Loving The Envy

Twelve

"Lisaaa get out of the kitchen." Envy groans and looks at Lisa who is trying to help her cook.

"I just want to help." Lisa says back to her with a laugh.

"I know but this is my thing. How about we cook something together tomorrow." Envy suggests with a laugh while putting seasoning into her chicken.

"Mr. Morelli." Lisa says while looking at me.

"Let Envy do it." I say and shrug drinking the rest of my water.

"You heard the boss, now get out of here. I'm sure Robert misses you at home anyways." Envy says to Lisa.

"You're right." She says and then walks out of the kitchen, probably to go home.

"What exactly are you cooking?" I ask walking over to her.

"Something that I love eating. See I was born in South Carolina but since my dad was in the military we moved around a lot. The only time I really ate southern food was when I visited my grandparents." She says with a smile while going to the pantry and pulling out some potatoes.

"Both sets of your grandparents live in South Carolina?" I ask her curiously

"Yes." She says while peeling the potatoes.

"When was the last time you seen them?" I ask her.

"Last year. I visit them once a year for a week. I haven't had a chance to this year." She says with a smile.

It's May, the year kinda just started.

"What about your grandparents and how come I've never met your mom?" She asks me and I stiffen.

I haven't had a normal conversation like this in a while.

"I never really knew my mom and my grandparents live in Italy." I say to her.

"I get it. So, your 23 right?" She asks me and I nod.

"Cool, when's your birthday?" She asks me

"June 15th." I say nonchalantly.

"Cool mines June 1st." She says and while still peeling those potatoes.

"Does it bother you that your parents show favoritism over your older sister?" I ask her, she puts the potato peeler down and looks at me.

Did I say something wrong?

"Honestly." She says and wipes her hands off going into the pantry and pulling out some vegetable oil.

"Yeah." I say

She goes back into the pantry and pulls out this big box. It's a fryer. She probably brought it today when she went shopping cause I don't have one. I rarely eat fried food. She asks me to open it and set it up for her. I agree.

"At first I was in denial about it, I mean we were home schooled for a while because we moved so much. I hadn't really seen any signs besides the fact the Empress got to do extra curricular activities and I didn't. I assumed it was because she was older than me. Then when I was 13 I really noticed it. Empress was allowed to have friends, she was allowed to go outside and play, she was basically allowed to do whatever. All I could do was study. I didn't know why until the day I turned 16." She says all of this while separating some collard greens in the sink.

"What happened?" I ask while setting up the fryer.

"My dad finally retired from the army and instead of moving back to South Carolina we moved here. I was so excited because what teenage girl doesn't want friends and a normal life. I quickly found out that Empress was the one that was going to have the normal life. She was 18 so they let her do whatever. I still couldn't do anything. Well anything besides going to the gym. I was chunky throughout this whole time and my parents hated it. When I got to high school they insisted I start working with a trainer because my curves were causing unwanted attention. So I worked out but the only thing that did was make me lose my stomach and make my boobs and butt look even bigger. They hated that. They wanted me slender and tall like them and my sister." She says and then looks at me.

I'm not saying anything just soaking in all this new information about her.

God, thank you for not letting her lose her figure

"What happened after that?" I ask her finally done with putting the fryer together.

"Well then they just gave up on me. Instead of telling me to work out they would just tell me how beautiful my sister was and that if I tried hard enough I could be beautiful like her. At this time I was used to them talking to me like that. It didn't really faze me until I met Jacob when I turned 17. He was 23 but I was in love so his age didn't matter to me. He went to college with my sister. She was dating his best friend and so I thought it would be cute if I dated Jacob so we could go on double dates and stuff. I thought we could finally be close as sisters. I had already knew that my sister hated me. She's always been mean to me. Dating him was a hassle, imagine have 4 people in your life that you love dearly telling you everyday that you need to change your appearance. It sucked but honestly I didn't care and I still don't care. When they moved to France they did become nicer to me. Probably because I was in Culinary school and they knew that I was an amazing cook. They knew that I would do something with my life." She says and then takes the fryer from me and pours the grease in it and sets it aside while she washes the greens and then puts them in a big pot.

"Continue." I say interested in the story.

"Well that lasted up until I finished school when I turned 20. Jacob left me for my sister, and they immediately got married, I couldn't find a job, my parents started calling me everyday to remind me that I was failing in life. Then I started drinking. It was all too much so I became an alcoholic. I was getting drunk every night. No one cared that I was underage so it was easy for me to get alcohol. Found another boyfriend at this time. We dated for maybe 4 months. He was abusive in every way possible but I thought he loved me so I didn't mind. But I caught him cheating with a man one night. Honestly, it didn't hurt me that he cheated with a man because you can't help what you're attracted to. It hurt that he used me to hide his sexuality and took his anger out on me. So I dumped him. I was heartbroken and alone for the second time. Then I met Ricky at the bar I started working at. I was drunk one night and told him my life story. He hired me to tutor his daughter because I'm really good at English and she was struggling. He paid for AA in return which I was grateful for because now I don't drink as much. Everything was going well up until the night you took me." She says finishing her story while seasoning her greens.

Wow

"How are you so positive?" I ask her and she looks up and smiles at me.

"I pray a lot, I don't allow people to change the way I see myself, and I'm simply an optimistic person. I get that from my grandmother on my moms side. I would always call her and tell her things and we would pray together." She says to me with a sparkle in her brown eyes.

"I see why everyone likes you." I say to her while looking her in the eyes and walking over to her.

"And why is that?" She asks me with a smile while looking up to me.

"You Envy are perfect." I say and caress her soft cheek.

"No, I'm just me." She says with a smile.

Then I hear footsteps coming into the kitchen and I back away from her. The smile does not leave her face but she continues cooking.

"Boss, since Envy isn't working for us anymore can I take her on a date?" Kevin asks, he's one of my workers.

"I-"

"I'd love to Kevin." Envy says with a smile on her face looking at him. He says great and smiles back at her then disappears back up the stairs.

I immediately glare at the spot he was just standing in.

"Completely unattached Armani." Envy says to me with a smirk on her face making me remember what she said to me at the ball.

Flashback:

I've experienced that before. I want a man that is completely unattached." She says while looking at me.

Is she flirting with me right now?

"Define unattached." I say with a smirk and lean closer to the table. She then leans closer too

"A man that would be all mine." She says in a low but seductive tone with a smirk and then gets up from the table and walks to the dance floor.

"Mercy." I say while looking at her ass as she walks away.

Flashback Over:

With that I walk out of the kitchen and let her finish cooking. She's NOT going on a date with Kevin. I would never allow that to happen.