A/N: Someone said in a review that they wants Elphie and Galinda to make love eventually. Now, I will tell you that this was not the intent of the story, and is not written into the 7 chapters. However, if the interest is there, then I will write an eighth chapter as a kind of epilogue to the story. Let me know in a review what you think.
This is a short chapter, but I had no reason to make it any longer, so there you go.
Chapter 4 – The Imperfect Couple
She lies in bed and is unable to move. She can only squint through her eyes at the ceiling. She tries to cry out, to lurch a limb, to do anything that will break this strange, half-awake state, but her body resists.
Her mind rebounds from wakefulness to lucid dreams and back again. Sometimes it is just her, but more often, there are flashes of other things. Green crystal Fiyero figurines dancing around in a circle, slowly undressing themselves to reveal a woman's voluptuous body. Hands all over her naked breasts, descending towards her pelvis. The ceiling of Room 22 emerging and fading as Galinda fights to wake up.
Elphie standing at her bedside. Looking down with sultry eyes. Tossing her black mane in the way Galinda could never teach her in real life. A lithe finger stroking Galinda's face, sending shivers down her spine.
GO AWAY! Galinda yells, and her voice echoes loudly. GET OUT OF MY HEAD!
But Elphaba doesn't. In Galinda's head she stays.
.../...
Galinda had never intended to be one of those girls.
The ones who got the goods and then ditched. The ones who messed around with people's feelings for no good reason other than their own insecurity. The ones who had sex with their boyfriends, and then left them.
She tapped her foot and stared around the empty classroom. Fiyero was late, and the waiting caused a series of flip-flops in her stomach. She both craved and dreaded his arrival. If only she could skip this part and get to the part where they were no longer together; but alas, she would have to endure. It was, after all, her fault – her consequence.
'Glin,' said Fiyero, entering the room.
'Fiyero,' she responded. He moved to kiss her and she held him back.
'What's wrong? Is this about last night? I thought you wanted to...'
'I did.'
Her statement was hollow. She had...or she'd thought she had wanted to. She hadn't been able to stop herself; hadn't given herself a chance to think about the consequences. And now look where that left her.
'You regret it,' Fiyero stated.
'No, I...' Galinda stalled. Did she regret it? In some sense yes, but the experience had enlightened her to things she hadn't known. Perhaps, in a way, the experience was good for her. 'I don't regret it, but...'
'But it wasn't right,' Fiyero interrupted.
A tiny shake of her head, and Galinda's face screwed up and hot, salty tears slipped down her rosy cheeks and spattered onto the floor, landing with a quiet plop. She breathed raggedly through her swollen mouth and spoke with a husky whimper.
'I wanted it to be. So badly. But...'
'There's someone else, isn't there.'
His voice was flat; his face unreadable. Fear punched Galinda in the stomach. Elphie, she wanted to say, but didn't dare. Instead she gave Fiyero a slow nod. Fiyero sighed and looked at the floor.
'Damn, that's...crap.'
Afterwards, when the matter was closed, Galinda sat through her next class with her head in the clouds. Feeling oddly alone. Catching sight of Elphaba at the front of the classroom and silently cursing her for being so – whatever – that was driving Galinda crazy. Her secret was weighing her down. She was unused to holding her silence but there was not one person she could turn to. Not her socialite friends who would blab to the rest of the school. Not Fiyero, whose feelings had been hurt because of her.
Not Elphaba, the object of her confusion and desire.
When class ended she escaped to the confines of her dorm, knowing that there were bound to be whispers of this latest development. She could hear in her head the stunned voices of Pfannee and Shenshen as they wondered why in Oz anyone would give up the Prince Fiyero Tigelaar. Galinda wondered the same thing. He had been the perfect boyfriend, and somehow it hadn't been enough.
This isn't normal, she thought with stinging eyes. She didn't dare think she was not normal, but was helpless to deny the situation. If she was to apply it to herself, she would find herself labelled with a trait she'd thought was only meant for other, lesser people.
I've found out a lot about what counts as lesser, she thought wryly, thinking of her socialite 'friends'. They are lesser for their ignorance, while I am lesser for these feelings.