Author's Note: A Christmas present from me to you! Hope you have all had an awesome and very merry day with your family and friends. Enjoy this chapter - I am currently sitting with my brother and sister, watching Christmas movies and eating chocolate and leftovers! Enjoy xx
The B Bar was a swankified place near the University campus, popular with Shiz students and a less expensive, more informal alternative to the OzDust Ballroom. From what Elphaba gathered, it provided dinner and dancing all week long and was very Ozmopolitan. This information did nothing to calm her. She sighed and rolled her eyes. Pure Elphaba, thought Fiyero. He took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, reminding her that she didn't have to do anything she didn't want to do.
"I'm already doing several things I don't want to do."
Fiyero laughed. "Perhaps." He looked at her and smiled. "I mean that when you get inside and listen to the music, and have a few drinks . . . and relax," He looked pointedly at her, "you'll want to dance and you'll enjoy yourself."
His logic was impressive and she did not want to falter him, but it occurred to her there was a veiled attempt at teasing in his words. "Do you mean to say I don't relax?" He chuckled because he thought she was joking, but her curious look made him stammer and stutter. "Just because my methods of relaxation are not the same as your methods of relaxation does not mean that I do not relax." He nodded in apology and understanding. "I have just never had anyone who . . . wanted to . . . relax with me. I've never had any friends."
"Oh come on! Don't be so dramatic."
Galinda rapped his arm. "Fiyero, that's rude." His face went blank and he turned to see that Elphaba had stopped in her tracks. She looked panicked, like a million thoughts were running through her head all at once. Galinda smiled sheepishly at Elphaba and Fiyero blushed. "And it's only because everyone else has been too ignorant and short-sighted to see just how wonderful you really are."
Fiyero hadn't meant to call her on her negativity, but it could not be as bad as she made it seem; no one was that judgemental. Here, her harshness made them dislike her, and though the idea that her skin somehow made her a monster was distasteful to him, he partly thought she was making it worse. She made him curious, which was a feeling he had not known for some time.
Elphaba remained silent. This had not been a very good start to the evening; Fiyero felt that what he had said had disturbed her and remembered that she probably never had any desire to be out tonight to begin with. "You do have friends. You'll see . . . tonight you'll see." She looked at them both smiling at her. They were her first ever friends and they were taking her out. She chided herself for being so morose at the whole idea and decided to be grateful and enjoy it. Not wanting to make Elphaba feel more awkward, Galinda moved them on towards the B Bar.
Elphaba was glad when they were inside and seated. The waiting staff did not easily hide their shock and wariness of the strange green creature that had leeched onto Prince Fiyero and Miss Galinda Upland and neither did the other diners. Elphaba had simply ignored them; being used to this by now, and being a bar popular with Shiz students they had certainly heard of her before but were, like the many others before them, incapable of not gawking at her. She felt slightly proud that Fiyero had taken her coat for her and Galinda had linked their arms as they were led to their booth.
Elphaba noted that the B Bar was dimly lit (which pleased her) and their booth was against the back wall. Each little table had a small lamp and though the room itself was large, the booths were intimate and Elphaba felt protected, shielded. The dance floor seemed constantly filled with people and Elphaba couldn't see where they all sat because most of the tables were full. Her brow furrowed a moment, and then she looked up and her face turned to stone.
Avaric smirked and leaned imposingly on the table towards Elphaba. "Well, well. Look who brought the greens tonight."
Fiyero glared and looked at Elphaba. He wanted to body tackle Avaric when he saw the greyness and frustration pass over Elphaba's face, wiping away any light she had in her eyes. "That's not cool, Avaric." Behind him, Pfannee and Shenshen dropped their eyes; if Fiyero and Galinda were friends with Elphaba then that was good enough for them. They weren't about to jeopardize their relationship with popularity for a few cheap jokes at Elphaba's expense. Not that they wouldn't join in if Galinda couldn't see.
Elphaba heard a thousand cutting remarks in her head and dismissed them all if only to spare Galinda. She was going to try to be nice tonight if it took everything she had. So, she smiled. "Hello Avaric. Pfannee, Shenshen." The girls nodded and sat, clearly glad not to have to compete with Elphaba's retorts. Galinda scooted in next to Elphaba and handed her a menu, desperately optimistic that they would all get along, though in hindsight it was probably a mistake to invite Avaric and she would scold Fiyero later for that. Though Avaric wasn't too sore on the eyes, therefore not a complete waste.
Fiyero glared at his friend and eventually but reluctantly, Avaric took a seat and impatiently read the menu. "Bloody humiliating."
By this time, Elphaba's good mood had thoroughly deserted her. She found a permanent expression of gratitude was the most pleasant one she could muster but she made sure to hide it anyway; Galinda would see right through her. Though she sat between Galinda and Fiyero, and it was only his frame that prevented her from sliding out of her seat, she couldn't meet Fiyero's eyes and betray how uncomfortable she was and unfortunately that also meant she could not ask him to move so she might escape to the toilets. Or her room.
Thankfully, Galinda made empty but reassuring conversation with her other friends and filled the awkward silences. When Crope, Tibbett and Boq arrived the mood had improved slightly and they took their own seats quite happily, themselves having no particular problem with Elphaba and interested to see the input she would have to their evening. Galinda and Fiyero were especially glad of their presence because it distracted Avaric and kept his mind occupied on subjects other than Elphaba Thropp.
