Elphaba stared at Fiyero throughout the whole lesson. Never had she been this distracted during class. There he was, handsome as ever, and to her surprise, taking notes. He glanced her way, his eyes catching hers immediately, she quickly looked away. What was with this feeling? This longing to be near him? To go talk to him and laugh with him, be held by him...
"Elphaba, class just ended." said a voice in her ear. She jumped and whirled around and n early hit Lucas in the face.
"Oh, I didn't notice." said Elphaba distantly as she gathered her books.
"Yeah, you don't notice a lot of things lately." said Lucas in a voice Elphaba couldn't quite decipher.
"Ever since Galinda and Fiyero broke up, you've been acting differently. It's like he broke up with you!" Lucas said. Elphaba ignored him as she strode out of class. Lucas sighed and followed after her. He hadn't been the only one to notice the change in Elphaba. Galinda noticed too, and felt more and more like a monster with each passing day. Fiyero had been acting strangely too. He used to never be seen without a smile on his face, now it was rare if he ever was smiling, if only half-heartedly.
"Elphaba, I want you to tell me why you're so miserable." said Galinda one day as Elphaba came in and immediately started studying.
"Galinda, we've been through this before. I am perfectly fine." said Elphaba.
"No you're not. Elphie, just tell me, is it because of Fiyero?" said Galinda softly. Elphaba nearly chocked.
"What? No." said Elphaba quickly. Those rushed, embarrassed words were enough to tell Galinda what she'd done.
"Oh Elphie, I'm so sorry!" she wailed all of a sudden. Elphie stared at her in shock, bewildered.
"Galinda, whatever for?" asked Elphaba. Galinda acted so bipolar sometimes...
"I didn't ask you to stop talking to Fiyero because he'd just broken up with me. I was jealous Elphie, he's in love with you and that's why he ended it with me! And you are obviously in love with him and I was worried that if you two were together you'd forget all about me and then I'd be all alone. Oh it was so selfish and horrible of me! I took away one of your friendships and your chance at love and made you miserable. And oh I feel so terrible!" Galinda continued to wail endlessly. Elphaba thought over this as soon as this new information registered.
"You, didn't want me to be happy?" asked Elphaba, "You'd rather I just cut off all of my friendships for you so that you aren't lonely? You who have millions of friends?"
"Yes, but Elphie, none of my other friends are like you!" Galinda cried. What she'd done sounded so much words when Elphaba worded it that way.
"I don't want to hear it Galinda." said Elphaba stiffly, "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go speak with Fiyero." With that she stood and strode out the door, shutting it loudly behind her.
************
Ever since Elphaba had stopped talking to him, Fiyero had taken to drinking. True, it wasn't healthy and he was building up an addiction he didn't need nor want. But the alcohol always drained him of his thoughts, his thoughts about her. The alcohol had made him mean sometimes and in bad moods. The slightest thing would set him off. He wandered over to Suicide Canal, beer bottle in hand and sat on a rock, staring into nothingness and thinking of nothing because the alcohol had drained him of thought. However, he was not too drunk to not hear the words coming from a group of boys behind him. They were talking about Elphaba. Insulting her and making fun of her. Feeling his blood boil, Fiyero threw the bottle down and stood up. The alcohol made his reactions stronger and he was angered more easily. It made him bold, violent and vengeful. He stormed over to the boys, punching one square in the jaw. He fell back and glared fiercely at Fiyero, punching him in return. Soon a fight was raging and Fiyero in blind fury was punching the crap out of the guy whilst yelling threats if he ever talked about Elphaba in that way again. When his nose started to bleed from one of Fiyero's punches, the other boys pulled Fiyero away and accidently ended up shoving him off of the cliff. He fell and hit the water below in the hurricane of a river. The river pulled him downstream, but he got caught in the large boulders in the river. Sharper rocks cut his arms and legs. As the water pounded against him, forcing him harder and harder into the boulder he was trapped behind, he could feel his bones breaking. Then his head crashed into the boulder, sending him into unconsciousness and he began to go under.
