Angelica's alarm went off at five o'clock in the morning the next morning. She cracked her eyes open and looked at her phone screen for the time. She let out a huffy yawn, then rolled out of bed.
She usually allowed herself fifteen minutes of pressing 'snooze' every five minutes, but this morning, she decided that she did not have a minute to spare. She marched straight into her closet and set to work finding an outfit which would bring Alex Hamilton to his knees.
She tried on three different skirts and six different blouses, examining her profile in each outfit carefully. She eventually settled upon a Marc Jacob blouse which was just low-cut enough to turn heads, paired with a Kate Spade skirt that served as a pop of color. It didn't hurt that the pop of color naturally brought the eyes downward. She slipped on a pair of YSL heels that were half a size too small - a forgivable shortcoming, as Angelica had gotten them on sale - and cast herself a self-satisfied smirk in the mirror. She looked good. Alex Hamilton had no idea what was waiting for him at their two o'clock meeting.
She then plopped down at her makeup table. She squinted at her reflection. Her eyes were still puffy with sleep. Her hair was bedraggled. She let out a sigh before reaching for her toner.
After twenty minutes, her eyes were no longer puffy. Instead, they were framed with makeup and accentuated with false lashes. She knew she would end up tearing the lashes out before the end of the day, but Alex wouldn't know that. He would only know that she had shown up to their meeting looking like a goddamn model. Her hair was curled to look effortlessly windswept. She flicked it over her shoulder, considering herself in the mirror before giving herself another small smile of approval.
She glanced at the clock and saw that it was nearly six-thirty.
"Shit." She sighed.
She was already late.
"Shit, shit, shit." She murmured to herself, grabbing her leather tote; it was stuffed full of files, loose pens, and granola bars. She raced out onto the street, hoping that she would be able to scuttle up to her office building before Senator Clinton arrived.
God, these shoes hurt her feet. She winced as she dodged overeager tourists milling around the Mall. Alex had better ask her out to dinner to make this agony worth it, she thought.
She burst through the entrance of the Russell Senate Office Building, looking around to see who was already there. Her eyes found Alex's. He was talking to one of Senator Jefferson's interns - some girl that Angelica had seen crying into a muffin at a nearby coffee shop last weekend.
Alex turned to watch Angelica as she walked past. Angelica watched as his eyes roved over every inch of her. When his eyes finally met hers, he winked. Angelica flicked her hair over her shoulder and turned to look in the direction of the stairwell she was approaching, pretending not to care whether or not Alex had noticed her.
Once she was in the stairwell and out of Alex's view, Angelica hurried up the stairs towards Senator Clinton's office. She rushed down the hallway - ignoring the leering eyes of Senators and staffers alike - and burst through the doors of Senator Clinton's office.
"You're late." Margaret Corbin - affectionately nicknamed 'Madge' - remarked as Angelica hurried towards the tiny closet space that she shared with Church.
"I know." Angelica called over her shoulder. "Is he here yet?"
"No." Madge replied, ignoring the phones, which were already ringing off the hook. "He's reading his wife's new book at the children's hospital until nine."
"Great." Angelica sighed, plopping down at her desk with a sigh. She kicked off her heels and slipped on the ugly but incredibly comfortable flip flops that she kept hidden beneath her desk.
"Where'd you get off to last night?" Church asked, glancing up from his computer. He reached over to the other side of his computer and procured a coffee cup from the shop down the block. Angelica's name was written across the side of it. He offered it to her. Angelica didn't miss the way that his eyes lingered on her hair, her face, and finally, her blouse.
"Ugh, thank you - you're the best." Angelica said, accepting the coffee gratefully. "I meant to say goodbye before I took off last night, but I was so exhausted that I just needed to go home."
"I figured." Church replied with a small shrug. "That guy, Alex, seemed to be bothering you."
"Oh, no. He wasn't bothering me." Angelica said, trying to keep her voice casual. She took a sip of the coffee. White mocha. Her favorite. "He's a nice guy. We were talking about our meeting this afternoon. I'm going over Senator Clinton's bill with him."
Church frowned, shrugging again.
