How to break a heart

The pizza talk

I clear my throat. "Spill. Spill all the tea, Peggy. We know you're hiding something."
Peggy blushes. "Have you seriously just called a Schuyler sisters meeting to interrogate me on my love life?"
Eliza smiles. "You can tell us!"
I raise my eyebrows. "Correction: You will tell us."
Peggy grins. "Angelica. You're so bossy!"
"NO I'M NOT! Now tell us or I'll feed you to the wolves."
Eliza bursts out laughing. "Yeah.... Totally not bossy!"
I glare. "Now back to the topic....  Peggy, what's up?"
She starts jumping up and down. "Hercules asked me to be his GIRLFRIEND!"
I'm shocked. "What did you say?"
"Yes, of course! He's so perfect for me!"
I'm annoyed. Peggy's only fifteen and Hercules is like, my age.
"But Peggy, you're too young!"
She huffs. "I'm fifteen. You always baby me and try to protect me! I hate being dependent on you and Eliza. Dad lets me do what I want. Why won't you?"
Dad doesn't really spend time with us these days. We see him at dinner sometimes but he just expects us to cook for ourselves. He's always cooped up in his office, writing pages and pages of writing. Always so stressed. He never talks to us anymore.  So I look out to Eliza and Peggy like a mum..I'm the oldest sister, so it's pretty much a duty.

**Time skip**
"I'm hungry...." Peggy whines. "I want pizza!"
And she says she wants to be independent...
So Eliza calls deliveroo and orders some pizza. And when I open the front door, I am greeted by a surprise. John Laurens is standing right on our doorstep, clutching a pile of pizza boxes. He is the pizza boy! Wow, it's a small world.
John grins and his puff of ginger hair glints in the light. "Angelica? I didn't know you lived here!"
I smile. "If you did, I'd be scared!"
He chuckles and holds out the pizzas. "One thing.... How can you possibly LIKE pineapple on pizza?!"
I raise my eyebrows. "John, we pay you for the pizza and we didn't order the snarky comments."
John pulls an offended face then thinks for a moment. "Hey, my shift is over, so could I maybe stay for a bit?"
"Sure!"
I take the pizza boxes and lead him into the house.
"Wow! You must be minted! Your house is huge!"
I guess it is. Dad is an author so he can afford what he wants really. Dad writes boring old books about paleontology (dinosaurs)
We seat ourselves on assorted sofas and chat while eating pizza. Though John wont TOUCH the pineapple pizza. It's sad he doesn't understand the bliss of pineapple pizza.
"So. What's the news!" John says, peeling the pepperoni off a piece of pizza and eating it separately.
Eliza and Peggy both open their mouths to spill but Eliza quietens and let's Peggy speak.
"Hercules is my boyfriend!"
A strange look crosses over John's face and I don't think anyone else noticed it.
"Cool." He says.
Peggy looks huffed, expecting more of a reaction.
Eliza nibbles her pizza delicately. "And now I'm going out with Alexander!"
John let's out a laugh and Eliza looks hurt.
He sees her face. "Oh, sorry. It's just, Alexander has dated a lot of girls and he never sticks with them for more than a week or two-"
And then he stops and realises what he's saying.
Eliza, after hearing that comment, isn't as happy as before. She stares down at her pizza. Silence.