"I really enjoy spending time with you, Elphie." He said the next time they went out. "I mean that."

She allowed him to take her hand as they walked away from the building and headed towards the café, where they were going to eat. "Thanks." Shivering slightly, she slid into the seat across from him.

"What do you want to eat?"

"Oh, I don't know. Whatever you're having, I guess."

Her eyes weren't brown, he noted, they were copper, shimmering and beautiful copper. As they ate, he couldn't help but look into her eyes, examining the color and what it was, exactly, that made them so stunning. When they'd finished eating, he didn't want to let her go right away so he said, "Would you like to take a walk around town center with me?"

"All right."

He took her hand in his firmly. "What are we?" He asked her as they walked.

"What do you mean?"

"We've gone out twice now. Are we friends? Are we dating? Are we something in between?"

She had the sudden urge to act girlish, out of character. Sweetly, she said, "We're whatever you want us to be."

"Whatever I want?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Don't think like that!"

"Like what?"

"You know."

Letting go of her hand and starting to jog, he headed towards a bare field, "Maybe I do, and maybe I don't. But you'll never know unless you catch me."

She ran after him, keeping a steady pace only inches behind him. "I'm going to get you. I am." Laughing, she trotted through the grass.

Thunder boomed above their heads and he turned around, running backwards. "Keep telling yourself that."

She'd stopped running and was looking around frantically.

"What? Elphaba?" Then he remembered her problem with water. He ran up to her and took her hand. "It hasn't started yet. Let's get you inside."

"I'll never make it to my dorm."

"Come on, in here." He dragged her into the first building he found.

"But Fiyero, don't you know that's the…"

They were standing among a large group of people dancing sensuously.

"… Philosophy Club." She finished.

"It was the closest place. Do you want to get soaked?" He asked her.

"No, but, we're… here."

"Let's see if there's anywhere in the dirty hellhole of a place where we can just sit and talk alone." Fiyero pulled her with him and asked the dwarf serving drinks, "Is there any place that two people can get some privacy around here?"

The dwarf raised his eyebrows but pointed across the room where several doors were lined up along the wall. Five out of the seven doors had signs on them that said, "occupied," but two had signs that said, "vacant".

Fiyero led Elphaba into one of the vacant rooms and turned the sign around. Looking around the room, he saw a grungy bed that looked overused, a couch, several pieces of furniture that he was sure had uses, just nothing he was familiar with, a dresser and on top of it a bottle of some strange-smelling potion. "Are you all right?"

Elphaba looked shaken. "That dwarf is probably thinking that we're…"

"Who cares? Would you rather be outside in the rain?"

She shook her head. "Sorry for ruining our night."

"What?"

"It's my fault we're stuck in here. If it weren't for my reaction to the rain, we could be doing whatever we wanted right now."

"The only thing I want to do tonight is be with you, and so far that's worked out, even if not in the most convenient of places." He told her.

She sat on the couch, shivering, having thrown off her slightly damp cloak and hung it on the door handle. "This place is disgusting."

"I know. I wish it were something else that was just around the corner, but we're out of luck." He sat down next to her. "Are you cold?"

"No."

He gently, as not to alarm her, held her close to him. When her shivering eased up, she didn't move away and simply rested her head on his shoulder instead. Comfortingly, he squeezed her shoulders. "We'll be out of here in no time. It'll stop raining soon enough."

She spotted the window and squinted to see out, shaking her head. "I could be stuck in here all night."

"You? What do you mean just you? If you think I'm going to leave you here, you have a lot to learn. I wouldn't do that to you, Elphie."

"Thank you."

He kissed her forehead and she flinched a little, but not enough to pull away. "It's going to be fine, don't worry."

They sat for a while in silence, and her eyelids began to droop. "I'm so tired," she muttered.

"Do you want to sleep on the bed? You're welcome to."

"On that thing? No way. Oz only knows what's gone on in that bed."

He laughed. "If you want me to get up and let you fall asleep right here, that's fine."

"No, sit here with me. You make a good pillow."

"Thanks, I think."

Curling up closer to him, she closed her eyes. "Wake me up if it stops raining."

She woke up later that night to find Fiyero asleep and the rain still falling. Yawning, she got up to take a better look out the window.

"Elphie?" Her movement had woken Fiyero.

"Right here." She said quietly.

He joined her at the window. "It looks like it might be dying down a little."

"Maybe."

"Are you feeling okay?"

"I guess. This is just a little… weird, to say the least."

"What? Being stuck here with me?"

She nodded.

"Weird doesn't have to mean bad, does it?"

"No, of course not."

He put an arm around her and she nuzzled her head against his neck tenderly.

"I feel so… not me right now."

"Why?"

"Do you think I normally fall asleep curled up comfortably next to an unusually beautiful boy… young man, whatever?"

"I guess not. And no complimenting me until you allow me to compliment you."

She sighed but shrugged and played with her bony fingers. "I guess I have to listen to you, then. But I won't believe it."

