AN:
Hello, you lovely people! I was quite overwhelmed by the response I received for the last chapter (across multiple platforms). Big thanks for everyone who's reading and commenting and constantly putting up with the long waiting times xD I'd love to promise betterment, but I'm afraid I cannot. So thanks and I hope you guys can keep it up!
So here is the new chap at last!
Happy reading everyone!
xxx MLE (=^_^=)
Chapter Thirteen
When she arrived at the station, the waiting tram had just closed its doors and was about to depart. Unfazed, she checked the display to find out when the next one was scheduled to arrive and discovered that due to an accident, irregularities and extended waiting times were to be expected. Glinda did not have the energy to be overly bothered when she already felt so emotionally drained by her weird quarrel with Elphaba.
Her friend hadn't said much, other than that she wished to be left alone. She'd not repeated the reproaches she'd so heatedly flung at her at the park, for which Glinda was sort of grateful. But was her silence really any better than her ranting? At least words were something tangible; even if it was not always easy to tell how much Elphaba meant any of what she said, her fleeting thoughts were quite explicit. Conversely, the less Glinda had to go by, the trickier the guessing game became.
The tram took its sweet time, giving her plenty of opportunity to sit and mull their last conversation over. Unfortunately, it wasn't time she required, but further insights, which she was unable to conjure up. Her tummy soon protested its need for nourishment, and Glinda immediately felt an intense longing for greasy, unhealthy comfort food. Almost instinctively, she pulled out her phone and called Tibbett.
"Hey, Tibbs. I know it's your turn to cook, but have you started preparing anything yet?
"No? That's cool. How about you do it tomorrow instead?
"No particular reason. It's just that tonight somehow feels like a pizza night.
"Yes, of course I'll pay.
"No, I'll be home soon. We can order together from the website.
"Great.
"See you soon, hon!"
Upon her arrival at the flat, Glinda carefully pushed her key into the hole and very slowly unlocked the door, trying her best to make as little sound as possible. Opening the door no more than a few inches, she peered through the narrow gap. The boys were nowhere to be seen. She allowed herself to relax a tad and gave up her stealthy act. As long as she did not announce her return with all the bells and whistles, most likely nobody would bat an eyelash.
She closed the door softly behind her and rid herself of her shoes before making for her room with long strides to gather a fresh set of clothes. The hot shower felt incredibly good and washing the last remnants of dust and cobwebs out of her hair even more so. Finally cleansed and adequately refreshed, she summoned the boys to her room so they might choose their favourite pizza toppings.
"Do they have something with chicken and camembert and cranberry?" asked Crope excitedly.
"Dude, that's pretty specific," Tibbett snickered, but Glinda immediately found what he was after.
"Let's get two of those," she said in between clicks. "I really like those as well, and I don't feel like sharing today."
Unnoticed by the blonde, the boys exchanged amused looks.
"I think we also should get a peperoni and a mushroom pizza," she decided. "They are just classics."
Tibbett cocked his head, lips pursed.
"Uh, can I choose a flavour as well?"
"Sure. Like what?"
"How about avocado and venison instead of mushroom?"
"Why? We can simply get both," Glinda shrugged.
"But that's already five large pizzas," Crope pointed out helpfully, "and there's only three of us."
Rolling her eyes, Glinda logged in with her details and clicked the confirmation button.
"Be grateful for such an abundance of nourishment and choice. No more complaining or questioning my math skills. I'm a financial analyst, in case it escaped your memory."
By the time the delivery boy dropped off their dinner, Glinda's enormous appetite had all but vanished. She could hardly even stand the smell wafting from the warm boxes. She tipped the kid with the first note she could find in her pocket, then hurried back upstairs, eager to divest herself of her overly fragrant load.
"Pizza's in the kitchen," she singsonged to alert the boys. She herself quickly fled into her room.
