Chapter Seven: Ready?

Glinda didn't bother knocking on the door; she just flung it open. "Elphie, you forgot something! Fiyero was kind enough to bring it back for you." She announced.

Elphaba was lying on her stomach on the bed, her face buried in her one, thin, almost feather-less pillow. Her skirt was up to the back of her knees and Fiyero studied her calves for a moment before he realized he was staring. She didn't look up at them; she simply shook her head, her hair weaving all over the pillow.

Glinda looked at Fiyero with raised eyebrows. "What happened, anyway?"

Fiyero shook his head indicating that he really didn't think it a good time to answer that question.

She understood and said loudly, "I'm going to go wash up. I'll just grab my nightgown. It'll be a while." And with a blonde swish of curls, Glinda left the room.

"Well," Fiyero said, "this is uncomfortable enough." He had only taken a few steps in from the doorway and stood there gawkily holding Elphaba's sweater.

"Yes, it is. So why did you come up here?" Elphaba replied, flipping over and starting to sit up, brushing her hair away from her face.

"Here," he grabbed the first opportunity he could to sit next to her on the bed. Carefully, he helped wipe her hair away from her eyes. "I'll help." Fiyero ran his hands through one strand of her hair thoughtfully before she scooted away. "Elphaba, you're going to have to talk to me. We have to work together, still, you know."

"Don't remind me," she muttered. "I can't talk to you." Elphaba turned her head and twiddled her fingers feebly.

"Elphaba, you don't have to come up with an excuse. I'm not mad at you for what you did." Fiyero tried.

"I am." She murmured. "I've never done that before in my life."

"What? Kissed someone or been kissed at all?"

"At all." She answered using minimal words. "I didn't really expect I ever would."

She wasn't one to admit this sort of thing. He figured she must be so disheveled and upset that she couldn't control what came out of her mouth. "Elphaba, it's okay. It's not like it was bad."

"But I… you… don't like… I didn't want to… I just… you said I… and it just… want to… I…" She was stuttering helplessly.

"Elphaba, shh." He moved closer to her and took her hand. "I'm actually kind of glad you did that."

Finally she faced him. "Why?" Her hand remained in his, though it was limp and she did not clasp his hand the way he did hers.

"Because now we've got this out in the open."

"What's 'this'?"

"How we feel about each other."

"Whoever said I felt anything about you?" Elphaba whispered, unable to put the fierceness behind the words that she would've liked to.

"You kissed me. I think that says something."

She finally gained the power to tear her hand away. "You said something nice. No one has ever said something nice to me like that before, I didn't know how to react. That doesn't mean I…"

"Like me?" Fiyero finished.

"Right."

"It doesn't mean you do, but you do." He dared.

"What in Oz makes you say that? How dare you think you can tell me how I feel?" She snapped.

"Because I feel the same and I'm acting just like you are." Fiyero laughed softly.

Elphaba shuddered. "Just because two people have similar behavior doesn't mean they feel the exact same thing." She would not give in, and cursed her body for shivering so.

"Elphaba, please. Why can't you just admit it?"

"Why can't you get over yourself?" She spat. "Do you think you're that irresistible, Fiyero? Have you thought that all along? Did you only offer to take me to that ball because you knew I…" She covered her mouth with her hand, horrified.

"Knew you what, Elphaba?"

"Knew… that I would have a bad time, so you decided to make it worse?"

"How did I make it worse, Elphaba?"

"By being so damned sweet!" She hissed.

He only stared at her.

"Stop that. Don't look at me that way."

"Why not?"

"It makes me feel bad."

"Maybe you should." Fiyero pressed. "Elphaba, you didn't have a bad time. You told me so yourself. I did not make it worse, you told me that, too. What is the problem?"

"The problem is that I kissed you and I didn't mean to."

"Didn't mean to or didn't want to?"

"Why do you have to keep playing with my words to get me to say things that I'm just not willing or prepared to say, Fiyero?"

"I think you're more than set to say what you need to say."

"I don't!"