"Didn't seem like he was interested in talking about the bill, with the way he was looking at you." He mumbled, returning his attention to his computer. "I'd be careful around him, if I was you."
"Thank you for the advice." Angelica replied, rolling her eyes and turning to look at her own computer. She couldn't bite back a small, self-satisfied smile as she opened her inbox. She had 165 unread emails. She clicked the first one, settling in for a morning of pointless correspondence. She mulled over Church's words. They confirmed that she hadn't been imagining things - Alex had been looking at her in an emphatically non-platonic sort of way. He did like her.
He would be hers by dinner time.
Angelica settled into her chair and took another sip of her coffee. She answered the first email, a request for Senator Clinton to visit a local animal shelter for its re-opening. She would check his schedule, she said, and get back to them.
She took another sip of coffee and moved on to the next email.
Fifty emails later, Angelica was surprised to see an email from ahamilton . She set down her coffee and leaned forward to scrutinize each word.
From: ahamilton
To: aschuyler
Today at 7:14 AM
Re: Meeting this Afternoon
Good morning Ms. Schuyler,
I look forward to our meeting this afternoon at 2pm. Please bring a printed copy of Senator Clinton's bill, as well as a laptop so we can make any corrections as agreed-upon in the course of our meeting.
Please bring the name of the pizza establishment from yesterday (1/20) as well. I have already forgotten it and regret it immeasurably.
Respectfully,
Alex Hamilton
ahamilton
Eisenhower Executive Office #515
Angelica couldn't help but smile. Alex's email was perfectly professional - it would have to be, on a government account - but the mention of the pizza place confirmed that he had enjoyed himself the previous evening. Angelia struggled to come up with an equally professional response to Alex's email. All she really wanted to do was ask him why he hadn't kissed her the night before, and when exactly he was planning to kiss her today.
From: aschuyler
To: ahamilton
Today at 8:32 AM
Re: Meeting this Afternoon
Good morning Mr. Hamilton,
I hope this email finds you well.
I will be sure to bring a copy of the bill, my laptop, and the name of the pizza place. In return, I request that you not bring any interns from Senator Jefferson's office. They have a tendency to slow down workflow.
Thank you!
Angelica Schuyler
aschuyler
Russell Senate Building #207
She read the email over a few times before clicking 'send'. She hoped that Alex would register the playful intent of her words. She didn't want him to think that she was jealous of the intern.
She took a long sip of her coffee and started on the next email - another aide requesting a meeting between Senator Clinton and Congressman Paine. Congressman Paine's office had been trying to connect with Senator Clinton for a while now. Angelica sighed and leaned back in her chair, considering how she would reject the request.
Just as she stretched her hands out towards her keyboard again, a chat invite from Alex popped up on her screen. Glad for the distraction, Angelica clicked 'accept'.
ahamilton : I should have known that you were an 'I hope this email finds you well' type.
Angelica smiled and shook her head.
"What?" Church asked from beside her. He glanced in the direction of her computer.
"Nothing." Angelica replied, minimizing the chat with Alex. She gestured to the email from Congressman Paine's aide. "Just another aide asking when Senator Clinton can meet with Congressman Paine."
"Hm." Church rumbled in an amused tone. "Was it Dupliss?"
"Did he send you one, too?" Angelica asked, turning to look at Church. Her smile matched his own amused grin. Still, she couldn't help but think about Alex's message. She thought of a few possible responses.
"He's persistent, you have to give him that." Church replied, chuckling.
"What did you tell him?" Angelica asked.
"I told him that nothing had changed." Church said with a shrug. He was always so unapologetic when dealing with their male colleagues. Angelica imagined that he never got called a 'bitch' for it. "Paine still wants major tax increases on the wealthy to benefit nearly seventy-five percent of West Virginia. Clinton still relies on the wealthy to get elected. It's not happening."
"So now he comes to me." Angelica sighed, facing her computer with a frown. "When did I get a reputation as the office pushover? I thought that was still you."
"I thought so, too." Church agreed, taking a bite out of his breakfast sandwich.
