AN: I promised myself I wouldn't post a story until I'd completed it, but I can't resist. Please help keep me honest if I start lagging on the updates again. Thanks for reading.

"For the last time, I'm not going."

"But Elphiiiiie!" Elphaba rolled her eyes as Galinda pouted. "You have to!"

"I most certainly do not."

Galinda fluttered her eyes. "I really want you to come with me. How can I have the perfect party without my dearest roomie?"

"You'll have Fiyero, and all your other friends. You'll be so busy, you won't even notice I'm missing."

"Oh, Elphie! Of course I'd miss you." Galinda flounced over. She bounced Elphaba's bed as she settled beside her, arms thrown around her bony shoulders. "Please, please, pretty please?"

Her cajoling was interrupted by a knock at the door.

Galinda bobbed back up. "Fiyero," she paused for a peck as she swung open the door, "tell Elphaba she has to go to my party."

Fiyero turned his long-lashed eyes on Elphaba, a hopeful smile lighting his face. "You're going to the party?"

Elphaba refused to blush. "Of course not."

He crossed the room, and only her extreme strength of will kept her still as he sat next to her. "You should. It'll be fun."

"Fun?" she repeated stupidly. Her brain had abandoned her with its endless repetition of the fact that Fiyero in all his gorgeousness was on her bed.

"Yeah. Come on, you know you want to go." He knocked into her shoulder with his own, and she crashed into the wall.

Stupid non-reacting brain! She would have covered her face if her hands hadn't been pinned underneath her. Fiyero gave her an odd look, but mercifully didn't laugh. She scrambled up before he could offer to help. She hardly needed that extra embarrassment as the final nail in her coffin.

"You okay?"

She brushed off his concern in a desperate attempt to pretend it never happened. "Yeah. Fine."

Galinda fluttered back, lipstick in hand, and squealed at Elphaba's clipped words. "You're going? Oh Elphiiiie!" She bounded over and hugged her friend tightly. "I'm so excited! It's going to be great. It'll be perfect. Oh, Fiyero, thank you for convincing her. You're the best."

He chuckled, which, Elphaba refused to notice, caused little dimples in his cheeks. "Thanks, but I don't think I've actually convinced her yet."

Galinda's face fell like a kicked puppy. "What do you mean? She said fine."

He started to explain, but Elphaba cut him off. "Alright, I'll go." Galinda's face beamed an irresistible smile, but Elphaba forced a frown. "But for the record, only under extreme coercion."

Fiyero leaned over, his face hovering toward her ear. "Oh, you haven't seen the half of our coercion." She focused on her breathing, a suddenly difficult task as her spine melted into so much putty. He grinned. "Be glad you gave in before we had to be really persuasive."

"Yeah, glad," she muttered weakly, but he had already returned to Galinda's side.

Elphaba flopped her head down on her arms. "It's not fair."

"Hand me that beaker," Boq ordered without any sign of comfort to his fallen comrade.

She huffed, but complied. "I don't want to go."

"Then don't."

She sighed. "But I have to."

"Then do. Give me a pipette."

She passed it to him without lifting her head. "This sucks."

Boq handed her the now used pipette to throw away. "Why did you agree to go if you hate it so much?"

She made a face. "I got strong-armed."

"You? Strong-armed? Impossible."

Elphaba hopped off the stool, gesturing wildly. "You don't understand. Galinda looks so sweet and little and harmless, but she's surprisingly conniving."

Boq shot her a look.

She rolled her eyes. "I mean, Galinda's perfect. She's a beautiful angel."

He resumed pouring the solution into the graduated cylinder. "I take it then that Fiyero was involved."

"No!" She couldn't hide her blush. "What makes you say that?"

Boq scoffed, but said nothing.

"Regardless, I'm stuck going." She settled back at her perch and turned the page absentmindedly. "I hate parties. Particularly Galinda's. I always get stuck huddled in a corner trying to read a book in the dark while some drunken idiot either feels me up or thinks I'm a tree and tries to pee on me."

"Well, if Fiyero invited you, why don't you just stay with him?"

She frowned. "He's too busy being dragged around to all Galinda's friends."

"So go with someone else."

"Who? I don't have any other friends except, well, you."

Boq reached past her to read the next set of instructions, deliberately ignoring her sudden smile. "Okay, test tube."

Elphaba held it behind her back. "Boq, my dear, sweet friend?"

"No. Give me the tube."

"But I didn't even ask-"

"I'm not going to that stupid party. Give me the test tube."

She handed it to him with a pout. "You would abandon a friend in need?"

"Yep."

She crossed her arms. "I would think you'd jump at the chance to ogle Galinda for a night."

Boq spared a glare.

"Come on, Boq. You have to. I'm desperate."

"I see that."

She did her best to mimic Fiyero's failproof puppy dog look, though her hollow cheeks and pointed chin hardly did it justice. "Please? Remember when you had to pass that test, who tutored you?"

He bit his lip. "You did."

"And who picked you up after that prank?"

He sighed.

"And when those guys dunked your head in the toilet before class pictures, who made sure they paid for it?"

