The next morning, Galinda woke up slightly earlier than usual, meaning to make sure Elphaba's alarm was now on. But that didn't seem to be an issue seeing that Elphaba wasn't still asleep (Galinda needed the extra time to get ready for school. Elphaba normally preferred to get everything done at night and sleep a little longer in the morning. She was good at getting dressed quickly, which had probably been her saving grace the previous day). Slightly confused she knocked on the bathroom door. "Elphie? Is everything alright?" Maybe she'd gotten sick? "Elphie?"
"In here, Lyn!" The voice came from the bathroom. Lyn? One had to be in Elphaba's good grace's to warrant having her call them by a nickname. Which Galinda surely hadn't been the day before. A minute later she emerged from the bathroom.
Galinda's jaw dropped. "What are you... what are you doing? And are you wearing makeup?"
Elphaba chewed on the edge of her lipgloss coated lip. "Oh. So you can tell? I just thought maybe I would dress up today to make up for what happened yesterday. Or something." Nervously, she added, "Does it look bad?"
It looked something akin to a little girl trying to imitate her older sister putting on makeup. Her evident cluelessness would have been endearing if the desire to dress up wasn't so out of character for her. "Umm. Would you like some help?"
Elphaba nodded. And Galinda was happy to help, removing the damage and applying a little eyeliner. It was just so odd, she couldn't fully enjoy it. She'd offered to help her with makeup several times before. Elphaba'd just never accepted the help. She'd always been somewhat repulsed by the idea, actually. "Oh. Lyn?" she asked after Galinda had finished.
"Could you help me pick something to wear... I mean, not for anything specially. I just figured I might as well go all the way? Not all the way. But-"
Galinda nodded and had put an outfit together fairly quickly-in truth she'd bought a few things in Elphaba's size, praying this oppourtunity would eventually come. The light blue dress was shorter than Elphaba normally went in for, but still modest enough. The color was a little bright, but the black jacket she wore lessened the effect and the end result was pleasing. "There you go... And I'm sure yesterday wasn't so bad to have to go through all this... not that I mind helping you."
Elphaba pursed her lips, looking to be about to say something but a knock on their door cut her off. Slightly earlier than usual was Fiyero, who had gotten into the habit of walking Galinda to class... and walking Elphaba, too. From his expression it was clear to see that Elphaba's updated appearance surprised him.
"It's too much, isn't it? I knew it was a silly idea, but-"
He shook his head. "No, no. You look fine. I just... well, I wasn't lying when I said you didn't have to do that."
"What?" asked Galinda, not particularly aware that her roommate and her boyfriend had ever spoken with each other outside of her presence.
He quickly said "Nothing!" before Elphaba had a chance to comment. "Anyway, we should really get going, right ladies? Right..."
Along the way they met up with Nessarose and Boq and an unusual awkward silence commenced. Boq was insisting on not only carrying Nessa's books but pushing her chair... but the gesture seemed to be more for the benefit of the others present than for Nessarose. With a feeling that it was all a little more than unfair to Nessarose, Galinda spoke up. "Biq, please stop all this trying to be impressive. It's not fair to Miss Nessarose. Anyway," she shot Fiyero a significant look. "I already have a significant other, so-"
"I'm sorry, Miss Galinda, but I'm afraid you've misunderstood. I believe my crush on you in the past was misplaced... and Miss Nessarose, I'm sorry but I don't think we should continue this relationship. Galinda is right, it's not fair to you because you have feelings for me that I cannot return. I'm afraid I have feelings for someone else," he finished with a nervous smile.
Nessarose pursed her lips, clearly working to keep her anger in check. "I suppose if you feel that way...But if you don't have feelings for me or Galinda..."
"Boq, I'm sorry but you are reallynot my type," Fiyero protested.
"No! No... not that there's anything wrong with that, but no, someone else," he gave the figure that stood behind Fiyero and Galinda a significant look.
That figure was Elphaba, nervously smoothing out the edge of her skirt.
Galinda's eyes widened in horror. The make-up. The hair. The fashion help... the quiet way Elphaba kept primping herself. It all made sense!
Before he had a chance to loose his nerve, Boq grasped Elphaba's hands. "Elphaba, I don't know why I never saw it before... Something occurred to me this morning. I think I simply thought assumed I was infatuated with Miss Galinda. But now I can see the truth: I'm in love with you."
Surprising them all, Elphaba didn't push him away or snap out him. There was no sarcastic comment. Instead she smiled. "Nessie, please don't be angry with me. I just... Boq... do you want to talk?" He nodded and they walked off together.
Once they were out of earshot, Fiyero loudly said, "What the hell just happened?" He was oddly upset.
"I can't believe he would just... or that she would..." Nessa said, a little numb.
Galinda squeezed her shoulder gently. "I know it must be hard. But really, wouldn't you rather have this happen before you became too attached? And... well maybe Elphaba's felt this way for a long time? This is probably all for the best..." she trailed off. Was this the after effects of her spell? It had to be. There was no way Biq and Elphaba had previously had crushes on each other. This wasn't exactly what she had had in mind casting it, and wished Nessarose's boyfriend hadn't been affected. But maybe this would all work out. Biq and Elphaba were both a little socially awkward. And bookish... and Munchkinlanders... and...
And Galinda would come up with some good reason later. In the meanwhile, Nessarose was not happy. Actually, Fiyero didn't look particularly content either. What was up with that? "Oh, c'mon now. Biq and Elphie seem happy. And even if we might object to it, shouldn't we want our friends to be happy? I say we wish them well and hope they enjoy a nice, long relationship."
Grudgingly, Nessarose and Fiyero agreed, though neither of them seemed to really believe it.
