star_glinda (star_glinda) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2014-08-24 12:04:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, effie trinket, elphaba thropp, glinda upland |
Who: Glinda, Elphaba, Effie Trinket
Where: Social Function
When: Mid August
What: Friends meeting and chatting
Status: Complete
Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Effie was thrilled to be hanging out with Glinda. She had a good friend in Southern California and that was so important. Of course she was meeting all kinds of people and having a wonderful time of it all, but knowing Glinda was definitely a plus. Especially when it came to going to all these events and knowing the important who’s who of the Southern California elite.
Tonight they were headed to another silent auction at some gallery or another. It was fancy, and there were a ton of people there. Effie felt right at home as she accepted a glass of champagne and started around the exterior of the room, looking at the art hung on the walls. There was a little spring in her step and a smirk on her lips as she thought about… welll….
Glinda was also glad that she now had Effie around, she had enough acquaintances but Effie was someone she could joke with at these kind of events. Which to be honest was a bit of a lifeline sometimes.
Tonight however was extra special since she was also bringing Elphie along to meet Effie, it amused Glinda that her best friends had rhyming names. Spotting Effie she hooked her arm in Elphie’s and moved closer, “Oh now what has that smile on your face? Spotted something you like?” she teased, moving to hug her.
“There’s so much to look at here,” Elphaba smiled, shaking her head as she looked around at the art work. “Even if I had the money to buy one of these pieces I wouldn’t know where to start,” she smiled in wonder.
Effie turned toward her friend coming closer, arm linked with a dark-haired woman. “Glinda!” She said, turning up the charm and happiness to eleven. Either she was ignoring the question or hadn’t heard it, it was hard to tell. She reached forward to kiss-kiss each of Glinda’s cheeks, then gave the other woman a bright smile. “And you must be Elphaba! I’ve heard so much about you!”
Glinda returned the kisses though was suspicious of the ramped up charm and question dodging. Something was going on and Glinda was determined to find out what it was. But for now her friends were meeting each other, “All good I promise Elphie” Glinda smiled.
"You've heard about me?" Elphaba gave a little embarrassed smile back before blushing and ducking her head. "What have you heard?" She asked nervously, forgetting simple manners briefly. "Sorry, hi," she reached out her hand to shake Effie's. "You must be Effie."
Effie laughed. “Good things! Glinda speaks very highly of you!” Effie said, reaching forward to shake Elphaba’s hand. “She must really like E names with F’s in them.” She added, teasing a little. Funny how close her name was to Elphaba’s nickname.
“I’m building a collection” Glinda said with a grin, “And of course I speak highly of you, silly goose” she said to Elphie affectionately. “Have we missed any gossip?” she asked Effie with a wink.
Elphaba blushed again, not sure what to say to the high praise bestowed on her. “Thank you,” she replied quietly, embarrassed. “It’s kind of nice to be thought of as part of a collection,” she shrugged.
“No, no gossip that I’ve heard,” Effie responded, stepping in closer to the other two. “I’ve been keeping my ears peeled, though,” she lowered her voice a little. “...because I want to know if anyone’s been talking about…” She couldn’t say ‘about me’ could she? “My husband’s campaign.” That was safe enough.
Glinda chuckled, she rather liked the idea of building a collection if she was honest. “How boring that there’s no gossip. I’ve not heard anything, about your husband, you or anything” she sighed, “I was hoping for something juicy”
“Gossip?” Elphaba asked curiously, having literally no idea what they were talking about. “About what? Why would there be gossip?” she asked. Elphaba had always been outside the loop when it came to social groups. Gossip wasn’t something she’d ever really engaged in or been interested in.
“Oh, thank goodness,” Effie breathed out in a deep sigh. At least, Glinda would tell her the truth if there was word going around about her affair with Haymitch. An affair that hadn’t really happened… yet… hadn’t really gone anywhere. She’d kissed him, drunkenly, and spent the night in his bed--but they’d both remained fully clothed the whole time. No, the scandal here, in Effie’s mind, was that she didn’t love the Old Man she was married to. She never had. And she was falling madly in love with Haymitch Abernathy.
“It’s nothing, really,” Effie said, shaking her head. “We’ve just hired Haymitch Abernathy to orchestrate my husband’s campaign back into the political spotlight. I was curious if people were at all interested in the hire.”
