Elphaba tries not to but in the end it's futile to fight against it. So she doesn't. Instead, she prepares excuses for when she gets caught. Something that happens more often than not because, for some reason, Galinda seems to be looking the same amount she is.
Galinda's cheeks are sun-kissed and, different than Elphaba's dark ones, light-brown freckles now dot her skin. They make Elphaba's tummy twist—not paifully, not new but certainly intensely.
Her lips twist too; a fond soft smile as she lets her gaze wander down the the red-ish bridge of her nose, the tip of it as well.
"What are you smiling at? Oh no, do I have a booger on my nose?" Galinda asks, the fear evident in her voice which makes Elphaba try to stop her lips from widening more. "It's the salt, Elphie, I swear it makes my nose so runny, it clears my sinuses like nothing else,"
Elphaba can't help herself then, she giggles. Reaching out a hand to stop Galinda from pressing on her nose or running the back of her hand over it, she laces their fingers together. She laughs a bit more when Galinda frowns at her, faux-mad, because she giggled in the first place.
"You don't have anything in your nose, Galinda." She says. She tugs Galinda closer and they stand almost side by side, their shoulders touching.
"What was it then?"
Elphaba sighs, rolls her eyes and shrugs one shoulder, "You're cute, I guess."
Galinda blinks at her, a pretty pink flush spreads over her freckled cheeks and creamy bare neck, "You guess?" She asks, appalled.
Elphaba lets her hand go after shrugging once more. She drops down on her twin bed in the Upland's beach home and busies herself with her book, not wanting to say more damning words.
"Elphie! You guess?"
Elphaba ignores her; well, after humming what is and is not an answer, just a hum to let Galinda know she's not actually ignoring her.
She's not reading anything from the book perched in her hands, too aware of the confession she's made and the consequences of it. Too aware of Galinda. Therefore, she can hear Galinda's indignant whisper of Oz help me, the first time she's complimented me like that and it's followed by an I guess, oh Elphaba Thropp—
"Excuse me? That is not the first time I complimented you. I give you compliments. All the time, may I add,"
Galinda sighs, "Elphie, please," She pouts, coming closer to Elphaba's bed. Elphaba straightens herself on it, closes her book and deposits it on her belly to watch Galinda stalking closer and closer, the pout and the puppy eyes worsening with each step, "Will you say it again?"
Elphaba wants to laugh—Galinda Arduenna Upland does not need to do all this to hear a compliment, to hear that she's cute, even to feel good about herself so why—
"It's different. From you,"
Elphaba frowns. How did she know?
Galinda rolls her eyes and sits down beside where Elphaba lays on the mattress, their hips touching, "I know you, Elphie. I know what you were thinking," Galinda pokes her forehead. Elphaba swats her hand away.
"Will you let me read in peace if I do it?"
Galinda opens her mouth, fauxing shock again, and crosses her arms. "Well, I don't want you to call me cute if it's like that," She gets up from the bed before Elphaba can answer. "Fine, I'll let you read your book but know that I'm mad at you."
Elphaba knows she's not. So she hums. And murmurs a thank you for good measure.
Before Galinda is out the door of the bedroom, she turns back and looks at Elphaba over her shoulder, "I'll come call you when it's time to leave for dinner,"
Elphaba smiles at her in gratitude and opens up her book, adjusting herself more comfortably on the bed, once she is, she sighs. Happy. Content. Filled with love and affection here with Galinda at her vacation home.
Before going back to reading though, she realises she didn't hear the door close so she glances up and finds Galinda still there, peering at Elphaba with unconcealed fondness.
Elphana grins. "Get out of here, cutie. Your parents are waiting,"
Galinda beams then does as she's told. Elphaba blushes but doesn't regret a thing.
The first day had been tough. Her verdigris, Galinda's parents, Galinda's nervousness and Elphaba's own—it had been a day packed with anxiety for both of them. Perhaps that's why the guest room—where Galinda has moved to from day one—has turned into their safe sanctuary, a place where they can come back to and unload or forget or simply exist without words and complicating emotions. So today, their third day of summer break, after they went out to dinner to Popsicle's favourite restaurant, it is no surprise that the minute Galinda steps foot into the Upland home she politely excuses Elphaba and herself to go to bed.
