Chapter 6 - The Bet

Fiyero joined his two childhood friends at a restaurant. He hadn't seen them in awhile, and decided on lunch, preferring to spend his evenings with Elphaba.

"I'm seeing someone," he said. "It's the reason I haven't been around."

"That's why you wanted lunch instead of partying all night?" Emad asked.

"It's been two months since we've partied with you," Farjad said. "You need a night off away from her. So, we got this party planned..."

Fiyero shook his head. "Not interested. I'm done with partying all night long."

"She made a decent man out of you? You know how boring it'll be for you to just have one woman instead of a different one every night? This is not the Fiyero we've grown to love. Okay, what'd you do to him? Where is he?" Emad laughed.

"She works at the library," Fiyero said.

"Since when do you go to the library? You go there to check out the girls, not books," Farjad said, laughing out loud. "What does she do?"

"She's a librarian."

Emad and Farjad stared at each other, shocked by what they had just heard. "The green girl?" they said at the same time.

"She's the only librarian we know," Emad said.

Farjad gulped his drink. "So, you actually went through with the bet. I'm proud of you!"

"Stupid bet. I never agreed to it, "Fiyero said. "I didn't agree to anything. Elphaba's a nice girl. Once you get to know her, you'll really like her."

"You pulled the short straw, and lost. So, is she good in bed as the others?" Emad held up his glass of beer. "Cheers!"

"I may have pulled the shortest straw, but if you recall, I threw it back at you. Didn't want to play your stupid games. She's not like that. And you're an ass. I wouldn't treat Elphaba like how I've treated the others. She's different."

"Well, yes she's green," Farjad said.

Fiyero signaled for the server, raising his empty glass to her. "It's not the color of her skin that I'm talking about. She's really humble, caring, unlike the other girls I've gone out with. They only cared about me being that I'm from the royal family."

"Yeah, yeah. But most important, did you bed her?" Farjad asked.

The server placed his drink down on the table. "Do you want this poured over your head?" he asked his friend. "No, I didn't bed her."

"What are you waiting for?" Emad laughed.

The prince swore at his friends. "Waiting for the right time. Don't want to rush into things."

Fiyero heard the familiar giggle. Unaware of his presence, Glinda along with a female companion was just seated down at the table next to them. He wondered if it would be un princely to crawl under the table.

"So, how long are you going to keep up this pretense?" Emad asked. "Going out with that green girl. A bet's a bet," he slurred. "Fiyero it up!"

Glinda's ears perked up like a dog. Upon hearing their conversation, she turned, making eye contact with the prince.

Farjad laughed. "Miss Green needs a lot of loosening up!"

"Shut up," Fiyero mumbled.

Pushing her chair away from the table, Glinda marched toward Fiyero. "Bet? Bet? Is that what she is to you? A stupid bet?" She shrieked at the top of her lungs.

Dangers shot out of his eyes to his friends. "See what you two have done? Off with your heads!"

"Do you know what this is going to do to her? Pretending all the while, laughing behind her back!"

"Glinda. It's not what you think. You didn't hear everything," he said, standing up. "I...it wasn't a bet. I never agreed to it. They suggested it...but..."

"But you talked about it! You're all a bunch of imbeciles." Glinda hissed at the three of them.

"It's one thing talking about it, and it's another when you're actually agreeing to it," Fiyero defended himself.

"I see." Glinda grabbed the prince's drink. "It's one thing thinking of throwing this in your face, and it's another thing when I'm actually doing it." With that, she threw his glass of beer at him.

Drenched in beer, Fiyero ran after Glinda who was headed to the door. Grabbing her by the hand, he pulled her outside of the restaurant. "Where the hell do you think you're going?"

She yanked her hand out of his hold. "Where do you think? You're such a pompous ass!"

"Don't. Please don't, Glinda." His voiced trembled.

"If Elphie ever loved someone, it would be forever. And I'll make sure it won't be you! It took her a while before she came to trust me. And I would never want to lose that. I'll protect her as much as I can. Stay away. I'm warning you. I don't care if you're a prince, stay away from her!"

"I love her." It was the first time Fiyero had admitted it to anyone...to himself.

"Pfft!"

