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Galinda swirls the mixer around in her cup. It’s camouflage more than anything. She’s not looking to get drunk, not when she needs to be even more on guard than she usually is at these parties.
Not for the first time, she curses Fiyero. She spent years building him up and carefully cementing their reputation as the ultimate high school power couple. Then he had to go and have some kind of identity crisis and dump her the summer before senior year. All of her carefully crafted plans turned to dust before her eyes. And he had to do it right before she went to cheer camp, causing her to—
It doesn’t matter now. School is back in session, and she needs to make a strong showing at the first big party of the semester. They told everyone the split was amicable and mutual. No one will believe it, but as long as she shows up looking happier and even more perfect than ever, no one will ever dare to think that Galinda is the one who got dumped.
She should have known Elphaba Thropp would show up and ruin all her plans. Elphaba never goes to parties, but of course she’s here tonight. Fiyero is following her around like a puppy dog. Galinda wonders if they’re together, and feels inexplicably enraged at the idea.
Because of the optics, of course. No one will see her as the winner of this break up if he moves on with someone else first.
She’s gotten over Fiyero. She misses the security he represented, and how sure she felt about the future before their break up. She definitely misses how other guys would look but wouldn’t dare approach her, knowing they couldn’t compete with the star quarterback. But she doesn’t really miss the relationship itself.
(Part of her wonders if that’s related to the…incident from cheer camp, before sentencing that thought to the firing squad.)
At least, she thought she was over him until she saw him with her.
Elphaba Thropp, bane of her existence. Her constant competition for the top spot in class since elementary school, and of course for the coveted sorcery seminar.
She can see why Fiyero would find her attractive. After all, he decided his relationship with Galinda was too shallow. As if that wasn’t exactly what he’d liked about her in the first place. She did everything to play the perfect girlfriend he wanted for nearly three years, only for him to suddenly decide that he doesn’t want someone perfect, he wants someone authentic.
Elphaba is very good at playing authentic, the rebel outsider that doesn’t care what anyone else thinks. Fiyero said that to Galinda once, near the end of last year when Ephaba was staging one of her infamous one-woman protests, chaining herself to something and chanting with that wicked fire in her eyes. Galinda had become so momentarily distracted by the sight she didn’t feel him leaning over her until he was whispering in her ear, she doesn’t give a twig what anyone else thinks.
The awe in his voice should have been a red flag, but Galinda was too caught up in the absurdity of the words at the time. Of course Elphaba cares, probably more than anyone Galinda has ever met. It looks exhausting.
She decides to make laps and put in face time with as many people as possible so that they can see she is better than ever, actually. Fiyero and Elphaba aren’t being nearly as social, she only really sees them talk to Crope and Tibbet. Maybe this is still salvageable.
Lots of guys flirt or straight up make passes at her, and she plays oblivious or coy depending on the guy and their potential impact on her status. She tries to stick close to Pfannee and Shenshen to avoid some of the attention, but they aren’t much help since they seem to have gotten it in their heads that she needs a rebound.
Every time she hears the word she gets flashbacks to this summer and wishes she had something real in her cup to drown the memories.
That’s all it was, a rebound. She was upset and she let her control slip, but it’s not happening again. It’s out of her system.
So, it makes sense that she has no interest in rebounding with any of the guys here. She’s already done that, and now she needs to be strategic. Not rush into anything new, really take the time to evaluate her prospects.
“Stop being shy,” Pfannee giggles. “You can have literally any guy you want!”
She tugs Galinda into the center of the room with a predatory smile, then raises her empty beer bottle like a championship trophy.
“Who wants to play seven minutes in heaven?” she bellows.
There is a round of wolf whistles and shuffling, and suddenly party goers are forming a loose circle on the floor. She hears Elphaba loudly objecting to participating—what else is new—but Tibbet whispers something in her ears and she rolls her eyes, cheeks darkening. He pulls her down beside him.
Galinda’s stomach bottoms out at the realization that she’s playing, for some reason.
Before she can think about that too closely, Pfannee presses the empty bottle to Galinda’s palm. “You’re up first.”
