Disclaimer: I am not Greg Maguire, Winnie Holzman, or Steven Schwartz. If I had half their talent, I would be writing musicals, not fanfiction.
Well, since you all were incredibly lovely and reviewed my last little oneshot, here is the Lurlinemas party I promised!
So I was thinking as I wrote this about how amazing Edward looks in the restaurant scene of the Twilight movie, and I decided it was the lighting and the color he was wearing- so Yero's wearing that shirt now. Haha
This went in a bit of a different direction than I'd planned- my original idea was that Yero and Elphie hadn't met before the party, which would've made the whole storyline quite different, but….Ok, I'll stop talking now. I'm sure you're all quite sick of hearing from me, lol.
Elphaba stood with her back pressed against the cold stone wall, just out of sight of the hundreds of people who milled around in the ballroom around the corner. 'Why, oh why did I ever let Galinda talk me into this?'
Her friend had somehow persuaded her to come stay at Upland Manor for winter break, and had furthermore succeeded in convincing her to attend the Uplands' ridiculous Lurlinemas ball. 'Even if I did celebrate the holiday, why would I want to spend it tripping over my own feet on a dance floor? And especially with hundreds of eyes glued on me, just waiting for the disgusting green girl to make a mistake…' She began to feel nauseous, and was starting to seriously consider fleeing to her bedroom and locking herself in for the night, when a surprised voice cut into her thoughts. "Elphaba?"
One hand jumped to her heart as she whirled to find Fiyero Tiggular, of all people, standing a few feet down the fall. He stepped forward out of the shadows, and her breath caught involuntarily. 'Oh, Oz help me, he's more gorgeous than I remembered..' The deep blue of his shirt did wonders for bringing out his eyes, which shone like sapphires in the dimly lit hallway, and it was unbuttoned just far enough to drive a girl insane with curiosity.
Recovering quickly, she blurted, "What are you doing here?"
Chuckling warmly, he closed the remaining space between them and leaned casually against the wall. "I might ask you the same thing."
Elphaba flushed. 'Way to be rude, Elphaba…' "I-I'm staying with Galinda for the winter. You?" she stammered, flustered. Sweet Lurline, he made her nervous.
"My parents are bound and determined to have me married to some society girl within the next year. They're always dragging me to these sorts of things." He stepped past her to peek around the corner into the packed ballroom, brooding. "I think they're currently hoping I'll fall for Galinda." He heaved a sigh; his parents' iron fist when it came to his future bothered him more than he let on. He wished he could fall for Galinda- at least then he'd be happy with his lot in life.
"Well, why not?"
Startled, Fiyero turned back to Elphaba. "What?"
"Why don't you?" He was taken aback by her seriousness- it was almost as if his answer held some personal importance to her. "I mean, she's pretty and blonde and….pink. I thought guys liked that."
Shaking off the hazy spell that her intense gaze seemed to cast on his mind, he shrugged and brushed the question off with, "I'm not very partial to pink, myself. I prefer blue, red…" He glanced at her slyly from under his lashes. "…green."
He didn't want to dig deeper than that, didn't want to acknowledge the real reason that he could never care for Galinda, or any other girl for that matter. Any girl but her- a certain green girl who'd occupied his thoughts almost constantly for the last couple of months. A certain green girl who would never be good enough for his parents and their snobbery. 'Money,' he thought bitterly. 'It's always about money.'
It suddenly occurred to him that this was a golden opportunity to spend some quality time with the object of his affection, as she appeared to have no more inclination than he to join the party.
"Say, Elphaba, you weren't planning on going in there, were you?" he asked off-handedly.
She bit her lip, considering. "Well, I don't particularly want to face Galinda's wrath when I don't show…"
"Yes, but if we both ditch together, we'll only have to face half of the wrath each," he pointed out.
She went along with it, nodding solemnly. "And dancing would definitely be the greater evil." Elphaba smirked. "Despite the multiple flaws in your reasoning, Master Tiggular, I think you've got yourself a deal. Let's go."
Her heart nearly stopped when he grabbed her hand suddenly and pulled her down the hall and around the corner.
"Fiyero, what-"
"Shh." He put a finger to her lips. "I think I heard someone coming."
Sure enough, Elphaba could just barely make out the clicking of high heels on the stone floor. It faded quickly into the distance, and Fiyero breathed a sigh of relief.
"C'mon, let's check this place out." He took her hand again, eliciting the same reaction as before, and the two of them set off to explore the elegant manor.
