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Galinda felt the warmth of morning sunlight dapple onto her face, welcoming the dawn of a fresh day, but her temples pulsed and her eyelids were heavy. How many hours ago had they headed inside from the Ozdust, giggling like schoolgirls after their night at the Ozdust? The moment they had shared on the dancefloor, a rare instance of comradery, brought on by an insane flood of guilt, stayed with Galinda in a way she couldn’t quite describe. Now, even on the verge of sleep, with a hangover beating at her head, she thought of it with warmth.
She’s so different from me, and yet… Galinda understood Elphaba in ways that transcended black clothing or her disdain for cosmetics. They both just wanted a sense of belonging, and Galinda had provided Elphaba with that for the first time in her life.
How many hours of sleep had Galinda gotten? It couldn’t have been more than two or three, and here she was, curled up in her light pink nightgown, meditating on the events of a night now past. She groaned sitting up in bed and rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Elphaba lay across the room, black hair a mess on her pillow. She snored away, though barely above her breathing. For the first time, she almost seemed delicate, void of the force of nature Galinda knew she harnessed. What it must be like to hold such power…to be someone so strong, it didn’t matter what people thought, because no matter what, you would end up being more important than them. Whenever Galinda was with Elphaba, a part of her felt small, but now, as Elphaba slept away, she almost felt stripped of that strength. The sleeping somehow brought her down and made her more human.
Galinda began to unwind the curlers from her head. It was a dumb decision to put them in last night. Her hair was already pretty enough, but after the dance, she wanted to see what her hair would be with finer curls, almost to make herself stand out. She had been so thrilled with Elphaba’s kind request to Madame Morrible that she’d decided to reshape her own image. But no matter how hard she tried, she would never harness the intrinsic power that she well knew Elphaba had within her. The curls would just be a trial for the future, then, she decided, putting the false hope of a power of her own at the forefront. She too would be a sorceress someday, and she would have a head of curls to match. Now, if only she could master her training wand!
She soon had a pile of curlers on her comforter and gave her hair a good shake out with her fingers before getting out of bed. Thank goodness for my skincare routine , she thought, glimpsing at her face in the mirror that had no reflection of the chaotic night before. The tighter curls looked pretty, she decided, seeing a new halo of blonde around her face. Pfannee and Shenshen would approve. There was something… different, about her appearance with them, something youthful yet mature. Something that separated her from the person she was before. But she wasn’t ready for this full-time, she decided- not yet. This would be a look for if she truly had power. No, not if, when .
“Gli–”
Galinda jumped upon seeing Elphaba stir, murmuring in her sleep. Was that what she had imagined? Had Elphaba muttered Galinda’s name aloud, albeit mispronounced? Was Elphaba dreaming of her? The thought made her feel… Galinda could not quite identify the feeling, but it was preposterous anyway. There was no way in Oz that Elphaba had said Galinda’s name, she decided, but the thought remained on her mind.
Other words soon followed Elphaba’s murmuring, which cooled down whatever feeling had spurred in Galinda’s chest. Elphaba was not dreaming of her, Galinda decided, but a strange sensation took over. Did Galinda want Elphaba to think of her, more than she already did on the daily? The question itself felt wrong to ask, and yet it swelled in Galinda’s head more than her hangover.
A very quiet knocking at the door jolted Galinda out of her moment of reflection, and Galinda sped over to answer, sweeping a light blue robe over her nightgown. She peered through the peephole, only to see Fiyero’s barely lit face in the hallway. She opened the door quietly, and was met with a boyish grin.
“Fiyero!” she whispered, “Elphaba’s still asleep.”
She moved into the hall, her eyes darting up and down Fiyero’s figure. He hadn’t changed from the night before, still in his white pants and vest that suited him so damn well, but there was a wine stain on his right thigh. She shut the door behind herself, and the two gravitated away from it.
“Where’d you get that stain?” she asked, an ounce of annoyance in her voice.
“I, uh… spilled some wine in my dorm, after we headed out.”
“You kept drinking?”
“I had one glass. That doesn’t matter–look, Galinda, I’m still thinking about what you and Elphaba did for each other. That was… that was so good of both of you. I just… I’ve never met two women as amazing as you.”
“That was what you potentially woke me up to tell me?”
“Yeah, that, and…” Fiyero’s eyes left hers, darting up to her crown of curls. “Your hair looks nice.”
Galinda crossed her arms, “Well, I suppose that’s awfully sweet of you, but couldn’t it be done at a later hour?”
“I couldn’t sleep, Galinda, I could only think about…” he paused, eying the door. “About you.”
“Well, dearest, that’s awfully sweet-”
Fiyero leaned down and kissed her, to which she did not protest. The kiss was brief, lasting no more than a few seconds before he pulled away, looking down at her with big eyes. She stared up at him, surprised at the turn things had taken. Twenty-four hours and he already couldn’t sleep because of her. She was admittedly flattered.
“Goodnight, Fiyero,” she said softly, moving back to the dorm. “I really think you should get some sleep.”
“I…” his mouth changed into a smile as if he had only just processed his action, “I had a lovely night.”
Galinda slipped back inside the room, a feeling of pride taking over. She collapsed against the door, a feeling of relief sweeping over her. She had a man who liked her, and the thought of it healed whatever strangeness she was processing earlier.
Elphaba was still asleep, she noted, and got back into her own bed, slipping a silk bonnet over her curls as to protect the new chapter that surely awaited her, one in which comparisons between her and Elphaba did not matter. She had the boy, she had the hair, and most importantly, she had the promise that someday she too could have power.