She opened up her laptop. Nikidik had asked her to review someone else's work for him over the weekend. As much as she resented the extra workload, the assignment would probably make for a decent distraction right now, and if she finished it all today, her Sunday needn't be spoilt at all. Scanning the spreadsheet, she willed herself to get into a productive mood. She vaguely remembered looking at it earlier and thinking that it seemed like an easy job, so there was no reason why she shouldn't be able to sort it out within the next hour, possibly less.
So far for the theory. In practice, Glinda could hardly bring her brain to add up two and two, let alone make sense of the messy data in front of her. She found herself staring at the numbers, realising that her colleague had screwed up massively fairly early on, then continued the same mistake consistently throughout his work. The problem was that she could not put her finger at what exactly the mistake was, only the point at where it had started to all go wrong. The only way of fixing this would be to pick up from there and redo it all from scratch. She groaned in frustration. That's was not what she'd signed up for.
In the end, her frustration and unwillingness to do any serious work right now only contributed to her growing headache. Suddenly, everything irritated her. Her eyes were too dry, her hands too cold. Her focus began to zoom in and out. Sometimes the voices of the boys laughing and chatting in the kitchen, seemed as loud as though they were standing right beside her, yet next thing she knew, the noise faded into the background, and all she could hear was the silence of her fingers not typing as they should. Angry, she removed them from the keyboard and propped up her elbows to cradle hear head. She sighed, eyes still fixed on the screen, now blurred in front of her.
This was how Crope and Tibbett found her a little later.
"Hey Glin, aren't you worried Crope is going to finish all your favourite pizzas?" Tibbett asked laughing before stopping short. "You alright, babe?"
"Yeah, fine," she replied, still not quite there yet.
Crope came a bit closer and bent forward to study the almost blank spreadsheet she was so incessantly staring at.
"You haven't been very productive," he stated, scratching his head. "Maybe you need some fuel to get started? Shall we bring you a slice or two? I can even feed you if you don't want to make your fingers greasy."
Smiling sadly, Glinda finally tore her eyes off her work to look at her flatmates.
"Thanks for offering. That's very sweet."
She closed her laptop. After all, there was no chance she'd get anything done tonight. She swivelled her chair around and pulled up one leg, hugging it. Chin resting on her knee, she watched the boys. One by one thoughts floated through her head, things she longed to tell them, some things she needed to tell them. Still, it was difficult to actually speak the words. Even to her this reluctance was silly. The rational part of her knew that Tibbett and Crope loved her just about enough to accept almost anything she might confess to. Considering their extremely accepting nature and the rather trivial confessions Glinda had to offer, there was truly not much to be worried about.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you look lovesick," Tibbett proposed, wiggling his brows in an attempt to be funny and break the awkwardness.
Prompted by his seemingly absurd suggestion, Glinda jumped into action.
"No, that's not it," she assured them hastily. "I've had a very strange fight with a friend, that's all. Well, 'fight' might not be the right word," she mused, curling a strand of hair around her finger. "More like a quarrel? Miff? Dunno."
"Not sure what the difference is," deadpanned Tibbett, and Crope was even less worried about semantics.
"With whom?" he demanded immediately. "Fiyero?"
"Or Milla?" piped up Tibbett.
As Glinda shook her head, the boys looked at each other, baffled.
"Maybe Ria—, Roa—, Ral-something?" tried Crope. "One of them was named something like that, right?"
"Or Torya?" Tibbett ventured.
"Tarva," supplied Glinda, but once again shook her head. "None of those. It's someone I haven't mentioned much yet. Her name is Elphaba."
Crope shrugged his shoulders.
"Doesn't ring any bells."
"Well, it's not important," Glinda started to say, only to be rudely interrupted by Tibbett's clapping.
"Oh, I know! I know! I remember that name! It was on that little piece of paper you were so protective over!"
To Glinda's dismay, his boyfriend instantly oohed in recognition.