"I guess I'll have to remind this Henry Dupliss that he doesn't turn to me when you say no." Angelica hummed, settling back in her chair.
Church chuckled as Angelica got to work constructing a reply to Henry Dupliss' email.
Just as she was reaching peak passive-aggressive language, another notification popped up from her chat with Alex.
ahamilton : For the record, the intern was handing me a piece of legislature that Senator Jefferson hopes the President will support. Jefferson seems to think that sending a young intern to deliver his paperwork will gain my support, rather than the contents of the bill.
Angelica arched an eyebrow, her mouth curving into another smile.
Alex must have been worried that Angelica misconstrued his chat with the intern if he was going to such great lengths to justify himself. She didn't doubt that Senator Jefferson had sent a cute intern to try to persuade Alex into supporting his bill - he was known to do whatever it took to push his agenda.
She glanced over her shoulder, making sure that Church wasn't watching, before replying.
aschuyler : I'm not compiling the Starr Report here. Have you heard anyone saying that I'm the easier aide to go through for Clinton?
Alex's response was automatic. With the state of the economy, Angelica would have guessed that he would be too busy for messaging like this.
ahamilton : No. I've always heard that was Church.
aschuyler : Thank you.
ahamilton : Who's getting a strongly worded email from Ms. Schuyler today?
aschuyler : Don't you have work to do?
ahamilton : Mountains of it.
aschuyler : Then stop bothering me.
ahamilton : I'll see you at two.
Angelica smiled to herself as she closed out of the chat. It had been a while since she had met someone around the capitol that she enjoyed talking to. There were a few spectacularly good-looking men around the city, but good-looking men in politics were typically self-serving assholes without an ounce of humor.
Alex seemed to have an appropriate amount of ambition while still retaining his humanity. In D.C., he was rarer than a unicorn. Angelica wondered how it was that he was still single.
"What'd you tell Dupliss?" Church asked from beside her.
"Oh, um." Angelica pulled up the email that she had been drafting before Alex had messaged her a second time. "I told him that, in the future, if he hears no from one member of our staff, it's a no for all of us."
"Good morning, Senator." Angelica heard Madge say from the lobby.
Church and Angelica exchanged grim looks. Once Senator Clinton set foot in their office, their productivity dropped down to next to nothing. He was always sending them out of the office to meet with some lobbyist who had been courting him, or asking them to research a concept that he had heard about from a podcast he had recently listened to. He would send them to pick up lunch, he would ask them for advice about his personal life, he would make them memorize his social calendar for the next twelve months.
"Good morning." Senator Clinton boomed in response.
He was in a good mood this morning. That meant that, while he would be friendlier to interact with, he would be more inclined to hold Angelica and Church hostage in the name of having a 'chat'.
"Good morning, you two." Senator Clinton poked his head through the door into their office. He sported a smile and his usual gray suit with a crooked tie. Angelica narrowly resisted the urge to straighten it every morning. "Ms. Schuyler, I hear that you have already introduced yourself to President Washington's youngest economic advisor."
"Yes, sir." Angelica did not want to talk about Alex with Senator Clinton. She didn't even want Senator Clinton to know that Alex existed.
"Very good - way to take initiative!" Senator Clinton remarked with a beam of approval that made Angelica want to roll her eyes. "Mr. Church, I trust that you have been keeping busy?"
"I always try to, sir." Church replied, his voice laced with the same tension that Angelica felt.
"I know that you do." Senator Clinton remained oblivious to that tension. He entered the office and plopped down on the cramped little couch that Angelica and Church had shoved against the wall of their office. "So, how did each of you enjoy the inauguration? Tell me about your evenings - I've got some time this morning for a little chat."
Angelica and Church exchanged resigned glances before settling in for yet another pointless 'chat'.
At one fifty-five, Angelica gladly excused herself from the tedious cycle of Senator Clinton's bullshit whims to meet with Alex. She kicked off her flip flops and slipped on her painful but gorgeous YSL heels.
"Off to negotiate with the economic advisor?" Church asked Angelica, looking up from the research that he was conducting into which astrological signs were least likely to be vaccinated.
