Thank you for the wonderful reviews everyone! Every single one makes me smile. :)
The following Saturday he found himself in Railway Square again, having lunch with Galinda Upland once more. He had made the trip to buy the three new textbooks he would need for his new law class – all of which seemed as dull and verbose as expected – and had found her once again sipping tea with her girlfriends. This time she had spotted him first and had called him over; apparently they had just ordered sandwiches to accompany their tea and so should he, and given his rather neglected stomach over the past week he was more than happy to oblige their request. When Pfannee and Shenshen prepared to leave, he grabbed the bill before anyone could protest and paid for all of them.
"That's so good of you," they had said predictably, thanking him and leaving himself and Galinda alone once more.
They chatted about their weeks. Well, Galinda did most of the talking, telling him excitedly about all about her new sorcery seminar, but Fiyero was more than happy to take the backseat in any conversation nowadays. After all, as far as anyone else knew, the last two and a half years of his life never happened.
"And then I tried to make Elphie's sandwich levitate, but all that happened was that it exploded all over her."
"Was she mad about that?"
"Not at all!" Galinda said, laughing. "She just picked off the shredded carrots and chopped olives and mayonnaise and ate it. It was disgusting!"
"How droll," Fiyero commented with a smile. "I hope she didn't have to walk around with bits of food on her the rest of the day."
"Oh no, fortunately Morrible sent her home early. It's not as though she needs the extra help."
"She seems very intelligent."
"Annoyingly so. But I love her anyway."
"I'm still determined to befriend her," Fiyero said, and Galinda's eyes brightened in hilarity.
"Oh yes I've heard. You've got her wound up tighter than I've ever seen her! We were talking about you and before I knew it she was up pacing the room—"
"You were talking about me, eh?" he teased, and to his surprise Galinda actually blushed—she never blushed!
"We were merely concerned for your acclimatization here at Shiz," Galinda sputtered. "Not that there is any reason to be."
"I'm doing quite well, thank you," he said, putting her at ease again so she could refocus on her roommate. "I doubt Elphaba was quite as concerned for my wellbeing as you."
"I imagine not. But how she would pace! Cursing and marching around, her arms wheeling about like windmill sails… You've gotten under her skin, Master Fiyero."
"Is that unusual?"
"Quite," Galinda said, sipping the last of her tea stylishly. "Thank you for lunch. Let's plan on doing this again next week, shall we?"
And she got up, off to some prior engagement, and gave him a lingering kiss on the cheek, allowing the feeling of her soft lips to loiter on his skin and the overly familiar scent of her perfume to fill his nostrils, before departing with her stunning smile, a delightful wave, and a perfect flip of her hair. He didn't even pay attention; he was too busy grinning from ear-to-ear, trying to figure out why he was so happy to piss of the woman who, in a different time, would be the fearsome, formidable Wicked Witch of the West.