Galinda exhales shakily when she closes their bedroom door, momentarily resting her back against it to presumably ground herself.
"All good, Galinda?"
Galinda opens her eyes, "Sorry. Yeah, all good." She walks a few steps towards the bathroom, passing where Elphaba sits on the end of her bed.
Before she can go into the bathroom though, Elphaba stops her by grabbing her hand, "Don't apologise. We knew it'd be like this." She shakes her arm lightly, trying to offer some humorous comfort about the disastrous dinner they'd had. "We can go back to Shiz any time, that was our agreement,"
Galinda sits down beside her, her head instantly finding Elphaba's shoulder. Elphaba feels Galinda squeeze her hand, "I know. But I don't want to yet. Do you?"
Elphaba closes her eyes. Thinking. "No," And lose the perfectly perfect excuse to be like this with Galinda? Certainly not. She turns her head to nose at Galinda's hairline. Drops a light kiss on her forehead. "Go." She nudges Galinda with her knee, disentangling their hands.
Galinda does, sets off to do her nightly routine while Elphaba changes to her pyjamas on the bedroom. Soon after they're both under the covers, the room bathed in silver from the moonlight that filters through the light curtains of the guest room.
"Good night, Elphie,"
"Sweet dreams, Galinda."
On the fourth day, something changes.
Elphaba knows, or well, she's had a feeling, that her and Galinda's friendship was far from a common one—from the way it started to before it did, from the way it quickly intensified to the way they behaved physically with each other—so that's not what changes.
Elphaba is not sure she can put into words, to form a explanation on what the something that changed was. She can only feel it.
And she knows Galinda feels it as well. From the way she stops lingering in her looks—Elphaba doesn't catch her eyes anymore, instead she catches them averting her gaze (That was obviously on Elphaba).
It'd be amusing if not for the crisp trepidation that settles in Elphaba's mind and heart. Had Galinda discovered something?—Elphaba is reminded of how she seemingly, at times, can read Elphaba's mind and the thought rolls into a panicked fact that perhaps Galinda figured out why she's caught Elphaba stealing glances at her, figured out why Elphaba lingers her touch when there's no reason to, why Elphaba's lips and cheeks hurt from trying to stop smiling while talking to Galinda, why her eyes sparkle when they so much as catch a glimpse of her.
Maybe that's why Galinda is pulling away.
Elphaba shakes her head.
There's a book with her, obviously, but her eyes are a bit tired from the incessant sunrays of the sun that is high on the sky. She's lying over a towel on a sun lounger by the sand while Galinda is inside the water. Elphaba's uncomfortably warm and hot and there's a few trickles of sweat running down her body that tickles her. It becomes too annoying to read like this. She needs to refresh herself, she needs to get in the ocean.
But, of course, Galinda's there. Elphaba is too scared to know, to ask—asking is a risk, she's come to learn since childhood—she will, obviously, because that's who Elphaba Thropp is, however she will still feel things about it.
She sighs before getting up. The sand is also uncomfortably hot underneath her feet. She has to jog a little to relieve her feet and finally get to the wet portion of it. When she does, she spots Galinda.
Elphaba's right back to yesterday. Tummy twisting, butterflies flying, chest warming with affection.
Galinda is gorgeous. Rosy cheeks, pink lips, more freckles appearing. Elphaba hadn't even noticed she'd been walking closer until she realised two things at once: a drop of water running down Galinda's forehead and the coldness of the wave that now laps at her feet.
"Hi," Galinda smiles at her, some of the trepidation dissipates then. A little relief. "Finally. I was wondering if you were sick or something,"
Elphaba frowns, treading closer to Galinda. She inhales and exhales shakily as the cold water submerges her, "Why would I be sick?"
"It's so hot, Elphie. I don't know how you can stand being out of the water for so long," Galinda explains, laughing at the end.
"That's why I'm here," Elphaba smirks.
"You're stronger than me, you've been, what? Two hours out there?"
Elphaba narrows her eyes. Could she— "Have you been waiting for me to join you, Galinda?" Elphaba doesn't need the answer, the blushing is enough, so she continues, "You could've just asked me to." She pauses. This is the moment. "You've been holding back since we've woken up today. Is everything okay? Did I do—"
"No! Elphie, no." She stalks forward, her hands landing on Elphaba's arms underwater. "I'm sorry, I just... I woke up too much in my head, today, I think."
