Accidents Will Happen

Chapter Sixteen

Galinda pulled up in front of her place. Their place. After half an hour or so of urgent kisses and chaste, yet desperate touching within the relative safety of the car, their drive home had been a rather quiet one. She'd barely dared glancing at Elphaba out of the corners of her eyes, afraid of getting distracted enough to lose control over her vehicle. Now that they were once again stationary, she turned around and found beautiful, dark eyes already watching her. The ghost of a smile graced the corners of her mouth. Feeling nearly as deprived as if they hadn't been affectionate in months, Galinda leaned over to capture Elphaba's lips. The sweet taste of dreams come true, or so she hoped. Who would have thought that months of uncertain pining would culminate in this, and all within a matter of days? Was this too good to last?

When she reluctantly withdrew, her love's eyes remained closed, and she was biting her lower lip.

"You're very eager," Elphaba said after a moment, still without looking at her.

Galinda's hand remained where it lay on her cheek, her thumb caressing the soft skin.

"I'm making every last moment last, in case you wake up in the morning and realise that you made a mistake."

"A mistake? Me?" Elphaba's eyelids flicked open.

Galinda swallowed.

"I—I didn't thrust this onto you, did I?" she asked, her voice hitching. "I didn't just—just make you say yes because of your own confusion. Right?"

This very thought had been nagging her all the way home, dampening her excitement. The further they were removed from the location of their confessions, the less real it all felt. She wished Elphaba could have given her a resounding, enthusiastic answer without being prodded and nudged into what she'd hoped was the right direction. It would have left less room for doubt. The way things were, she couldn't help but wonder whether kissing Elphaba at the cinema had been a serious lapse of judgment. Maybe she should have let her come to terms with the new information before expecting any sort of reply.

Of course Elphaba did not immediately respond to her worries. Wanting her to was exactly the same error Galinda had made earlier. This time, she wouldn't say anything until Elphaba had clearly articulated her thoughts, even if it made her stomach twist and churn.

"It's a lot to take in," Elphaba admitted eventually, flashing her a timid smile. "Becoming someone's love interest was not exactly on my radar and falling in love? I guess I must have fallen slowly enough not to notice. That sort of stuff can happen, I guess? Especially amidst the mess I'm still dealing with. If I really think back though, to the weeks past, and examine the details of our interactions... Well, I suppose there were hints. There've always been hints. Being new to the whole friendship thing, however, I might not have categorised them correctly.

"And in the end of the day, it is as I said earlier: getting kissed by you felt too right for there to be no connection. The rush was too intense and to different from—" She stopped abruptly, bringing up her hand to rub at her eyes. "What I meant to say was that I don't think I'm merely in love with the idea of being loved. Receiving attention from a stranger at a club was nice and all, but this? It—it melted my fucking heart, even though I feel really stupid for putting it like that. I guess infatuation makes sappy fools of us all. Occasionally at least."

Galinda laughed quietly and took both of Elphaba's hands in hers, squeezing them a bit too hard while she tried to assess the answer she'd been given. It was a pretty decent, levelheaded answer, she decided. One she could work with. For now.

"Hey."

Galinda's head snapped up. Lost in thought, she hadn't noticed her gaze drifting from Elphaba's eyes to their joint hands.