Love

Rifiuto: Non Miriena

Thanks to ShortieJMW, Hedwig466, Issa(dot)wicked17, and lizziemagic for reviewing the first chapter.

After that day, we tried so hard to get the girls to speak to us, to no avail. Only Fiyero seemed to have any luck.

He sat next to Elphaba during Ozian Literature, and most of the time, she spent it talking to Milla, or working on the classwork. So Fiyero was startled to feel something poke him in the side. His head snapped up, and he quickly scanned the room, before turning to see Elphaba, who propped her head on her knuckles as she worked on her classwork. Slowly, his eyes landed on the pen laying forgotten on her desk, tip pointed towards him.

He didn't say anything, just watched her, when she slowly looked up at him. Her deep violet eyes locked on his, and glanced down at her schoolwork, before looking back at him. They started a series of silent conversations, of nods and sighs, communicating without speaking. She sighed, and sat up, tossing her head and turning to the front. Fiyero never took his eyes off her, and she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. When he returned to his work, she slowly slid the pen towards him, and poked him again.

He looked up just as she replaced the pen on her desk.

Years later, as we ran our companies and raised our families, Fiyero, who had by then turned his back on the crown and taken a job as a lawyer in the Emerald City, would remember their silent conversations as he nursed a caffeine addiction and sorted through his endless case files.

"She was wild, just from the look in her eyes. Coy and unmanagable at the same time. She was.... sexual in every sense of the word, even though she didn't show it."

His sapphire eyes held that look of wonder as he spoke, as though he were being transported back to that day in Ozian Lit, with Elphaba sitting next to him, poking him in the side with her pen and sighing as she caught his eyes through her lashes. He swirled the coffee in his cup, leaning back in his chair as he spoke about it.

"Those fucking parents of hers kept her under lock and key, even from a distance. They did it with all those girls- Milla, Glinda, Nessa, Elphaba. Wouldn't let them grow up. They suffocated them, even though they were in college. I see it all the time. Parents think they can control their kids by forbidding them from doing things, and in the end, they lose their children anyway. Mainly it's runaways and murder, never.... never suicide."

Suicide was exceedingly rare, murder was more common. No one wanted to attempt suicide, not after.....

"I've never gotten over her. How could I? She was a vision. An absolute vision."

Fiyero was right, Elphaba was a vision, a beauty in a sea of sameness. She was unique, her trademark braid tossed over her shoulder, the black bookbag she carried always at her side. Her violet eyes sparked in the light, and she kept her head down half the time, except when she was talking with Milla. It was normal to see her sitting under the cherry tree by the Suicide Canal, Milla at her side, as the two ate lunch or shared a cup of coffee.

She was vibrant when she was with her roommate, she talked and laughed, and Milla calmed down, taking on aspects of Elphaba's personality. It was as though the girls switched personas when they were together. So it was one afternoon, not long after the cafeteria incident, that Fiyero slowly approached the girls as they sat under the cherry tree during lunch.

"No. Pink is definatley not my color." Elphaba said, taking a sip of her coke.

"Well, did you write her back and tell her so?" Milla asked. Elphaba nodded, her braid bouncing gently against her back with the movement. Silent, we watched as Fiyero got closer to the girls.

"Nessie doesn't seem to get it. I'm not the kind of girl that wears pink. That's more your cousin Glinda's color."

"Hmm, did I tell you? Aunt Katila and Uncle Oscar are going to let Glinda go to Shiz when she graduates." Elphaba shook her head, as she tore a bite of her sandwich off.

"No. You didn't. Really? When does she graduate?"

"Next year." Milla replied, as Elphaba popped the bite into her mouth. "She'll be eighteen." Elphaba nodded.

"Well then, Nessie can give Glinda the pink sweater, because there is no way in hell- I'm not wearing it." Elphaba said, taking another sip of her cola.

"Um... Elphaba?" She looked up, her violet eyes turning to Fiyero. The conversation stopped, as both girls watched and waited for Fiyero to speak. He stumbled over his words for several minutes, before finally forming a coherent, slowly-spoken sentence. "D.... do you... want to go get a cup of coffee after class?"

She started, her eyes widening in shock at the boldness of his question. After a moment, her teeth grasped her bottom lip, and she turned to Milla, who shrugged.

"I don't think that would be smart. If my father found out....."

"But your father's not here. He wouldn't have to find out." Fiyero interjected.

"You don't know our parents. Fabala's father and my parents don't let us associate with.... your sex." Milla said, choosing her words carefully and shooting Fiyero a sympathetic glance. He nodded.

"Maybe next time, then." Elphaba nodded, but her eyes had lost hope that there would be a "next time." After a moment, he excused himself, and joined us. "How would their parents know if they went out on a date, what do they have spies positioned in the school?" Fiyero asked once he reached us. Little did we know, that three days later, the Govenor of Munchkinland recieved a phone call from a woman, telling him about the "boy that had approached his daughter."