Chapter 2
With her days of loathing behind her, Galinda had begun noticing arguably more striking peculiarities in her roommate’s everyday habits than before.
Observation one: Elphaba Thropp spent an absurd amount of time in the bathroom.
Perhaps not by Galinda standards, but for the average Ozian, Elphaba spent well over what Galinda assumed was the normal amount of time in the bathroom priming and primping. Not that she would ever group her Elphie in with the common Shiz student. As drab a color palette the girl's wardrobe consisted of, she was still unfairly well-dressed, the alterations to her university clothing rivaling the stylishness of Galinda's.
Now, Galinda herself had a long and perilous 23-step routine, bottles of cleanser and toner and body wash and shampoo and scrubs and scents arranged neatly on the counter of their private bathroom. Hardly any of it belonged to Elphaba, and yet she seemed to take just as long grooming herself, if not longer!
And the strangest thing? Galinda doesn’t think she’d ever heard the shower running while Elphaba was inside.
It’s a curious detail, really. Something small and easy to disregard if one isn’t paying attention. But the weeks following their bonding at the Ozdust, Galinda finds herself paying more attention to Elphaba than anyone or anything else.
She doesn’t ask about it at first, waits a few days to confirm her suspicions about the shower seldom being on when Elphaba was taking her sweet time in the bathroom at the end of the night. She’d forced herself to wake up early once or twice to confirm her early-bird roommate’s habit of doing the same during her morning grooming ordeals as well and had come to the same unclear conclusion.
The first time she brings it up is on a particularly slow and unexciting evening, long after the sun has breached the horizon line and Shiz has begun to calm down for the night, the quad below their balcony clear except for the occasional straggler. Galinda is perched patiently (read: restlessly) on the edge of Elphaba’s plain bedding, waiting for the green girl to exit the bathroom.
She does so shortly, the click of the bathroom door drawing Galinda's attention from the pink of her nails to the sweet-smelling brunette re-entering their quarters. That’s another thing; Elphaba always smells unfairly amazing. Like sage and tea leaves and something a little more aromatic to complement the spiciness of the other notes in her scent. Galinda has scanned the sink (and Elphaba’s slightly cluttered desk, plus a drawer or two, though she'd never admit to that invasion) for any sign of a perfume, but she’d never been able to find one. And Elphaba couldn't possibly smell this good and not practice good hygiene, so clearly, she is bathing.
Regardless, she’s got her wire rimmed glasses in one hand and a towel in the other, gently dabbing at the skin of her neck and jaw. There’s a delightful sheen to her skin and Galinda can already smell her from across their suite.
Elphaba pauses when she notices Galinda sitting on her bed instead of the pink monstrosity that is her own fluffy comforter and extensive pillow collection. Quirking one thick, perfectly shaped eyebrow, she slows her approach to one more playfully cautious, trading the towel for the thin frock on the hanger near the foot of her bed and slipping it over her soft, cream-colored night slip.
“Miss Galinda, I fear you’ve retired to the wrong bed this evening.” She drawls, moving past Galinda to sit at the desk at her bedside. She clicks on her lamp, warm amber light combating the fluorescent pink coming from the offending lamp on Galinda’s side of the room, and picks up her latest conquest; some book Dillamond had assigned on the Great Drought, a reading Galinda can’t imagine to be any more interesting than watching paint dry.
“I’ll have you know,” Galinda begins, lips falling into a small pout at the way Elphaba’s position has her back turned, “…that I was waiting up for you, Elphie. Your late-night grooming session does not negate our weekly secret sharing ritual!”
“Of course not, my sweet.”
Galinda could hardly stifle the beaming grin overtaking her face at Elphie’s preferred term of endearment. It never failed to fill her with unfiltered joy, something about it different than the simple endearments used by Fiyero or Shenshen. She oft wonders what about it is so much more preferrable, but now was not the time to dwell.
Clearing her throat as obviously as possible, Galinda waited for the deliberately slow turn of Elphaba’s head before demandingly patting the empty space next to her, her own pale blonde brows rising in question. The quirk of those full, green lips and the fond eyeroll she received in return never failed to make her heart flutter.