"Yep." Angelica replied, packing her laptop and a copy of her bill into her leather tote.
"Lucky you." Church grumbled, gesturing vaguely towards his computer. Senator Clinton had given him the assignment after listening to his daughter talk about astrological signs during dinner. "Tell him to keep his hands to himself and his jaw off the ground."
"Leave Alex alone. He's perfectly nice." Angelica sighed, smiling. "Good luck with the research project."
"Hm." Church grumbled as Angelica strode out of the room.
Angelica smiled to herself as she started down the stairs, ignoring the painful pinching feeling of her shoes. It would be worth it to see the look on Alex's face when she walked into the room. She ignored staffers trying to flag her down as she walked out of the Russell building and down the street in the direction of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
She flashed her badge at the door of the Eisenhower building and started for Alex's office. She recognized the number listed in his email signature - it was part of a cluster of offices that belonged to President Washington's economic team.
Angelica ascended the stairs, planning the triumphant entrance that she would make into Alex's office for their meeting. She would catch him off guard - she had seen the way that he focused on things. She knew that he would be completely engrossed in his work when she walked through the door. Once he tore his eyes off of his computer though, she knew that he would focus that wonderous attention on nothing but her. She would lean against the doorway and give him a smile that always worked on the men she dated. She'd ask him if he wanted to talk about the bill. He'd say no, then laugh and invite her to take a seat. Angelica would do just that, dropping her bag beside her chair and leaning over - just low enough for Alex to lean forward at his own desk, hoping to catch a glimpse of cleavage - to collect her laptop and her bill. By the time they were finished negotiating, Alex would be putty in her hands. Angelica would get the support of the President on her bill, and a date with Alex that Friday night.
When Angelica reached the fifth floor, she saw that there was a receptionist guarding the cluster of offices that comprised of the economic team. That would ruin her planned entrance somewhat. She frowned as she approached the desk.
"Good afternoon," The receptionist afforded her an artificial smile that he likely used on everyone who approached his desk. "How can I help you?"
"I have an appointment with Alex Hamilton at two o'clock." Angelica said, glancing over the receptionist's shoulder in the hopes of seeing Alex walking between offices. No such luck. She only saw Robert Morris - an old man who loved to discuss interest rates - shuffling through the hallway with a cup of coffee.
"I'm sorry. Mr. Hamilton is in a meeting right now." The receptionist told Angelica with an annoying amount of cheerfulness. "I'm sure he'll be done any minute now, if you'd just like to take a seat in one of those chairs."
He gestured to a set of chairs against the opposite wall.
Angelica's frown deepened. Sitting in a chair and waiting around for Alex would not match her planned entrance at all. Now Alex would walk out of his office and see Angelica waiting for him. Angelica never waited for a man. Men waited for her.
"Actually, if Mr. Hamilton is busy, I'll just make a few phone calls in the hallway. Could you have him step out and let me know when he is no longer occupied?" Angelica asked.
"Certainly." The receptionist replied with a terse smile.
Angelica smiled back, sickly sweet, before stalking into the hallway around the corner. She pulled out her phone and tried to think of anyone that she needed to call before the day was over. She had left her to-do list back in the office.
She decided on Ben Church, the aide to Senator Arnold of Connecticut. It didn't hurt that he was John Church's cousin and just as easy to push around. She had been meaning to get a meeting with Senator Arnold to get him onboard with Senator Clinton's bill for a week now.
He answered on the second ring.
"Senator Arnold's office." He said.
"Hey, Ben." Angelica smiled, willing her voice to take on a warm tone that made people accommodate her every wish. "This is Angelica Schuyler. How are you?"
"Angelica, hey!" Ben's tone perked up. "I'm good, how are you?"
"Good." Angelica replied. "Listen, Senator Clinton has this bill that he's trying to get through the senate. Senator Arnold wouldn't happen to have some free time this week to meet with me, would he?"
"The Family Care Bill? I thought you might call on that. I'm sure I can find an hour for you." Ben agreed. "Would Thursday work?"
"Thursday would be perfect. What time?" Angelica asked.