* * * * * * * * * * * * ** *
After a good hour of wandering, they came upon a set of French doors that led to a large balcony. The crisp night air was refreshing; they'd both worked up a bit of a sweat climbing endless spiral staircases.
Crossing the balcony, they leaned against the railing, side by side, and gazed up at the stars. A cool breeze swept past them, and Elphaba tilted her head back and closed her eyes, enjoying the sensation. Fiyero watched her intently, entranced by the glow that the moonlight cast on her skin, and by the way her hair swirled gently in the wind.
As if she could feel his gaze on her, her eyes flew open, and she caught him staring before he could look away. She was immediately self-conscious. "What?"
He shook his head, smiling crookedly. 'If you only knew..' "Nothing. I was just wondering- what's your excuse? You know, for ditching."
"Well, aside from the fact that I look ridiculous-" She gestured to the intricately beaded, midnight blue gown she'd been coerced into wearing.
"You do not look ridiculous!" he protested. 'How could she think that?'
Elphaba plowed on resolutely, her jaw jutting out stubbornly. "Yes, I do. And anyway, I can't dance."
"Really?"
"Yes, really."
"Well, that's easily remedied."
One hand crept to her waist, and she watched as the other one slowly removed hers from the railing and twined their fingers together. "Fiyero, what are you doing?" Shivers entirely unrelated to the cold erupted from every inch of her body that came in contact with his skin.
"Well, Elphie, I'd say it's about time you learned how to dance." His eyes glittered humorously, as if he knew exactly how torturous this would be for her.
Just as he'd predicted, she opened her mouth to argue, but all the fight went out of her when he tugged her closer. His touch was intoxicating; how could she protest anything that felt this wonderful?
The orchestra could still be heard faintly, and the melody that floated softly onto the balcony was easily recognizable as a waltz.
"Do you know the steps?"
"I think so…" Still somewhat torn between embarrassment at how horrible she was likely to be and the utter unwillingness of her feet to move away from his embrace, she held herself stiffly, ready to refuse to continue if she was as bad as she expected.
Fiyero secured his grip on her waist and began to lead. He counted out loud at first- "One two three, one two three.."- but Elphaba soon got the hang of it, and they glided in circles over the smooth, polished stone. When the song ended, they stopped under the archway that led to the balcony. "There, you see?" Fiyero said softly, not removing his hand from her waist. "All you needed was a little practice."
Glancing upward, he located a small bunch of mistletoe pinned to the arch. "Mistletoe," he murmured, and Elphaba looked up quickly, and then away, her cheeks tinged pink from embarrassment. 'What do I do?' she fretted silently.
Fiyero was trying to figure out the same thing. 'Is she blushing because she wants me to kiss her, or because she doesn't and is embarrassed to say so?' Finally, he decided on a compromise- a kiss on the cheek never did anybody any harm.
Still blushing and looking anywhere but at him, Elphaba felt his breath on her cheek a mere second before his lips made contact. Stunned, her head twisted automatically in his direction. Fiyero pulled away slightly in the same instant, and as Elphaba's head turned, their lips met.
She froze, mortified. "I'm sorry, I-" she whispered, then turned and fled. Or, at least, she tried to.
But Fiyero's reaction to the accidental kiss had been quite the opposite- to him it was like a split-second taste of heaven that had been torn cruelly away, and all he could think about was getting it back. So, against his better judgment, he caught her hand, holding her in place. "Wait. Don't go."
Turning very slowly, she faced him again, but made no move to approach him. Still, he was not to be deterred. Her lips suddenly held some sort of magnetic pull for him, and he gladly let himself be drawn in. He didn't care that his parents would kill him if they found out what he was about to do, he didn't care that the girl he was supposed to be in love with was forgotten in a ballroom that now seemed miles away. He wanted this.
When they were no more than a few inches apart, he stopped and cautiously lifted his hands, then froze again. His fingers twitched toward her face, aching to feel it between them. Ever the gentleman, he fought the strange force that was pulling him to her, and instead asked hesitantly, "May I?"
At her tiny nod, his restraint crumbled, and he gave free reign to the fire that burned in the pit of his stomach. He took her face in his hands eagerly, and kissed her as he'd wanted to for months. Elphaba gasped at his intensity, but soon gave up on coherent thought and matched his passion with her own.
The explosive sound of fireworks jolted them apart, at the same time informing them of the arrival of Lurlinemas day.
Fiyero looked down at the girl in his arms- a perfect Lurlinemas present if ever there was one- and grinned. "Happy Lurlinemas, Elphie."
'Indeed.'
How was it? Ok? Disappointing? Please review!