Galinda's eyes fluttered open as she awoke from what had been a thoroughly pleasant dream. Annoyingly enough, she could barely remember anything about it, although she knew it had involved herself and somebody else becoming extremely close. In a physical sense of the word, too. Who this mystery person had been, she couldn't precisely remember, but still she snuggled back down under her fluffy pink blanket, hoping to lose herself in the dream once more.
"I wonder when you'll next wake up if you go back to sleep now," came the sound of a thoroughly distasteful voice, "Sometime this evening would be my bet."
Galinda giggled a little, her eyes snapping open as her room mate's derisive voice filled her ears. She pushed herself into a seated position, her arms reaching behind her to steady her body which wasn't yet fully awoken. Her blue eyes then searched the room before coming to rest on Elphaba, who she now saw was sitting on a stool in front of her dresser, her knees pulled up to her chest with a thick book rested precariously on her kneecaps. Her eyes had moved back to her reading, and Galinda wouldn't have known she had spoken except for the flicker of a smirk at the corners of her lips.
"Sweet Oz, what time is it?" the blonde mumbled, rubbing her eyes sleepily as she for the first time noticed the extent to which the sunlight was streaming through the window.
"One thirty," Elphaba replied, not even bothering to check as she idly turned a page in her book, "I thought maybe you'd died in your sleep, though I thought it impertinent to check."
Galinda opened her mouth to reply, before closing it again, not knowing quite how to react to this statement. She thought Elphaba was joking, but her tone was so deathly serious that it was difficult to be certain. And had she just said that it was one thirty? Galinda had slept for the entire morning? Her dream must have been pleasant; or perhaps she had simply been tired on account of piling boxes until the early hours of the morning.
The boxes! Galinda smiled slightly as she remembered her bonding activity with her room mate the previous night. Yes, despite Elphaba's sarcastic comments, the atmosphere somehow seemed lighter this morning than it had ever been between the two of them. Well, that had to be positive, Galinda thought brightly as she hopped out of bed and headed towards the bathroom, very bouncily for saying she had just woken up.
When she returned, Elphaba's position had barely changed. Yet now that Galinda felt properly awake, she could sense something different about her room mate. She tipped her head curiously to one side as she attempted to work out what it was.
"Elphie!" she exclaimed, finally realising what it was, and causing the other girl to jump horribly at the sound of her squeal.
Galinda giggled a little, covering her mouth cutely as she did so. "Sorry!" she said, allowing herself to come closer and circle her room mate with an expression of unhidden delight, "But you never wear your hair like that!"
Elphaba fidgeted with an end of her dark hair in embarrassment, finally looking up from her book. "I barely leave the room on Sundays, except to go to the library on occasion," she said, her bony shoulders lifting up and down in an awkward shrug, "I didn't feel like braiding it this morning, that's all. It's nothing special, Galinda."
She went back to reading, oblivious to Galinda's smug smile. After a while, Galinda realised her smirk was having no effect, and shook her head incredulously, her blonde curls bouncing to and fro as she did so.
"Well, I think it's something special," she giggled happily, before leaning around Elphaba to try and see into the mirror in order to analyze her own appearance. After all, it must have been a full ten minutes since she had last looked at her own reflection; when she had been applying her makeup, in fact.
But as Galinda looked at the place where the mirror should have been, she found only the mirror's unreflective wooden back staring back at her. Frowning a little, she straightened up, before folding her arms and looking at Elphaba with accusing eyes.
The green girl shifted uncomfortably in her stool. "What?" she finally asked irritably, obviously realising that Galinda wasn't going to leave off until her 'look' received some sort of reaction.
"You know what!" Galinda exclaimed, laughing at her tone, "Elphie, you turned the mirror back-to-front! Why in Oz would you do that?"
Elphaba reddened slightly, but otherwise managed to keep her composure. "I don't care to watch myself while I'm reading," she said simply. She appeared still engrossed in her book, but if Galinda had been the type to pay careful attention to detail, she would have noticed that the other girl's dark eyes had been travelling back and forth over the same sentence for the entire duration of their conversation.
