notting hill

It was quiet out, save for the occasional trill of a bird or the background hum of the crickets. The air was uncharacteristically still, the winds having fallen asleep in the leaves and given up for the night. Elphaba sat on the roof, overlooking the city below her as the sun faded from the graying sky. It was spring in the Emerald City, dull yet bustling with the same fervor the city always did.

Elphaba Thropp had ended up in the neighborhood of Notting Hill, more on the edge of the city, after her first real heartbreak had set her off on a path of total reinvention. Anywhere near the woman who had left her felt a bit too close, so she had packed her bags and left Munchkinland without looking back. Within a year she had found herself a small bookshop to man, tucked away on a busy enough street to keep business afloat. It wasn’t always the most exciting, but she found a certain charm in it and didn’t find any other career particularly interesting.

She roomed with Fiyero, a snarky man who always had perfectly coiffed hair and a witty remark on hand. Elphaba found his effortless charm somewhat annoying at times, but the two had known each other since school and she found it rather hard to ever stay mad at him. Their friendship was strong, and more importantly to Elphaba their rent was a split. Life was relaxed and monotonous, and this was the way she lived for 3 years.

This particular night she had found herself on the roof after some odd restlessness following her the whole day kept her from sleep. It was a Friday, and the shop had closed at the decent hour of 5:00 PM. As she locked the doors and climbed the stairs up to the flat, she couldn’t shake the feeling that it was just going to be one of those days. The days where a small voice inside her nagged, Shouldn’t you be doing something more with your life? Is a bookshop really all you’re going to have?

And it probably had a point, in all honesty, but the idea that she was wasting her life was a rather hard pill to swallow, so Elphaba always hated to dwell on such things for too long. When the feeling had persisted she’d climbed the precariously steep ladder up the roof and sat on the shitty plastic lawn chairs she’d hauled up there all those years ago, back when Emerald City was still a shining and sparkling part of her new life. But now the shine had worn off to reveal the city’s true grays (or rather greens, in a more literal sense), and it felt like nothing more than the backdrop to Elphaba’s biggest decision gone wrong to date.

It was true that there still was some beauty to it, the twinkling neighborhood laid out before her as the murmur of the crowds drifted through the air. A Friday night always meant busy streets late into the night, because it gave everyone an excuse to escape their drab existence, even if only for a couple of hours. Elphaba had tried to do so, but found that her ventures into the bars and flirting girls only made her feel even more boring and alone. The girls who hit on her rather boldly felt awfully glamorous, and her stuttering responses always felt flat and uninspired. So she quickly found that her Friday nights were better spent with a cigarette on the roof and some quiet music, and if she was feeling particularly bold a movie with Fiyero when the latter came home from work.

She took a drag from her cigarette, letting the smoke drift out of her mouth and the following calm it gave her settle into her bones. The air was growing steadily colder, but Elphaba didn’t find much appeal in going back inside to do nothing, so she ignored the occasional shiver that ran through her in favor of a therapeutic smoke. The playlist she had started when she had first climbed up gently filled the air as it played from her phone, quiet instrumentals dispelling the doubtful thoughts that had been nagging at her all evening.

She heard a slam of a door downstairs, accompanied by a shouted “ELPHIE!” and rolled her eyes. Fiyero was home, and from the sounds of it he was not happy.

Elphaba reluctantly rose from her seat, stamping out her cigarette and taking one last look out at the view from the rooftop. The warm glow of shop lights and the buzz of people filled her with a bittersweet sort of feeling, and for a split second she remembered when that had been her. Thousands of miles away in Munchkinland, wrapped around a faceless girl in the shadows of the night, not a care in the world but the taste of beer and the thrill of sneaking around. But that Elphaba was long gone, and now all she had to do was pick up her phone and clamber back down the stairs into her Emerald City apartment.

Inside, Fiyero bustled around as he settled in for the night. His work bag lay by the door along with his neatly polished boots, which Elphaba often told him didn’t seem particularly suited for the rather boring job of low ranking officer. Fiyero, in turn, often replied that a boring job was no excuse to not dress your best, and pointedly ignored the accompanying scoff or eye roll this drew from his roommate.