The boys that had shoved him, peered over the side of the cliff. No sign of Fiyero, but they saw a sickening red tinge mix into the water making it bloody and gruesome. They quickly ran for help and a medical carriage was there immediately along with the authorities who questioned the boys.
********************
Elphaba was heading for Fiyero's dorm, when she saw a large commotion going on by Suicide Canal. She went over to investigate and nearly fainted at the sight before her. Fiyero, handsome, gorgeous, caring Fiyero was covered in blood, unconscious and barely breathing as he was hauled by the medical men into the medical carriage. Elphaba ran forward and jumped into the medical carriage just before the doors shut. She sat beside Fiyero and noticed that he was sopping wet. She reached out to touch him, only to burn her fingertips slightly and had to pull her hand back. The carriage began moving down the road at top speed.
"What happened?" she asked, not looking away from Fiyero as the men rushed to him to stop the bleeding.
"Got in a fight with some other boys, ending up getting himself shoved off the side of Suicide Canal into that rushing river." said one of the doctors in the carriage as he wrapped a temporary bandage around Fiyero's arm.
"What were they fighting about?" asked Elphaba. She'd never figured Fiyero to be a particularly violent person, the Fiyero she knew avoided violence at all costs.
"A girl if you can believe it." scoffed the man, "I reckon it was you." he nodded at Elphaba, noticing her attachment to Fiyero and her beauty. The man figured it probably wasn't hard to get into a fight over a girl like that. Elphaba said nothing as she continued to gaze at Fiyero, hoping beyond everything that he would survive this. They arrived at the hospital quickly and Elphaba followed behind them quickly as they rushed him into the ER.
She stayed in the small room outside of the ER for 2 hours, counting the slow seconds as they ticked by. She didn't remember falling asleep, but she was awakened suddenly by one of the doctor's.
"Hey, Fiyero's out of the ER. Do you want to go see him?" he asked. Elphaba rubbed her eyes and nodded as she stood up.
"Is he alright?" asked Elphaba.
"He should be fine. His injuries aren't as bad as they could be and many appear worse than they really are. He's had a lot of alcohol and it's affected him some, but not much. Don't worry." said the doctor.
"Alcohol? Fiyero doesn't drink." said Elphaba.
"According to the tests, he started drinking 2 or 3 weeks ago." said the doctor, "Most people drink when they go into depression or are hit by sudden grief. Is there anything that has happened to him recently that could cause such a fierce reaction, resorting to alcohol?" asked the doctor. Elphaba shook her head but didn't answer. 2 or 3 weeks ago, that was when she'd stopped talking to him, but that wasn't enough to cause this...was it?
"Hmmm....perhaps peer pressure?" the doctor thought aloud. Elphaba followed the doctor down the white halls, passing other patients rooms. They got to the end of the hall and the doctor opened the door for her and let her in, then left them alone. Elphaba carefully approached him. He was sleeping, or resting. His eyes were closed, but his breathing was back to normal. Elphaba stood next to his bed and gently stroked a hand across his face. The feeling of his skin on hers was sending electric currents through her body. She pulled a chair over to the side of his bed and sat down and began to speak to him. Telling him how he'd nearly scared her to death and how much she really cared about him. Told him about Galinda and that she was sorry. He couldn't hear her, but she decided this was good practice. Because she had every intention of telling him everything when he woke up.
***********************************
The next day when Fiyero woke up, he saw Elphaba leaning over him, he felt her hand on the side of his face and saw the concern and relief in his eyes.
"What are you doing here?" he muttered, "You hate me."
"Fiyero, I could never hate you." said Elphaba softly.
"Yes you could, and you do." Fiyero argued.
"Yero...." Elphaba sighed and sat back down in her seat, "How are you feeling?" she asked.