"You don't mean," he half-whispered excitedly, "Glinda's potential date?"
Hardly able to contain his giggling, the other nodded.
"The very same!" He turned to Glinda. "To be entirely honest, we didn't think much could have come from it, since we never heard about this chick again."
"You know what Tibbs?" Crope interjected, repeatedly patting his shoulder, "I think she's been seeing her in secret."
Eyes wide, Tibbett laid his hand on his chest in exaggerated shock.
"You mean she's finally found a girlfriend and didn't tell us?"
Though markedly and increasingly uncomfortable with the direction this banter was heading, Glinda could hardly deny that it was an effective distraction from the moping mood she'd been unable to escape by herself. If the topic of her and Elphaba as a couple hadn't already been pioneered and way overused by Fiyero, she might even have found it all somewhat amusing. However, with things as they were, all she could do was to tiredly roll her eyes.
"Um, Guys," she said, clearing her voice, "I'm right here, so stop being weird and talking like I can't hear you. And just for your information: This girl here"—she pointed at herself—"is still ace."
"Which does not mean that you won't pursue relationships of romantic nature," Crope countered. With a smug grin he added, "Don't look like that. I've done my research."
"Yes, fine," Glinda admitted, shaking her head. "Still, relationships with non-aces can be difficult. It's not like I wouldn't give it any consideration, but Elphaba is, well—"
"What?" Crope challenged. "A nymphomaniac or something?"
Glinda almost choked at that.
"What?" she managed to cough out as Tibbett began to firmly pat her back. She cleared her throat. "Oz, no! I mean… I don't think so?"
"Than what's the problem?" pressed Crope. "Give that poor girl a chance."
"You don't even know her," she protested.
"I don't need to. It goes without saying that anyone would be lucky to have you."
His boyfriend half shrugged and nodded in silent agreement.
"Yeah, I'm quite the catch with all my hang ups and stuff," she agreed sarcastically. "You two should understand. I mean, these walls are way too thin for me to not know what you are doing in your room after lights out. Let's say one of you would not be up to that; how would the other half like that, hm?"
"Point taken," said Tibbett in surrender. Crope was more stubborn.
"Sweetie, true love might find a way regardless. As long as you at least try," he emphasised.
"True love," Glinda grumbled. "This isn't some kind of fairy tale."
"Yeah, true love might take time," he allowed. "Start with the part where you try. Or are there any other obstacles we should be aware of?"
"Sure. For one, Elphaba and I are incompatible. Sometimes I feel like we're fire and water. I gravitate towards her and seek her friendship for reasons I don't quite understand, but I'm not sure how long we'll be able to keep it up, even just as friends."
"Well, in astrological terms fire and water signs don't exactly make for easy combinations," Tibbett began to explain, "but nothing is impossible, of course. If fire and water are equally strong and respect each other, they can benefit from each other. For instance, fire can lend courage to water and water can teach fire patience."
Glinda blinked confused, and even Crope looked at him funny.
"Since when are you into all this esoteric shit?" he demanded.
"Oh, I'm not," the other replied, jerking his shoulders flippantly. "But my mum is. To an absurd degree, I might add. So basically, there was no escape from it during my childhood, and some of it just stuck. And you never asked, so…
"Anyways. Alright Glin, so your birthday was July twenty-first?"
"Twenty-second, actually," she corrected him warily.
Crope gave a dismissive wave.
"Whatever, that makes you Cancer either way."
"You, too?" Glinda asked in astonishment.
"Not really. I only know the basics."
"Okay, Cancer," Tibbett said thoughtfully, tapping his lips. "You see? That actually is a water sign. Now how about your Elphaba?"
"How do I know?" Glinda groaned. This nonsense had been going on for far too long already. "We never discussed birthdays."
"Not very helpful," sighed Crope.
"You need to fix that," reprimanded Tibbett. "Don't want to be taken by surprise when out of the sudden her birthday comes around!"
