book, as she had dubbed the conversation over, when Galinda huffed, "Miss Elphaba, why do you read so much?"
Again, Elphaba answered quickly and concisely, "Because I prefer to learn about my surroundings without having to interact with them. Why do you ask, Miss Galinda?"
"Oh I don't know," Galinda sighed, figuring that she had already lost the battle to act indifferent toward her green roommate quite a while ago. "It's just that... well... damn it, Elphie, you silly green thing, you're pretty when you read."
Elphaba was visibly taken aback at this. "I beg your pardon?" she spluttered. Galinda's cheeks turned a deeper shade of pink. Elphaba noted that fuchsia was a very becoming color on her roommates pale cheeks.
"You just get so focused, is all. It's... admirable, I suppose. I've never really been able to concentrate for long periods of time," Galinda said, frowning slightly.
"I've noticed," Elphaba said under her breath, and Galinda shot her a menacing glare. Elphaba was undeterred, but she humored the blonde and kept quiet.
"Anyway," Galinda continued, "I guess I'm just saying that I... appreciate your curiosity. It's refreshing."
Elphaba's brow furrowed, then loosened as she smiled slightly. "Thank you, Galinda. No one has ever called me... pretty before. Nor has anyone really noticed my curiosity, much less appreciated it. So I guess I... appreciate your appreciation," she laughed softly, melodically, at her joke, and Galinda felt a grin spread across her lips. She sighed, and rolled so that she was lying on her side, facing Elphaba, who had returned to her book. The room was quiet for a few minutes, the only noise being that of the two girls breathing. Elphaba's inhalations and exhalations were considerably longer than Galinda's, and the blonde found the rhythm of Elphaba's breathing to be oddly comforting. She watched Elphaba's slim chest rise and fall, her hair riding along with it, and was hit with an idea.
"Elphie?" she asked tentatively, not noticing that the side of Elphaba's mouth that was not facing her had turned upwards upon the mention of her new, private nickname. "May I braid your hair?" Elphaba stiffened slightly, and her shoulders rose towards her ears. She glanced quickly at her roommate, and upon seeing her hopeful, and clearly frightened - Elphaba supposed that she had just taken a huge risk, socially speaking, by asking to come within a foot of the green girl - face, Elphaba's resolve weakened, and she nodded, setting down her book. Galinda jumped up, clapping with glee, and sprung onto Elphaba's bed, the pile of heels on the floor forgotten.
Elphaba cringed as Galinda fit her legs around Elphaba's hips snugly, and the cringe grew to a shiver as Galinda pressed her voluptuous torso against Elphaba's slim back. The warmth of Galinda's chest pulled away as she situated herself against Elphaba's pillow and tangled her fingers in Elphaba's hair. Galinda noticed that Elphaba was trying to suppress the quakes that wracked her body as Galinda ran her fingers through Elphaba's silky hair.
"Elphie, you're shaking like you've seen a ghost. What's wrong? I'll stop if you want me to..." Galinda spoke these last words almost regretfully; she found that in the past hour and a half she had come to realize that she cared more about Elphaba than she had initially wanted to admit, and that it was suddenly important to her that her roommate be comfortable.
"No, it's alright, you don't have to stop," Elphaba said, shaking her head, and shivering again as Galinda's fingers involuntarily moved against Elphaba's scalp. "I just... I'm not used to being touched." Galinda frowned at this. She knew that Elphaba was no socialite, and she didn't have any friends to dog pile with (as Galinda had done with her childhood playmates), but how could she be so averse to the touch of another human being? Sensing Galinda's confusion, Elphaba said quietly, "I was never held as a child. My mother didn't like to cuddle or play with me because I was squirmy, and strong, and had... well, sharp teeth that I apparently wasn't afraid to use. My father, being the religious man that he was, was afraid to touch me because of my skin color; he thought I was a manifestation of the evil side of both him and my mother. The only person who really held me was my nanny, and even she was hesitant to do so," she finished.
"Elphie, I'm sorry, I... didn't know," Galinda said, sorrow tainting her bubbly voice. She paused, reflecting on what Elphaba had said and coming to the conclusion that she read not only to learn about her surroundings, but to escape from them as well. "I'll be gentle," she promised, and she felt Elphaba relax as she nodded her head.
Once the heaviness of their previous conversation had lifted, Galinda let herself and her social standing go and delighted in twisting Elphaba's soft locks into one another. She had begun by combing through Elphaba's silken mane, reveling in the texture and the feeling of Elphaba's hair running over her fingers. Then, she had separated Elphaba's hair into three sections, and she began to braid. It was like weaving ropes made of spider's silk into one long, languid plait. Galinda was in heaven.