Elphaba revels in their closeness for a bit, the pleasant warmth it brings, the contrast to the cold water surrounding them. "Does the reason for that have anything to do with why your father talked to you before we left the restaurant yesterday?"
Galinda's face fall and Elphaba's heart squeeze inside her chest. She tilts forward, hugging Galinda close to her.
"What did he say?" Elphaba tries not to let the raw anger show in her voice.
"Nothing I haven't heard before," But Galinda knows her. "It's okay, Elphie. I promise,"
"No, it's not. Even if you are alright, it's not acceptable."
"You don't even know what he said to me,"
"Does it matter, Galinda?"
"I guess not,"
Elphaba runs a hand down Galinda's back.
"Do you want to tell me?"
Galinda tucks her face in the crook of Elphaba's neck. "He just warned me about... Our, um. Touching."
"What does that mean?" Elphaba's heart skip a beat, the fear that had left her with a simple little true smile from Galinda coming back.
Galinda sighs, separating them, "He just..." Galinda bites her lower lip looking pensively at Elphaba. Galinda had leaned back from their embrace but Elphaba let her hands circle her wrist, offering comfort, a safe place to land. "He seems to think, ever since I was little, that people put up with how I am."
Elphaba's thumb circle the inside of Galinda's wrist. She knows something about parents putting their noses where they shouldn't—saying things because they feel it about themselves, extending their unresolved emotions to their children.
Elphaba shakes her head. "That's not true. I don't just put up with you and you know that. Don't you, my sweet?" The drop of water Elphaba saw before--that was sliding down Galinda's forehead, presumably falling from her wet hair--is long gone. Now, the ones that fall down her cheeks are from tears.
Elphaba puts aside her anger for the man that caused this to gently tilt Galinda's face up so she can see Elphaba's eyes when she says, "Have you ever seen or known me to put up with someone?"
Elphaba watches Galinda shake her head quietly, softly. Her hands leave wrist and neck to settle on Galinda's waist bringing her into another hug, one that Elphaba puts enough pressure so Galinda can feel how wrong her father is.
The way Galinda melts against her in a sigh, fortunately, tells Elphaba she succeeded.
They walk back to the house with their hand tangled, with Galinda close to her, their sides touching. Elphaba knows she's not one hundred per cent out of her head yet when she looks at Galinda and there isn't the tiny smile her face usually rests in.
When Galinda catches her staring though, she doesn't look away like this morning. Elphaba tilts forward to press a grinning kiss to her temple.
Galinda's smile at that is everything.
"Could we have a sleepover today, Elphie?"
Elphaba exhales a laugh. "Haven't we been in one since we got here?" She then trails off. "Haven't we have been having sleepovers since we turned roommates actually?"
Galinda merely grins, smirking then, at her. "You'll see what I mean."
Oh no. "What are you planning, Galinda? Remember we're at your parents house,"
Galinda rolls her eyes swings their joined hands once, "Relax, Elphie. Trust me,"
"Oh, I do, but I also know you,"
Galinda giggles. Smiling, Elphaba feels her heart flutter at the sound.
It turns out there wasn't too much need for Elphaba's worries of Galinda's parents having enough of them talking too loudly or laughing too much because it turns out, apparently, all Galinda meant by having a sleepover was pushing their twin beds together and lying side by side while talking in hushed voices until very, very late.
"Do you think we would've been friends faster if they weren't— If I thought different than I had at the time?" Galinda murmurs while she stares at the ceiling.
Elphaba muses on this. It would be easy to say yes but Elphaba feels like it's not entirely correct. Elphaba recognises she's adopted a few defense mechanisms while growing up that would have prevented their friendship from developing as quickly, or at all, if it hadn't happened in the way it did.
"No. I don't think so." She tells the truth. She turns her head to look af Galinda instead of the beige ceiling. "I think I would've stayed away from you anyway because of the way you behaved."
Galinda perks up at that. "How I behaved?"
