Bit by Green Bit
Disclaimer - I do not own any or the characters in this fic. They all belong to Gregory Maguire, L. F. Baum, and whomever else may own a bit of em.
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Elphaba had stayed in her room the entire day. Boq and Avaric stayed outside to mingle with Pfannee and Shenshen, while Galinda would stop by every now and then, checking in on Elphaba and lingering on occasion. It was only after Galinda had come to give Elphaba a meal, and after she assured the girl that both the boys and her friends were far, far out on the lake, that the socialite convinced Elphaba to come out.
Due to Elphaba's complete aversion to water, however, there was nothing that they could do around the lake. The girl refused to be even relatively near it. Instead, they sat on a swing, much space between them, but the distance still being shorter than it had ever been.
"I didn't want to come here, you know." Said Elphaba. "It was Boq that pushed me into doing so."
"What's this?" No title?" Galinda asked. "Where is the Master? The formality, the propriety gone this summer?"
"We've become friends, somehow." Elphaba explained flatly, her mouth twisted in a half-thoughtful, half-confused expression, as if she herself was not sure about how it happened.
"Well I've gathered that, I can tell you." Galinda said, emitting a funny noise- something probably as close to a snort as the ever ladylike Galinda would let herself make. "Why did you let him goad you into it? Don't you know I would never write such a thing?"
"Well, how should he or I know that?" Elphaba scoffed. "It's not as if you've ever written to me before. Besides, with the manner of how it was written, he thought you needed me! He said I owed him this, that I had to bring him along, and that it was my duty as my roomie to make sure that you-"
"Elphaba, May I remind you that it was the choice of Madame Morrible, not me, which we room together?" Galinda hissed, her eyes narrowing into catlike slits. Had she had her fan with her, there was no doubt she would have rapped her roommate on the head with it as she had many a time before.
"How was he supposed to know?" According to him, we seem to get along well enough." Elphaba said. Glinda merely sniffed and made no response. She curled a lip, and it seemed to be a remark to herself.
"Anyways, if you've been so humiliated," Elphaba continued, "then why don't you leave before I? You and Ama Clutch can pack up your belongings, and spend the rest of the break at Shiz."
"Maybe I will." Galinda sighed. "I'm thinking about it."
"But, as you said yourself," The blonde pointed out. "To leave is to admit defeat. They used my name to send you the letter, so I am a victim of this practical joke too."
"But if we both stay and you come out of your hiding and tag along-"She waved her arm out over in the direction of the lake, vaguely gesturing to the blur that was the foursome in a rowing boat
"-With then and me, then this joke will be simply too much to handle."
"They don't like you." Galinda explained outright, finally stopping her beating around the bush and getting to the point. Somehow, a coquettish fit of giggles managed to travel over the waters of the lake, making sure that Elphaba knew exactly who they were.
"Well, neither do you!" Elphaba snapped, her explosive temper finally rearing its ugly head.
"I have a right and a reason, Miss Elphaba!" Galinda retorted, her own anger making an appearance. "Ama Clutch just had to step on that blasted rusty nail in Frottica! And because of that, she missed the orientation, and now my whole academic career is in shambled because I ended up being saddled into rooming and putting up with YOU!"
"Academic career!?" Elphaba quoted, her voice dangerously quiet as she began to seethe with anger. "Forced to put up with me? If anything, I am the one being forced to put up with you!"
"Only the girls with brains in their heads are lucky enough to make it here! Yet you come and use that brain of yours to make friends, to make friends out of shallow, conceited ninnies that think of you (and no doubt you do the same) as a connection first and a person second!"
As Elphaba ranted, she came closer to Galinda both girls not realizing it, too focused on the words that spewed from Elphaba's mouth.
"If anything, I'm 'destroying' your social life with two girls who claim to be your friends. Let's face it Galinda; they don't want you, they want your Arduenna blood! They want favours and blackmail! The minute you cross them, they would used what they learned from your so called friendships to hit you where it hurts the most."
Although she didn't want to admit it, Elphaba was right. The connection, the bonds to these people of some importance somewhere on Oz was what she was after; what they were after. Yet still...
"Miss Elphaba." Galinda said coolly. "I'd have to say that you are wrong. At least... partially." It was Elphaba's turn to listen as Galinda began to talk.
