Chapter 7
Elphaba and Viola sat across from each other at a small restaurant off campus. The two had enjoyed a nice vegetarian dish and were now just sitting there talking.
"I can't believe you did that!" Elphaba gasped as Viola started to recount a story.
"Well I wasn't the only one." Viola chuckled at the shock on the green woman's face.
"But…but…how did you not get in trouble?" Elphaba was still amazed that Viola had managed to sneak into the infirmary and steal a bunch of items without being caught.
"They never knew it was us. It wasn't as if we took anything illegal. We just swiped a couple of bandages and bottles of aspirin." The bartender shrugged as if it were no big deal.
"I can't believe you did that to help out a couple of Animals." The green woman could still not believe that Viola had risked her schooling to help out an Animal.
"Well no one was giving them proper care. After the last 'incident' a lot of innocent Animal's were hurt. I couldn't just stand by and do nothing about it." Viola admitted. She had only stolen the items from the school infirmary to help other Animal's out.
"Wow." Elphaba smiled as she shook her head. She couldn't believe how alike the two of them were. For the past two hours they had sat at the small table talking about everything. The green woman actually found herself laughing quite a bit and admiring this Viola girl more and more.
"Yeah." The brown hair girl smiled as she laid some money out for the bill to be paid.
Elphaba saw this action and immediately reached for the girl's hand. She wasn't going to let her pay for both of them.
As soon as their hands touched the two women looked up at one another before blushing. Elphaba turned her head away as she tried to regain her normal color.
"Does your skin always turn dark green when you blush?" The bartender teased the green woman playfully.
Elphaba blushed further before apologizing.
"Oh don't apologize. I think it's cute." Viola blushed a little darker as well. She really did find the green woman oddly appealing. Once you got past her unusual skin tone she really was beautiful.
"Thanks." The green woman continued to blush as she accepted the compliment. "But you really should let me pay." Elphaba looked back up to be met with Viola's eyes staring intently at her own.
"I'm the one who asked you out so I'm the one to pay." Viola smiled as she refused Elphaba's insistence of splitting the bill.
"Fine." Elphaba agreed. "But next time we go out I pay, okay?"
Viola perked up immediately. "So there's a next time?"
"If you want…" The green woman stuttered. "I mean I've never really asked someone on a date and so I don't know how these things work, but I would like for there to be a next time." Elphaba spoke a mile a minute as she was becoming flustered again.
"What about that blonde girl?" Viola raised an eyebrow. Elphaba was asking her on a date when only hours ago she had been practically crying over another woman.
Elphaba tensed at the mention of Galinda. Truth be told she hadn't actually thought about Galinda until Viola said anything.
"Nothing is happening with me and Galinda so why would I waste my time anymore? It's going to take some time getting over her yes, but I don't think that should keep me from moving on." The green woman admitted. She knew that after last night's ill-fated kiss that nothing was ever going to be the same. It was apparent that Galinda didn't like her and so she just needed to get that through her head.
"That's a good answer." Viola smiled. "And maybe on our next date I'll let you pay…maybe." The bartender laughed. She was never one for letting the other person pay.
Elphaba smiled. So there was to be a second date. She was enjoying this new concept very much.
"So then you're saying yes to going out?" The green woman asked. "I mean going out on another date." Elphaba stuttered again.
Viola smiled at the green woman stumbling over her words. She found the woman's childlike stutter to be quite endearing.
"I'm saying yes." Viola smiled.
The two continued to talk for a little while longer before the waitress came back with Viola's cash.
"Have a nice day ladies." The waitress smiled before walking away.
"Are you ready to go?" Elphaba asked as she got up from her chair and held her hand out for Viola to take.
"Where to?" Viola asked. She was extremely tired after working all night but she didn't want to say goodbye to Elphaba just yet.
"Are you not tired?" The green woman asked. She knew that the bartender should be.
"Sort of." Viola admitted. "But I don't really want this to be over." She smiled sheepishly as she looked at the smile spread across Elphaba's face.
"I don't really want this to end either." Elphaba admitted as she reached her hand down to capture the bartender's.
Viola smiled as she felt the green woman slip her hand into her own. Even though the two had just met it seemed like they had know each other forever.
"Do you want to go back to my place?" The bartender asked timidly as she walked down the street with Elphaba. She didn't mean it in the sense that most people would take it. She really only wanted to go to her place to talk.
The green woman shifted uncomfortably. She didn't know if Vi was asking her back for dome chitchat or something more.