Glinda's patience had at long last reached its limits. She felt tired and exhausted and maybe somewhat hungry. This was as much as she could take for the time being.
"Please guys!" she said firmly. "It's not like any of this really matters. I don't believe in this pseudo-science, and Elphaba and I are not going to date. Any questions?"
Crope slowly raised his hand, but Glinda crossed her arms.
"Too bad, because you'll have to keep them to yourself."
On Sunday morning, she got up and ready to leave especially early. For one, she planned on returning on time to finish her work, and secondly, she was eager to see Fiyero. Her flatmates might have provided her with some diversion, but after the place had quieted down, and everyone had gone about their own business, she was still left with the same worries and questions plaguing her. Her hope was that Fiyero would be better suited to help her.
"Hey!" Crope called from across the room, just as she was about to unlock the door. "Where are you going so early, love?"
"Fiyero," she mumbled and proceeded to turn the key.
"Uh-huh. Sure. Or maybe you're secretly seeing Elphaba?"
Inwardly, Glinda laughed at the irony. How often had this actually been the case, unbeknownst to the boys? And now that she was telling the truth for once, she was being called out.
"No, for real," she said, holding up the big bag of unfinished pizza boxes. "Would I take these along with me if I was lying?"
Luckily, her argument was convincing enough, and Crope let her go with no further interrogations.
Fiyero, for his part, seemed puzzled when she arrived at his house hardly a minute after nine, despite the ample forewarning Glinda had given him first thing after waking up.
"I half expected you'd change your mind and go back to bed after breakfast," he explained.
He smiled and studied the girl before him. She could immediately see it in his eyes when he realised that something wasn't quite right.
"Trouble in paradise?" he asked softly.
For all his gentleness, he still managed to annoy her. With a tortured moan Glinda pushed past him into the apartment.
"I swear to Oz! Can you just quit it? I'm really not in the mood."
"Okay, fine," he said to appease her. "But are you going to tell me what's going on, or are you going to be in this state for the entire day?"
"I will," she promised, heaving a sigh. "But first things first: I need breakfast. What do we have available?"
"Pizza, I guess," Fiyero grinned and cast a fleeting glance at the content of the large plastic bag.
Grumbling, she unpacked a box and took a cold slice.
"Don't worry," she reassured him in between bites, "we're still getting souvas for lunch. These leftovers don't count."
"And will I have to wait until after lunch to learn about the reason for your long face?"
She finished her slice and shook her head no.
"But it's a long story, so maybe you'll want to sit down."
He dragged a chair next to hers and straddled it backwards.
"Okay, all comfy now. So spit it out. This is about Elphaba, right?"
Biting her lip, she nodded.
Fiyero pushed his chair a few inches closer and reached out to lightly touch her shoulder.
"I'm sure it's not as bad as it looks."
"Bad is obviously in the eye of the beholder," she grimaced. "But this involves her ward and a potentially life threatening situation, so yeah, pretty bad."
"Okay," he replied slowly, rubbing his chin. "Well, hit me with it. I'm all ears and I won't interrupt. Promise."
With a meek bob of her head she began to recount the events of the previous day.
"Wow," was the first word she heard from him after a long while of unusual quiet. "Go you, I say! You certainly got guts, considering you're normally a bit of a princess."
"Well, it was my fault after all," she replied almost inaudibly.
"If I accidentally set the house on fire, would I run back in?"
"It's not the same," Glinda dismissed. "Besides, she definitely would. Assuming there was someone in need of saving. Otherwise, why would anyone run back into a burning house?"
Fiyero shrugged.
"Yeah, I guess it's a stupid example. Anyways. It's wasn't really your fault. To me it sounded like things just went wrong, as they often do. Everyone could have done something different, but it's not anybody's fault on their own account. You need to stop blaming yourself."