"Hm…I could get you an eight o'clock in the morning, or a six o'clock in the evening." Ben replied thoughtfully. "But the eight o'clock in the morning will have to be in the car from a ribbon-cutting at a factory that produces plastic cutlery and the six o'clock will have to be in between a dinner meeting and a gala."
"A gala on a Thursday?" Angelica asked, arching an eyebrow though no one could see it.
"It's for children with cleft lips." Ben said, as though that explained why the gala was being held on a weeknight.
"I'll take the six o'clock." Angelica said, knowing better than to argue about the rationality of a gala. People in the city were strange about their galas. "Senator Clinton's constituents don't want to see him cozying up to plastics."
"All right, you're on the calendar for Thursday at six o'clock." Ben remarked with that easy friendliness that all Church men seemed to possess.
"Thank you, Ben." Angelica said, the warmth in her voice turning genuine.
"Hey, it's no problem." Ben replied with equal earnestness. "What have you been up to lately? I feel like I haven't seen you around Ebeneezer's in ages. Has John been leaving all of the work to you at the end of the day?"
Angelica laughed.
Ebeneezer's was the local bar that most of the younger staffers frequented. Angelica only really went when the staff members in Senator Clinton's office pestered her into going. Angelica had been so busy lately that everyone else in the office knew better than to ask. That, and social events had a tendency to dry up in the winter.
"No, he's been great, as usual." She said. She would never add fuel to the rivalry between the Church cousins. "It's just been so cold out that I haven't wanted to do anything other than go home and go to bed. Maybe I'll go out more when the city thaws out again."
"Wear a coat." Ben suggested jovially. "We miss you."
"We?" Angelica inquired.
"You know, the regulars." Ben replied.
"Of course." Angelica rolled her eyes, smiling. "Maybe in a few weeks. Things are really busy right now."
"Things are always busy." Ben retorted. "That's a cop out."
"Angelica?" Alex's voice sounded behind her. Angelica turned around to face him. He smiled as their eyes met.
"I'll see you around, Ben." Angelica said into her phone. She didn't look away from Alex. Her lips twisted upwards into a smile. "I've got to step into a meeting here."
"Another cop out." Ben accused her playfully. "You better be at Ebeneezer's this Friday."
Angelica hit 'end call'. She slipped her phone into her bag and fixed Alex with a more focused smile.
"You're late." She accused him, dropping her voice into a lower octave. Her smile didn't falter. Alex's eyes widened with delight. His smile broadened.
"I was on the phone with the President." He said.
"Did you tell him that you were late for a very important meeting on a bill that he would likely support?" Angelica asked, not granting him an inch.
Alex's smile didn't falter.
"No," He admitted. "I didn't want to hurt President Washington's feelings. Come on, we can meet in one of the conference rooms back here."
Angelica allowed Alex to guide her back, past the receptionist and among the cluster of office dominated by the economics teams. The entire hall smelled like paprika and moth balls. Angelica did her best not to wrinkle her nose.
"Here we go." Alex strode through the doors of a smaller conference room.
He closed the door behind Angelica, then plopped down in the first seat by the door. Angelica took a seat across the table from him. She frowned as she considered the width of the table. Alex wouldn't see anything – not even the barest suggestion of cleavage – if she were to bend over to grab something from her bag.
With a sigh, she removed her laptop and her copy of the bill from her bag before setting it on the floor. She set up her laptop, glancing over at Alex as she pulled up the bill.
He had a printed copy of the bill in front of him. It was covered in highlighter and red ink. Angelica had been through enough of these meetings to know what all of that wasted ink meant. This was destined to be a long meeting. If Angelica had been able to make her planned entrance, she might have been able to avoid all of this.
"Let's start with the first section." Alex suggested. That was never a good sign.
Angelica arched an eyebrow.
"The first section?" She asked, disbelieving. "That's just the definitions. It's all standard language – every definition has been used in another bill before."
"I don't like the definition of 'economic support'." Alex continued as though Angelica hadn't said anything at all. "It's vague. If I showed the President this bill today, he wouldn't know what number he was committing to. President Washington likes to know exactly what he's saying yes to before he says yes."
