Chapter Text
Being friends with Galinda Upland is certainly… different. Elphaba is still trying to get used to not being openly antagonistic anymore, and now Galinda is acting as if they’ve been best friends since forever. It’s very strange. Every morning, she is greeted with a “Good morning Elphaba,” and she never fails to hear a “Good night Elphaba” before sleep. It takes her weeks to get truly used to it, but being friendly with Galinda is so easy. She smiles and twirls and somehow manages to know everything about everyone. Now that she isn’t using that knowledge to make Elphaba’s life more difficult, she doesn’t feel dread first thing in the morning or whenever she enters the shared room. As summer shifts into autumn and the leaves start changing colour, the roommates fall into an easy routine, and Elphaba can confidently say that she feels content.
-
Elphaba wakes up shivering, again. It’s the middle of the night and the paper sheet on the window is doing nothing to keep the chill out. The blowing wind is making the drapes rustle and there is a definite draft in the room. Elphaba does not know what to do, but she’s not going to be able to sleep anytime soon, so she turns on the bedside lamp and tries to read.
Emphasis on tries, because not five minutes later, there is rustling from the other side of the room and a tired voice is asking “Huh?”
Elphaba feels bad. For once it’s not Galinda’s fault that she’s uncomfortable and she knows how much her roommate values her beauty sleep. Now that they are friends, she wants to be better, even if she isn’t certain about the parameters of said friendship quite yet.
“I’m sorry, I’ll turn the lamp out in a moment. I’m just waiting to get a little warmer.”
“Huh?”
Elphaba sighs. It seems that talking to half-asleep blondes is like talking to drunks, one needs to speak plainly in order to be understood. She considers her next words and makes sure to enunciate carefully:
“I am cold.”
Quiet from the other bed. Then more rustling. More quiet. A head pokes up from where it was previously hidden by a huge pink pillow. In the dim light, Elphaba cannot see anything. Oh wait. She reaches for her glasses.
Now Elphaba can see squinting eyes, fighting the light in the room, and some truly astounding bed hair. The idea that Galinda isn’t perfect all the time is a comfort to Elphaba. Somehow, knowing that Galinda’s hair takes work (and a lot of it, she has to witness that one’s morning routine and it takes forever) makes her… more human. Elphaba has caught herself watching Galinda in front of her mirror in the past, something she can do more overtly now that they’re friends, and she has come to the conclusion that, like her, Galinda puts on a mask every morning, albeit for a very different reason. Said mask is definitely not on at the present moment.
“Cold? Close the window, let me sleep.”
“The window is closed, it’s the broken one that is letting all the air in. I’ll turn off the light in a moment, I’m nearly warm now anyway.”
Quiet again. The face from the other bed is still squinting at her, seemingly contemplating either how to most effectively murder Elphaba for waking her, or how to make temperature cease to exist altogether. Either would be fine with Elphaba really. She hasn’t gotten warmer in the slightest, she is tired and getting knocked out does not sound like the worst option right now.
Slight movement from the opposite bed.
“Hm.”
Despite her situation, Elphaba can’t stop herself from finding this whole thing a little amusing. Usually, Galinda will talk a mile a minute and will only begrudgingly stop during lectures, if that. Now, it seems she can barely get a word out.
“Hm?”
“Hm.”
The blanket moves. Very slowly, Galinda pushes it away from her, sits up, and moves one leg over the side of the bed, then the other. Her eyes are still half-closed. Elphaba doesn’t dare move, she doesn’t know what is happening. The creature that calls itself Galinda slips her feet into her slippers and again, very slowly, moves to get up. She takes a few steps. Surprisingly, she does not move toward Elphaba to smother her with a pillow for her transgression, but instead walks to her wardrobe, which she opens in order to start rummaging for something.
Now semi-certain that she will not die tonight, Elphaba dares to ask. “What are you looking for?”
She doesn’t get an answer. Neither does the rummaging stop. Elphaba shivers, it really is cold in the room, she should get that window fixed. She decides to ask maintenance about it tomorrow. At that moment, the wardrobe lets out a little “Aha!” and Galinda emerges, holding a bundle of something in her hands. She moves closer and Elphaba still doesn’t know what it is, only that it seems to be pink, which does not surprise her in the least.
