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Elphaba forwent rolling her eyes to growl as she leapt to her feet. Anger mounting with each syllable, she demanded, “So, let me get this straight! You’re not just being shallow when you avoid him or pretend not to know his name; Boq frightens you?”
Galinda cowered more with every lobbed word but did not flee. She nodded silently. Elphaba always towered over her in such moments; the younger girl hunched lower over the pillow in her arms, wishing she could sink through her bed to put it between her and her irate roommate too.
“Because the way he desires and hassles you reminds you of Roquat?”
Knowing Elphaba as her great defender in that regard, Galinda looked up with a hopeful smile. “Y-yes!” But her forming grin fell away at once.
The brunette gave her friend a death glare. Shouting even louder, she concluded, “So, your grand solution was to pawn him off on Nessa? My sweet baby who couldn’t fend that creep off if her life depended on it? Ugh! And to think, she was so grateful to you for sending him her way! Too, that ‘kindness’ of yours is what sparked our whole friendship!”
Color drained from Galinda’s face. A hard-swallowing moment later, she began, “I-I didn’t think-”
“Oh, where have I heard that before?”
“I didn’t think of it like that! Besides, Boq is a Munchkin! Your father is his governor! Boq, he wouldn’t dare- He! He couldn’t-”
“Hurt her? Oh, you damn well better hope not!”
The blonde flinched with a yelp from the brunette’s wild gesticulations. Shoulder shielding her turned cheek, she wailed, “Please don’t hit me, Elphie!”
Wind knocked out of her sails and lungs, Elphaba stumbled back. “What?”
“Please? I’m sorry, okay?” Galinda burrowed even deeper into the cushion clutched to her chest.
“Lindy…” Elphaba’s heart twisted at the way her friend cringed from her approach in true expectation of a blow. “I’m not going to hurt you. Never! I’d never hurt you.”
Whining, Galinda responded, “Coulda fooled me!”
“Well, that’s not hard to do.” The older girl chuckled ruefully as she crouched down to be on her roommate’s level.
Galinda did not laugh. “Please don’t be angry with me! It scares me so much when you fly off the handle. W-why do you think I was so horrible to you and pretended to hate you so much at first? I always-”
“I thought that was because you loved me,” Elphaba interjected with a snort that only scratched the surface of how little she believed Galinda’s previous declaration. Nevertheless, her hand went out to finger-comb blond curls from a pink face and to lift it.
“W-well, that too, but I always find that the best defense is a good offense,” Galinda whispered as she resisted her roommate’s urging.
Elphaba half-smiled. “Me too.” Her attention returned to their earlier conversation. “But why didn’t you just tell Boq outright that you’re not interested? All you-”
Galinda gasped sharply and at last looked her friend in the eye. “Oh, Elphie! Ladies aren’t allowed to reject men’s romantic advances. Didn’t you know that?”
Black brows rose. “…That. Is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.” Elphaba backed away a second time, her hand falling from her friend’s face. “And you really would have just sat here and let me hit you if I had ignored your plea?”
The younger girl tilted her head to the side. “What else could I have done?”
“Oh, Lindy!”
Galinda squeaked at suddenly being embraced full-force.