Singing in the Shower
Disclaimer – I do not own Elphaba or Galinda. They belong to Gregory Maguire, L.F. Baum, and whoever else may have a piece of them that I so desperately want.
The blonde socialite flounced into the room, every curl in place, every lock in perfect form even as she skipped. But as she saw the black clad, green skinned figure jackknifed across the bed that matched her drab clothing taste, Galinda almost seemed to wilt.
"So, I see you're still here?" She sniffed, straightening her posture and looking down the end of her nose at the green girl.
Elphaba said nothing, but flipped a page in her impossibly thick tome.
Galinda huffed, not used to being ignored, but marched straight into their washroom anyways; leaving Elphaba alone in the room again as she almost slammed the door shut.
After a creak from the rusted pipe, the shower began to run in the bathroom. Elphaba heard the familiar (yet unfamiliar, as she had never bathed with water a day in her life) cacophony of water pelting the floor of the tub.
Although she inwardly flinched at the sound, Elphaba made no movement other than scanning her eyes along the ink-stained paper and turning the page on occasion.
That was until her ears caught a peculiar sound.
The student ignored it at first, disregarding it as one of the odd (though less questionable than others she had heard) sounds the girl from the next room over made. However, the noise persisted, registering first as a quiet buzz in Elphaba's ear, growing steadily until it became a loud bellow that Elphaba simply could not handle anymore.
She shut her book with a furious slam, her oft-seen fiery temper rearing its head as she placed the book none-too-gently on the bedside table in-between her bed and Galinda's much frillier one.
Swinging her legs off the bed, Elphaba pulled herself upright. Storming over to the window, she threw it open, looking for the people who usually slurred to the other girls in the dorm at the top of their lungs on the street below.
Her were no men drunkenly serenading their woman of choice in sight, however. In fact, nobody was on the path.
Another bellow jarred into Elphaba's thoughts just then. She realized that the constant racket had to be coming from somewhere inside of their dorm.
Shutting the window firmly, Elphaba stomped over to the wall and pounded a fist against it thrice. A third bellow was her only response, and as Elphaba raised her hand again to thump solidly on the wall a fourth, fifth and sixth time, she remembered something.
The girls from next door had left earlier that day. Elphaba was not an eavesdropper, but it was impossible not to overhear their conversation as it had been practically yelled at each other by both of them, in voices that were so excited and so high pitched and shriek that it managed to give Elphaba a headache.
That left the hall as the only possible answer. Obviously, some idiotic girl outside was trying to rile somebody up, and clearly (for Elphaba at least) it was working. For once, that person was obviously not trying to annoy Elphaba. Galinda was in the room, and when Galinda came back to her not so humble abode, she was always sure to make her presence known to somebody (Elphaba knew this from firsthand experience, as many a time she had seen the girl escorted to their room with legion of fellow social butterflies). No woman in their right mind would dare to anger or embarrass someone as influential as Galinda.
With the grace of a panther on a hunt, Elphaba stalked to the door of the room. Fumbling with the lock, Elphaba gritted her teeth and twisted the knob. Throwing open the door, she fixed her most intense and angry stare upon the dolt, preparing to throw a few choice words dripping in venom at her...
Only to find that said girl was not there.
Elphaba's moment of anger became a rare moment of confusion. Leaving the door open, Elphaba stepped into the hallway, looking both ways down the passage for the person responsible for the noises. She squinted down one end. Perhaps the idiot had heard her coming and had hidden herself behind the corner in fear?
She was planning to go and check when yet another bellow came. It echoed around the hall, reverberating around her as it bounced off of the walls. The green woman turned to face her room as she saw that the source of the noise.... came from inside.
She stomped indoors, shutting the door behind her and headed straight to the bathroom, the only logical place the noises could be coming from. About to rap very hard on the wooden portal, Elphaba was stopped as the rushing water was shut off and the bellows coming from inside the room became clearer.
Now that the sound was comprehensible, Elphaba felt a wave of shock (even rarer than confusion) course through her as she recognized that the blonde was actually forming words, her voice wavering like a trained professional.
The blonde was belting, not bellowing.
Galinda was singing in the shower.
Irked, but deeply amused, Elphaba dropped her hand back to its rightful place by her side. She was going to drawl a trademark dry comment to her singing roomie, when Galinda's song (a song she had most likely made up on the spot, since Elphaba had never heard it before) wafted through the door.
'I couldn't be happier,' She sang. 'No, I couldn't be happier.'