"Fine." said Fiyero, he carefully sat up, wincing as the bruises on his back attacked his stretching muscles. So perhaps Elphaba didn't hate him. She'd come to the hospital to see him, didn't that mean something? Plus she'd told him she could never hate him. The concern in her eyes was unmistakably sincere and he thought he saw another emotion mixed in there, but he was too drowsy to tell what it was.
"Fiyero, I'm sorry for ignoring you and not speaking to you for the past few weeks." said Elphaba, looking down, "Galinda told me she needed me and that it would be too hard for her to be near you and she needed me to stay with her. So I did. But yesterday she told me that she had done that out of jealousy and she didn't want me to be friends with you because she wanted me to be my only friend. There were other reasons for her actions too, but I don't feel I need to mention those."
"So, you never hated me?" asked Fiyero.
"Never." Elphaba said, looking back up to meet his eyes. Suddenly, it dawned on Fiyero that it was now or never. He sat up straighter and cleared his throat. He figured that when he told her, she wouldn't slap him because he was currently injured. And she wouldn't be too hard on him if she didn't return his feelings because she was sympathetic and again, he was injured and she cared about him.
"Elphaba, I need to tell you something." said Fiyero slowly. Elphaba stood up and came closer to his bed.
"Yes?" she asked.
"I--" Fiyero became nervous, his bravery failing him, so before he lost his nerve, he just blurted it all out as fast as he could, "Elphaba, care for you more than you could ever understand. When you stopped speaking to me I didn't know what to do, it was like a part of me had died. Living without you was like living in hell. I broke up with Galinda because I'd fallen for you and I've had feelings for you since I first saw you, I didn't break up with Galinda sooner because I thought you'd stop talking to me (which you did) but finally I couldn't handle dating her while I wanted you. And you were always telling me how perfect I was with her and it broke my heart every time and I couldn't take it anymore, so I ended it with her. I know you probably don't like me at all but I've never felt this way about anyone before and...." Fiyero stopped to take a breath, "In short....Elphaba, I—I love you." Elphaba stared at him for a moment, shocked. Fiyero...loved her? Her? She gazed at Fiyero and saw the nervousness and disappointment in his eyes. She figured he must have sensed rejection. She was quick to correct him.
"Yero," said Elphaba softly.
"It's ok, you don't have to explain or anything, I just wanted you to know." he muttered, staring at his hands.
"Yero, look at me." Elphaba said. Fiyero slowly raised his head and his eyes locked with hers.
"Do you honestly think I would reject you?" asked Elphaba, laughing softly, "Fiyero, I love you." Elphaba said. Fiyero couldn't believe his ears, but he instantly took her face in his hand, leaned forward and kissed her as passionately as he could. He was surprised when she kissed him back, but he thoroughly enjoyed it. Slowly her lips parted and he hastily deepened the kiss. It was sensational, there was nothing like it, he could kiss her until he died for all he cared. His hand went to the back of her neck and he pulled her closer as her fingers tangled into his hair. Suddenly the door opened and there was a loud gasp from the doorway. Elphaba and Fiyero reluctantly pulled away from each other, but smiled like at each other, with wordless understanding and communication. Then they looked to see who had entered.
***************
Galinda stood there, frozen. She shouldn't have been surprised really. There Elphaba and Fiyero were, making out in the hospital room and Galinda couldn't seem to keep a hold of herself as her heart shattered. She felt her heart tighten as emotional pain began to flow through her. But Elphaba and Fiyero were in love. Elphaba deserved this. And Galinda owed it to her to let her be in love and be loved without making her feel guilty about it. So she sighed and threw on a false smile.
"Well go on, don't let me stop you." she said cheerfully, adding a giggle for good measure. Elphaba and Fiyero grinned. Elphaba mouthed the words 'thank you' just before Fiyero pulled her to him and they started back right where they'd left off and began kissing again. Elphaba had never experienced something so sensational and wonderful. She'd never kissed a boy before, nor had a boy ever kissed her. Only Fiyero could make her first kiss this wonderful. Only Fiyero could make her fall in love. Only Fiyero could love her as she was. And it would always be only Fiyero who held her heart.