“Perhaps you’ll let me finish this chapter of Dr. Dillamond’s assigned reading first?” Elphaba suggested with a small smile, thumbing through the book pointedly until she reached what Galinda assumed was the end of the chapter. “I only have twelve pages left.”
“Only?” Galinda had glowered, crossing her arms over her chest petulantly. “Goodness, Elphie that’s like an ozillion words! Surely, we can swap secrets first. Oh, please? I promise to let you go back to your horrendible history reading right afterward!”
“You, too, have to finish the reading, Galinda. You know I never mind sharing my notes with you, but you’ll hardly understand a word if you don’t at least skim the section.”
“A compromise!” Galinda declared, smoothing out the skirt of her sheer pink slip habitually. “We’ll tell our secrets and then you can read Dr. Dilly’s dreaded history excerpts out loud while I listen like the perfect listener that I am!”
“You mean while you fight the urge to fall asleep.”
Well, it was partially true. Elphaba had quite the soothing timbre to her voice and Galinda could listen for hours, sometimes biting back the urge to ask Elphie to read her a story before they retired for the night. “Mm. But everyone wins, yes?”
Elphaba chuckled. “Sounds much more tailored to your desires than mine, my sweet, but I digress.” Galinda watched the green girl slip a dry quill between the pages of the book to keep her place, heavily against dog-earing the pages the way Galinda mindlessly marked her own, and joined her pink whirlwind of a roommate on the admittedly stiff mattress.
“Now,” Galinda began with a steadily widening smile, watching fondly as Elphaba slipped her bonnet from beneath her pillow and delicately arranged her braids to fit comfortably beneath it. She straightened the black silk over her hairline, then offered Galinda her full attention. “Secret sharing time. I’ll go first.”
“Naturally.”
Galinda shot the older girl a playfully scornful look before it broke out into a genuine smile, voice lowering to a whisper. “Remember the night of the Ozdust, when I told you Fiyero and I were to be betrothed?”
“I do.”
“Well… Fiyero and I aren’t getting married anymore!”
Galinda wiggled restlessly in her spot on Elphaba’s bed, eagerly awaiting her response. She’d been waiting all evening to whisper the words into the air between them, unusually anxious about Elphaba’s response.
“Oh? Did something happen?” The sorceress’s brows furrowed in concern.
“No,” Galinda sighed, falling over sideways, Elphaba moving her hands from her lap to allow room for Galinda’s head on her thighs. The blonde sighed contentedly as long nails scratched gently at her scalp. “Everything is perfect, really. We just decided—mutually—that it would be best to end it where it was. No bad blood, of course, and he promised to still hold my books and sit with us at lunch and come shopping with me when you refuse—”
“Wait—you and Fiyero broke up?” Elphaba clarified, her fingers pausing their ministrations in Galinda’s hair. Galinda nuzzled into her thigh to get her to start up again, which had the intended effect even if Elphaba’s motions had become slower and more hesitant. “Why?”
“We realized we simply enjoyed our relationship as something more platonic.” Galinda shrugged, sinking more into Elphaba as the movement against her scalp began to genuinely relax her entire body. “I don’t see Fiyero that way, I think. I’m not sure I ever did, past my initial excitement about his princely status.” She purposely left out the part about Fiyero’s good-natured suspicion that Galinda’s heart belonged elsewhere. She was still trying to figure out what he'd meant.
Elphaba hummed contemplatively. “And you’re okay?”
“I’m wonderful, Elphie.”
“And Fiyero?”
“Dying without me, I imagine.”
Elphaba snorted, smoothing down Galinda’s flyaway hairs before resting a warm palm against her cheek. “Oh, I’m sure. He lost a gem, that one.”
Galinda practically preened at the implications.
“Okay, okay, your turn, Miss Elphaba! A secret, if you would.” Galinda turned onto her back so she could look up at Elphaba from where her head rested in the green girl’s lap, only briefly mourning the warmth of a hand on her cheek before she was acquiesced by attentive green eyes and the crinkles at their corners caused by a genuine smile.
“I’m not sure I have a secret to rival the weight of yours tonight, my sweet. And definitely not one as interesting as the one I shared with you the night of the Ozdust.”
Reaching up to tap at Elphaba’s nose, Galinda clicked her tongue. “Well, that simply cannot be true! You must have something to share with me that you haven’t yet, right?”
