"She loves you," Galinda muttered in suppressed anger. "How can we be friends now?"
--
Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Loss of Friendship
A moan from the crumpled ball of brown bedding singled both the blonde and the Vinkus prince to their green roommate's return to the land of the living. She muttered something incomprehensible about the lack of blinds in the room before seemingly shrinking further underneath her sheets.
Fiyero stood up from his seat beside Galinda on the blonde's bed and pulled a chair from Galinda's vanity over to the side of Elphaba's bed. He sat down, ignoring Galinda's angry glare, and grabbed the plate of waiting sausages, bananas, and a glass of fresh milk off of Elphaba's nightstand.
"Eat," he said simply, reaching over and gently peeling the layers of blankets off of the half-wake form of Elphaba.
Elphaba tried to grab at the moving bedding but failed miserable and instead settled for curling in on herself to try and keep warm. "Go away," she muttered, burying her head in her pillow.
Fiyero sighed. "It's nearly noon Miss Elphaba. High time you woke up and faced the sunshine."
"Don't want to." Her voice was muffled by the pillow and her own exhaustion.
"If you're going to drink yourself in to oblivion you have to be ready to face the consequences." Fiyero grabbed hold of a green shoulder and rolled Elphaba towards him. She moaned as the sunlight streamed through the window and landed directly on her face.
"Get up," Fiyero stated, a little more forceful then Elphaba would've liked him to. "Eat, it will make you feel better."
Elphaba moaned, again, and finally struggled up in to a sitting position. Her back rested against the wall and her eyes were still shut tightly. "I'm not hungry," she said.
"Headache?" Fiyero questioned.
Elphaba shook her head gently. "Just nauseous," she replied quietly. "And tired."
"Well, better then most." Fiyero handed the waiting plate of food to Elphaba.
The green girl took it and finally opened her eyes. She stared at the plate and her face twisted in to an expression of confusion. "Sausages?" she questioned.
"Very greasy sausages," Fiyero clarified. "The more grease the better your stomach will feel. It's a tried and tested hangover cure."
"And the bananas?"
Fiyero shrugged. "Another tried and tested cure. I'm not quite sure why but bananas seem to also tame the nausea."
"I'm more thirsty then hungry," Elphaba stated.
"I have that taken care of too." Fiyero handed the glass of milk to the green girl and Elphaba nodded her thanks. "Alcohol seems to dehydrate the body. Normally I would recommend water but… well… I figured you probably wouldn't like that."
Elphaba slowly looked up from her plate. "You… you know?" she asked cautiously.
"About your strange water reaction?"
Elphaba nodded; placing the glass of milk on the nightstand and then slowly peeling one of the many bananas on her plate.
Fiyero sighed. "I found out yesterday. You were crying and it burnt your skin. Galinda told me."
"Oh."
"That's it?"
Elphaba shrugged. "What more can I say? When someone finds out they usually ask a million questions that I have no answers to."
"Well, I have no questions," Fiyero said. "So stop delaying and start eating."
"I'm not hungry."
"I don't care." Fiyero grabbed the peeled banana from Elphaba's hand and shoved it in to her mouth. "Eat."
Elphaba nearly choked at the sudden food in her mouth and her hand instinctively flew up to cover her mouth as she attempted to half cough out, half chew the banana. She sent a deadly glare in Fiyero's direction before turning her head away and trying to eat without losing all of her sense of manners and dignity.
Once Elphaba had managed to chew and swallow the majority of the banana in her mouth Fiyero handed her, for the second time, the glass of milk from her nightstand. "Drink," he stated simply.
Elphaba grunted, taking the glass without turning to face the Vinkus prince, and swallowed the milk in one gulp. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and gave the now empty glass back to Fiyero. "I still feel nauseous," she muttered.
"Eat the sausages."
"I don't eat meat."
Fiyero frowned. "Really? I didn't know. But… but why?"
"How can we know if the meat on our plates came from an animal or an Animal?"
"I don't think they would be slaughtering Animals for meat Elphaba," Fiyero said. "And it's just this once."
"I haven't ate meat for years," Elphaba tried to explain. "Since a Cow living near our house once explained to me where meat came from as a child."
Fiyero sighed, taking the plate from Elphaba but tossing one more banana at her. "You won't eat meat because of what one, probably bitter, Cow told you as a kid? Strange."
"It's not my fault I care for issues above and beyond the walls of this University!" Elphaba's voice was beginning to raise in volume as anger at Fiyero's ignorance was growing in her.
"Look, I don't want to anger you or get caught in one of your high-and-mighty speeches." Fiyero stood up. "Eat the banana. I'll be back with more milk."
Elphaba sighed, closing her eyes and leaning back against the wall. She listened to Fiyero's soft footsteps as he quietly crossed the room, opened the door, and left. With her eyes still closed she peeled the banana in her hand and slowly ate it. Her nausea was still twisting in her stomach but it wasn't nearly as bad as it had been when she had first woken up.
But the sunlight still burned her eyes.
The green girl placed the banana peel on her nightstand and slowly opened her eyes. The sun had still not moved from its position where it shined, just inconveniently, on Elphaba's face. She frowned, closing her eyes again and reaching blindly around her nightstand until she found her hairbrush. She scooted away from the supporting wall and sat, cross-legged, near the foot of the bed.
Elphaba braved opening her eyes again and slowly smiled in victory. The sunlight did not quite reach to the end of her bed and she had successfully won against the apparent battle she had been raging, unknowingly, towards the sun.
"You weren't lying, were you?" Galinda questioned, speaking for the first time since her roommate had awaken.
Elphaba jerked in surprise at the sudden voice and slowly turned to face the blonde. "About what?" she asked cautiously as her brush slowly untangled the knots in her unruly hair.
"Yesterday, when you were dru–"
"Don't remind me," Elphaba interrupted as she let out a heavy sigh and put her brush down in her lap to pay better attention to her roommate.
"You said you loved Fiyero," Galinda curtly said. "I need to know the truth."
Elphaba's gaze dropped to her lap to stare at her hairbrush and she turned her head slightly away from the blonde. She stayed silent for what seemed like hours but ended up being no more than a minute or too.
"Yes," she whispered, tears glistening in the corners of her eyes.
"I see," Galinda replied, her voice cold and quiet.
"Galinda, I would never…" Elphaba tried to explain as she laid desperate eyes on her friend. "I wouldn't do anything. You have to understand! I know that you two, that you're together. I would never do anything to take him from you. I wouldn't!"
"I'm sorry Miss Elphaba," Galinda stood up from her bed and walked to the door. With her hand resting on the smooth doorknob she turned back to face her green roommate. "We can no longer be friends."
And then she was gone. The slamming of the door echoed in the now silent room as Elphaba sat, cross-legged, on her bed. Her mouth was open and her eyes wide in shock and horror.
"Ga… Galinda?" Elphaba whispered but the silent room didn't reply to the desperate whisper.