"Look, Elphaba, tell me, please, how you feel about me. That's all I want you to do."

She breathed deeply and eyed him. "All right. I think I can do that."

"Good. Go ahead."

"I think you're a very nice person and that I shouldn't have been so rude earlier tonight. I think you're very charitable for escorting me and I appreciate your time very much."

"I told you I wanted to. Why are you suddenly digressing?"

"Stop it!" She cried. "Leave me alone! I can't face all of this. You don't understand."

"I understand everything, Elphaba." Fiyero said calmly. "I wish you'd just explain it to me better, so I can be sure."

"Why do you need to know? What's so important about it? What difference does it make to you, Fiyero?"

"Since you won't take it any other way, no matter how obvious I've made it or implied it in my words, I'll say it. I like you. And yes, I like you like that. Now you have to accept that. You can't just pretend to be stupid."

"How do you read me so well?" She asked, hanging her head.

"I don't know. There are a lot of things I can read about you that I'm not good at seeing in other people. I wish you'd state them so I can have certainty, though."

"What do you want me to state?" She was becoming more tranquil now.

"Whether or not you feel the same way about me."

"No one feels the same about anything, never the exact same."

Exasperated, he tried again. "I'd like you to tell me whether or not you like me, too."

"Oh." She acted as if she hadn't known his purpose all along. "Well, as I said, I think you're a very nice person…"

"Cut the bullshit, Elphaba."

"Okay, then. You want to know? I do. Now you can leave. Thank you for bringing my sweater back. That was very kind of you." She pulled the sweater off of his arm (it had been hanging there since before he'd walked in) and hid her face in it, waving him towards the door with her free hand.

"I don't think that's how it's supposed to work, Elphaba."

"Things don't go how they're supposed to with me, don't you know?" She replied, her voice muffled by the thin cloth of her sweater.

"That's true." He chuckled lightly.

She couldn't muster the strength to glare or turn his comment around. "So are you going to leave now?"

"Actually, not yet. I'd like to ask you if you'd go out with me."

"Then ask." She answered, avoiding voicing anything as much as possible.

"Will you go out with me?"

She finally pulled the fabric away from her face and looked at him despondently. "Fiyero, I really don't mean to be rude, but I don't think I'm ready for any of that. I'm sorry. Even if I do feel some sort of attraction to you, I'm not sure I'm prepared to be in a relationship. Please don't let this affect our friendship and our work. I just can't."

He nodded and gently touched her hand. "I can't argue with that. Well, good night, Elphaba. I hope this wasn't absolutely terrible."

"Not absolutely," she smiled weakly.

Fiyero turned and left the room, running into Glinda in her nightclothes. "How'd it go?" The blonde asked eagerly.

"She rejected me." Fiyero said simply.

"What? I was sure she had a crush on you!"

"She does. But she claims she's not ready for a boyfriend. I can't blame her."

"She's just afraid." Glinda said determinedly, "I'll talk to her."

"You don't have to."

"I will."

Fiyero only shrugged and headed half-heartedly down the stairs. His mind was blank and he'd decided to give up thinking too much more for the evening.

Glinda bounded into the room and tackled Elphaba, who had hidden her face in her hands and was shaking lightly. "What were you thinking, you dolt?"

"I was thinking reasonably!" Elphaba snapped, forgetting her anguish. "I can't get involved with someone. I'm not ready."

"You're nineteen and you're not ready to date? What's wrong with you? When will you ever be ready to, then?"

"I don't know!"

"Exactly. You never know until you try, Elphaba. You can't just reject him this way. He looked so sad when he walked down that hall, Elphie. I thought he might cry."

"Boys don't cry," Elphaba muttered, "and neither do I."

"I don't know what you're getting at, but I really think you need to give him a chance."

"It's too late now, isn't it? I just turned him down. Now leave me alone!"

"Fine." Glinda hopped into her own bed, pulled the ruffled blankets up to her chin and closed her eyes.

Elphaba wasn't ready to go to sleep yet. She stared out the window nearest her bed and considered that, yet again, the blonde girl might just be right.