"How're you doing, Elphie?" Galinda asked after she had braided a quarter of her roommate's hair.
"Fine," Elphaba responded, though she was only partially telling the truth. After the initial shock of fingers on her neck, roaming around her scalp, and tangling in her hair had worn off, she had begun to relax, and was now enjoying the feel of Galinda's delicate fingers running through her hair.
"Good," Galinda said, and Elphaba could hear the smile in her voice. As Galinda continued, Elphaba got up the courage to ask her roommate another question.
"Miss Galinda, after you defiled your shoe rack this afternoon," she heard Galinda snort," you fell onto your bed in a... dramatic fashion, shall we say."
Unbeknownst to Elphaba, Galinda was blushing. "Yes, what of it?" the blonde asked, though not unkindly.
"You usually do that when you're overcome with infatuation for someone," Elphaba said drily, one side of her mouth turning up. Galinda's eyes widened, and she worked to keep her hands from freezing.
"And?" Galinda asked, her voice challenging, unwavering. Her heart was vibrating relentlessly against her ribs, and she hoped that Elphaba, observant as she was, wouldn't notice.
"Well? Are you?" Elphaba asked, surprised at the tension she now felt in the legs that were being held close to her waist.
"Am I what?" Galinda stalled. Elphaba sighed, and rolled her eyes.
"Are you crushing on someone? Enthralled by, taken with, head-over-heels for, enamored of, besotted with?" Elphaba teased, not noticing that Galinda's hands had ceased their work and the blonde had leaned in. She stopped throwing synonyms at her roommate when she felt Galinda's lips next to her left ear.
"Maybe I am," Galinda whispered, blushing furiously. Elphaba could feel the heat of Galinda's cheek on the back of her neck, and she turned, slowly, to look at her roommate. Galinda's cheeks were bright pink, and she was looking down at her perfectly manicured nails. Elphaba shifted her body so that she was on her knees facing her roommate, whose legs were still perpendicular to her body and to each other. With one long, verdant finger, Elphaba tilted Galinda's head, and looked into her eyes.
"Who with?" Elphaba whispered, afraid and delighted at the though that she might know the answer. Galinda sat up and folded her legs beneath her so that she mirrored Elphaba's position. She took a deep breath, then let it out slowly, and then turned her eyes to look directly into Elphaba's.
"You." She whispered, and slowly closed the gap between her lips and Elphaba's.
Lurline, what a sensation! It seemed to Elphaba that somehow, through no known form of science, electricity had suddenly and inexplicably crackled into existence between her and her roommate. Shivers danced quickly up and down her spine, and instead of recoiling from them as she had at Galinda's first touch, she found that she was enjoying the thrilling feeling of soft lips pressed to her own. In another baffling feat of science (or what Elphaba remembered of it, everything was delightfully foggy and she couldn't concentrate on any other facts aside from the one where she was kissing her roommate), time seemed to stand completely still and speed up simultaneously.
After what felt like hours and nanoseconds at the same time, Galinda pulled away from the verdant woman, and looked up at her through long eyelashes. Elphaba sat perfectly still, her spine immaculately straight, though inside her heart pumped forcefully against her ribs and her stomach churned with the memory of the new sensations. Her cheeks were deep jade in color, and her eyelids continued to stay closed, despite the fluttering of her lashes. Finally, emerald lids opened half way to reveal chocolate orbs, and Elphaba hazily regarded her blonde roommate.
"Miss Galinda," the green woman said breathlessly, after a considerably long pause. "I am curious."
"This I am aware of," Galinda smiled tentatively, unable to see the results of her actions in the expressionless façade of her roommate.
"Would you be willing," Elphaba began, "to try that again?"
She finished the question almost meekly, her eyes and face downcast, hands folded in her lap. Galinda heaved a sigh of relief, and grinned at the crown of Elphaba's bent head.
"Yes," she breathed, lifting Elphaba's face to her own, and then molding their lips together again. Both girls rose up off their knees, Elphaba instinctively threading her long arms around Galinda's graciously curved hips, while Galinda locked her arms around Elphaba's neck. Their bodies were pressed firmly together, and at the nudging of Galinda's tongue against her lips, Elphaba felt her hips surge uncontrollably against Galinda's. The petite blonde gasped, pulling away for a millisecond before glancing up at her roommate and crushing her lips back against Elphaba's.
"I guess," she whispered between brief but heated kisses, "that your curiosity -" Elphaba nibbled gently, tauntingly, on full, rosy lips, acting purely out of instinct"- really does pay off."
"I... appreciate," Elphaba smiled as Galinda gently nipped the area of skin below Elphaba's ear, "that you pursued your own... curiosity."
Fin