Galinda sighed slightly, before reaching forward and placing a hand either side of the mirror's wooden frame. But before she could turn it so that the reflective side was no longer facing the wall, Elphaba's curt voice interrupted her.
"Leave it."
Raising her eyebrows, Galinda turned back around to face her, her hands not leaving the mirror, "And if I don't?" she questioned lightly, her hands still poised for action.
Elphaba's posture didn't change as the question was asked. "Then I'll move from here and read someplace else."
Galinda sighed, abandoning the mirror and standing before Elphaba with her hands on her hips once more. "What do you have against looking at yourself?" she demanded, carefully watching Elphaba's complexion which had now faded neatly from red back to green.
Elphaba snorted, turning a page indifferently but giving no further answer.
Galinda frowned, not a fan of being ignored. "I do believe I asked you a question."
Elphaba's eyes still didn't leave the book, which hastened only to irritate Galinda further, "And I do believe I chose not to dignify your question with an answer."
When Galinda didn't remove her accusing stare, she added, "I don't know why you're so curious about me all of a sudden, Galinda. Before last night you didn't care to say two words to me."
Galinda nodded a little miserably. That was true enough; and strangely she was beginning to regret not having spoken to Elphaba sooner.
But that couldn't be helped. They were talking now; although Galinda couldn't help noticing, to her annoyance, that Elphaba still appeared to much prefer books to her company. Galinda couldn't help giggling a little as she thought this. Was she really feeling almost neglected by the green girl in favour of a book? Her spontaneous giggles earning her an eye-roll from her room mate, Galinda left Elphaba to her reading and walked quietly behind her, hoping to give the impression that she'd left.
Elphaba seemed to relax slightly, and Galinda smiled to herself. She stood behind the other girl, for a second doing nothing more than admiring the way in which Elphaba's shining dark hair cascaded down her back, smooth as water. It had never occurred to Galinda that Elphaba could look pretty, yet the effect of her hair when it wasn't braided was almost stunning.
In an almost involuntary motion, Galinda ran the back of her hand gently down the length of Elphaba's hair, marvelling at the way it felt just as soft as it looked. She immediately felt Elphaba tense up at her touch, though the green girl did nothing to pull away. Galinda even sensed her room mate's attention detracted slightly from her book. Well, wasn't that a revelation?
Smiling at her discovery, she stroked Elphaba's hair once or twice more, before taking a plunge and submerging her hands fully, running her fingers through her room mate's silken locks like a French-manicured comb.
Galinda felt Elphaba give what almost seemed to be an involuntary shiver as her hands tangled themselves amongst her beautifully straight hair. Surprised, Galinda stopped what she was doing and glanced curiously down at her room mate. Elphaba appeared nonchalant, but Galinda couldn't help wondering if maybe that was pretence.
Experimentally, she once more slipped her hands in amongst Elphaba's thick black tresses, but as she began to draw them out using the same comb-like effect, Elphaba stood up suddenly, reclaiming her beautiful hair from Galinda's clutches.
"That's enough, Galinda," she said firmly, beginning to knot it back into its customary braid.
"Oh, but-" Galinda started to protest, the makings of a pout becoming evident on her face.
"But nothing," Elphaba scowled, gathering up her books, "Don't ever touch my hair like that again, Galinda. I'm going to the library."
Shifting her books under her arm, she exited the room, doing her best to look anywhere but at Galinda as she did so. Once glance at the pretty blonde's sulks, and she might even weaken enough to apologize for snapping at her. But why should she apologize? It was her hair, after all. Galinda had no right to touch it like that. One relatively in-depth conversation and they had lost all sense of personal boundaries?
But even as Elphaba thought that, she couldn't suppress the notion that she had actually liked her hair being played with like that. She couldn't remember anyone having paid her that sort of attention before, and couldn't deny that it had been nice. For a change, at least; Elphaba decided. It certainly wasn't something she wanted to get used to. But even as she told herself this; Elphaba knew that between her and her room mate, things would be different from now on.
