Chapter Five:

A/N: Thank you to my reviewers : )! I appreciate the feedback! I am happy now aha, because of reviews, and because I just got a new kind of chocolate soy milk which I am enjoying quite a bit! Yay!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Well, anything pertaining to Wicked, anyway

"Elphie! What are you doing up?" Glinda demanded, shutting the door quietly behind her.

"I'm feeling much better already." Elphaba smiled weakly from her standing position by the window.

"Elphie, I know how you detest being sick and weak but you did say yourself that you weren't feeling well and when I ran into Nessa on my way back up here she told me that you were delusional in addition to whatever sickness you may be feeling." Glinda chastised, "So please come back over to your bed and lay down or I will have no choice but to forcibly assist you." Elphaba chose to obey orders, partly because Glinda was telling her to lay down on a bed, and partly because she didn't think she could handle Glinda forcibly assisting her to lay down on a bed (though it did take effort not to laugh at the prospect), and walked quietly over to the bed and sat.

"You ran into Nessa on the way here?" Elphaba asked in attempts to change the topic.

"Thankfully! I thought she'd still be up here, if I hadn't run into her then I would have had to go find her." Glinda explained. "You see, I went and found Boq who was studying, of all things to do on the weekend! Anyways, I explained to him that though I valued his friendship and admired him as a person I did not feel there was any potential between the two of us for anything more than friendship. I went on to tell him how lucky he is to have Nessa, and how he shouldn't neglect her any longer."

"That sounds like it was very thought out, Glin. It was a very nice thing to do for Nessa." Elphaba smiled. It was, however, difficult for her not to imagine that Glinda wasn't saying those things to Boq, but rather to her- a thought which sent Elphaba's stomach spiralling once again.

"Elphie, you're getting darker, are you sure you're feeling better? Because after I went to see Boq I went to the nurse to get some medication and she told me that there's been something going around. You should take the medicine before it gets worse." Glinda retrieved the small bottle and placed it in Elphaba's hand. "You should change back into your nightclothes, too. You'll be more comfortable, and cooler."

"I'm really fine, don't worry about it." Elphaba shrugged, setting the medication aside on the bed.

"The nurse said that if the medication isn't taken immediately the sickness can get pretty nasty, Elphie." Glinda continued, taking Elphaba's hand in her own, "I think it would be best if-"

"I think I know how I feel, okay?" Elphaba interrupted her. Her head was spinning. Glinda's hand was intertwined with hers and she was looking at her, blue eyes filled with concern and sincerity, ready to help her friend when Elphaba really wasn't even sick at all. A little queasy from the lies she seemed to be threading, maybe, but she surely did not have this ailment that was being passed around the University.

"I guess you do know how you feel, Elphaba." Glinda answered just a little coldly after a beat. She removed her hand from Elphaba's and stood up, adverting her eyes. "I guess I'll just leave you alone then, as you certainly don't seem to want my help."

"Glinda, I didn't mean..." Elphaba trailed off. She didn't know what she meant anymore. She did know that it hurt when Glinda called her Elphaba instead of Elphie, the nickname she once barley tolerated now held a warm familiarity that Elphaba leaned on as reassurance of the bond the two girls shared. She did know that she could only think straight when Glinda's gaze wasn't upon her. And she did know that she almost wished she were sick so that she could allow Glinda to take care of her without the guilt she had felt before. It wasn't that Elphaba was a bad liar, that was only the case when the recipient of the lies was her bubbly roommate.

"You didn't mean to what?" Glinda pouted. This wasn't how this was supposed to go at all! Elphie was supposed to be in bed, sick, and with no choice but to allow Glinda to take care of her, to play doctor and nurse her back to health. There would be no reading or studying or distractions, just her and Elphie. But now Elphaba suddenly wasn't sick, which would be fine, Glinda could find another way to get close to her roommate, except for the fact that every so often Elphaba would flush a darker shade of green and space out- things Elphaba never normally did. When that was combined with the fact that Nessa had assured Glinda that something was off with Elphaba this morning and Glinda was sure that Elphaba had to be sick. There was no other explanation unless... "Oh. I understand now. You don't need to make excuses, Elphaba, I understand. I'll just go over to my side of the room and keep to myself, don't worry." Glinda could feel tears forming in her eyes as she made her way over to her bed, curling up and desperately hoping she could somehow manage to not burst out in tears.