Elphaba crossed the room to the kitchen, halfheartedly searching for dinner when she already had the nagging sense that they would settle on take-out. As long as it was paired with a movie of her choosing, rather than Fiyero’s questionable romcom tastes, she had no complaints.

Sure enough, 30 minutes later found the two settled into their couch, noodles in hand and remote in the other. A bottle of cheap red wine sat on the coffee table, the amount in it lowering at a considerably alarming rate.

“How about.. Ordinary Things? Boq is always telling me to watch it. Or maybe it was True Story..”

Fiyero took a generous swig from his glass and then sat up with a start, knocking Elphaba to the side, much to the green woman’s annoyance.

“I’ve got it, the new Glinda Upland movie! You know, Saturn Returns? They have that giant billboard with her face on it at the bus stop outside the museum, my coworkers won’t stop telling me how good she was in it. And she’s exactly your type too, this is perfect!”

Fiyero seemed uncharacteristically excited about this movie prospect, so Elphaba grumbled only mildly before caving in. And maybe Fiyero wasn’t completely wrong in his observations that the actress wasn’t too hard on the eyes.

Elphaba, as she was fairly frequently reminded by those around her, lived under a rock. She never quite found the point in social media, and the news became too depressing and uninteresting a good decade or so ago. Anything notable that happened was either brought to her through Fiyero’s incessant gossip or the rambling helper she has taken on at the bookstore, and if neither reported it to her, it was likely not worth her time. This being said, even she had heard of the dazzling Glinda Upland.

It was no secret that the film industry was a fickle business, new stars being brought in and thrown out in the matter of months. But the latest shining addition had left critics clamoring and the general public utterly enamored. With honey blond hair and deep doe eyes, she seemed to be born for the big screen. Her elegant acting and frankly stunning looks had left no doubt in the eyes of the world that Upland was one for the history books. Saturn Returns was only her debut role, but the big names of the industry had already been lining up for a chance to have her in their next project.

It wasn’t half bad, Elphaba had to admit, as the movie played on her and Fiyero’s old television. Glinda’s charm and seductive nature in the role was undeniable, and if she found herself shifting in her seat when certain scenes came on, she’d never admit it. As the film’s final scene rolled, a shot of the titular character looking straight into the camera with a wink, she could not keep the enamored look off her face, much to the amusement of Fiyero.

“Elphaba, we need to get you laid. I cannot have you mooning over the world’s sweetheart, you’d have a better chance with a fucking leaf than Glinda Upland! I knew you’d like her.” Fiyero chuckled to himself as he stood and brought their plates to the kitchen, leaving Elphaba to stew alone on the couch.

So what if the it girl of Oz was attractive, wasn’t that the point? God forbid a woman find someone attractive these days. The green girl grumbled to herself, but long after she had bid Fiyero good night and found herself in her bed, the doe eyes and sweet smile of a certain actress waited for her the second she closed her eyes.

Monday morning found her back at the bookstore, flipping mindlessly through a new restock of an utterly uninteresting novel. The store was small and fairly crammed, made of a main room with a few rows of shelves and a backroom that felt like a claustrophobic’s nightmare. Some found it to be stuffy, but Elphaba believed in its rustic charm and inherent calm that bookstores always seemed to carry.

Today was a slow day, likely because not many spent their Monday mornings searching for a new read, so she takes the small liberty of resting her shoes on the desk and settling back into the chair to see if this book was even worth shelving.

“Elphaba, here’s the coffee you wanted. Small black, correct? Oz, I could never. Tea is all I can handle at this age, I’m afraid one sip of your coffee would have me wide awake all night. The coffee shop around the corner actually has the most interesting new flavor of tea, actually, some sort of blend-”

“Thank you, Dillamond. I do agree tea is quite nice, but I’m afraid I rather need coffee to stay awake during the day.”

Elphaba leans over to take the small cup she knew was hers from the hands of her chattering employee, and hands him the new book. She had hired Dillamond recently, after realizing the bookstore needed some extra help, and the older Goat had quickly proven to be a dear friend, perhaps even the closest she had to a mentor. While sometimes a rambler, his sage advice and soothing voice was good company during the quiet hours in the shop.