"I… don't know if I am," she admitted reluctantly. "Like, of course I do, to a certain degree. But I agree with what you said. Yet she seems to blame me. I think. I mean, there was some shouting, but not all that much of it, and when she sent me away, she was awfully quiet. That's what concerns me the most, I guess. I don't really know what's going on."
"Huh. Well, you'll hate to hear this, but I don't know if there's much I can help you with. I mean, I don't even know your friend. I can make you a hot cocoa though if that makes things any better."
Despite everything, his offer made her smile.
"Sure," she said and watched him jump up and hurry into the kitchen. "Thanks for listening though. I think I feel a bit better already."
Instead of souvas, they ate pizza for lunch, as neither of them particularly felt like leaving the house. They played some console games, and to make sure that she would put enough effort into her fights, Fiyero vowed to make her help answer questions on his ace education blog if she were to lose. She did lose, albeit by no more than two points. He still insisted that she should do some work while he sat down for half an hour to write on an article a local queer journal had asked him for.
It was a few minutes past five in the afternoon when they decided to finally get those Vinkun wraps. There was a good takeaway place a few tram stops away. With not much else to do and for the sake of exercise, they agreed to leg it.
"You know," Fiyero started after a while, "I've been thinking about it. As I said, I don't know Elphaba. But could it be that, in the end at least, when everything had calmed down a bit—could it be she was actually more upset with herself?"
Glinda eyed him sceptically.
"She sent me away," she said bitterly. "She didn't want to see me or be around me."
"But maybe not necessarily because you did something wrong," he suggested. "It could be that she'd realised that it was her who was in the wrong, or that she was at least considering the possibility."
"I don't know if this makes much sense," confessed Glinda.
"Would you consider her someone who would find it easy to apologise?"
"No," she replied without having to think on it too long. "She'd easily apologise for stupid things that don't really matter all that much, but not if it's something serious. She wouldn't be used to it in the first place, as she tends to be the one who is right anyway."
"Wouldn't my theory sort of fit then? Hm?"
She still hesitated.
"I don't know."
"I think you should go and see her," he suddenly proposed. "Where does she live anyway?"
"What you mean? Like, now?" Glinda exclaimed. "Are you mad?"
"The matter needs to be sorted before things go really rotten," he insisted.
Glinda would have protested, if the scenario hadn't immediately reminded her of her recent blunder with Fiyero himself. Maybe, he was actually onto something there.
After a few clock-ticks of anxious deliberation and cheek chewing, she caved.
"Fine, I'll call her."
"No," he said firmly and much to Glinda's surprise. "If you call her, she might just stave you off. Go to her place. She's less likely to close her door on you than she is to come up with excuses over the phone."
"But what if she's busy or not at home?" she protested. "I can't just show up like this!"
"If she's busy, she can still spare a few minutes to talk. If she's out, it was at least worth a try."
Glinda crossed her arms and clasped them against her body.
"I don't think I can do this."
"I'll take you there," said Fiyero reassuringly, but firm. "Where does she live?"
"Mennipin Street," she murmured before she could stop herself.
"We'll take the tram."
Fiyero pried loose one of her arms and looped his own through it. Without much ado, he began to stir her in the direction of the nearest stop.
"What about the souvas?" was the only objection she could think of.
"We'll have them next week," he replied. "But I'll have to charge interest."
Mennipin Street was well known to most Emerald City dwellers and it was common knowledge that rent was high. Fiyero had a good idea about the kinds of people who lived there — lawyers, doctors, well to do business men — but was still taken aback when Glinda pointed out the particular house in question.
"Fuck," he said, drawing out the word. "What is she? Some kind of heiress?"
"Surprised?" Glinda quipped drily. "You know my tastes. I mean, you're a prince, right?"
"Well, not the ordinary kind. And most certainly not a wealthy one. Not anymore, that is."
"A prince none the less. And she apparently could one day be the Eminent Thropp of Munchkinland.