"It's true that I want to know these girls for their blood and titles. The same holds true for them. You see, as a child, I was taught early to make bridges with those whose pockets were lined, or at least had some kind of nobility to their name. But I wish to make friends, true friends as well."
"All these connections are forged through friendship, however fake or strained it may be. I try to make these as real as can be, hoping that one day it will be real without effort, and they will be my friend not for my name but for me."
Elphaba looked stunned, and somehow, Galinda knew she looked the same- she felt it too. Why had she said that? No one had ever heard it before that moment; it had never even been said aloud before that moment.
What confused her was how much better Galinda felt after getting that off her chest. If it had been anyone else (Pfannee, Sheshen, and Milla) she would have been mortified. Considering how much the blonde knew about the green girl, Elphaba was practically a stranger! She should not have felt so comfortable, so good!
Why had she told Elphaba in the first place? Both of them weren't sure. Perhaps it was the heat of the moment that caused them to do it; their civil, if stiff conversation turning into an argument. Why it happened didn't matter now; what did were the repercussions.
Elphaba was looking at Glinda in a whole new light now. Her gaze was usually filled with mild amusement (or more recently, anger and disdain) when talking to her, but this look... this look was different. It wasn't contempt, wasn't snobbery, wasn't anything remotely hurtful. It was filled with fading surprise, and growing...
Sympathy?
Rusty gears in Galinda's head clicked into place right then. It was sympathy. Elphaba knew what it was like to not have any friends. Whilst Elphaba never let that bother her, she could feel for Galinda, which was much more than she could do for anything else. Knowingly having fake friends, friends who truly didn't care about you, was almost the same as having none at all.
At that moment, something seemed to change. The air between them (thick with tension and anger) cleared, and neither Galinda nor Elphaba could find it in themselves to remain furious. Not when they had finally found some sort of common ground, after months of no connection. Not when Galinda realized that she found herself looking at someone who had the potential of being a real friend.
The two sat in a silence- a comfortable one- feeling much closer to each other than before, much closer than they had ever been with anyone, when Elphaba spoke up.
"It's ironic, isn't it?"
"What is?" Galinda asked, facing the other girl once more.
"You can say that it was those two airheads and Boq that brought us closer together." Elphaba smirked. "Thanks to their little prank, and that Munchkin pressuring me into going, we've become closer, haven't we?"
Galinda was about to nod yes, when the word closer began to ring in her head. The mention of the words brought something to attention their proximity.
At the start of their conversation, there was enough room for a person, maybe two to sit down in between them. Now though. Now though... now their sides were pressed against each other, their faces merely inches apart.
Apparently, when Elphaba said that they had been brought closer, she meant it physically as well.
The air changed for the second time. It turned from the warm, relaxing way it was, to something more... intimate. It fully hit the blonde socialite just how close they were, and her mind began to run amok with thoughts. Thoughts that Galinda had never entertained about a woman before, and thoughts that (if her breathing and the way her gaze was resting on Galinda's mouth and not her eyes were any indication) Elphaba was having too.
Instead of scrambling away and banishing the thoughts to some far corner of her mind, Galinda stayed where she was. Maybe it was the lingering heat of the recent squabble that caused her to stay instead of move. Galinda didn't know, and she didn't really care, because a new thought popped up, the most distinct one in her mind: Elphaba had the potential of becoming a friend, but she also had the potential to become something different altogether.
"Miss Elphaba." Galinda murmured. "Disregarding the blunt truthfulness of your remarks, I'd have to say that they're a bit charming. You're a bit charming. You're a bit charming and a bit ridiculous and a bit frustrating and a bit silly. This, I must say, is all a bit... attractive."
Even though Elphaba had never been through anything like this before (with a member of either gender) she could recognize a hint when she saw one. She leaned in even more, until green and pink (with a rising blush) noses were almost touching.
"But you're green!" Galinda protested weakly, her last, tiny shred of resistance making an appearance. "And you're a girl, for god's sakes!"
Despite the objections in the statement, they knew they both wanted this. However rehearsed or scripted it sounded, they could see it in each other's eyes. So Elphaba leaned in those last couple of centimetres, meeting Galinda's eager mouth with her own.
She kissed her, she kissed her, she kissed her, bit by bit by green bit.
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Months later, when Galinda became Glinda and the summer vacation became nothing but a memory, Galinda found that she didn't regret the kiss at all.
Especially when those kisses became a regular event.
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