"Yeah. You were so—" Elphaba smiled, looked at the ceiling again to recollect Galinda's way of walking, the way she purposefully tossed her hair in the air, trying to catch everybody's attention and affection, "So pretty. So different from me," She glances at Galinda again, "Walking around with your pink uniform like you owned the place, first day there and you already had two people to gossip with. You were so..." Elphaba smirks turning on her side to better look at Galinda, "Superficial," It lacks all the vicious intent from back then that she'd say the words with—now that she knows Galinda, she can joke about it because she knows Galinda isn't superficial, "See? I compliment you,"
Galinda gasps, feigning offense, and shoulders her playfully. They laugh together and then quietly bask in each other's company.
Until Galinda murmurs, "You were pretty too, you know."
Elphaba rolls her eyes and turns on her back again.
Galinda lays a hand on her arm, "I'm serious," Elphaba knows she's serious but the compliment is difficult to accept. "Elphaba." Galinda tugs once on her arm and Elphaba relents, looks at her.
"Even if back then all you wore was those dreadful muted colours," Galinda jokes.
Elphaba is a little relieved at the tone-shift in the conversation but then Galinda's eyes stalk down then up Elphaba's body in a way that makes her feel her heartbeat in several places she hadn't paid attention before—it makes her breath hitch.
"Although... They do look confusifyingly flattering on you."
Elphaba blinks at Galinda, "Th-thank you,"
Galinda smiles at her, innocently and shrugs once, her hand finding Elphaba's before she says, "We should go to sleep,"
Elphaba does not, in fact, go to sleep. Her mind is too busy trying to reconcile the whiplash of not believing Galinda's words to believing them a lot simply because of the unmistakable way she'd looked Elphaba up and down moments before.
It turns out the something that had changed still lingered between them and it wasn't at all to do with what Galinda's father had said to her.
The change, Elphaba can now at least theorize, is that a line had been carefully snipped—the atmosphere between them felt softly welcoming as if they had been thoughtfully constructing their friendship for years and years instead of the short time they've known each other.
Elphaba realises she can go to Galinda with requests or something that bothered her and they would talk it out instead of letting it sit silently between them, resentment getting built and stored within that would eventually lead to an explosion and the consequent end of their relationship.
Elphaba realises Galinda confides in her in full totality, different than with how she does so with her parents or her entourage or Fiyero. It is not only with words and sentiments but in the way Galinda lets herself and her body just be in Elphaba's presence.
It leaves Elphaba lightheaded.
From the corner of her eyes, she watches Galinda in the sun lounger next to hers, hunched over her notebook, a wet strand of darkened-blonde hair fallen on the left side of her face.
Once again, Elphaba is ignoring her book in favor of observing Galinda.
She's drawing. The rapid circular movements of the pencil in her hand tells Elphaba that. What she's drawing, though, remains a mystery.
"I didn't know you knew how to draw,"
Galinda hums distractedly, the hand with the pencil moving across the squared page of her little notebook.
"What are you drawing?"
Galinda's lips open with a smack and Elphaba's attention zeroes in on it, leaving the page to take in its gentle curve, the pinkness and plumpness of it. A sudden intrusive image pops into her mind.
Elphaba doesn't have much time to dwell on it.
"Remember the restaurant's entryway? I thought it was very pretty and—" Galinda interrupts herself. "I just thought it was nice and I wanted to hang it back at Shiz,"
Elphaba's attention fizzles out though, even as Galinda continues speaking and drawing and sometimes pointing down at the page, Elphaba's eyes were locked and loaded to Galinda's mouth.
She's only brought back when she hears Galinda.
"What?" Elphaba asks, smiling confusedly at her.
"I should be asking that. Where did you go just now? Did you even hear a word I said?" Galinda tsks. "Elphie, am I losing you?" She tilts her head, grinning teasingly.
Elphaba rolls her eyes fondly, "Please," Her mind searches for something she might have heard subconsciously while staring at Galinda so it's busy to stop her mouth from saying her next words. "You could never lose me."
There’s a silent pause. Elphaba avoids looking at Galinda.
Then, Galinda tackles her, engulfing her in a giggly tight hug, laying their bodies down in Elphaba's sun lounger.
"Galinda, it's so hot," She whines, and tries, with so little effort, to peel Galinda away from her bare skin.
"You could never lose me, too."
Elphaba lets them hug underneath the blazing sun, feeling warm for more reasons than one.