A room full of hungry gazes turns to her and Galinda feels a little sick, but she smiles through it. She always does.
Her eyes find Elphaba’s in the circle, and she looks at her with something that almost looks like…pity. Okay, sure, Galinda doesn’t particularly want to play. But that doesn’t mean she wants her…Elphaba to notice and feel sorry for her. As if she didn’t give in to peer pressure to be sitting in this circle too!
Galinda sends a defiant smile in her direction and takes her spin.
The whole room seems to hold its breath. Suddenly there’s a crackle of more than just drunk and horny tension in the air—a subtle feeling no one else seems to notice, but Galinda recognizes instantly as the bottle seems to wobble a little unnaturally in its rotations and then come to a harsh stop. Galinda’s eyes find Elphaba’s wide ones across the circle.
Her insides feel like they’re on fire.
Suddenly her friends are insisting that she doesn’t actually have to go into the closet with anyone, or she can take another spin. Meanwhile the cries from Elphaba’s side of the circle seem much more amused, like this is all some funny joke.
And it is, isn’t it? She knows the feeling of Elphaba’s magic. Clearly this is some elaborate prank and they rigged it. Why? Fiyero may no longer have feelings for her, but she never thought of him as cruel—
A streak of fear runs through her that somehow they know what happened over the summer. But no, that’s impossible. Right?
“It’s fine,” she finds herself saying, standing and smoothing out her skirt. “I’m sure we can handle seven minutes without killing each other.”
She tops it off with her best long-suffering sigh. There’s a chorus of nervous shouted assurances as her friends watch her approach the closet door as if she’s walking to the gallows. Maybe this will teach them a lesson about trying to help her move on.
Elphaba looks strangely terrified as her own friends encourage her forward.
“I hope you understand the irony of forcing me into a closet,” she hisses at Tibbet.
“Oh, sweet Fabala, we both know no one forces you to do anything,” Tibbet says, with a smile that’s all teeth.
Galinda rolls her eyes at the theatrics.
The soft shut of the door has a ring of finality to it, as if they’ve been sealed off into their own universe. The closet is cramped and dark, and Galinda reaches into her pocket to pull out her phone and turn on the flashlight app.
Elphaba blocks her face with her hand.
“Careful where you point that thing,” she mutters.
“Oops,” Galinda says, her voice syrupy sweet as she sets her timer.
Once that’s done, and they’ve arranged themselves as comfortably as possible leaning on opposite walls less than two feet apart, she turns off the light again. Because it’s a waste of battery to keep it going the whole time, not because she’s having trouble making eye contact with Elphaba while she’s so close for some reason.
“So, what was the plan?” Galinda asks in a low voice.
“Plan?” Elphaba squeaks.
“I know you stopped the bottle,” Galinda says.
She hears Elphaba shuffling. “Are you going to tell everyone?”
She sounds nervous, which Galinda can’t figure out. “Why did you do it?”
“I-I didn’t do it on purpose,” Elphaba says. “You know I can’t always control my powers.”
Galinda feels her brow furrow, then immediately corrects it. She’s not going to let Elphaba’s confusifying actions give her premature wrinkles. “So, this wasn’t some kind of prank? Fiyero didn’t put you up to this?”
“Fiyero?” Elphaba repeats, sounding confused. “No…Why? Are you two getting back together?”
Galinda scoffs. “Trust me, he’s all yours.”
“You think I like Fiyero?” Elphaba sputters.
“Don’t you?” Galinda asks.
“No,” Elphaba laughs nervously. “I-I like someone else. Someone even more unattainable.”
Galinda rolls her eyes. “Fiyero isn’t unattainable. He’s clearly into you.”
Elphaba still sounds incredulous. “How could he be into me when he dates girls—well, girls that look like you?”
“Oh, please,” Galinda says. “You’re beautiful.” The words hang in the air between them a moment before Galinda feels a need to clarify. “You know, in an unconventional way. And he’s clearly decided he’s no longer interested in conventional.”
Galinda’s eyes are starting to adjust now, and she can just make out Elphaba’s soft expression in the low light filtering in from underneath the door. “You think I’m beautiful?”
