Chapter Fourteen: The Date
It did warm up, and quite quickly, the way Boq had predicted. Before long, Elphaba and Fiyero were picnicking for their first "date".
Glinda practically followed Elphaba out the door. "Oh, Elphie, your first date! Are you sure I can't come along just to make sure you don't do something stupid?"
"Glinda, I think the point of a date is so that Fiyero and I have some time alone." Elphaba hurriedly shut the door and walked down the stairs, nervous in her own way. Seeing Fiyero, she smiled shyly. "Hey."
"Hi." He said quietly. "Ready?" He held up the basket. "I made lunch…"
Elphaba brought a basket out from behind her back. "So did I…"
"Well, good. We won't be short of food, that's for sure."
"So," she said, as they began to walk.
"So."
"What do you want to talk about?"
"I don't know."
"Neither do I."
Fiyero rolled his eyes. "I think of all these things I want to say to you, and now they've just all… flown away. Elphie?"
"Don't call me that!"
"Sorry." He said sheepishly.
Feeling bad, she threw him a smile. "It's all right."
He was relieved. "Good. I wouldn't want to make you angry, Elphaba."
"I'd hope not." After a small pause, she said, "So, what are you and Boq doing for the life sciences project?"
"How inanimate objects become animate," Fiyero answered, pleased that she had asked. "Like those antlers."
She laughed. "It never struck me that you two would end up doing something like that. I'll be you can guess what I'm doing, can't you?"
"Yes. I'd assume you're doing something on animals and Animals and such? Am I right?"
"How'd you ever guess?" She teased.
"Well, it was difficult." He grinned when she laughed, as well. "Here we are." Carefully, he laid out a blanket across the grass of the park where they'd decided to picnic. "After you," he gestured for her to sit down.
She looked around. The grass, brown only weeks before, had become greener recently, and she found it humorous how close it came, at times, to the color of her skin. "Everything's so new looking," she commented.
"It's nice."
"Beautiful."
Bravely, he said, "Kind of like you."
She flushed a forest green a looked away. "Anyway, back to what we were saying…"
Fiyero sighed, but went along with her for his own safety. "Yes. What were we saying?"
"I don't know," she admitted.
"That could be a problem," he told her.
"It could. Or we could just talk about something else." She suggested.
"We could. Or we could eat."
"That would be a good idea," she acknowledged, beginning to rummage through her basket. "I didn't know what you like, so I made peanut butter and jelly." She held out a sandwich
Fiyero snorted, which threw Elphaba off until he pulled a similar sandwich out of his things. "I didn't know what you'd like, either."
They both laughed, and the tension began to disappear. Relaxing somewhat, Elphaba brushed her hair behind her ears and accepted the sandwich Fiyero had offered her as he accepted what she had. "Thanks, I think."
He nodded lightly and took a bite into the sandwich she'd given him. "This is good." He tried to compliment her.
"It's a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, Fiyero. It doesn't take much skill." She raised her eyebrows.
He shrugged, realizing his mistake. "Well, it's still good."
She giggled. "Whatever you say."
"Boq didn't know," Fiyero said after a moment.
"Didn't know what?"
"About us."
"Us?"
"You know, that we're dating."
"And you told him?"
"Are you mad?"
"No, of course not." Elphaba said. "I don't get mad over everything. Don't be so afraid of me, Fiyero."
"If I was afraid of you, would I be here?"
"I don't know, but you certainly seem to act like you're stepping on eggshells. You don't have to. You shouldn't have to."
"I know that," he assured her, "really."
"Good."
"He finds it amusing."
"What? Boq?"
"Yeah."
Elphaba shrugged. "Well, he would. He finds everything I do amusing." She finished her sandwich and wiped her hands on a napkin.
Fiyero realized that they'd planned nothing more to do. He wanted to spend more time with her, so he desperately slipped his hand over hers across the blanket. "Elphaba, I really like you."
"Okay." She shivered. His touched had both alarmed and pleased her. "I really like you, too."
He didn't know what he'd wanted to hear, but that had been near enough. He smiled vibrantly at her. "I'm glad we went out today. Even if it was kind of short…"
"It doesn't have to be," Elphaba found herself saying, nervously slipping her hand out of his. "I mean, if you want to do something else, we can."
This brightened his mood, though her taking her hand had given him a somewhat rejected feeling. "Let's take a walk." Bracing himself for rejection, he held out his hand for her to take after gathering his things.
She looked up at him and paused for the slightest moment. "Yes." With that, she took his hand and walked with him.