Elphaba rolled her eyes and snorted softly. Trust Galinda to sing a song with such lyrics. But the next part surprised the green girl.
'Though it is, I admit, the tiniest bit unlike I anticipated.'
Her voice was tinged with melancholy, but returned to its happy tone as she crooned,
'But I couldn't be happier! Simply couldn't be happier!'
"Well..." Elphaba heard Galinda laugh bitterly, "Not simply."
'Cause getting your dreams, it's strange but it seems, a little...well, complicated.'
As Elphaba listened on, she was stunned. The blonde popular girl had always seemed so superficial, so obsessed with ambition and rising through the social ranks that it looked as if she had no ability for deeper thoughts. This song, though.... it defied all ideas Elphaba had about Galinda, and it made the emerald woman actually guilty to listen to such an intimate song.
And Galinda's voice! For the love of the gods Elphaba did not believe in, Galinda's voice was much better than she ever thought it would be. Although she did not usually stop and take the time to listen, Elphaba could appreciate good singing for what it was.
'There are bridges you crossed you didn't know you crossed until you crossed!'
As Galinda held her last note, Elphaba's heart leapt into her throat. The way she sang was amazing. Galinda was so obviously a soprano, but the force behind that note was breathtaking, even for someone like her who didn't know much about music.
Galinda went on for a couple more lines, and the happiness returned, as did her repeated 'I couldn't be happier'.
Though subtle, Elphaba could now clearly tell that the tone of joy in her voice was false.
Slowly, Galinda trailed off. As dainty yet audible footfalls grew louder and louder, Elphaba was startled to find that somehow, she had ended up pressing herself against the door in an attempt to make Galinda's voice even clearer. Startled and panicking (for the first time in her life) Elphaba wrenched herself from the door, tore across the room and almost jumped onto her bed. Grabbing her book and tearing it open to a random page, the washroom door opened just as she settled herself.
Galinda stepped out in a cloud of steam, her hair looking as perfect as it was earlier.
As Galinda walked to her bed, Elphaba's eyes never left her. Her brown orbs eyed the diminutive blonde curiously. So much had changed between them... for Elphaba, anyways. The green girl now knew so much more about Galinda than she had before, which made her, shockingly, want to know more. Not to mention that her new curiosity seemed to make her notice more about Galinda as well.
Since when had Galinda's skin been so pale, even while it was still flushed from a shower? Since when had her hair ever glowed like gold spun into threads? Since when had that delicate, swan-like neck been able to produce such powerful yet gorgeous sounds? Since when had her bratty, spoiled girl of a roomy been able to pull off the appearance of a heavenly singer while wearing just a towel?
"Is there something wrong?"
Elphaba's eyes snapped up to meet Galinda's, who was looking at her with a questioning, almost suspicious stare.
"Pardon me?" Elphaba cleared her throat.
"You were staring." She pointed out, her eyes taking on a bemused look.
"Was I?" Elphaba covered up smoothly, sounding as vague and collected as she usually did, even though her heart rate was picking up fast.
"I'm sorry. I was distracted by something behind you; it's gone now."
"I see..." Galinda nodded, arching a pale eyebrow for a minute, but not asking for any more details as she turned to change.
Elphaba averted her eyes, peering down at the book clutched in her hands. She berated herself mentally as she realized that the book she held was upside down.
"I'm going to leave now." Galinda announced a few minutes later. She picked up her purse, and opened the door.
"Galinda-"Elphaba piped up suddenly.
"Yes?" The socialite asked, turning on the spot. As her eyes met Elphaba's, the verdant woman felt a thousand different replies race through her mind. She felt like talking about Galinda's song, Galinda's meaning behind the song, and Galinda's voice, but ended up instead shaking her head as she was suddenly overcome with the vision of Galinda's flaxen hair being highlighted ever further by the lights outside.
"It's nothing," Elphaba said quietly. "Just never mind."
Both of Galinda's brows rose this time in a questioning fashion, but once again she just nodded.
"Whatever you say then Miss Elphaba." She responded before closing the door behind her and flouncing down the hall again.
When the door closed, so did Elphaba's eyes. She let out the breath she didn't realize she had been holding, and buried her face in her hands, the book falling with a gentle thud to the floor.
And as Elphaba fought to desperately vanquish the image of a seraph Galinda from her mind, she thought to herself,
'It's amazing how much your opinion on someone can change once you hear them singing in the shower.'