“Here you go, so you don’t have to be cold.” Galinda holds out the bundle and finally its shape is revealed to be a sweater, thick and, yes, very very pink.
Elphaba is too confused to speak for a second, which Galinda seems to be taking as rejection.
“What, you don’t want it? You’d rather be cold? It’s comfortable, I promise!”
“No, no, I do want it, thank you, I just… it doesn’t look like something you’d usually wear?”
Galinda frowns. “We met in the summer, silly,” she says, “how would you know what I wear in the winter? I’ll let you know that this was a gift from my aunt Willina, she made it herself. But if you don’t want it, suit yourself.”
Elphaba tries for a smile. She wants to smooth things over and also she really wants that sweater. She has written to her father to have him send more of her clothes, including blankets and thick sweaters, but her comfort has never been his first priority. She’ll have to wait until Nessa asks him for something for him to remember, maybe.
“Thank you, Galinda,” she says, getting up and taking the sweater. It really is very soft. She quickly puts it on and looks at her roommate expectingly.
“Well? How do you like it? Think pink is my new colour?”
No answer. Galinda is looking at her, saying nothing. After a few seconds, Elphaba tries again. “How do you like it?”
This time, after blinking a few times, Galinda does react.
“Hm.” She turns around, swiftly walks back to her bed, and pulls her covers up to her chin.
Elphaba is still standing there. She lets out a sigh. Sometimes, she really does not understand that roommate of hers. One second she is really nice, the next she does not deign it necessary to answer her question. Whatever, she already feels warmer than before. She walks over to her bed, lies down, and turns off the light. Before turning around, she says “Thank you, good night.” Into the darkness, loudly enough that Galinda will have heard it. She waits for a moment, then decides to go to sleep. The next morning, she does not know whether she dreamt the soft “Good night” that she heard just as her eyes closed.
-
The next day, Elphaba is at her desk, reading peacefully, when a pink whirlwind (accompanied by a cloud of flowery perfume) enters her room. Well, their room; considering the pink whirlwind lives here as well.
“Hiiii Elphaba, how are you? How was class? Why are you here? Not that I’m not happy about it, but at this time, you’re usually aaaall the way back in the book place, where you do the exact same thing you do here but with uglier décor and surrounded by people who could use a wash.”
Galinda stops, mostly so she can take a deep breath. Before she can start her monologue up again, Elphaba speaks.
“I am well, thank you. You were in class with me, so you very well know how it was. And to answer your last question, I was running an errand and found myself much closer to the room than the library, so I decided to do my studying here for a change.”
It takes Galinda about twenty seconds to compute all the answers she is given, judging from the slightly far-away look in her eyes. Elphaba waits patiently. After last night, she owes it to Galinda to supress a sarcastic comment or two. Maybe.
Galinda doesn’t answer right away. She leans down, takes off her shoes, checks the soles for dirt and when she finds none, she puts them back at the exact spot where she found them in the morning. Then she moves to her bed, sits down and pulls her legs up, shuffling and moving until she is seemingly comfortable, because it is then that she sees fit to continue their conversation.
“What errand?”
“Hm?”
“You said you were running an errand. What were you doing?”
Elphaba considers her answer. She does not really like admitting failures. Galinda is looking at her expectingly though, and her undivided attention seems to have a gravitational pull Elphaba can’t seem to free herself from. She files this slightly concerning effect away for another time.
“As you are aware, I’ve been cold at night. My father has not found it necessary to ship my winter things yet.”
Galinda nods. “I gave you the sweater though? I don’t think I dreamt that.”
“You did give me the sweater. Again, thank you.” The sweater is hidden under Elphaba’s pillow, ready for another cold night. Why she has decided to keep it there and not in plain view, she could not answer, although a tiny voice in the back of her head keeps reminding her that she does not want that sweater taken away from her, not by accident and not on purpose. Although this is a ridiculous and frankly dramatic thought, the sweater stays where it is.
