Elphaba stormed away from the restaurant, furious at the entire group. True, Avaric was the main source of her rage, but the rest of them just stood there, blaming her as Avaric worked his usual tricks. She had tried to be a good sport, and even when the night was dragging painfully against her nerves, she had tried to tough it out for Fiyero's and Galinda's sakes. They desperately wanted her to get along with Avaric, but when he had thrown the water at her in the thinly veiled guise of spilling Galinda's water, she had snapped. She couldn't believe that Fiyero had chastised her in front of everyone, as if it were her fault that he was trying to burn her!
A part of her knew she was overreacting, but the betrayal she felt was still too intense to admit what responsibility she might bear herself. Why hadn't anyone even spoken up for her at all? Why had they coerced her into this farce of a date? And Fiyero – that was the worst. She'd never before doubted his devotion or support. How could he have sided with that vile cretin? It was bad enough that Galinda insisted on dating the monster, but she could at least attribute that to the stupidity wrought by popularity and hormones. Fiyero had no such excuse.
Elphaba wrapped her arms around herself at the thought of Fiyero. Probably more than anything, it hurt that Fiyero hadn't come after her. True, she had told him not to, but he always came after her. Absolutely always. She sniffed back a rogue tear before it could wreak its havoc on her skin. Well, if he didn't want her now, then she was right to leave. Her agitated brain wallowed in self-pity momentarily, hoping something terrible happened to her to punish him for leaving her like this. Then he'd regret not following her. Even as the thought came, she banished it, knowing she would never really want him to be so miserable or guilt-ridden.
"Elphaba, wait!" She spun around to see behind her, hoping she had misheard the voice and Fiyero really had come for her, but it wasn't him. Disappointment flooded her as Lzuad jogged up to her. "Hey, you alright?"
She scoffed, "Peachy." Lips in a thin line, she continued her journey back to campus, hoping against reason he would go away.
"I'm sorry you had such a crummy time. Let me walk you back, please?" he cajoled, and she surrendered, knowing Fiyero would at least feel better later that she had had an escort, even though it was such a useless one. She spared only a sharp nod, wrapping her anger around herself to head off any other show of emotion in front of her new audience.
The walk back was a silent one as Lzuad was not brave enough to challenge her icy demeanor past the few initials stabs at conversation. When they finally reached the edge of campus, she expected him to branch off toward his dorm, or even back to his date. Oh, Nessa. She felt a crash of guilt at having ruined her sister's first date with the boy now walking beside her. "You can go, you know. I'm sure Nessa is waiting for you," she dismissed him, but he took her hand with a squeeze.
"Nessa can wait. You're my friend, Faba. I'm not going to abandon you."
She felt a prickle of emotion behind her eyelids at that, feeling quite exactly that - abandoned, and she squeezed Lzuad's hand back. "Thank you," she whispered, fighting back thoughts of who she'd rather be hearing that from.
"Anything for you Faba," he kissed her hand gently, and the tears overwhelmed her as he'd unconsciously uttered the exact words Fiyero had told her so long ago, etched in her memory by the fire of that first kiss. "Hey, hey now. Don't cry sweetheart," he consoled softly, taking her in his arms. "It's going to be okay. I'm here."
He held her for a brief moment until she remembered herself and steeled her pathetic emotions. Pride gave her strength to pull away, and she sniffed, "I'm sorry, Lzuad. This is pathetic." She struggled to regain her stoic façade, the coolness that had served her so well in past instances.
"You know, you're allowed to cry. Oz, you are allowed to feel, Faba." He pulled her back to him for a tight hug. "And I don't think you could be pathetic if you tried." He released her after dropping a friendly kiss on her forehead.
"Thanks Lzuad. You're a good friend." She spared him a smile, albeit a small one.
He beamed back at her. "I'm honored." Then he pulled her to his side, dropping his arm around her shoulders. "Now, let's get you home."
By the time they reached her dorm, Elphaba was exhausted, more emotionally than physically – although walking so far in heels was not exactly an easy task. Crage Hall had never been a more welcome sight, and she limped eagerly the rest of the way there, her heel having broken shortly after they'd reached campus. She almost bolted from Lzuad's embrace, ready to retreat and lick her wounds in private.
Unfortunately, he was not so willing to release her. "Do you want me to walk you up, or would you rather talk out here?"
"Neither," she answered honestly. "Goodnight Lzuad."
He grabbed her hand, pulling her back to him. "Elphaba, you need to talk to someone about what happened tonight, or else you'll just bottle it up and explode at everyone again."
She pulled her hand back with a cool glare, "Are you saying I overreacted?"
"No," he countered carefully, and she felt a hint of disappointment as she almost heard Fiyero's voice whisper yes. Fiyero would have stood up to her, but then Fiyero had let her walk back alone. "I'm saying I'm your friend," Lzuad continued, "and you can vent to me. Don't you trust me?"
