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"Look. I'm sure this isn't how you expected your New Year's Eve to go."
For some reason, Elphaba wants to punctuate her observation with an apology. It's a stupid instinct, really; it's not like it's her fault that a blizzard practically parked itself over their apartment, snowing them in for the night.
Her roommate has a face made for sympathy, though: a generous mouth that's made for pouting, and big, brown puppy-dog eyes that seem to get even rounder and softer whenever she's feeling affronted. It doesn't help that somehow, Galinda is always feeling affronted.
It should drive Elphaba crazy—and at first, at the very beginning of freshman year, it had. But it hadn't taken long to see that underneath all of Galinda's boisterous exuberance was a woman who didn't quite know where she stood now that she was at college, and who used all of that bluster to cover up her insecurities. Elphaba, who'd been a social outcast all her life, had been shocked to discover that she could relate.
"It isn't," Galinda says, interrupting Elphaba's thoughts. True to form, her lower lip juts out into the beginnings of another epic pout. "I had, like, seven parties on my agenda!"
"Sounds exhausting," Elphaba says dryly. "I can see why you'd be so disappointed to miss them."
"People will be wondering where I am," Galinda continues. Elphaba glances up just in time to see her pout deepen. "I'll have to post about it on my stories!"
"You were already planning on posting to your stories either way," Elphaba reminds her.
Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Galinda clasp her hands to her heart, apparently touched.
"Oh, Elphie! You know me so well."
"Well, we have been roommates for four years."
"Four wonderful years!" Galinda echoes, then bursts into giggles as Elphaba gives her eyes a fond roll and turns back to her book.
They shouldn't work as well as they do. Despite all her pomp and circumstance, though, Galinda is the best friend that Elphaba's ever had. She has coffee ready for Elphaba when she wakes up, listens with a dramatic sort of seriousness whenever Elphaba's feeling wronged by a professor or fellow student, and leaves Elphaba little notes on the bathroom mirror. She's never missed one of Elphaba's orchestra concerts, even though she cheers inappropriately in between movements, and she always has a heated blanket ready whenever Elphaba's due for her period.
So if Elphaba's doing her best to ignore Galinda right now... Well, one could likely chalk that up to the fact that Galinda also has a tendency to lounge around their apartment in sheer, pink nighties, and tonight is no exception.
To be clear: it isn't that Elphaba has a crush on Galinda. Even if she happens to be objectively beautiful—let alone the kindest person that Elphaba's ever met—that doesn't mean that Elphaba has feelings for her. Despite the fact that her lingerie's leaving nothing to the imagination, and even though Galinda has the biggest heart and the best intentions, Elphaba definitely doesn't—
"And it's just a shame," Galinda says then, seemingly oblivious to how Elphaba's gaze drifts down to all of that smooth skin on display. "Since I've never been kissed for New Year's!"
"Wait." Elphaba's brain is suddenly short-circuiting. "You—you as in Galinda Upland, you—you've never gotten a New Year's kiss?"
Galinda's pout reappears as she gives her head a solemn nod. "Isn't that a travesty?"
"But you've gone out for New Year's every other year."
"But there was no one at those parties that I wanted to kiss," Galinda says, like it's that simple. "So I didn't."
"But—" Elphaba blinks at her. "It's not like you haven't been kissing people in general."
Galinda tips her head to one side, acknowledging this, even as her hands slide Elphaba's bookmark into place and set her book aside. "True," she says. "But I was just trying things out. Looking for the right person and all."
Belatedly, Elphaba realizes that somewhere in the middle of all of that, Galinda's taken both of her hands in hers. She blinks at the sight of her dark skin against Galinda's lighter shade, then looks back up at her roommate, who gives her an encouraging smile and a tiny little nod.
Elphaba can't trust her voice to work, let alone her grip on reality. Galinda's hands feel warm in hers, though, so she focuses on skimming her thumbs over Galinda's skin and watching the way Galinda's eyes widen ever so slightly as she shifts closer towards her.
"Well," Elphaba says finally, her voice a little shakier than she wants it to be. "You have dated some losers."
"Yeah." Galinda leans in, brushing her nose against Elphaba's, and smiles up at her through her lashes. "Do you know anyone better?"
And then they're kissing, finally, and it's so much more than Elphaba imagined it would be. She can't help but laugh at the triumphant noise Galinda makes when their lips first touch, and she certainly can't help but break the kiss to both catch her breath and double-check that this is okay.
Galinda's grinning, though, looking happier than Elphaba's ever seen her, so she pulls Galinda closer and lets herself actually enjoy this. So they kiss until Elphaba feels like she's going to explode, her hands splayed across Galinda's back and Galinda's startlingly long legs on either side of Elphaba's lap, then kiss some more, before a thought enters Elphaba's mind and she can't help herself.
"That wasn't a line, was it? Your whole 'never been kissed on New Year's' pity party?"
Galinda makes an affronted face, her mouth dropping open in shock. "It wasn't a pity party, Elphie!"
"Right," Elphaba says. She slides her hands up, clasping them behind Galinda's neck, and raises her eyebrows. "Of course it wasn't."
"Gosh." Galinda puts her hands on her hips, her mouth set into another stubborn, adorable pout. "Fine. It was a pity party, but you also really are my first New Year's kiss. Happy now?"
Elphaba bites her lip, but it does nothing to stop her smile from spreading as she takes in all of Galinda's mock-indignation. "The happiest," she says, then leans in to kiss her again.