“There’s always usually some kind of gossip, whether it’s an illicit affair, a shock pregnancy or an impending divorce. It’s kind of the only way to survive these kind of things” Glinda told Elphaba. “Maybe it hasn’t penetrated the masses yet?” she suggested, “I’m sure there’ll be a buzz soon enough. Haymitch will see to it if nothing else, he’s very good at what he does” Glinda had hired him to do some promotional work for the fashion house.
Elphaba frowned at Effie’s reply. “Why would there be any issue with hiring Haymitch Abernathy?” she asked, it didn’t really make any sense to her.
“There isn’t. Mostly… it’s the idea that my husband has been out of the political spotlight for so long… I just wondered what people were thinking.” Effie tried to play it off, though she could feel her cheeks heating up--a surefire sign that she was blushing. She hoped that her friends couldn’t tell what was going on in her mind.
Glinda had an idea, she was a gossip queen after all. but wouldn’t mention anything yet. She’d speak to Effie alone at some point, “Oh you know when your husband makes the big announcement the tongues won’t stop wagging for a long time. There’ll be plenty of talk”
“But I…” Elphaba cast a sideways look at Glinda, something still wasn’t making sense to her. “Wait, who is Haymitch Abernathy? Why does he seem to be so important and gossip worthy?”
“I don’t mind the good kind of talk,” Effie was cursing her pink cheeks at the continued mention of Haymitch. The thought of his lips against hers, his hands on her body. She cleared her throat. “He’s a recovered alcoholic turned businessman. I think some people haven’t dropped their assumptions about his character.”
Glinda had, of course, noticed the color in her friends cheeks and would most definitely be asking some questions later about it. “They can’t deny he’s good at his job though. If you need a good PR guy, Haymitch is the one. His character doesn’t stop that being true. Besides he seems like a nice guy”
“So long as he’s not drinking, I guess,” Elphaba remarked dryly as she looked over her shoulder between herself and Glinda so that only her friend could hear. “So uh...where can I get a drink around here?” she asked, turning back to both Glinda and Effie.
“He is,” Effie couldn’t help but feel a surge of pride when Glinda mentioned how good Haymitch was at his job. It made her cheeks color even more. Just the mention of him made her feel butterflies in her stomach. “...Oh! There’s an open bar! Can you believe it?? Come on over here.” She looped her arm through Elphaba’s this time to lead both of her friends to the bar.
“Indeed, a very nice guy” Glinda said pointedly her eyebrows rising slightly as she looked over at Effie, who was going even redder. She couldn’t be, could she? She looped her arm with Elphie as they were dragged towards the bar.
“Wait, wait, wait,” Elphaba stopped them from moving too far off. “You seem to know an awful lot about this Haymitch guy. There’s no reason to gossip over a man who’s now sober, there’s no story there,” she shrugged. “He’s your husband’s PR guy so he knows how to handle that aspect of his life and career...so what’s really going on?” she looked between Glinda and Effie.
Effie didn’t know much about Elphaba. But she knew Glinda, and knew that her friend was trustworthy. For the most part. Maybe a bit of a gossip, but if she, Effie, couldn’t trust Glinda, who could she trust? And Elphaba seemed to run in a slightly different circle, anyway, and… well, Effie just couldn’t keep it to herself anymore. She was bursting, wanting to tell someone.
“...we’ve just… been spending a lot of time together. That’s all.” Effie said, though the smirk on her face and the pink in her cheeks told a very different story.
“Effie Trinket are you telling me that you and Haymitch Abernathy are involved?” Glinda asked quietly, after making sure nobody else was close enough to overhear them.
“Wait, you’re…” Elphaba started off loudly at the same time as Glinda, but caught herself and after a quick glance around to check no-one was listening in, she continued in a quieter voice. “You’re sleeping with him?!”
Effie’s cheeks were bright red. She gave a little gasp and a laugh. “...we’re… I don’t know what we are.” She added, lifting a hand to cover her face--her nose and mouth. Before they betrayed more. “I… I like him. God help me I like him. More than I should.”
“My goodness” Glinda sighed, “Well we shouldn’t talk about it here. Too many chances for ears to hear things they shouldn’t” she advised them both.
“I may be new to this whole gossip thing, but that sounds like a very good idea. Let’s get out of here,” Elphaba agreed. “By way of the bar.”