Galinda feels herself flush. “That’s not—The point is Fiyero clearly thinks so, so you know, go for it.”
“I’m not interested in Fiyero,” Elphaba says. “We’re just friends.”
“Fine,” Galinda says. “Go for it with whoever you are interested in, then. I’m sure they’re not as unattainable as you think.”
She’s not sure why the idea of Elphaba starting a relationship still annoys her so much even if it’s not with Fiyero.
There’s a pregnant pause.
“Why did you think it was a prank?” Elphaba asks finally.
Galinda shrugs. “Because you used your magic? And it seemed like your friends were laughing at me.”
Elphaba chuckles. “No, they were definitely laughing at me.”
“For losing control?” Galinda asks.
Everyone knows Elphaba’s accidents are a sign of how powerful she is—hardly something worthy of derision. Though Galinda supposes with her track record they’re just lucky the bottle didn’t explode.
“No, I don’t think anyone noticed that but you, thankfully,” Elphaba says. “But you’re more sensitive to magic.”
Galinda feels warm at the thought that someone with Ephaba’s skill at sorcery thinks she’s talented. “Why would it matter if they noticed? It’s not like your powers are a secret.”
Elphaba sighs. “Galinda, come on.”
“Come on what?” Galinda says.
“Everyone knows my powers reflect my emotions,” Elphaba says, avoiding eye contact.
Galinda thinks about that before another wave of annoyance hits her when she realizes. “Is this because you felt sorry for me?”
“What?” Elphaba says.
“I can take care of myself!” Galinda says. “If I didn’t want to play, I could have gotten out of it. I know it’s a foreign concept to you, but it’s just easier to go along with things sometimes. Some of us are strategic about when we rock the boat. I didn’t need you to rescue me like I’m one of your lost causes.”
“For Ozma’s sake, Galinda, I don’t want to rescue you, I want to kiss you!” Elphaba shouts.
The confession rings out in the cramped closet, and the space feels even smaller now, the air unbearably stuffy suddenly.
“Oh,” Galinda says.
She knows Elphaba is bi. She maybe should have expected this, but Elphaba has made no secret of how she feels about Galinda’s personality… This is probably just some superficial attraction, then. She’s not sure why that makes her feel so hollow.
“You can if you want,” she hears herself say.
Elphaba looks surprised. “What?”
“I mean, that’s the game, right?” Galinda says, feeling her heart pound. “So, you know…go ahead.”
“Galinda, I don’t care about some stupid game,” Elphaba says. “I like you. I-I can’t kiss you if it doesn’t mean anything.”
“You like me?” Galinda repeats.
Of all the things that have happened tonight, that feels like the most unbelievable so far. She and Elphaba are constantly at each other’s throats. And sure, there is a sort of…exhilaration whenever they go head to head. And, yeah, maybe underneath all of that she may hold some admir—respect for the other girl. Elphaba’s brilliant and stubborn, and she has such a big heart that the world hasn’t been kind to.
Elphaba looks away, tensing like she’s bracing herself for a slap.
“I made out with a girl at cheer camp,” Glinda blurts out.
Elphaba’s eyes snap up to hers again.
“No one knows,” Galinda says. “You-you can’t tell anyone.”
“I won’t,” Elphaba says, and that soft look is back.
Galinda takes a deep breath and reaches out, taking Elphaba’s hand and interlacing their fingers. She feels a flutter from the contact that she knows she never felt with Fiyero. Even fumbling around with that girl over the summer, the experience was hot, but ultimately meaningless.
It’s terrifying, how meaningful this moment feels in contrast.
“I’m figuring some things out,” she says. “Do you want to try and be…friends?”
Elphaba squeezes her hand. “I’d like that.”
The timer goes off loudly, startling them both. Elphaba’s hold loosens, clearly expecting Galinda to drop her hand before they reenter the party.
Galinda considers it. She contemplates the fragile state of her reputation. Then again, the point of tonight was to make everyone forget about the break up.
She looks over at Elphaba’s resigned expression one more time, and makes her mind up.
She doesn’t let go.