A/N: Wow, this is my first full- length fic in a long time. I'm planning on making it a two-parter, the second chapter being from Elphaba's point of view, so stay tuned.
Disclaimer: Glinda and Elphaba and the rest of the Wicked characters all belong to Gregory Maguire, Stephen Schwartz, and Winnie Holzman. But I can still borrow them to play with them every once in awhile.
Glinda knew Elphaba better than anyone.
She knew that Elphaba wasn't a morning person or a night person. She was a middle of the day type of person. This wasn't even just a cheap excuse to avoid classifying her, she really was equally out of it on both sides of the spectrum.
Glinda also knew that they way to tell how tired Elphaba was was by measuring how much she was talking. Generally, Elphaba would challenge or debate just about everything that anyone said. And on the odd chance that she did agree with something, she would discuss it until your ears bled. As Fiyero once put it, she never let anyone else talk.
But when she was tired, she got quiet. She even got rather passive if you wanted to go so far as to actually say that. She nodded or shook her head in response to questions, or even shrugged when she just didn't feel like thinking about the answer. This was actually rather irritating to Glinda, since drowsiness only served to make her even more bubbly and talkative. But Glinda knew that Elphaba hated to feel tired because it essentially left her defenseless. Elphaba needed to have her guard up at all times; or at least, that's how she felt. And Glinda felt honored to be the one person that Elphaba would allow to see her with her strongest defense weakened like that.
Glinda knew that Elphaba didn't feel the need to proclaim her feelings to the world. This is a fact that Glinda both admired and loathed about her. The first because it was so different from herself who cried at the drop of a hat and exaggerated her every emotion, and the second because it was just so difficult to figure out what Elphaba was feeling most of the time. It frustrated Glinda because she was made to feel like a hopelessly weak drama queen every time something bad would happen because Elphaba would remain stoic as she comforted her sobbing friend. Sometimes Glinda just wished that her best friend would feel comfortable frying in front of her, or showing any emotion in front of her for that matter.
But the longer Glinda knew her, the more she came to realize that it wasn't so much that Elphaba didn't show feelings, but that she showed them in smaller and less obvious ways. Glinda learned to recognize the way a small crease would form in the green skin between her blue eyes and how she would unconsciously chew on her bottom lip when she was worried or stressed. Glinda learned that Elphaba would become brisk and painfully efficient when she was sad, but that you would see eyes wide with unshed tears that blinked much more than usual if you bothered to take a closer look. Glinda always made a point to stay away from their room at times when Elphaba was like this, because she knew that she liked to cry alone. Glinda came to notice the way a small and barely perceptible smile would play at Elphaba's lips when she was particularly pleased about something and the way she would tap or jiggle her foot. This actually gave her an air of impatience to most people, but Glinda could read her like a book. Even Fiyero didn't understand Elphie quite like she did, and she loved the incredulous looks he gave them when Glinda would ask the seemingly impatient Elphaba what she was so happy about and would receive a brightly affirmative response.
Glinda knew that Elphaba's bravery was not just a front, but that there were a couple things that did scare her. Water, for instance, could bring a look of terror to Elphaba's face that made Glinda's heart freeze over. She remembered the time she had tried to get Elphaba to take a boat ride with her, just for fun. The fear in her eyes still haunted Glinda, especially with the knowledge that she had put it there. She remembered the the way that Elphaba had whimpered and had actually allowed Glinda to wrap a supporting arm around her shoulders as they walked away. The completely un-Elphaba-like behavior scared Glinda more than she liked to admit. Which is why she never teased her friend about her equally irrational fear of small spaces. They always had to have their dorm window open, even in the coldest of weather. And Glinda had to train herself to leave their bathroom door open when it wasn't in use. This fear is why Glinda figured the sky held such appeal for her friend.
But Glinda knew also knew that Elphaba had other, less obvious fears. Fear of rejection. Fear of failure. Fear of losing those she loved. Fear of finding that they never really loved her to begin with. And this is why Glinda felt as if she could never do anything worse than when she had refused to join Elphaba on her escape from the Wizard, because she knew she had just made every single of those unspoken fears come true.
Glinda knew that Elphaba's favorite class wasn't her sorcery seminar as most would suspect, but was indeed history. She knew that Elphaba had an amazing voice, but would only sing when she thought that nobody could hear her. She knew that Elphaba didn't like chocolate, but that her favorite candy was peppermint. Glinda knew that Elphaba desperately wanted to fit in, but didn't think that it was even worth trying. She knew that Elphaba's favorite color was sky blue, but felt that she could never make it work with her green skin. She knew that Elphaba loved to write, and that she would write in her journal when what she really needed to do was talk. Glinda even knew how to get her to talk when the little blue notebook would appear. Glinda even knew that Elphaba was in love with her boyfriend, not that she would ever say so.
Glinda knew Elphaba better than anyone; but even more than that, she understood her. She could take one look at her face and know immediately how she was feeling. She may not share it, but she understood Elphie's motivation for the things she did and the things she wanted. They got so close in their final year of school together that on occasion they would even have silent conversations, much to the annoyance of Fiyero. And above all the things she knew about her, she cherished the knowledge that Elphaba considered her to be just as much her best friend as she did Elphaba.
That is, until the night when Elphaba threw it all away and ran away from everything she knew and loved for a lifetime of exile. After that, Glinda didn't feel that she knew Elphaba at all.
A/N: I won't write the second part to this story if it appears that nobody really wants it, so review! And check out the page I share with oboefae, BarbosaTheGreenDucky, where we are currently taking on the Wicked100 challenge!