Angelica straightened her posture and prepared for an argument.
"We don't know how much we will need yet. If we give you a set amount before we put the project in motion, we may not have enough to complete it." She replied.
Alex quirked an eyebrow, the gesture obscenely attractive and insufferably condescending all at once.
"You didn't think to run any numbers on this before presenting it to the President?" He asked.
Angelica's eyes narrowed.
"I ran plenty of numbers." She responded sharply. "You can see them in the index. The issue is the discrepancy between the numbers - it's a variable of a couple million dollars and doesn't even consider the inflation that might occur over the next three years. Would you rather I take the highest number and keep any surplus we may have?"
"There is no way that the President is granting this project anything over five million." Alex said, folding his arms across his chest.
"You're joking." Angelica flipped to the index, where all of the complicated formulas that Senator Clinton's math nerd had helped her draw up. "That's half a million less than our lowest estimate."
"Estimates are always inflated." Alex retorted with a shrug.
"Then why bother asking for them?" Angelica demanded.
"It's a good starting point for the real math." Alex replied with another insufferable smile.
"This is a good program. President Washington will gain supporters in key demographics if it's program is successful. More importantly, he'll make a difference." Angelica snapped. She gestured to the bill in front of her emphatically. "This decision can't be all about money."
Alex shrugged again, leaning back in his chair. His smile faded.
"It has to be all about money when a bill is put on my desk for review." He said, his tone somewhat apologetic.
"I can see that my time is being wasted here." Angelica huffed, rising to her feet. She snatched her bag off of the ground and shoved her laptop into it. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Hamilton."
"Angelica." Alex protested, rising to his feet.
Angelica stormed off before he could say anything else, her painfully small shoes clicking against the floor.
"Have a nice day." The receptionist called out behind her.
Angelica rolled her eyes and imagined that it was Alex's skull beneath her heels.
Angelica still had not calmed down hours later. Senator Clinton had since left the office to have dinner with his wife. The sun had set around that time, masking the city in a cloak of chilly nightfall. Her fingers tapped impatiently on the desk as she glowered at the math formulas included in the bill.
"There's nothing wrong with them." Church reminded her for the umpteeth time. He took a sip of coffee and cast her a pointed look. "I've heard Hamilton is a dick about stuff like this. He thinks he's smarter than everyone else."
Angelica did not answer. She continued tapping her fingers against the desk.
Madge poked her head in the office.
"I'm headed out." She said, draping her coat over her arm. "I think that Patrick is ordering dinner if you want in on it."
"Where's he ordering from?" Church asked.
"I don't know. Ask him." Madge rolled her eyes and walked out before Church could impede on her night any further.
"Thanks, Madge." Church mumbled. He spun his chair to focus on Angelica. Angelica ignored him. She kept on glaring at her formulas, willing them to make more sense to her than they had a few hours ago. "C'mon, Ang. Let's go get in on Pat's order before we have to pay for our own delivery fee."
A notification pinged at the top of Angelica's computer. It was from Alex. He had tagged her federal email account in a playlist. Her brows knit together in confusion.
"Ang." Church leaned back in his chair to get her attention.
"Hm?" Angelica tore her attention away from the computer with reluctance.
"Pat's ordering dinner." Church said, annoyance flecking his voice. "I'm going to go over and add something to the order. Do you want anything?"
"Um…sure." Angelica couldn't force herself to walk all the way to Patrick's office. "Could you just order me a salad? I don't really care what kind."
"Unplug for a second." Church urged her, rising to his feet and leaning against the back of Angelica's office chair. He looked down at her with a lazy smile. Angelica looked back up at him dispassionately.
His chin was already sporting the beginnings of a five o'clock shadow. His tie was loosened around his neck. His collar was crumpled. There were bags under his eyes. He looked tired. He always looked tired. It was one of the reasons that he and Angelica had gotten along so well in the first place.
Angelica leaned her head back against the chair.
"I can't." She replied with a frown. "I need to figure this out. Just take whatever I owe Patrick for the salad out of my wallet."