“This new stock came in today, but I’m not really sure it’s worth the shelf space. I haven’t been able to get into it and I must’ve read almost 100 pages of this crap by now.”

She takes a sip from the black coffee in hand and watches as Dillamond scans the blurb on the back, silently smiling when he wrinkles his nose in distaste and nods.

“You’re right, this looks rather bland. We can put a few copies as filler in the backroom in case the author pops around ‘offering’ to sign as a ‘favor’, Oz knows we don’t want a repeat of that one case causing a scene.”

Now it is Elphaba who wrinkles her nose in annoyance, remembering the pretentious up-and-comer who had expected her new, and rather bad, book to be centerfold display. She had been in for quite the rude awakening when Elphaba had handed her the entire stock they had and bid her goodbye, in a fairly final tone that had left the initially arrogant woman speechless.

Dillamond busies himself with bringing the books to the backroom, humming to himself quietly as he works. Elphaba settles back into her seat, pushing her glasses up her nose to resume her reading.

Suddenly, the small ring of a bell announces the door opening, and Elphaba looks up to see a woman hustle in, promptly shutting the door before scurrying behind a bookshelf. She wears a light scarf around her neck and a pair of large sunglasses, paired with a light pink trench coat and a small brown purse. She seems so neatly put together that she looks rather out of place in the small dusty bookshop, and only her slight breathlessness breaks this image of perfection.

Elphaba stands, straightening her shirt before walking over. She smiles politely and addresses the woman.

“Welcome! Is there anything I can help you with, or are you just looking to browse?”

The woman turns with a slight jump, seemingly not having realized Elphaba was there, and smiles tightly. She waves a hand dismissively, and replies, “Oh, I’m quite alright, thank you.”

Elphaba’s brow furrows, her voice suddenly sounding strangely familiar. As she returns to her desk, she turns just in time to see the mysterious client take off her sunglasses, and at once it feels like the air has been knocked straight out of her.

Because indeed, this woman was familiar, in fact hers was a voice she had heard only two nights prior on Fiyero's shitty television set. Standing there in Elphaba Thropp’s dusty bookstore in Notting Hill was none other than the Oz-wide acclaimed actress Glinda Upland. Suddenly the room feels very small, and Elphaba thinks her heartbeat might be loud enough to hear across the street.

The actress doesn’t spare her a second glance, eyes glancing over the titles on the shelf in front of her. As she crosses the aisle to look at another section, her eyes briefly flit with an almost worried look to the window, but the look is gone almost as quickly as it appears. She trails her fingers over the spines in front of her, her small heels gently clicking against the floor.

Elphaba, on the other hand, remains glued in her spot. Here is Glinda Upland, the Glinda, in her bookstore, acting as though she was just another passerby. Her hands begin to sweat, and briefly she wonders how stupid she might seem if she were to ask for a picture.

But just as quickly as she had entered, the actress suddenly decides that enough time has passed, and slips her sunglasses back on her face. With a polite murmur of thanks to Elphaba, she strides out the door and onto the street, leaving the bookstore owner glued to the floor in shock.

Dillamond enters, and glances at his colleague curiously.

“What’s the matter? Did someone famous drop in?” He smiles jokingly, and Elphaba can do nothing but shake her head and wave her hand dismissively, mumbling an excuse as she busies herself with organizing a stack of books that she had just organized 10 minutes before.

Later, locking the door to the shop, Elphaba sets off for home, mind still reeling from her small encounter. Oz, Fiyero will be so jealous. She briefly wonders if she might be losing her mind, and if perhaps it had all been a figment of her imagination. Surely that was a more reasonable story than Glinda Upland appearing in her store.

To settle her thoughts, she decides to grab herself another coffee. Neatly rolling up the sleeves of her white button up, she slings her jacket over one shoulder with one hand and sticks the other in the pocket of her black slacks. The sun was lower in the sky, but mercifully the springtime meant it would not set for another few hours.

Inside the coffee shop, she orders herself a small green tea, briefly recalling what Dillamond had said about sleep. She had been staying up too late reading her latest novel, and caffeine would likely not help the slight sleep deprivation she was experiencing.