She sighed. "What if I don't want to vent?"
He gave her an appraising look, but didn't call her on it. Why did she feel that pang of disappointment again? "Faba, please?"
"Stop calling me that," she huffed, taking out her annoyance on him for not being the boy who should be here. It was unfair, but she wasn't feeling particularly fair at the moment. Besides if he was so hell-bent on her venting, he could deal with it. "Unless my name is just too difficult for you."
"I'm sorry, Elphaba," he stressed her full name, and she crossed her arms stubbornly, still spoiling for a fight. "Now what is it that's bothering you?"
"Right now, you're what's bothering me," she lashed out. "I just want to go inside and change shoes, ok?"
"That's fine," he answered, "I'll come inside with you."
She crossed her arms in front of her, knowing Fiyero would hate it if she had Lzuad in her bedroom alone. Angry with him or not, she still loved him, and she wouldn't be so cruel as to deliberately hurt him like that. "Never mind, I guess I'll stay outside." She flopped on the bench in front of the dorm, sliding her ruined heel off and rubbing the tender muscles of her aching feet.
Lzuad dropped onto the bench beside her, smoothly sliding his hand in her way and taking over the massage himself. As much as she wanted to pull away, it felt really good on her aching muscles, and she figured it was innocent enough. "So, tell me, what happened to make you so upset?"
"As if you don't already know," she said, rolling her eyes. At his blank expression, she elaborated, "Everyone knows what Avaric did to me last year. He made my life an unfortunately quite public nightmare."
"Elphaba," Lzuad pointed out, "I wasn't here last year." She blushed as she realized her mistake and related the story, relishing in the shocked gasp Lzuad made when she got to the attack and the words of outrage when she described the rumors. "What a total prick!" Lzuad exclaimed. "No wonder you hate him." She beamed at him. If she weren't so in love with a certain prince, she could have kissed him as someone finally supported her indignation.
Smiling genuinely now, she felt the animosity toward Avaric just flow out of her as she ranted to Lzuad about everything, relaxing against his shoulder as he offered a friendly pat on the back every so often.
"You're a really good listener," Elphaba blushed when she thought of all she'd revealed. She was normally such a private person, but when she got angry, it was hard for her to control her mouth.
He smiled at her, squeezing her arm. "You're easy to listen to. I'm really glad we're friends."
"Me too." Her blush grew exponentially as he kept smiling down at her. "Oh wow, we've been out here a while," she said, noticing the time. "I'm sure Nessa is wondering when you're getting back. She's probably worried by now. You should go."
He shook his head, unconcerned. "Nessa can wait. You're more important."
She blinked at him in surprise before reacting. "Really, Nessa is not very understanding about such things. You should go."
"I'm not going anywhere, Elphaba." He tilted her face up to meet his eyes, and suddenly she had a very bad feeling about all this.
"No, really, Lzuad, you should leave now." She pulled back uncomfortably, rubbing her arms awkwardly.
Hurt flashed for a second on his face. "I'm sorry, did I offend you or say something wrong?" The too fresh memory of her overreaction at dinner and the consequences that would later bring compelled her to prevent another such disaster – particularly with what was practically her last friend left speaking to her.
"No, Lzuad, of course not. I'm just very tired."
"I understand." He smiled at her again, pulling her into another hug. "Just promise me if you need anything – anything at all – that you'll call me."
She really was lucky to be blessed with such understanding men in her life, and she felt another sudden pang for Fiyero. Perhaps she would go see him after Lzuad finally left. On a whim, she leaned up to kiss his cheek. Lzuad really had been a great friend, and she was touched by his concern. "Thank you Lzuad, for, well, everything."
He blinked at her a moment, then without any warning, descended into a kiss straight on her shocked lips. While it was chaste, it was far from a kiss that could be considered friendly, and Elphaba immediately tried to break away. How could she put this gently? "Lzuad, I - "
"Fae?" No. Surely fate wasn't that cruel. She spun around only to see Galinda staring back, her hand clapped over her mouth, and beside her a very white-faced Fiyero. His brows were wrinkled in confusion, but a deep pain that broke Elphaba's heart was all too present in his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something, but then thought better of it. Without a word, he hung his head, and turned away.
"No, Fiyero, wait. It's not what you think, really," she started, pulling out of Lzuad's embrace and racing after Fiyero, but he was already retreating. Elphaba was fast, faster than Fiyero usually, but she'd taken her shoes off and been handicapped by that unfortunate limp. She only got a few feet before she caught a tree root, twisting her ankle painfully.
Helplessly, she cried out after him, swatting Lzuad away as he tried to help her up. "Fiyero! Please, don't go, Fiyero…"