She wasn't quite sure why she was suddenly so forthcoming with all this information, but she reckoned the knowledge would be safe with Fiyero. Moreover, the look on his face was totally worth the risk.
"Um, okay then," he said, "There you are. I delivered you as promised, and the rest is up to you."
Hearing him say this, her stomach dropped.
"I don't think I can," she whined once more, turning towards him for mercy, but he only shook his head.
Closing her eyes, she took a moment to gather her resolve. She exhaled shakily.
"Fine. Let's handle this like adults. Thanks for taking me, have a good day."
"Oh, don't worry. I'll wait over there." He gestured at a bench under a quoxwood tree, about thirty odd metres away from the house. "In case she's actually not there"—Glinda smiled gratefully—"or tells you to piss off or to make sure you don't get cold feet and run."
The two final items on his list were greeted with a cold death glare.
"Well good luck."
He waved in parting and made for the bench.
Heart racing and keenly feeling the weight of Fiyero's expectations (and wisdom) on her shoulders, Glinda turned the other way and started to slowly walk towards Elphaba's house. She paused only briefly, then stepped onto the portico and up to the door. Her determination seemed to increase with every move forward, so she made a special point of firmly grasping the doorknock and using it with a tad more force than strictly necessary.
If moving forward had helped to raise her confidence, standing there and waiting fast began to erode it. She felt like her riotously beating heart had dropped to her stomach, and the weird pulsing sensation at the very pit of her abdomen was almost painful.
"Come on Elphie," she muttered impatiently, repetitively shifting her weight from one leg to the other.
Searching for reassurance, she turned her head to find the spot where Fiyero was waiting. He was sitting with his arms folded, nodding at her. At least, if Elphaba wouldn't open the door after all, they could still go and get dinner together. Part of her considered this to be the more preferable outcome.
Yet any hopes for souvas for dinner were soon squashed, when the old door suddenly rattled and swung open.
"Oh, it's you," said Elphaba, seemingly impassive.
Heat rose to Glinda's cheeks and quickly spread from there. She couldn't help it.
"Yes, just me," she replied anxiously. "Is now—Is now a bad—"
Before she could finish her sentence, Elphaba had already stepped aside to grant her entry. Nervous, Glinda caught one last glimpse of Fiyero. He was already on his feet, giving her a thumbs up before turning away and moving on as though he was just another passer-by.
Elphaba did not initially speak but quietly led her to the kitchen.
"I'm sorry if I'm interrupting anything, or if you rather wanted to be left in peace," sputtered Glinda.
Elphaba's silence was unnerving. Without any evidence to the contrary, she had to assume that the green girl was still mad at her.
In the kitchen, she found Chistery in his high chair, playing with a bowl of tomato potage.
"No, no," Elphaba corrected him gently and swiftly rushed to his side to prevent a red, soupy mess. "I'm really not trying to poison you, Chistery. Take a spoonful, then put it in your mouth."
She took the spoon off him, dipped it into the soup and gave it a blow. When she offered him the food, he still shook his head, so she took a small sip from it before trying again. Chistery moved his face closer to the spoon and blew; red droplets splattered everywhere.
"Tomorrow we'll have plain bread for breakfast, lunch and dinner," Elphaba breathed in resignation. She took the bowl and placed it on the kitchen counter. "Would you like any?" she asked Glinda. The blonde looked at her uncertainly, and her eyes fell onto the bowl. "Oh, not this one, of course. There's still plenty in the pot. And some croutons in the pan," she added.
But Glinda shook her head.
"No, thanks. I've already eaten," she lied — for whatever reason she could not tell.
Her friend nodded. She grabbed the pan from the stovetop and poured the remaining bread cubes into a clean bowl, which she then gave to the Monkey. The croutons seemed to be more to his liking than the potage. She flopped down into a chair opposite Chistery. Glinda thought she looked rather tired. She noticed a half-empty bowl next to her.
