To Be A Shelby

Chapter Five

MARIE

To be invited by Thomas for dinner was one thing, but him actually expressing kind words and wiping off sauce stains from her cheek totally caught her off guard. She expected there was a slight softness to the shell that was Thomas Shelby, but she didn't expect it to be like this. Marie was overwhelmed and she couldn't find the words to describe what she felt at that exact moment.

They ate together in awkward silence after what Thomas did. She tried thinking of words to say but alas, she seemed to be as tongue-tied as he was. When they finished eating, he finally said, "Thank you for the meal."

"Pleasure's all mine," she said, smiling. She felt like there were butterflies in her stomach but she dismissed it as simply being nervous about being close to Thomas for the first time.

"You should head home," he said, taking the dishes to the sink.

"I'll take care of the dishes first," she volunteered, attempting to go to the sink. Thomas blocked her and said, "Go home."

Marie couldn't tell if he was angry, his voice was neutrally cold, if such a phrase ever existed. Feeling like she had overstayed her welcome, she said, "Thank you for tonight," and then she left.

When she got home, the door was already locked. She went to an empty pot where they usually hid a spare key but it wasn't there. That meant that either it was stolen or Ada was sneaking off to God knows where with Freddie again. The only key she had with her was The Garrison's so she went there instead.

Without its usual crowd, the pub looked empty. Harry locked up but he didn't clean the pub like she would so she thought she might as well clean since she's already there. Marie started sweeping, singing as she did so.

In the middle of her singing and sweeping, a bit of happy dancing, she heard Thomas' voice saying, "So... she sings."

"Oh, fuck! No, I didn't mean to curse at you I was just surprised," panick was obvious in her voice and she saw Thomas chuckle before he spoke again saying, "People curse at me all the time."

"No, I-I wouldn't dare, sir. I mean Tommy... Thomas. I'm sorry, I'm nervous," she rolled her eyes at herself, she didn't understand why she was suddenly a stammering hot mess in front of him.

"Tommy's fine. Why are you here?" he asked, going behind the counter to pour himself a drink.

"They've already locked up the house and I didn't want to wake them so I went here instead," she explained, continuing to do the chore that she had started earlier, only minus the singing.

"Stop sweeping. Celebrate with me, Billy Kimber has started to invite us to his events," Thomas said, or more like commanded, as he took another glass and poured another drink.

"I think the pasta was celebration enough, T-tommy. I don't have that much experience with alcohol, no good ones, anyway," she hesitated. She didn't really know what kind of person she was when she was drunk precisely because she's been sober for all 26 years of her life.

"You haven't had a single drink?" he asked, taking his glass and drinking all of its contents in one chug.

"None at all," she confessed, looking down.

"There's always a first time for everything," Thomas was now fishing out a cigarette and a match from his pocket.

She slowly made her way to the bar and sat across from him while he stood on the other side, smoking. Hands shaking, she took the drink and stared at it for a bit. "To your success," she sincerely said, locking eyes with him, and gulped down the liquor.

It was a bittersweet taste that burned through her throat. Her face must have distorted beyond recognition because Thomas was laughing hard behind the bar, even dropping his cigarette.

"Either you're laughing because I look silly or you poisoned my drink," she blurted out of nowhere. Her eyes widened, where did that confidence come from?

"I poured our drinks from the same bottle, if it were poisoned I would've dropped dead by now," he said, and not sternly at that. It was almost a teasing tone.

"You could've poisoned the glass," she said again after drinking what was left of her liquor. She seemed to have lost her inhibitions if she was boldly talking to Thomas Shelby that way.

"You're sinister when you're drunk," Thomas pointed out, pouring another round into both their glasses.

"I have to admit, this is awkward," her mind buzzed with lots of thoughts but it seemed to have randomly selected this specific sentence and loaded it into her mouth like word vomit.

"The drinking?" he clarified, going around to the other side of the counter to sit beside her.

"You... suddenly being decent after you've made it damn clear that you hate me. But yes, the drinking, too," Marie no longer bothered to fight the urge to say what she thought. Blame it on the alcohol, she reasoned to herself.

She expected Thomas to lash out and get angry but when she looked at him, he was actually smiling a bit. He replied with, "I don't hate you."

"Then was I imagining the air of hostility between us?" her tone was sarcastic, and she laughed at her own remark.

"I didn't want to drag an innocent woman into a world where you always have to watch your back," he confessed.

"You worry about everyone in the family, you watch their backs for them. When will you let them worry for yours?" she asked, although her words were very hard to understand because she had already put her head on the table, slowly falling asleep.