She continues. “And while the sweater has been a great help, I cannot have this be my solution forever.”
Galinda offers her one of her telltale pouts, which should honestly be classified as an illegal weapon of war.
“Why not? Pink suits you, and I don’t want you to be cold. You- you could wake me up again, and you know I need my sleep.”
Elphaba does not let this interruption stop her. “It’s only going to get colder, so I tried to get maintenance to fix the window. The first door I knocked on didn’t open, the second door opened to an empty office, and at the third door I was told that this was not covered under the university damage policy and that if I so enjoyed breaking windows, I should consider the costs myself before doing something stupid. I was also kindly reminded that my father is the governor of Munchkinland.”
Galinda is silent. She is not pouting anymore, instead her face has gone… hard? She is looking at something above Elphaba’s shoulder as if she were trying to get a ghost to retreat back to where it came from by sheer force of will alone. Considering the coldness in her eyes, it probably would have worked.
Finally, Galinda looks back to her, face serious. When she speaks, her voice is strange, maybe a little strangled? It’s definitely different from what Elphaba is used to from her.
“I see,” Galinda finally says, and Elphaba can see that her hands are gripping the bedsheets to the point where her knuckles are white. “And did they say anything else?”
Elphaba is unsure of what to say. Galinda is acting strangely, but it’s not like she can do anything about it at this moment.
“Uh, before they closed the door they muttered something about spoiled rich kids, but I am not sure? This person is probably very overworked.”
The sheets are gripped tighter.
“I see.”
“Look, it’s not that bad. I’m sure my father will send a package soon, then the window won’t be a problem anymore. The nights are still mild. It was worth a try but really it’s not a problem. I’m just sorry you also have to live in a cold, drafty room.”
Galinda is looking at her, saying nothing. She moves her head to the window with the broken glass, then to the door, then back to Elphaba. Elphaba herself is sitting there, reminding herself to breathe. She feels like she is suddenly locked in a cage with a predator, a lion ready to pounce, and she does not know what she has said or done to anger her roommate to this point. They’ve only been friends for a few weeks but it seems she has ruined it already. Not that she is particularly surprised, this ‘friendship’ between couldn’t last.
Suddenly, as if she just made a decision, Galinda gets down from her bed. She moves wordlessly to her shoe-rack, where she picks a pair of dark pink pumps. Purple? It’s a colour, definitely.
“What are you doing, are you going somewhere?”
No answer. After putting on the shoes, Galinda goes to her mirror, wipes off her lipstick and puts on a different one. Even Elphaba can see it’s a similar dark shade as the shoes. Galinda reapplies her perfume and, still without saying a word, leaves the room.
Elphaba is still sitting on her bed, dumbfounded. She can hear the heels of the pumps all the way in the hallway, and she listens to them retreat until they stop abruptly. When they resume, they become louder. Galinda’s head pops back into the room. She looks at Elphaba, gives her a radiant smile and says “Oh, that was awfully rude of me, I’m sorry. Don’t move, I’ll be right back.” Before Elphaba can think of a response, she’s off again, the click click click of her heels getting further away.
Elphaba feels herself frowning, unsure of what just happened. She shakes her head, goes to her desk, and picks up her book again. Who knows what goes on in the heads of blondes. She definitely doesn’t and she has no desire to find out, however interesting it might be. Before she gets comfortable on her bed, she takes the sweater out from under her pillow and puts it on. It’s going to be dark soon and she doesn’t want to move again until she absolutely has to.
-
Galinda is abnormally smug about something. Elphaba can see it in the way she walks, the way she spritzes perfume, the way she says “Goodbye Elphaba” as she leaves the dorm to go to breakfast. Elphaba does not know what to make of it. Galinda carries herself with self-assurance even on her worst days, but this truly takes the cake. Whatever she did yesterday when she was gone – and refused to talk about upon return, only giving Elphaba a grin – must have inflated her ego to new heights.
Elphaba does not have a morning class today, so, after a quick breakfast (Galinda is already gone), she heads to the library to work on her history paper. Doctor Dillamond is always so kind to her, he deserves nothing but the best from her studies, and she gets lost in the work for a few hours.