Viola noticed this and immediately regretted her wording.
"I mean to talk." The bartender flushed. She heard a sigh of relief from Elphaba.
"Okay." Elphaba agreed. "Lead the way."
Viola smiled before tightening her grip on Elphaba's hand. The two only received a few stares as they made their way to Viola's apartment.
XXX
The blonde paced around the room waiting for Elphaba to return. Where the hell was she? It's not as if she had friends to escape to. Galinda had already checked the library and school cafeteria. She couldn't seem to locate Elphaba anywhere. It was as if she disappeared.
Another two hours passed before the door to their dorm room finally swung open. Elphaba had a goofy grin on her face as she entered. As soon as she saw Galinda however the grin faded into a frown.
"Where have you been?" Galinda called as she went over to make sure Elphaba was okay. She was about to go searching again if she hadn't come home within the next thirty minutes.
The green woman shrugged. "A friends." She didn't lie. She had gone to Viola's apartment. Nothing more had happened between the two except they talked some more. Viola was a perfect gentlemen, or lady really. The two had even made plans to see each other next week. Until then the bartender would be slammed with work and homework. They said they would try and see each other in between though.
The blonde didn't believe Elphaba. Elphaba had no friends as far as she knew.
"Fine whatever." Galinda huffed. "We need to talk about last night Elphie."
The green woman stiffened. She wasn't able to handle this talk right now.
"What about it?" Elphaba pretended to not know what Galinda was talking about. Maybe if she acted like this Galinda wouldn't bring it up.
"We kissed Elphie!" Galinda nearly shouted. Elphaba was taken back at the force behind those words. She was growing frustrated with the blonde already.
"No we didn't. I kissed you and you pulled away. Big difference there." Elphaba shot back sourly. She wasn't going to let Galinda get the best of her. She was done being weak and falling for the blonde more and more. She had found someone else now that treated her the way she deserved to be treated.
The blonde was a little surprised at the hate in Elphaba's words.
"You were drunk!" Galinda defended her actions. "I was not going to take advantage of you like that. You were vulnerable."
"So if I kissed you while I was sober then what would you do?" Elphaba questioned. She needed to hear that Galinda would have pulled away again.
"That wasn't the case and so it doesn't matter." Galinda huffed. She was tired of this game Elphaba seemed to be playing with her.
"Just answer the question Galinda." The green woman steamed. She didn't know where all of this hate was coming from but it was better than being sad.
"I have a boyfriend Elphie. I can't go around kissing you. I'm not that way." The blonde confirmed everything that Elphaba needed to hear. Even though it was what she needed to hear, it didn't mean that it hurt her any less.
"That's all I needed to hear." Elphaba stated. "So I'm sorry I drunkenly kissed you last night. It won't happen again your highness." The green woman added some sass to her statement.
"Your highness?" Galinda huffed. "Whatever you need to remind yourself that I'm too good for you." The blonde fought fire with fire. If Elphaba wanted to play rough then she would too.
Elphaba opened her eyes wide. Was Galinda really saying this?
"Oh I could do better anyways." The green woman huffed. "In fact I have." She smiled smugly as she looked at Galinda.
"What?" Galinda was confused. What did Elphaba mean by this?
"I don't need to pretend like kissing you meant something to me, because it didn't." Elphaba lied. "I have someone else for that anyways. And she's a hell of a lot better at kissing than you ever were." She lied again. Elphaba hadn't kissed Viola yet, but she would make sure she did now.
"You have a girlfriend?" Galinda asked in astonishment. Who in their right mind would go out with Elphaba?
"Yes I do, but that's none of your business. What me and Vi do in our free time is none of your concern." Elphaba huffed. She wanted to annoy Galinda even more than she already was.
"Vi?" Galinda snorted. "What kind of name is that anyways? And what'd you do? Pay her to go out with you?"
Elphaba was furious. Of course she hadn't paid Vi to go out with her. Why was Galinda saying all these hateful things? It wasn't like her.
"No I did not pay her. She likes me for who I am." Elphaba defended her new girlfriend. Or what she hoped was her new girlfriend. They didn't make anything official really because they had only been on the one date and had yet to kiss.
"And who are you but a green socially inept homosexual!" Galinda screamed a little too loudly. She was sure that people outside of their door could hear. She didn't care however.
Elphaba's face flushed as she heard the hate in Galinda's words. Never had she thought in a million years that Galinda would use her sexual orientation against her in such a fashion. She didn't know exactly how to respond, and so she just stood there.