"Fine. You win. I'll go with you."

She squeezed the munchkin in a one-armed hug, which clicked his tubes together ominously.

"I'll go if you will. Out."

"Thanks Boq, you're the best!"

"Yeah, yeah. You owe me one."

Elphaba resisted the urge to tug at her hair. If she undid Galinda's handiwork, the blonde would drag her mercilessly through another two painful hours to fix it. Instead, she fidgeted with her hem, which was far too close to her fingertips for her liking.

Where was he? It was 8:37, a full seven minutes late, which for Boq meant something devastating. That boy was so prompt it was almost a disease.

Then there was a knock. Finally.

"It's about time you got-," she lectured as she opened the door, only to stop in her tracks.

Avaric sauntered in, his eyebrow raised. "What are you talking about? It's only 8:37. I might as well be early."

She crossed her arms. "What are you doing here? And who said you were invited in? Get out of my room."

"Is that any way to treat your date?"

"Date? In what alternate universe would I ever even remotely consider dating you?" She wrinkled her nose. "You're the most disgusting, foul creature I have ever met."

"Trust me, you're not exactly filet mignon here." She scowled, and he smirked back. "I'm only here for the paycheck."

"Paycheck? For?"

"Taking you to the dance." He flopped onto her bed, hands behind his head.

"I'm not paying you. Ugh! And get up before I have to burn the sheets."

He stood with a smirk. "Oh, not you, Sweet-cheeks. Boq is. That way he doesn't have to take you."

"What?" Her face crashed. She didn't even bother to correct his blatantly unacceptable nickname. "Why would he…? He didn't want…"

Avaric softened, an almost believable hint that he might have a spark of humanity after all. "He said to tell you that he got held up. He felt really bad. He knew you wouldn't want to go by yourself, so he sent me."

"And that's better?"

His face degenerated back into a sneer. "You're more than welcome to go on your own." Elphaba's jaw crept forward. "I'm going regardless, so why don't we just go to the party separately, together. Then I still get paid, but you are spared the unbearable annoyance of my presence."

She considered him a moment. "Fair enough."

"Then speaking as purely an objective observer and certainly not as your date, you look kind of nice." His eyes swept down her. "Even a little hot, you know, if you weren't green."

She glared. "As if I care what you think."

"So who do you care about?" He sat with legs propped on her desk. "Obviously you dressed up for someone."

"I don't know what you're talking about." She knew better than to signal even the slightest discomfort or vulnerability with Avaric. He could sense any insecurity like a shark could smell blood.

His eyes scanned her again, and he smirked. "Well, you clearly didn't dress up for Boq. Not with heels like those. Sex-y."

She blushed quite against her will, and redirected her embarrassment into a venomous retort. "You're more than welcome to them. You probably walk in them better than I do. I'd be a little shocked if you weren't concealing women's underwear at this exact moment."

"You're more than welcome to check."

Her blush deepened. "Not for all the silk in Gillikin."

"So who is it then? To whom do I owe the privilege of this wardrobe?"

She'd been crossing her arms so hard that they'd fallen numb, so she unfolded them with considerable effort. "No one."

He stood and leaned over her. "You mean to tell me that you independently elected to wear these clothes?"

"Of course not." She inched back. "Fine. If you must know. It's all for Galinda."

Avaric leaned back, a lewd expression smoothing his features. "You have the hots for your roommate? That is such a turn-on."

Elphaba's jaw dropped as her cheeks burned. "Of course not!" She hissed, despite their lack of an audience. "I just meant Galinda made me dress up. For her party."

"Yeah." He directed a shrewd look through her. "But there's some reason you agreed to it. Otherwise wild horses wouldn't get you squeezed into a fantastic dress like that."

"Fine. Then I'll just change." Galinda would have to forgive her. Elphaba couldn't possibly stand a night even on a non-date with Avaric in a dress that so often drew his eyes toward parts of her that should (so obviously to her now) be covered.

He grinned. "Go right ahead. Need me to undo your zipper?"

"Not with you in here!"

"Well, I'm not leaving." When he didn't budge, she grunted a frustrated sigh, snatched up a conservative frock and stormed toward the bathroom.

He intercepted her easily. Each step forward, he met with a step back until they arrived at the bathroom door. With his back pressed against the door, she couldn't reach the knob without pushing aside his hip. "Move."

"Not a chance."

She glared. "What do you care, anyway?"

He smirked. "I don't. But you wore it for some reason. I want to know what it is."

"And I want you to move."

His hand slipped against her waist as the other liberated her of the replacement dress. "Well, then I guess you could say we're at an impasse."

She shoved away from him. "Fine. Let's just go. The sooner we get there, the sooner I'm rid of you."

He nodded toward the door, and she gathered her purse on the way to the door. "Must be one lucky son of a-"

"Can't you ever shut up?"

He leaned in as he opened the door, and she shifted at how closely he invaded her personal space. His fingers brushed aside her hair as his lips dipped down to whisper in her ear, "Nope."

She shoved his away and stormed through the open door. This would be the longest night of her life.