Secrets of a Schuyler Sister {Angelica Schuyler}

20

A/N
The final chapter!
Coincidentally, this is also the longest chapter - so I suggest you sit tight and maybe get yourself something to drink.

PS. There's a bit of Thomliza in this chapter. Don't mind it, but I just thought I kind of liked it, since both Thomas and Eliza are single now. I know lots of people don't ship them, but I ship the Eliza and Thomas I wrote into this book.

Anyways, here it is.

:::

Thomas watched Angelica walk out of the room, feeling strangely content about everything. It was weird. He had felt so strongly about Angelica, and now ... he still had feelings for her, but it was different.

There was no more hurt seeing her with him and talking with him. As if he had made peace wth himself.

"Here. One bottle," the bartender said, drawing the young man out of his thoughts.

"Thanks," Thomas sighed, feeling drained. He pulled out a note and passed it to the man. "Keep the change."

He watched the man walk away to other customers, before moving to twist the cap and pop the whiskey open.

He paused momentarily, as if realising something - his gaze flicked to Eliza, sitting ways away. Her black hair hung Long over her shoulders, as she stared at the wooden counter before her.

Thomas remembered his agreement with Angelica.

He tucked the open bottle under his arm, and used his hands to slide the three whiskey glasses across the counter towards Eliza.

The slide across the counter made an alerting sound, jolting the Schuyler Sister out of her thoughts. She turned to look at Thomas, unable to hide her surprise.

Thomas let got of the three empty glasses, setting his bottle down in front of him.

"Hey," he said, taking the seat two away from her. Despite his natural habits to jump right into a woman's personal space, he felt that this one was nobody to play with. Not only had he gotten out of some strong feelings for somebody himself, but so had Eliza. He thought that, maybe it would take some time to him to get back into his usual routine. He suspected it would take Eliza time too.

"Hey," she replied. She rested her jaw in a cupped hand, smiling softly.

Thomas was not great at reading expressions, but even he could see she was depressed. How much did she love him, exactly? Did she cry when she found out about Angelica?

Or will she cry tonight, when nobody is there to watch?

For a moment there was just silence. Thomas reached forwards and poured himself a glass. There was so many things he was curious about, regarding Angelica's younger Sister. He had never noticed her much before, but right now he wondered how that was exactly. Eliza wasn't ugly.

But she was quiet, and fairly shy.

Would she ever tell anyone if she was hurting? Would she tell her sisters?

"Does it hurt?" Thomas found himself saying, before he had thought it through.

Eliza turned to him, surprised.

Too late to take it back now. Thomas raised the glass slowly to his lips and downed it, buying himself time. Once he had set the empty glass down, he turned and looked at her. She was looking away, thinking hard.

"Not ... really," she answered, locking gazes with him. "I mean, the rejection hurts, yeah."

Thomas scoffed, "Tell me about it."