Elphaba, on the other hand, was now utterly confused. She had seen Glinda processing what was going on and suddenly it seemed as if something had clicked. Elphaba had prepared herself for the accusation of fabricating a sickness, but she had not prepared herself for... this, whatever this was.

"Glinda?" She said timidly, not at all certain of the response she would receive, if she got one at all. "Glinda, I'm sorry for whatever I've done to upset you."

"There's no reason to be sorry, Elph... Elphaba," The blow the revision to her full name delivered resounded clearly in Elphaba's mind doubling her confusion and concern towards Glinda along with the fact that the smaller girl's breathing was laboured making it obvious that she was attempting not to cry. "You feel how you feel, and Iam the one who is sorry about that. I wish things were different, I do, but they're not." Elphaba had no idea what Glinda was talking about.

"Glinda, I don't think I understand." Elphaba tried a different approach.

"I appreciate that you made an effort, even if it was for less than twenty four hours, to accept it, I do." Glinda continued, oblivious to Elphaba's request for clarification (or even a clue) as to what they were discussing.

"You appreciate that I made an effort to accept what...?" Elphaba repeated Glinda's sentence before it hit her. "Sweet Oz." Glinda thought she was homophobic? "Glinda surely you don't think that I'm offended by your confession? I already told you I wasn't."

"And I already told you I appreciate that you tried to accept it, and I understand that not everyone can. I just don't see why you have to be so close minded! I'm the same Glinda I was before, you know. I'll wear the same clothes, and do the same things, well... mostly the same things..."

"Glinda, stop." Elphaba interrupted her, but Glinda just kept on talking.

"And I'll have you know that there are many people who accept such a lifestyle. Many, Elphaba. In fact, back in the Upper Uplands, my parents knew many couples who were of the same gender!" Elphaba decided, with the topic of discussion now confirmed, to wait out the duration of Glinda's rant before speaking. She'd have to stop for breath sometime. "They were well respected people, too. It's not as if it's some major crime! I knew that eventually, sooner rather than later, at Shiz even, I'd run into people who could not accept me for who I am once I choose to openly expose who I am in this regard, but I didn't think it would be quite this soon! Do you know how much courage it took for me to tell you, Elphaba? But I thought you would understand because you are my best friend. Or you were my best friend." The wait it out tactic went out the window there.

"Glinda listen to me, please." Elphaba was off her bed and onto Glinda's in a matter of seconds. Glinda, breathing erratic and eyes wandering the room in desperate attempts to avoid meeting Elphaba's, finally stopped. She allowed Elphaba to take her hand while she waited for her to speak. "I'm not homophobic. I don't dislike you because of your sexual orientation, I assure you."

"I don't believe you." Glinda pouted, though now with less conviction. If there was anything she knew, it was her Elphie, and she knew that this assurance would not be said if it were not true. On this matter, however, she could not help protesting, especially considering how worked up she had gotten herself.

"What do you mean you don't believe me?" Elphaba asked, bewildered.

"I mean that we're friends, and no one likes to see their friends hurt. Right now, I'm hurt and by saying that you can stop me from hurting." Glinda rationalized.

"I assure you I'm being sincere."

"And I assure you that I will not be so easily hurt twice in one day."

"I have no intention of hurting you, Glin." Elphaba's voice was softer now, and Glinda's resolve to not believe her was weakening. In a last attempt to not believe Elphaba, Glinda pulled her hand away.

"I just don't know, Elphaba. What if you're just saying it? What if tomorrow you decide you're disgusted? What if-" Elphaba couldn't take it any longer.

"I'm gay, Glinda." That was more effective, Elphaba found, than any of her earlier tactics had been. The desperate last resort: honesty.

"What?"

"I prefer the company of other women. I'm not homophobic, I don't hate you, and I couldn't. I'm the same way."

I decided to just end it there. Haha, well ending there is in my plan, but I didn't want to continue on and on with it, so yes. Also, go Canada, ahahah, as we now have medals at the Olympics, finally! Yay!
Please review? Haha, more soon!