"So, Elphaba," Pfannee said, smiling at her, "you've never been here before? Are you enjoying yourself?"
Elphaba stared in shock at the girl; she was not expecting that. At best, she would coast silently through the evening and hopefully write it off as 'mildly pleasant', but Pfannee wasn't teasing her or trying to trip her up. Galinda was beaming with pride and Elphaba saw Fiyero smile subtly (the latter feeling smug that his own point of view was constantly being proven right), trying not to draw too much attention to what he must consider a long overdue nicety. "I haven't been here before, but it's not half as bad as I made up in my mind. I liked the OzDust." She added, glancing quickly at a smiling Galinda.
Pfannee smiled, satisfied with her answer. "Wait until you taste the food. Isn't it just divine, Galinda?"
"Make sure you don't eat from greenie's plate, she'll poison you." Avaric said supposedly to himself, though loud enough that everyone could hear him.
Galinda grimaced. "No-one asked you." In a second she had switched moods and Elphaba smiled in triumph. "Oh Elphie, really, you're going to love it." Galinda handed her a menu and Elphaba slowly bowed her head, watching as everyone else dissolved into their own little conversations. She sighed happily and began to peruse the apparently much-loved choice of meals.
"As much as I hate to agree with girls," Crope sighed, and Galinda rolled her eyes in a decidedly Elphaba way which made Fiyero laugh, "The food is totally awesome . . . for a student joint. How about we all just order pizza and a round of beers?"
Fiyero tossed in his and Elphaba's menu's, apparently bored of reading them. "Great, Crope. But get sweet stout for the girls." He said, noting Galinda's screwed up face. Crope nodded and went off to the bar.
"Fiyero?" Elphaba leaned in and whispered to him. "I've never had a beer . . . or a sweet stout."
He chuckled and squeezed her hand. "Don't worry. They taste good, I promise. And I won't let anyone take advantage of you."
"Oh well thank you very much. I was so afraid of being unable to stand up for myself. I never have before." She rolled her eyes and smiled reassuringly at Galinda. Fiyero took her sarcasm as a good sign and laughed.
Despite feeling slightly more comfortable than she had anticipated, Elphaba remained fairly stiff and tense; she felt under constant judgement, especially from Avaric. She knew Fiyero and Galinda would support her but she also knew that her temper could get away from her and if she went too far they would probably never speak to her again. Stop it! She told herself. You are running away with your temper and it moves too fast for you.
"Elphaba?" She looked at Fiyero and accepted a blue glass bottle from him. "Your sweet stout." Elphaba brought the small-necked bottle to her nose and sniffed it. It was definitely sweet, but not off-putting and so bravely, she tossed it back. Fiyero watched her down quite a few gulps before he put his hand on her shoulder and brought the bottle away. "Okay it might taste like fruit juice but let's not knock ourselves for six on our first one."
"Okay." Elphaba smiled and licked her lips. She had liked the feeling of the liquid; it was cool and refreshing, and she was severely parched from a bad case of dry mouth syndrome. "Thanks." She whispered, though quietly enough that she wasn't sure he'd heard her. Sure enough, as the drink made its way down into her stomach it seemed to double back and hit her head. She gripped the table and thought that if she weren't green, she'd be white as paper right now.
"Eat, Elphie." Her breathing seemed to come more easily to her when Galinda shoved a pizza slice into her hand and she took a hungry bite.
Eventually, they all seemed to fall into a rhythm of sorts and Elphaba grew a little happier by the minute. The music soothed her and she discovered that Crope and Tibbett were mildly intelligent boys and their genuine interest in her political opinions and views were incredibly refreshing. Elphaba had to admit that she'd never had a better time in her whole life.
"Yes, exactly. Dillamond is the personification of why we need to protect the rights of the Animals! His teaching is relaxed and informative and I needn't point out to anyone that we've all improved in that class." Tibbett chucked back another beer, very pleased with himself.
Crope grimaced. "Look, we all know that. But I still think that the mistreatment of animals is highly overlooked."
"You can't expect people to care about the animals if they don't give a damn about Animals." Elphaba quipped. "Are you . . ." she stopped when she heard Avaric sigh heavily for what must have been the tenth time since the start of their conversation. Her eyes narrowed and she turned to him. "Avaric that would be much less annoying if you hadn't doused your own pizza in garlic."
Elphaba could only feel immensely proud of herself when she heard Fiyero choking beside her and watched Galinda fold her arms across her chest in anticipation of his reply. Crope spoke first, however, apparently feeling much abused by Avaric's foul breath. "Yeah, seriously want to do something about that, Av?"
"I could have been breathing in the foul stench of death all my life and my breath still wouldn't be half as offensive as the artichoke's skin."
"Oh please, why don't you spend some time coming up with a more original insult? Galinda already used that one, and it was very inventive of her." Elphaba squeezed her hand and Galinda said her thanks.
Avaric was furious; what the fuck was happening? Who'd she think she was? "Look, greenie, don't –"
Fiyero saw Elphaba's face tighten and as much as he would love to see her take on Avaric, he knew how well the evening had gone for her; this would not be a good turn. "Uh . . . dance with me Elphaba?"