After lunch (again no Galinda), she goes to her sorcery seminar with Madame Morrible, another one of the few people who have been kind to her. Maybe she should add Galinda to that list, she muses as she walks back to her room after class. Galinda is a little peculiar but she has been nice to her lately.
There is something off about the room when she enters it. She looks around, trying to find the source of the strangeness, but cannot pinpoint it. Her stuff is in its place, Galinda’s fifteen thousand suitcases also seem to be accounted for (she knows exactly how many there are because she has had to move every single one out of her way on several occasions), and the room is warm.
Wait.
The room is warm. There is no draft. Elphaba goes to the window and there, truly, it is fixed. No more hole, just glass that looks a lot cleaner than the rest of the window. It’s astounding.
Just then, she hears the tap tap tap of pink (yes the colour is audible) hurrying down the hallway towards their room. A thud as the door is opened, and an “Oh hello!” as Galinda enters the room.
Elphaba doesn’t turn around just yet, eyes still fixed on the intact pane of glass. There is some shuffling in the room, then a few more tap tap taps and a blonde head appears at the edge of her vision.
“Watcha lookin’ at?”
“The window. It has been repaired.”
Galinda moves closer and begins scrutinising the window with an intensity usually reserved for matching lipstick to nail polish shades.
“So it has, good! It’s been awful tiring sleeping in the cold. I know it’s supposed to be healthy but come on, at some point it’s just too much.”
Elphaba turns her head slightly to the left so she can fully look at her roommate. They are both hunched over in front of a window and probably make quite an amusing view. Galinda looks back at her, eyes shining, hair bouncy, with a happy grin on her face.
“Galinda,” Elphaba says, slowly, seriously. “Did you have something to do with this?”
The grin widens. “Perhaps.”
“How did you do it? I tried and they didn’t seem inclined to help with any kind of haste.”
Galinda straightens and Elphaba follows suit.
“Oh it wasn’t a problem, really! I just went to the office, met two very competent yet not very charming young men, and explained the issue to them.”
Elphaba raises an eyebrow. “And they agreed to fix it immediately, just like that?”
“Hm, well,” Galinda starts, seemingly trying to find her words. “I wouldn’t say just like that. I had to work my charms, not that that’s a problem, and when they continued to be stubborn about it I kindly reminded them of what exactly would happen if I went to the Dean and reminded her who exactly is paying for the salaries around here.”
Galinda pauses and lets out an overly dramatic sigh. “Honestly, it’s so hard to find good help these days, but I see the boys have done an acceptable job.”
She looks at Elphaba, something like worry on her face. “You’re happy, right? I- I did alright?”
Elphaba is still trying to compute the fact that Galinda Upland, socialite extraordinaire and her maybe-friend has gone out of her way to help her, but she pulls herself together. She doesn’t have a lot of experience with how to react when someone does you a kindness, so she acts on instinct. She takes a step forward, takes Galinda’s hand in hers and looks at her roommate, whose expression has shifted from worry to surprise.
“Thank you,” Elphaba says, clearly and with intent, her eyes not leaving Galinda’s. “I was cold and you helped me. You are a good friend.”
Galinda doesn’t respond. She looks at Elphaba, looks at their hands, looks over Elphaba’s shoulder and blinks three times. Elphaba can see the blush forming on her pale skin, from the root of her hair down to what is visible of her chest. After taking one, two, three deep breaths, Galinda seemingly finds her voice again.
“Y-you’re welcome. It’s really nothing,” she lets out a slightly stiff giggle. “It really was not trouble. That window has been bothering me to no end!”
She pauses, looks at Elphaba, then continues. “Your constant moving around at night was disturbing my sleep, really, and it was high time to put a stop to it. If I have to share a room, the least I can expect is to sleep through the night.”
She gives Elphaba a firm nod, reclaims her hand and walks to the door. Before leaving, she turns around and announces “The weather is good, I am going on a walk. Good day.”
Clack, clack, clack, and she is gone again. Elphaba is still standing in the middle of the room, dumbfounded.
Some days, she isn’t sure whether she will ever figure out this friendship thing.