"Glinda, what you've heard of me from the past, I'm not that person anymore. I've changed."

"You're not capable of loving anyone but yourself! You don't deserve Elphie! You're a pro when it comes to breaking hearts!"

"I would never break her heart intentionally. Believe me."

"I'll be there to catch her when she falls. Not you! You're the cause of it! Good day, Prince Fiyero!"

Elphaba stared at her reflection in the mirror.

"Mirror mirror on the wall

Who's the stupidest one of all?"

Her eyes were swollen from crying all afternoon. What a fool she had been to think that someone let alone the Crown Prince would be interested in her. Her heart ached with each breath she took.

Elphaba moved to the living room sofa, and curled up in a fetal position. Crying convulsively, she buried her face in a cushion. There was a soft knocking on her door. Glinda had reassured her that she would be returning in the early evening, suggesting a girls' night together. With crumpled tissues in her hand, she dragged herself to the front door. Only it wasn't Glinda that was standing at the foot of the doorway, it was Fiyero.

Her tears dripped endlessly like a leaky faucet.

His voice was a whisper. "Elphaba, please let me explain. We need to talk."

She could barely get the words out. "Leave me alone. Go away."

It was worse than Fiyero had expected. He would have preferred Elphaba screaming at him ferociously rather than seeing her brokenhearted. He wanted to gather her in his arms, and say that everything was going to be alright. But somehow he knew it wouldn't be.

"Elphaba, I don't know what Glinda has told you, but she shouldn't have said anything without hearing the whole facts. My friends, yes they mentioned a bet, a bet to see if I'd go out with you. Only I didn't agree to it. It just so happened by chance that I met you. I really want to be with you. It's not a game. I wasn't forced into anything. Those so called friends took it as if I had agreed to their games...their bet. But it's not what you think."

She covered her ears. "You're a liar."

He took her hands, and held it tightly. "Will you please listen to me? Look at me."

She looked up to him. "Let go of my hands. You have no right touching me."

Releasing them, he shook his head. "I never lied about anything to you. Everything I said or did was the truth. I don't want to lose you."

"I was never yours to lose," Elphaba said, in a low toned voice. "Two months of being together is not a lifetime."

"I love you. And I know you're hurting, but I know you love me too, even if you can't say it right now."

Elphaba surprised herself. Without even thinking, she raised her hand, and slapped him hard across the face. "Get out of my life, get out of my house."

Shocked, Fiyero stood at a standstill. He felt the stinging sensation on his cheek, but didn't dare rub his face. "Whether you want to believe it or not, I do love you. This is not how I had planned on telling you how I feel about you. Please stop crying."

"What part did you not understand? Get out. No more lies. There's nothing you can tell me that will make me believe in you anymore. Nothing. Just leave me alone."

"No, I'm not leaving. You're upset. You're crying."

"I have all these memories of you that keeps flashing through my mind right now. But you know what? Memories eventually fade. And when it does, I won't even remember you." Her voice was hoarse but controlled.

"Elphaba." He delicately caressed her face.

"Don't touch me. Don't you ever touch me."

"Okay. Okay," Fiyero said, defeatedly. "Is this what you want? Forget about everything? Make like I never existed? Forget about us?"

Elphaba crossed her arms. "There is no us."

Fiyero saw the hurt in her eyes...broken...shattered. "For a short time there was. Do you want me to leave? Is that it?"

She kept quiet.

"I've learned that silence when asked a question is usually admission to the question," he said.

Elphaba looked into his eyes out of her fiery ones but said nothing.

He stared at her for a moment, then bowed in a royal manner. "As you wish," the prince said, then turned and walked away.

Fiyero had been brought up not to cry. Boys don't cry his grandfather would say to him when he fell off his bike...when he fell and skinned his knees...when things didn't go his way. Boys don't cry he had been told repeatedly. Did that include men? But he cried.

Leaning against her closed door, Elphaba slid down to the floor and wept. Clutching her chest, she felt a pain that she had never felt before...a pain of someone pulling her heart out and tearing it into bits and pieces never to be mended.

TBC - Chapter 7

A/N: Thanks for a great idea, Indy's Green Hat! I used your "Fiyero it up" comment."

James Birdsong, thank you again!