"Alright, alright." Church knew better than to try and drag Angelica away from her work when she was focused. He straightened his posture and started for Patrick's office.
Angelica waited for him to leave before opening the playlist that Alex had tagged her in.
Made by ahamilton
8 Songs
Money [Explicit] - Cardi B
Take Me Home Tonight - Eddie Money
Cash Shit [Explicit] - Megan Thee Stallion (feat. DaBaby)
Bitch Better Have My Money [Explicit] - Rihanna
Money, Money, Money - ABBA
Or Nah [Remix] [Explicit] - Ty Dolla $ign (feat. The Weeknd, Wiz Khalifa & DJ Mustard)
Money (That's What I Want) - The Beatles
Ring of Fire - Johnny Cash
Angelica's eyes roved over the playlist, her mouth hanging open in a perplexing combination of amusement and indignation.
"That bastard." She murmured to herself, shocked at the utter nerve of the man.
She pulled up her inbox just as Church reentered the office. He tossed her wallet back in her purse.
"Ordered your salad." He remarked, sinking into his chair and refocusing his attention on a document on his own computer. "Placed a few bets with my bookie while I had your card."
"Hm. Horse racing or football?" Angelica asked without looking away from her computer. She opened the 'chat' option and scrolled through her contacts.
"Horses." Church replied, reaching down to sort through his snack drawer. Angelica knew that he was two weeks late in restocking the drawer with bulk snacks from Costco. "I bet on a horse named Dorito Dust."
Angelica snorted, the corner of her mouth curving upwards.
"I'm sure you got great odds on him." She said.
"Oh, the best." Church agreed.
"You'll be out of here in no time." Angelica sighed, finally spotting Alex's name in her contacts list. "Don't be a stranger. Invite us all over to your mansion for drinks sometime."
aschuyler : Was that your idea of an apology?
Angelica glanced over at Church to see if he had noticed that she was communicating with Alex. She knew that he would make some sort of snarky comment if he did. Luckily, he seemed preoccupied with the redlines on a puff piece that the Times was doing on Clinton's daughter's new dog.
She tried to focus on the hundreds of invitations for Clinton to give a commencement speech at high school graduations that upcoming spring. Clinton would only be able to say 'yes' to one high school - Angelica would have to ensure that the high school that he did say 'yes' to would be free of scandal and full of advantageous publicity.
ahamilton : Consider it a professional suggestion.
Angelica rolled her eyes. She resolved not to give Alex the satisfaction of responding to his message. She would wait until he gave her a proper apology. She would focus on the stack of requests from the high schools and ignore Alex.
Dear Senator Clinton,
We would be honored if you would give the commencement address at our graduation ceremony on June 1.
Here at McKinley High, we maintain a standard of integrity. We believe in instilling a set of morals and values in our students which is consistent with those that you uphold in office.
Angelica sighed and dropped the letter into the shredder.
"Another school with a name from the Confederacy?" Church asked, sparing a glance in Angelica's direction.
Angelica shook her head, flipping to the next request.
"A standard of integrity." She replied.
"Bastards." Church grumbled playfully.
Angelica didn't answer him. She tried to start on the next request. She read the first sentence over and over, unable to focus.
Her mind kept wandering to the unanswered chat with Alex.
She would not respond until he apologized, she told herself.
But perhaps he would never apologize until she gave him the opportunity.
She chewed at her bottom lip, struggling in vain to read the request. After her tenth attempt, she let out an annoyed sigh and slapped the paper down on the stack. She pulled up the chat with Alex, unable to resist.
aschuyler : I will consider it proof of how much free time you have.
ahamilton : If only someone would offer to help me fill that free time.
aschuyler : Stop distracting me. Unlike you, I have an unbelievable amount of work to get through.
ahamilton : I'll be around until midnight, if you need company.
aschuyler : I'll be here later than that.
ahamilton : Is it a competition?
ascuhlyer : Isn't everything?
"Are you answering emails?" Church asked, turning to look at what Angelica was typing on her computer.
Angelica minimized the chat and turned to look at him. She afforded him a small shrug and a pitiful smile.