"That's good enough for now." He said contentedly. Getting up to glance out the window, he said, "Look!"

Elphaba smiled excitedly. "It stopped raining. Thank Oz for that."

"Let me walk you to your dorm."

"Thank you."

As they stepped outside, Fiyero asked, "So, next weekend, any plans?"

"I don't think so."

"Do you want to go out again?"

"I would like nothing better."

He was still confused about what to call their relationship. "We're dating, right?"

"Yes."

"So that would make you my girlfriend?"

"I guess." I have a boyfriend. I am someone's girlfriend. The thought was odd to Elphaba, but she liked it. She liked it a lot.

"Good." He took her hand and they walked back to her dorm in silence. When they reached her dorm, he said, "Well, I guess I've got to let you go here."

"Yeah, you do." Elphaba looked at him shyly. Suddenly, she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tight. "Thank you for a good time. Even if we did get stuck in the Philosophy Club."

"Good night," he said, and leaned down to kiss her, her hand still in his.

She stepped backwards and her nails dug into his hand, not sure what was compelling her to do so. When she let go of his hand, she looked up at him pathetically. Elphaba was terrified, but not of Fiyero; she was horrified with herself. "I'm sorry. I mean to… I don't know what I meant to do. I…"

Fiyero, feeling rejected, replied, "It's all right. I'll see you another time." He turned around and walked away.

"It's not all right. I didn't plan on… I… Fiyero!" But he didn't turn around. Sadly, she trudged inside and headed to her dorm.

Glinda was asleep when she got in and she went to sleep without any disturbance. Well, excepting the fact that she couldn't quite forgive herself for what she'd just done and the awful behavior she had displayed.

Her dreams were fitful. She'd been walking through a forest on her own, searching for something… someone? And ahead of her she saw Fiyero, his back turned to her. She cried out for him but got no response. She ran towards him but she never seemed to get any closer. Her dream faded then and in her second dream, she was in the Philosophy Club, dancing with Fiyero. She tried to talk to him, but he didn't seem to know she existed. She tugged at his clothes, but then she realized it wasn't really her he was dancing with, it was someone else. And then she tried to kiss him and he shoved her to the floor, in tears.

She awoke to Glinda looking at her expectantly. "How was your date?"

Elphaba grimaced in the sunlight, remembering the previous night's events. "Hell."

"Oh, come on. Tell me."

"Hell. I mean it. It was HELL."

"How?"

She sat up wearily. "Well, first we were stuck in the Philosophy Club for hours."

"You were stuck WHERE?"

"You heard me. We'd been outside when it began to storm and it was the closest place with a roof. What else could we have done?"

"Oh." Glinda looked interested. "Nothing happened, right?"

"I fell asleep."

"You fell asleep on a date? What kind of etiquette is that?"

"It didn't stop raining for a long time. It got late. Of course I was tired."

"Did anything go right?"

"Yes. It stopped raining before morning."

"And he walked you back again?"

"Yes."

"Did he kiss you?"

"Not exactly."

"You pushed him away again, didn't you?"

"I don't know what came over me. It was bad. Something tells me that he and I may not go out again, though we said we would."

"No. You two said you would and I'll make sure you do, even if it's the last thing that ever happens in my life!"

"Forget about it."

"How can you say that? I will not let you give up on him, Elphie. He adores you."

"Right."

"You just have to let him kiss you."

"I can't!"

"Yes, you can."

"Glinda, I'm nineteen and I've never been kissed before. I don't even know what to do, how to act."

"You're not supposed to know. There's nothing to know. It's so much better when it happens that way, anyway."

"You know?"

Glinda only shrugged and said, "Elphaba, please don't give it up. Everyone needs someone sometime."

When the usual group went out for their dinner Sunday night, Glinda demanded a round of ERS. "We need a rematch. Fiyero and Elphie won that last match way too easily. I don't think it was fair."

Elphaba looked at Glinda, knowing exactly what she was doing. Part of her was grateful for the chance to talk to Fiyero and part of her wanted to whack Glinda over the head with a giant stick. When Fiyero sat down next to her, she said nervously, "Hey."

"Hello." He was silent.

"So, same code?" Elphaba stared at her hands in her lap.

Glinda was watching them. The way the light hit Elphaba's hair made her look like she was glowing. She whispered across the table. "Elphie, you look so pretty just there."

Elphaba smiled and said, "No. No I don't."

Fiyero put a hand over Elphaba's. "No rejecting compliments. That's a rule. You can't break a rule."

"Yes, I can."

"Then I deserve to break one in return." He told her.

"Fine."

Sliding a hand into her hair, he whispered, "You are beautiful," and then kissed her.

At first, she had no idea how to react. But her arms settled around his neck, pulling him closer to her as they kissed. She responded, kissing him back fiercely. When he let go, she was breathless. "That's no rule anymore."

Grinning, he said, "Good," and kissed her again.