Hey everyone! I wasn't planning on posting anything this morning but today is my birthday and I decided what I wanted for my birthday was to share this next chapter with you!
Finally, Fiyero gets to speak with Elphaba! Who's excited?
When Galinda pulled Elphaba over to meet him, he was absolutely sure things were all going to be so much better this time around.
He was so wrong.
"Elphaba, have you met my date?" Galinda said cheerily, dragging her forward. "This is Prince Fiyero Tiggular!"
"How do you do?" he said, the first genuine smile gracing his face since he and Elphaba had lain together in the forest. Was that only a couple days ago? It felt like it had been forever since then. He held out his hand for her, but Elphaba was reading him warily and avoided it. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
"The pleasure is mine," she muttered back, as if it was anything but.
He refused to show his disappointment. "May I get you a drink, Miss Elphaba?"
"No, I'm fine."
"Perhaps, instead, you'll allow me this next dance?" he asked, once again offering her his hand hopefully, this time with a slight bow. She couldn't say no; no one ever said no. It was impossible for him to be any more of a gentleman.
"I'll pass," she said stubbornly. "I don't dance."
"If you don't mind me saying, you do dance; we just saw it. And it was quite lovely."
"You're mocking me?" she said with narrowed eyes.
"Not at all," he insisted. "I'm merely paying you a compliment."
A blush rose to her high cheekbones, but she did not smile. "Then I suppose I should say thank you."
"If you must," he teased. "So, you'll dance with me, yes?"
"No."
"Come on, it'll be fun! Slow song, fast song, whatever you choose."
"No!" she snapped, much to his displeasure. "Why are you being so persistent?"
"Why are you being so obstinate?"
"Fiyero, darling, I wouldn't mind another drink," Galinda said then, patting him on his heaving chest with a sweet smile and turning to an equally peeved Elphaba to gossip about him or her a few feet away, completely unbothered by their squabble. Fiyero gaped at Elphaba, unable to comprehend her immediate and very palpable distaste for him, and after a few long moments in which she avoided his eyes he sulked away to retrieve Galinda another beverage.
It would have been too good to be true if his lover approached him out of the blue, kissed him on the dance floor in front of everyone, and led him out of the Ozdust to live happily ever after; he knew because the fantasy had been tormenting him all day. As he stupidly lumbered away to find a waiter with punch, Fiyero came to the easy conclusion that Elphaba did not recognize him in any way, which wasn't truly a surprise. On the other hand, he came to absolutely outrageous conclusion that she didn't, in fact, seem attracted to him at all, which he absolutely had not been anticipating.
He was flummoxed. Baffled. Bewildered. He knew he always had the tendency to think a little highly of himself at times, but this wasn't something he doubted after the last few days with Elphaba. She had liked him too.
Fiyero carried on. He was an expert at letting everyone believe he was always happy. He danced with Galinda some more. He even invited Nessarose to dance, with Boq's permission. He bought a round of drinks for them all, only to find Elphaba had refused hers.
He was running out of ideas. He wanted her attention. But no, in the short amount of time she stayed before she and Galinda left together, she visited with her sister and Boq and Galinda and everyone, it seemed, but him. And after she left, he brooded and let the bartender pour him a couple of well-needed shots of Vinkun liquor—on the house, he had said: the first in turn for bringing in the business and the second because Fiyero looked like he needed it.