The Interview

Chapter Fourteen

It took Glinda a good few minutes to calm down. After laughing off Fiyero's suggestions and ignoring her own tender doubts for so long, finally accepting the truth had hit her hard. She could hardly explain how she'd been able to keep it together in front of Elphaba, but needless to say, she was incredibly grateful for this unexpected measure of strength and composure. Now how should she go on from here? That was the question of the century, and the hallway was certainly not the best place try and solve it.

She waited for her breaths to even out, then pushed herself off from the wall. Sluggishly climbing the stairs to the next floor, she hoped with every step that Crope and Tibbett hadn't witnessed any of it. She had no desire to discuss Elphaba with them tonight. She couldn't be bothered explaining how Elphaba had come to drop her home after she had assured Crope this very morning that she was heading out to see Fiyero, and she most definitely could not take any more teasing about their secret liaison.

When she cautiously entered the apartment, she found both boys lounging on the couch, watching reality TV.

"Hey, Glin!" Tibbett greeted, while his boyfriend only waved distractedly.

She mumbled a curt reply and headed for her room. All she wanted to do was to collapse onto her bed and watch funny cat videos on her phone. She didn't want to function anymore today, only sidetrack her overburdened mind until sleep would claim her. Her eyes caught a glimpse of her laptop however, and reminded her that she'd come to regret it in the morning if she did not at least try to fix the work Nikidik had asked her to do. She decided that she'd put at least some effort in it, but later. First, she'd have a shower and then a go at locating something unhealthy to munch on.

Tibbett was in the kitchen when she walked in, preparing his and Crope's lunchboxes. She searched the pantry, but couldn't find anything that tickled her fancy, so she asked her flatmate.

"You know, we did plan you in for dinner today," he chided her mildly. "Ah well, I guess the risotto still tastes fine from the fridge."

"Sorry and thanks," she sighed. "I'll take it for lunch, I guess. Always good to have a pick-me-up at work. Do we have anything more snack-ish though?"

He shook his head.

"Sorry babe, I think Crope might have been there before you. Nothing's save when he's in one of his moods."

In the end, she had no other choice than to content herself with a banana from the otherwise also empty fruit bowl.

Not quite satisfied, she returned to her laptop to have another look at her assignment. For two hours she did what she could to clear her head of anything unrelated to her work but was only barely able to keep thoughts of Elphaba and her mysterious eyes at bay. Too often, she found herself staring into space, replaying their most recent encounter in her head, mulling over her wants, her needs and her options. Eventually, she'd curse those magnificent eyes and her own weak-mindedness and continue where she'd left off. She quickly lost track of how often she'd repeated this irritating cycle.

Nevertheless, she did manage to make at least some progress. She'd been able to figure out the exact mistake that had ruined her colleague's work and had started to correct some of his calculations. That was about as far as she'd get.

"Nikidik better like it, or he can shove it," she murmured to herself, knowing at the back of her mind that she would not possess the same courage come morning.

Getting ready for night, she combed her hair more thoroughly than necessary, brushed her teeth until they were beyond clean. Though she felt drained, she was reluctant to go to bed, wary of the pondering she expected to ensue the moment she laid her head to rest. She turned on some music to play in the background while she browsed through her news app. Perhaps, if she was proactive about it, she could stir her thoughts in a different direction and fall asleep worrying about something a little less personal.