Galinda had, while returning home from one of her classes, fallen face-down into a mud puddle. She was physically ok, but emotionally? She was downright furious! Because the mud puddle had been so big, her entire outfit got splattered in mud. It was totally ruined! And whatever part of her that was not covered up by clothing had also taken a big dip into the warm, sticky mush of earth. It was gross, to say the least, and Galinda had not enjoyed the five minutes it had taken to get up, ignore all the stares and whispers from the other students, and then walk all the way back up to her dorm room. This was the worst day ever!
Once inside that room, she slammed the door shut and practically ripped her clothing off, cursing it as she shouldered the door to the bathroom open. She was so angry and so desperate to get the grime off of her body that she didn't even realize that the shower was already running. If she had been aware of her surroundings, however, she might not have torn the shower curtain open so quickly.
"Sweet Oz!" Elphaba bellowed when the shower curtains tore themselves open.
"Elphie?!" Galinda squeaked when she finally realized that the shower was already occupied.
"Close the curtains!" Elphaba commanded. Galinda's mind drew a total blank and she did exactly as she was told that very instant. She nearly ran all the way back out of the dorm and back down to that mud puddle again because of how embarrassed she felt for that little mishap. She managed to restrain herself from doing that, however, and she instead only waited outside the bathroom door until Elphaba was done. It was the most awkward and tense, painful 10 minutes of her life. It felt more like 10 years, to be quite honest.
But, at last, Elphaba finished up, and she emerged from the bathroom, now tightly wrapped up in a towel.
"Your turn," she mocked as she walked by. Galinda only gave her a grateful nod before darting into the shower, still burning with shame. It wasn't until the hot water burned a warm trail down Galinda's muddy body that she let her mind return to her blunder.
"It's not my fault I walked in on her," Galinda told herself. "She should've locked the bathroom door!" but then she paused, a small smile gracing her face as she thought more about what she had seen when she had first opened the curtains on Elphaba. "But it's not a bad view, not at all."
As the year rolled on, however, Galinda grew closer and closer to Elphaba and, as a result, she grew less and less shy around the green girl. To some extent, Elphaba felt the same way, but Galinda was still far more confident about some things than she would ever be. Exhibit A was another shower incident about four months after the first one.
This time, Galinda made it home safely, not a single speck of dirt or mud anywhere on her at all. When she opened the dorm door, she heard the shower running, but it wasn't the sound of the water that caught her ear. It was Elphaba's singing. Galinda recognized the song at once and nearly squealed in delight. She had no reservations about shoving her way right into the bathroom and over to Elphaba.
"You can sing!" the blond cried as she tore open the shower curtain again.
"Sweet Oz!" Elphaba shrieked, yanking the curtain out of Galinda's hand and then shoving it closed again. This didn't deter Galinda at all, however, and she only tore the curtain open again, totally blind to Elphaba's embarrassment. Maybe Galinda was no longer embarrassed by Elphaba's nakedness, but Elphaba clearly was. Not that Galinda noticed or cared.
"How high does your belt go?" she asked as she tore open the curtain again.
"My what? Oh my Oz!" Elphaba backed up right into the shower wall as Galinda's excited face shoved itself inside.
"You have to audition for the Shiz Student Singer Society!" she cried as she shut off the shower water so that Elphaba could hear her better.
"I can't concentrate on anything you're saying until I can cover up!" Elphaba replied, still trying to hide behind the shower curtain.
"Just consider it!" Galinda pleaded. "One time we sang backup for the Emerald Eyes! Oh, but the lead singer's butt is so tiny that I can hold it with like one hand!" the blond laughed. Elphaba, however, still wasn't having any of it.
"Seriously?" she demanded. "I am nude."
"You were singing "Titanium" right?" Galinda continued.
"You know that song?" despite herself, Elphaba's ears pricked up.
"Have I been living under a rock?" Galinda scoffed. "Yeah. That song is my jam!" she cried. "My lady-jam," she added with a wink.
"That's nice," Elphaba muttered, suddenly growing uncomfortable again.
"It is," Galinda nodded. "That song really... builds."
"Gross," Elphaba replied.
"Well. Can you sing it for me?" Galinda asked.
"What? No. Get out!" Elphaba tried to push Galinda out of the shower.
"Not for that reason!" Galinda cried, misunderstanding Elphaba's point. Then she shoved her way back into the shower. "I'm not leaving here till you sing," she insisted. "So..." and Elphaba, after giving her a tired look, took a deep breath in and began to sing. Halfway through, Galinda began to harmonize with Elphaba and Elphaba couldn't help but smile in interest and pleasure at how well their voices meld together...
But once the song had come to an end, the embarrassment returned and Elphaba awkwardly gestured for Galinda to get out now.
"Oh. Yeah. I'm pretty confident about all this," Galinda apologized, gesturing to the space between her and the still-naked Elphaba.
"I can tell," Elphaba deadpanned, waiting for Galinda to get the heck out. At that moment, though, Fiyero suddenly appeared. He'd been with another girl on the floor a few minutes ago and, on his way out, had heard Elphaba and Galinda singing.
"You have a lovely voice," he told the green girl as he suddenly appeared in the bathroom behind Galinda. Galinda smiled warmly at him.
Thanks." Elphaba bit back, finally looking more fed up than embarrassed. Galinda seemed to sense that Elphaba's patience was finally up, so she gently gestured for Fiyero to back up.
"Yeah," she said as she led Fiyero out of the room. "See you at auditions!" then finally, Elphaba heard the dorm door close again. She heaved a sigh and turned the shower back on, trying to wash off all the awkwardness she could feel physically crawling along her skin. But despite how uncomfortable that whole exchange had been, she couldn't help but agree that she and Galinda sounded really good when they sang together.
AN: The first half of this chapter is based off an old tweet between Idina and Kristin where Idina said that, one time, Kristin walked in on her while she was in the shower. Kristin's reply to this story was that, "It's not a bad view, not at all."
The second half is based off the Pitch Perfect 1 scene between Beca and Chloe.