“I'm attempting to avoid the more depressing topics this evening, unfortunately.”
“How positively boring you are, tonight.” Galinda groaned, reluctantly sitting back up to better look Elphaba in the eye, her tone incredulous. “Nothing?”
Elphaba’s lips twisted in amusement. “I had two blueberry muffins for breakfast today instead of one.”
“Truly scandalocious. But, a real secret, Elphie. Please, please, please?”
Shaking her head, Elphaba reached out to lay a retaliatory tap on Galinda’s nose with the nail of her index finger. “Nothing comes to mind. But, how about this: you can ask me one question you’re dying to know the answer to, and I’ll respond to the best of my ability.”
Galinda hummed. That seemed like a fair deal. There were a plethora of things she could ask about and she knew Elphaba would answer each honestly, if not a bit hesitantly at first. Part of Galinda beamed with pride at Elphaba’s trust in her, her willingness to be vulnerable in front of Galinda making the blonde feel on top of the world. No one else ever got to see Elphaba that way, all soft edges and sleepy confessions, fingers fidgeting mindlessly in her lap and a knee bobbing up and down rapidly beneath a desk or swinging where it hung off the edge of a bed.
She could ask about Elphaba’s childhood. It was fascinating parsing the differences between how Galinda had grown up and how Elphaba had, that is, if you left out how infuriating her lowlife of a father tended to be in each and every story, no matter how much Elphaba played it down. But Elphie had briefly insisted on avoiding any potentially sad topics tonight, and Galinda could be gracious, at least when it came to Elphaba.
The next thing that came to mind, even if a bit invasive, would suit the night much better, and sate a point of genuine curiosity that had been eating Galinda alive for weeks on end.
“Why do you take so long in the bathroom?”
Clearly not having expected such a question, the cackle that bubbled up from Elphaba’s chest was surprised and unabashed. One hand shot up to cover her mouth as the sound died down and Galinda resisted the urge to reach up and move it out of the way so she could get an unobstructed view of her roommate's blinding white smile.
“I spend just about as much time in the bathroom as you do, Galinda.” Elphaba grinned once her laughter had subsided enough to get the words out. “I’d expected you of all people to understand a desire for proper hygiene and presentation.”
Galinda scoffed. “Well, yes,” She grumbled with an eye roll. “It’s just, I’ve never heard you shower.”
“Been listening in on my bathroom activities, have you?”
Galinda sputtered. “Elphaba Thropp, you wicked thing! I just mean, well, you… you smell amazifying for someone whose never touched a bathroom faucet. How? I can’t for all of Oz find one bottle of perfume in here that doesn’t belong to me!”
“That’s the secret you want the answer to tonight?”
“Yes!”
Grinning, Elphaba shrugged one shoulder aimlessly, rising from the bed and making casually into the bathroom connected to their suite. “I’ll have you know, I do bathe, Miss Galinda. I was not raised a ruffian.”
Galinda squeaked indignantly, lips parting to defend herself against the notion that she’d assumed as such, but Elphaba was already returning with a square wicker basket underneath one arm. She slid into to her spot across from Galinda, placing the basket between them and flicking open the top.
Leaning forward to peer over the edge as Elphaba reached inside, Galinda was surprised to find a number of wide, clear glass bottles, each filled with slick, golden liquids of various shades. She caught a bit of the faint scent she’d come to associate with Elphaba wafting from the bottles as well, intensifying when Elphaba uncorked the top of one and held it out for Galinda to smell.
“These are…”
“My oils.” Elphaba clarified. “They are rather potent on their own, as I’m sure you’re aware, so I have no need to further overpower my scent with a perfume. I have them imported from Munchkinland monthly.”
“And you… clean yourself with them…”
“Mhm.”
“In lieu of showering.”
“Do you require a demonstration?”
Galinda’s cheeks all but flamed. She forced the enticing image of Elphaba running oil covered palms up smooth, green legs and sent her roommate the most heated glare she could muster, but it mustn’t have been effective with the way Elphaba broke out into another fit of giggles, returning the top to the open bottle and placing it back in the basket.
“Now that your curiosity has been sated, I propose we finish the rest of Dillamond’s reading while the night’s still young.”
And that was that. At least for a little while.