"I didn't mean to disturb you at dinner," she apologised. "Please. There's no need to let your food grow cold. I can wait in the living room if that helps."
Elphaba looked at her with a puzzled expression, then noticed her bowl.
"Oh," she said and slowly stood again. "Maybe later," she mumbled dismissively and put her bowl next to Chistery's on the counter.
Glinda couldn't have felt more out of place. Perhaps, Fiyero's intuition had not served them well this time. Perhaps it had been a big mistake to come here. Elphaba hardly seemed any more herself than she had the day before. Perhaps, she should have given her more time.
"Elphie?" she began timidly, then cleared her throat to speak a little louder. "I'm sorry about yesterday."
For a moment, Elphaba seemed perplexed by her apology. She studied her carefully, then briskly grabbed the bowls to empty their contents into the sink. She rinsed them very thoroughly before placing them into the dishwasher.
"It was an accident," she said at last, fleetingly glancing at Glinda as she walked over to Chistery to collect his now empty crouton bowl.
She repeated the same procedure she'd previously performed, regardless of the fact that there were no more than a few crumbs left in the bowl.
"How's Chistery doing?" asked Glinda in an effort to break the uncomfortable silence.
Elphaba closed the dishwasher and turned around to lean against it.
"Fine. Same as always. It doesn't seem to have affected him all that much."
Glinda nodded.
"That's good."
Inwardly, the blonde groaned. Elphaba would fall mute again and she herself could think of nothing else to say and keep the conversation running.
Indeed, they remained quiet for a few clock-ticks, but then Elphaba unexpectedly began to speak again on her own accord.
"I called Brrr last night."
Glinda bit her lip. The mention of the Lion's name made her suddenly ashamed for letting him down. She felt the urge to look to the ground, but willed herself to hold Elphaba's gaze instead.
"Was he very angry?" she asked tentatively.
"He apologised for Chistery's unruliness," Elphaba scoffed.
"Huh?"
"He, um,"—Elphaba reached up to scratch her neck—"explicitly asked me to relay his thanks to you."
The blush returned to Glinda's face.
"It wasn't anything you wouldn't have done," she said softly.
"But it was a big step out of your comfort zone and something you had no obligation to do," replied Elphaba matter of factly, sounding very emotionally detached from the conversation, as if it were all some kind of hypothetical thought experiment. It was irritating.
"Well, it was my fault he got into this mess in the first place!" she insisted.
"It was an accident," reiterated Elphaba, at least somewhat more energetically this time.
"At any rate, couldn't have just let this little guy drown now, could I?" retorted Glinda stubborn, crossing her arms and tilting her head. "It's not like I don't care about him."
Elphaba's eyes fixed Glinda more intently now. She readjusted her posture, then smiled slightly.
"What?" Glinda demanded, almost worried.
"Nothing," said Elphaba, clearing her throat. It seemed to Glinda that she was trying to stop smiling, yet if that was the case, she was failing miserably. "Desert?" she asked as she turned towards the freezer in search of something sweet.
"Uh yes, okay," agreed Glinda.
While she was still unsure what exactly had just happened, she could feel that at least some of the tension had lifted. Sharing food together now seemed like the next suitable step towards normalcy. There wasn't much talking, but Chistery's antics provided enough entertainment to keep the atmosphere light.
After they had finished, it was time for the Monkey to get ready for bed.
"This will take a while," Elphaba told Glinda. "You might have to take the tram home." She paused. "Unless you'd like to hang around. We could have a glass of wine or a cup of coffee once I'm done, and I could drive you home after that. But I'm not sure if that's worth the wait."
"I'll take the wine," Glinda decided promptly and smiled.
"Okay. Cool," said Elphaba nodding.
With that, she picked up Chistery and told him to say goodbye to their guest. Glinda made herself comfortable on the couch in the living room. Playing with her phone, she contemplated sending Fiyero an update, but at a second thought, she had no idea what she was supposed to tell him. It would probably be better to wait until the end of this peculiar evening.