"I can't read any more of these requests." She said, nodding down at the stack of papers in front of her computer. "They're all the same. Is there some kind of template floating around that I haven't heard about?"
"Just pick one at random. That's what I did last year." Church suggested.
ahamilton : We'll see who logs out first.
"Senator Clinton told me that you sorted through the requests for hours last year." Angelica looked at Church, scandalized. "He still talks about what a great choice you made!"
Church grinned.
"Dumb luck." He admitted.
"You bastard." Angelica shook her head, her lips curling into a smile.
She pulled a request out of the middle of the stack. She looked at the name of the school - it wasn't the name of any member of the Confederate army, nor one of the more overt racists in history. The reasons proffered for requesting Senator Clinton's presence were the same as every other. The valedictorian was a sixteen year-old girl who would be going to Harvard to study engineering.
"Perfect." Angelica placed the request in a manila folder. She tossed the rest of the requests in a cardboard box beneath her desk. All of the papers within the box would be shredded first thing in the morning.
Church chuckled as Angelica moved on to a set of applications for summer interns.
One o'clock in the morning found Angelica watching a Khan academy video on applied calculus, trying to figure out how to revise her equations to force Alex to give Senator Clinton's bill more than five million dollars.
Church was asleep at his desk. He walked Angelica home each night and had fallen asleep waiting for her. The sound of his soft snoring comforted Angelica as she scribbled on her fourth page of scrap paper.
Just as she was beginning to understand one of the variables, her computer chimed, alerting her to a new chat.
ahamilton : I'm going home to get my beauty sleep. Goodnight, Miss Schuyler.
He sent a gif of a soldier saluting along with his message.
Angelica smiled to herself as she shut down her own computer.
"Church." She nudged Church, rousing him from his sleep.
"Mm?" Church wiped some drool from his chin as he lifted his head off of his keyboard.
"Come on." Angelica encouraged him. She exchanged her desk flip flops for the painfully small YSL heels, cringing slightly as she rose to her feet. She grabbed her purse off of her desk. "Let's get out of here."
"What time is it?" Church mumbled.
"Mm…one-thirty." Angelica replied, squinting at her watch. Her eyes ached after staring at her computer screen for hours on end. "I don't think there'll be any cabs at this time. Do you want to call a car, or hoof it?"
"Oh, no. I've seen the faces you make when you wear those shoes." Church rubbed at his eyes with a frown. "Call a car. I'll pay for it."
"You're a saint." Angelica sighed, scrolling through her phone for the app which would allow her to summon a car.
"Which high school did you choose?" Church asked as Angelica typed in the pickup address.
"North Shore High in New Jersey." Angelica replied. "The car will be here in ten minutes. I'm going to get a candy bar from Mercy's office."
Church perked up a bit.
"Mercy has candy?" He asked. "Since when?"
"What do you want?" Angelica called over her shoulder, sauntering towards Mercy's tiny office, placed at the back of the office, tucked away from distractions. "Hershey brand only."
"Anything with caffeine." Church replied. "Please."
Angelica smiled to herself as she entered Mercy's office. The faint scent of vanilla frosting lingered about the room. She approached the desk, piled high with papers with various notes scribbled all over them. She opened the second drawer on the right side of the desk. Dozens of candy bars greeted her. Angelica plucked two KitKat bars out, then closed the drawer.
She returned to Church, handing him one of the KitKat bars. Church accepted it gratefully.
They headed downstairs to wait for the car. Church ran a Google search on North Shore High School. Angelica munched on the KitKat bar while thinking of ways to strike up a conversation with Alex the next day.
They were quiet on the car ride. The car dropped Angelica at her building first, despite the fact that Church lived closer to the Russell. Church always insisted that Angelica be dropped off first, so that she would not be forced to make small talk with the car driver.
Once inside, Angelica eagerly shed her work attire in favor of a Costco nightgown that Eliza had gifted her years earlier. It was hideous, but fantastically comfortable. Angelica let out a groan as she plopped down on her bed.
Her eyes fluttered closed as she thought of everything that she would need to do the next day.