Once her name has been called and her tea secured, she steps out into the street, the chatter of those heading home from work around her filling the air. She looks around as she walks, the path to her apartment so familiar that she doesn’t need to pay it much attention. As she rounds a corner, her thoughts wander back to her interaction with–

“OZ! My shirt! My goodness, don’t you watch where you’re going?”

Elphaba staggers backwards, and looks down in horror to see that her tea had been spilled and crushed in her collision. Yes, it was just her luck that she’d run right into someone as she turned the corner, and looking up she found her luck was truly rotten. Because she hadn’t run into just anyone, of course standing in front of her was a pissed Glinda Upland, tea streaked down her white shirt and pink jacket. The damage wasn’t major, but it was rather noticeable.

“Oh Oz, I’m so sorry. It was an accident, I swear, Oz I’m stupid.” Elphaba stutters through her words, face flushing in embarrassment.

“Um, my apartment is just around the corner. If you’d like you can pop over and wash your clothes, I’m sure it should come out fairly easily.” She gestures vaguely behind the blonde, throwing the tea cup out in a nearby trashcan before rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly.

The actress narrows her eyes, thinking. Her sunglasses are pushed onto her head neatly, and the idea is clearly being run over in her mind.

“How close, exactly?” Her voice is tinged with a hint of impatience and annoyance, but she tries for a polite smile that ends up moreso a grimace. Elphaba swallows and points to a small blue door across the street.

Following her gaze, Glinda seems to steel herself and practically marches across the street, heels clacking against cobblestone but somehow still the picture of glamor. Elphaba watches her in a baffled daze before snapping out of it, scrambling to keep up with the smaller woman. Once at the door, she quickly fishes out her keys and gestures for Glinda to enter, heart beating out of her chest.

The apartment she shares with Fiyero is small, but not too shabby as far as they go. The door opens to a small hallway leading to the kitchen and television, and upstairs is only two bedrooms and a bathroom. All rooms are fairly well lit, much to Elphaba’s relief, who much prefers natural light to the glare of fluorescent light.

Scrambling in front of Glinda, she hurries to scoop up the discarded plates from breakfast and the random mess on the table. She prides herself on organization, but suddenly even her strict standards feel rather lax under the critical eye of a global superstar.

Glinda clears her throat awkwardly, shuffling from one foot to another. Her anger seems to have dissipated for the most part, and her eyes track Elphaba’s movements not unlike a cat’s.

“Where exactly is the bathroom? I’d hate to stay and impose too long, I’ll just freshen up and be on my way.” She fiddles mindlessly with a button on her coat, eyes still following the green woman, who startles up and ceases her frantic cleaning.

“Oh um, just up the stairs, first door on the right. Use whatever you’d like. And if you see something weird it’s probably my roommate’s.” Elphaba runs a hand nervously along her hair, tucking in behind her ear.

Glinda nods primly, and walks up the stairs, and Elphaba only lets go of the breath she was holding when she hears the bathroom door click shut.

Oh my Oz. Glinda Upland is in my bathroom. Now Fiyero will be truly pissed to have missed this.

Glinda leaves with no particular fanfare, coming down the stairs some 20 minutes later with a shirt and jacket now miraculously clean. If Elphaba squints, she can see a vague outline of some water stain, but she’s really rather impressed at Glinda’s handiwork.

“Would you like anything before you leave? Tea, coffee, we might have some toast but I’m not quite sure we have much to put on it..” She begins to rummage through her fridge, and then realizes how silly she must look and straightens up quickly.

Glinda watches her with a flicker of amusement, but shakes her head, gathering her purse and sunglasses in her hand.

“No, that’s quite alright. Thank you..?” She pauses, and suddenly both realize she hasn’t the faintest idea who’s kitchen she’s standing in.

“Elphaba. Elphaba Thropp.”

“Elphaba. Thanks. I’d best be on my way.”

And just like that, she turns and walks down the hallway, heels clicking neatly until the door clicks shut behind her, and for the second time that day Elphaba Thropp is left standing speechless in her wake.