"Oh what now? Have I offended the homo? Oh I'm so sorry." Galinda exaggerated her apology. "I didn't know that green freaks such as yourself had feelings."
Elphaba's eyes began to tear up slightly as she was slammed with hateful words coming from the woman she truly loved. How could she love someone so homophobic?
"Oh what? Now the green bean's going to cry? I hope Vi is there to catch your tears. Oz knows I won't be by your side when you go all homo again." Galinda continued to criticize Elphaba. It seemed like the only thing she had control over at the moment.
Elphaba finally found her voice as she tried to stop her tears from falling. "Goodbye Galinda. I hope you enjoy your next roommate because I certainly won't be around to see it. I'm out of here." The green woman stormed before going over to pack a small suitcase with her clothes.
"You can't leave artichoke. You have nowhere to go!" Galinda taunted Elphaba.
"Maybe I didn't before but now I do. I'm sure my new girlfriend would be more than willing to take me in." Elphaba seethed as she zipped her bag up before flinging it over her shoulder.
Galinda suddenly grew aware of the severity of her words. Elphaba was about to leave and it was all because of her.
"I hope you have a nice life and can remove that stick from your ass." Elphaba yelled as she slammed the door to her dorm shut.
Galinda was left staring at the door that Elphaba had just left through. How could things have gone so wrong so quickly? Why had she called Elphaba those hateful things? She didn't believe anything she had said. She was just angry at the time, although she wasn't sure why. She should feel happy that Elphaba found someone. Instead she was just angry.
The blonde slumped against the door before rested her head between her hands. She began to cry.
XXX
A knock sounded at Viola's front door. She slowly got up from bed to see who it was. She was about to go to sleep when she heard the knock.
"Coming." Vi called as she pulled on a robe.
She opened the door to find the green woman she had just met. She was crying.
"Elphaba honey what's wrong?" Viola asked in a concerned voice as she pulled the woman in for a hug.
As soon as Elphaba felt Viola's arms wrap around her she began to cry harder. How had Galinda been able to say all of those hateful things to her? She had seriously misjudged the blonde and hated herself for it. She would have never fallen for her had she known she was so xenophobic.
"It's okay. I've got you." Viola soothed as she stroked the raven tresses of the trembling girl in her arms.
Elphaba continued to cling to Viola for a while before finally pulling away. She wiped at the tears she felt in her eyes and suddenly felt stupid for crying in front of this woman.
"I'm sorry Vi." Elphaba apologized as she sniffled a couple of times.
"It's okay Elphaba. Now what's wrong?" Viola was genuinely concerned about Elphaba. In the short span that they had known each other she didn't peg the green woman for the crying type.
"It's Galinda." The green woman frowned. "She said some pretty hateful things that upset me. She teased me about my skin and then she called a homo." Elphaba began to cry again as the last word left her mouth. How could Galinda have called her such a hateful term?
Viola frowned. She knew what it was like to be slandered for one's sexual orientation.
"It'll be okay Elphaba." Viola smiled encouragingly as she wrapped her arms around Elphaba once again.
"I don't think it will. She called me some other nasty things and I just walked out. I can't stay there anymore." The green woman continued to snuggle into the warm embrace. She loved the perfume that Vi seemed to be wearing.
"Then you will stay here." Vi smiled. "I don't have an extra bed but you can take mine. I'll take the couch."
"No way. I'll take the couch." Elphaba wasn't going to allow Viola to give up her bed.
Vi smiled. "Okay since I am not letting you sleep on the couch and you aren't letting me sleep there either, then where does that lead us?"
Elphaba half smiled as she knew where this was headed.
"My my Miss Viola, you are very forward." Elphaba teased.
"I do what I can to get my women in bed with me." Viola winked before taking Elphaba by the hand. "Now I was going to sleep but you look as if you could nap too. Join me?"
"Of course." Elphaba smiled before walking into Viola's bedroom. The room smelled of the same perfume Vi wore. It smelled heavenly.
The two women smiled as they lay down on the bed. Viola asked for permission before wrapping an arm protectively around Elphaba's waist.
Elphaba smiled as she closed her eyes. So what if Galinda had called her a homo? Viola would never so something like that to her. That thought brought hope to the green woman.
"Good night." Viola yawned before rested her head on Elphaba's shoulder.
"Night." Elphaba smiled as she smelt Viola's perfume near her neck. She could get used to this. She wasn't going to allow Galinda to invade her mind any more.
