Rose Gold {Wicked Modern AU}

Rose Gold

Glinda Uplands had found herself in a rather odd situation.

She wasn't used to things going in a way she didn't expect. In other words, things always went her way. She got what she wanted, when she wanted it, with relative ease. Never had she had a curveball thrown at her quite like this.

She didn't normally venture out into storms in the middle of December. Normally, she'd have a myriad of other things to do on a Friday night. The cold wind turned her cheeks a flushed pink, and snow made her curly blonde hair wet, clinging to her face and neck more than she'd like. Her hands were numb under pastel pink, cable-knit gloves, which were apparently more of a fashion item, rather than being designed to actually keep her hands warm. She just wish she'd realised it earlier.

Furthermore, she didn't normally come back to Rose Gold, the coffee shop where she worked, at 9:30pm. After all, they shut at 4:30. She didn't even work on a Friday. It was just that she'd lost her cardigan - her favourite one - and she might have left it here after work on Wednesday.

And she didn't normally find herself standing on the corner of Convent Avenue and W 127th Street and noticing, right outside the back door, in an alley, a dark-skinned girl her age wrapped in a large coat and larger green scarf which Glinda was pretty sure was supposed to serve as a blanket. She was staring blankly at the roadside, her eyes shadowed over by fear, shaking like a leaf in the buffeting wind.

The other young woman suddenly glanced up at her as she approached. Glinda met her gaze, startled to find she had piercing green eyes, which scanned her in an unnerving cat-like manner. "What do you want?" (She was surprisingly articulate.)

Glinda hesitated. "I, uh-"

The girl sighed. A shaky, freezing sigh, that still expressed a relatively high level of exasperation. "I said, what do you want?"

The blonde pushed down her fear, (why was it even there?) drawing herself up to her full height. Just under five foot two. "I work here," she said haughtily, gesturing towards the sign above them. She would not allow herself to be intimidated, or even vaguely confusified by this stranger. (Yes, she decided, 'confusified' was definitely a word.) "And I'm fetching my jacket."

The girl gave her shoulder a half-hearted sort of shrug, leaning back into the wall, wincing as her back made contact with the rough, freezing brick. "Don't let me stop you."

Glinda nodded, pulling the keys to the coffee shop out of her pocket and letting herself in. She turned on the lights, and darted behind the counter, giving all the surfaces a quick scan for her cardigan. No such luck.

She stepped outside again, her gaze drawn instantly to the other girl, on the side of the street. She felt a faint twinge in her chest. She looked so cold. And scared. Defiant, and strong, but scared. "Hey, um..."

The girl looked up.

"Do you want to come inside? I can make cocoa."

Her gaze hardened. "No."

It was as if something had stabbed Glinda through the heart. She wasn't used to people saying no to her. "I- what?"

"No. Leave me alone."

Glinda pouted. "Come on, no one wants you to freeze to death."

She laughed drily. "You'd be surprised."

"I don't want you to freeze to death."

"Go away. I don't want pity."

"Come oooonnnnn."