(no subject)
Title: There's a First Time for Everything
Author: fairchristabel
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I own none of this stuff, yo.
Summary: Elphaba tries to study. Glinda tries to distract her.
A/N: I wrote this a while ago but only ever posted it on ff.net.
Elphaba stared at the book that was propped up on her knees in front of her. She had read the same paragraph at least twelve times, but still had no idea what it was about. She was trying to concentrate on the text in front of her, but the incessant humming coming from just across the room had made that a nearly impossible task.
"Elphie?"
Elphaba looked up from where she sat on her bed, back against the wall, and found her roommate looking back at her, mirroring her position from across the room. "What?"
"Are you busy?"
Elphaba immediately thought of several sarcastic replies, but bit her tongue. Just a few weeks ago, she would have had no problem telling her blonde roomie, in as insulting a way as possible, just how busy she was. Since they were technically friends now, though, she supposed it did behoove her to at least try to curb her sarcastic tendencies. "I'm reading," she finally replied.
"You're always reading," Glinda said exasperatedly. "What I meant is, is it a busy reading, for school, or a leisurely reading, for fun?"
"Both," Elphaba answered, tearing her gaze away from the small blonde and looking back down at her book.
"If you don't want me bothering you, just say so," Glinda said, her hurt voice muffled.
Elphaba looked up and saw that Glinda had one of her many pillows pressed to her face. Elphaba set her book and glasses aside and walked over to Glinda's bed. "Steady there, girl," she said, reaching out and grabbing the top of the pillow. "I can't have you suffocating yourself, just to give me a bit of peace and quiet."
"You wouldn't care," came the small reply as Glinda clutched the pillow tighter.
Elphaba finally managed to extricate the pillow from Glinda's grasp, but Glinda simply lay down and curled herself up against the wall, facing away from her green-tinged tormentor. "Come, come," Elphaba said heartily, placing her hand on Glinda's hip and shaking it firmly, "of course I'd care if you suffocated. It would be far too much trouble if I had to find myself another blonde who would hang around and talk at me incessantly," she said, standing up and walking back to her own bed. "Besides, everyone would think that I did it to you, and then I'd probably get thrown out of Shiz."
Elphaba had almost reached her destination when something exploded against her back and she was hurled forward onto her thin mattress. "You are a great, big, meanie, Elphaba Thropp," Glinda said from where she sat, straddling Elphaba's back.
Elphaba finally managed to turn her head enough to free her mouth from the confining comforter it had been shoved against. "Did you want something, Glinda?" she asked dryly. "If not, I would appreciate it if you would get off of me. Some of us have more important things to do with our time."
There was a long moment, in which Elphaba began to think that she was going to spend the rest of the night with the tiny blonde on top of her, and then Glinda slowly slid off of Elphaba and onto the floor. "You are no fun at all, Elphie," she huffed as she crossed the room and threw herself on her bed.
"I thought we had established that a long time ago," Elphaba replied as she picked herself up and settled back onto her bed, leaning against the wall. She grabbed her book and glasses and opened the tome to the marked page, reading the same paragraph for the thirteenth time now. She had almost gotten to the end of it, and was getting a firm grasp on its meaning, when she heard a small whimper. Elphaba sighed, deciding she would get no more studying done tonight, and set her book and glasses down on her night stand. She clambered out of bed and went and sat gingerly on the edge of Glinda's mattress. "Look, I'm sorry, Glinda. I am trying not to be mean all the time," she said, reaching out and carefully stroking blonde curls. Glinda's face remained buried in a blanket. Elphaba decided to try a different tack. "Tell you what. I'm finished studying for the night. We can try something fun, if you want."
Glinda shook her head. "Go 'way," she said through a mouthful of fabric.
Elphaba looked down at the tiny body curled beneath her hand. "Come now, my pretty pink princess," she cajoled as she gently turned Glinda over, "there must be something you want to do. Didn't you ask me if I was busy earlier?" she asked, setting one long green finger under Glinda's chin and tilting her head up. Glistening blue eyes stared up at her accusatorily and Elphaba recoiled slightly.
"You said you were reading," Glinda muttered, turning her face towards the wall.
Elphaba, freed from that piercing gaze, recovered quickly and caught Glinda's chin, pulling her back into place. "Yes, I was reading, but I'm not now. Now I'm free to do whatever it is that you want me to do."
Glinda shook her head. "It was nothing," she said. "I'm sure you have much more important things to do anyway."
Elphaba was getting tired of this back and forth. "Glinda," she said sternly, "tell me what it is right now, or I shall never talk to you again."
Glinda sniffled. "You've never talked to me before, so I don't see why that should affect me now," she replied.
"That's strange. I could swear we're talking right now."
Glinda sat up and fixed Elphaba with an unnerving gaze. "This isn't real talking. We don't have conversations."
"We have conversations all the time."
Glinda shook her head. "No, I say something to you, and then you make a smart and cutting remark back to me. You don't talk, you attack."
Elphaba paused, unsure of how to react to this rather blunt assessment of her character. Finally she sighed, and pushed herself back against the wall, next to Glinda. "What do you want to talk about?"