Thunderstruck

Chapter 10: Aftermath

The next morning Elphaba woke up at her usual 6:00 in hopes of getting more studying done.  Surprised was an understatement because she saw the light in their bathroom on.  Galinda never once got up before 7:45, in order to give herself "maximum beauty sleep", as it was referred to by her blonde roommate. 

After walking over and opening the door, Elphaba cautiously stepped into the bathroom, only to see Galinda rather ungracefully bandaging her ankle.

Galinda, what happened?" Elphaba asked, concern etched into her expression.

"Well, I um, tripped over some ice by the fountain and twisted my ankle." She replied, the statement sounding rather like a question.

"Galinda, you know you're a bad liar. Especially around me. Look, it's seventy degrees outside, there's no possible way there could be ice on the ground."

"Ok. But I'm going to ask you to not be mad at me, no matter what I tell you."

"Galinda, I could never be mad at you, and you know that."

"Ok. I may or not have gone and confronted your father about the way he treats you?" Galinda said, looking anywhere but at her roommate.

Elphaba sighed. She took Galinda's hand and led her over to her bed.  The two sat down and remained holding hands.

"Galinda, you really didn't need to do that. I had it completely under control.  I appreciate the thought, but I can't bear to think that you could've gotten even more injured on my account." Elphaba said, stroking the back of the blonde's hand as she spoke.

"Elphaba. You're my girlfriend, I would do absolutely anything for you. There is nothing more important to me than your safety, and your father was crossing the line." Galinda replied, equally as passionate.  "Also, my parents are coming for a couple of days, just to visit me and see how my studies are going. You'll love them, they could be like your parents that you never had!" She bubbled.

There was a sudden knock at the door.

"Oh look, that's them now!"

"Galinda, I'm not ready to meet your parents!" Elphaba gasped, completely shocked.

"Oh, you'll be fine. Just relax."

Galinda skipped over to their door, opening it to reveal a beautiful woman with Galinda's looks, right down to the golden curls that frame her face like an angelic halo. She was wearing a white skirt with a light pink top that accented her hair perfectly.The man standing beside her had brown hair and blue eyes, and seemed to radiate kindness. He was wearing the classic black suit with black pants, but with a light pink tie that matched his wife's shirt exactly.

"Momsie! Popsicle! How wonderful it is that you chose to come at such a perfect time! This is my roommate and now gir-" Galinda started.

"Oh, Galinda dear! I'm so glad we could come! We've missed you so much sweetheart." Galinda's mother said.

"Yes, my dear little angel, when we set the date to visit you, we couldn't wait." Her father said, smiling.

"Why hello, you must be Elphaba, Galinda's roommate. We've heard so much about you already. You can just call me Larena, though, dear." Larena stated.

"Yes, and please call me Highmuster." Galinda's father added.

"Hello," Elphaba said shyly.

"We should go to lunch!" Larena exclaimed suddenly, clearly excited to see her daughter again.

"What an absolutiful idea!" Galinda squealed. "What do you think Elphie?" She turned around to see if was alright with her verdant girlfriend.

"It sounds like an amazing idea for all of you to go, but I should really study for my biology test next week. I need to get all of this information down now, so I can do next week's homework early." Elphaba said, blushing at her seemingly odd study habits.

"No, no, no! Elphie, you are coming, and that's that." Galinda responded, putting her foot down.

Elphaba knew that Galinda would be stubborn about many things in their relationship, she just didn't think it would be this hard to refuse the blonde her company at a dinner with her family.  She knew how hard it was to get Galinda to actually study for a test, but apparently social outings were even more of an importance and required a certain level of stubbornness.

"Alright, Galinda, I'll go." Elphaba said, sighing and closing her book which she had read some of while Galinda and her parents had been conversing.

"Stupendous! Well, we'll give you ladies some time to get ready. Does 11:30 work for you?" Galinda's father asked.

"Yes, of course! We'll meet you at the little cafe on the corner of Shiz Street and Munchkin Avenue." Galinda said, leading her parents out of the room and quietly shutting the door behind them.  "Elphie! I can't wait for you to get to know them! They're really going to be just like the parents you never had, I promise!"

"Woah, Galinda, slow down. You know I would love to get to know them, but do they even know we're together? Let's start with that, ok?"

"Oh my Oz I completely forgot to tell them!"

"Then how about we tell them about during a nice lunch and see how they take it."

"Elphie, I already know they'll be fine once they know, trust me I've gotten scolded about questioning relationships. We were at a restaurant and I said, kind of loudly, that there were two boys holding hands.  My popsicle then took me outside and lectured me for around ten minutes about how there are many different types of relationships, but that we should never ever judge them, because love is love. It has no limits, and that's enough; to be happy in your own way is the ultimate achievement in our lives." Galinda said confidently.

Elphaba smiled at this. She knew just how fiery Galinda could be about certain topics.

"Then I can't wait to get to know them." Elphaba replied, her lips still turned up in a soft smile.