When Elphaba returned, she brought a bottle of Vinkun sauvignon blanc and two glasses with her.
"I opened one of the better bottles," she said. "To make it worth your wait."
Once again, Glinda blushed, hoping the dim light would hide it. She would have waited without any prospect of noble wine or anything really, except a few more minutes with Elphaba. Naturally, she kept these thoughts to herself.
They talked almost as if nothing had happened, and for about an hour, Glinda felt very content. Then it was time to leave. They both would have to work on Monday, although Elphaba had managed to wrangle a few days of home office duty from Avaric. Glinda suggested that she could take the tram after all, seeing as Chistery would be alone at home otherwise. But Elphaba assured her that he was a good sleeper and that the door to his room would be locked at night anyway, for safety reasons. His room itself was fairly Monkey proof without any obvious hazards.
When they stopped in front of Glinda's apartment building, Elphaba shut down the engine and pulled the key to accompany her to the door.
"You don't have to do this, Elphie," the blonde giggled, although she could hardly deny her delight.
Elphaba said nothing in reply, simply walking beside her.
They arrived at the door and Glinda rummaged in her handbag for the key
"Found it," she eventually laughed after taking ridiculously long.
She looked up and straight into Elphaba's eyes. The other girl seemed to have been watching her attentively the entire time. She swallowed.
"I guess there's no point asking whether you'd like to come upstairs," she chuckled nervously.
A smile tugged at the corners of Elphaba's mouth, but she shook her head.
This was Glinda's cue to say goodnight to her friend and open the door, but somehow she could not speak. Instead, she continued staring at Elphaba and her dark brown eyes. There was something new about her. It was strange, but also intriguing and appealing. Glinda couldn't tell if it truly hadn't been there before, or if she'd simply not seen it before. Regardless, it drew her in, making her want to make the moment last forever.
At least for a brief while that was. While her body seemed unable to perform as it should, her mind was only slightly clouded, not at all incapacitated. Eventually, she realised what she was doing, what she was feeling and that everyone — Fiyero, Crope, Tibbett — had been right all along.
She hastily lowered her gaze and began to anxiously play with her keys.
"Alright then. Goodnight, Elphie," she said, looking up again, but without raising her head much.
She took a step backwards and began to push the key into its hole.
"Night," replied Elphaba, dipping her head lightly and retreating slowly.
Glinda turned around fully to work on the lock, but stopped short before she could unlock it.
"Elphaba?" she called, whirling back around.
The girl in question stopped in her tracks, turned to face her and cocked her head curiously.
"Yes?"
"Just one… last thing," Glinda almost stammered, feeling stupid now for calling after her. "When is your birthday?"
"That's a bit random," Elphaba laughed. "It's July twenty-third, although I don't see why that's so important out of the sudden."
"Oh, I guess it's not," Glinda murmured, barely loud enough for Elphaba to hear. "It just occurred to me that I didn't know. And what would I do if one day I showed up at your place and it was actually your birthday, and I didn't even have a box of chocolate or wine or something. Right?"
It took Elphaba a moment to reply to that.
"True. Fair point," she said and Glinda immediately could hear that she was teasing her.
"Stop mocking me, Miss Elphaba," she cried in a bit of a huff. "Otherwise there very well might be no birthday presents for you this year!"
"But I never asked for any!" argued Elphaba, shrugging her shoulders.
"No of course you didn't," Glinda said under her breath, then a little louder, "Oh, whatever! Go already, it's late!
Elphaba waved and began walking again — a few steps backwards, then she turned around.
"Night, my sweet. Fresh dreams!"
Glinda remained rooted to her spot in front of the door until Elphaba disappeared into her car. When she heard the engine jump to life, she finally spun around to slip into the building. Once inside, she rested her back against the door. She covered her face with her hands. How could she have been such a fool!
