Empire // h.s. au

Gold Envelopes

Samantha Anderson

When my sister finally arrived back at my home, she brought with her news that made me want to shove her off a fire escape.

"Guess who I ran into while shopping!" she said, a condescending smirk on her face. I groaned, I could only imagine what she was up to now. 

"What?" I snapped, cutting onions for my mother. We would be having dinner tomorrow night, but my mother was insistent on us doing prep tonight. There was still some lawyer in her. 

"Your boss, Harry Styles," she snipped, causing me to drop the knife and whip around to look at her. "Him and I started chatting and I invited him for dinner."

If looks could kill, my sister would have combusted at that point. "Why in the world would you do that?"

"Oh that's wonderful, honey, I've wanted to meet him and the more the merrier, right!?" my mother exclaimed, a huge smile on her face. "You talk so highly of him, this will be wonderful!"

"He said he didn't have plans and I couldn't let him be alone, Sammy, come on, it'll be fun," my sister said, an innocent look present on her face. I wanted to run over and stab her with the knife, but I refrained. 

I couldn't believe this. Christmas was going to be an absolute train wreck if he came. Luke would be on edge all night and my fucking sister knew it. 

My mother was overjoyed, though, she thought Harry was a god, simply because he employed me and was "nice" to me. She was helplessly unaware of what had happened and I was keeping it that way, no matter what. I wasn't about to have my mother get involved in my own problems. 

"Can you go let Luke know?" I asked her, giving her an evil smirk. She'd get to hear Luke's yelling about it, as it was her fault. "He's in charge of setting the table so he'll need to know."

My sister rolled her eyes and stomped out of the kitchen. She was such a bitch it hurt sometimes.

"Are you alright, sweetheart? I thought you'd love to have Harry here, you've spoken so fondly of him on the phone," my mother said. She was so naive to this whole situation it was painful. I sighed before talking to her, how was I going to explain this without things getting awkward and me spilling everything?

"I just, I don't know, having my boss here is weird," I shrugged. 

"But Louis is coming, right?"

"Yeah, I suppose, it's just, Harry's different, I don't think he'd totally love the family vibe we have here," I said, unsure of how to explain this. 

"What "family vibe"?" my mother asked, appalled. She was shocked I would ever be embarrassed of my family. 

"Insane. Psychotic. Migraine inducing," I said to her, raising my eyebrows. My family consisted of absolutely nuts people and I really didn't want Harry to see that. And it definitely didn't help that he could barely say a sentence to me. 

"Honey, we'll be just peachy," my mother grinned, kissing my temple. "He'll have so much fun, we're known for our family's kindness."

"Yeah, that's it," I responded, rolling my eyes. I was prepared to kill my sister. 

She had no right. I slithered out of the kitchen, finding Riley in her bedroom.

"What the fuck?" I snapped at her, groaning. "How dare you?"

"Oh get over it, Samantha. It's time for you to face the facts," she said, rolling her eyes. "You cheated on Luke, it's time you deal with that."

"I have you," I said, slamming the door. "You don't think I've been paying for that the last few months. You don't know anything about this situation, Riley. Stop acting like you're involved and stay the fuck out of it."

"You're the one who invited me here!"

"Yeah for a few days, not to live here!" I yelled, throwing my arms up in the air. "After the holidays you are out, I'm done with you." 

"What the hell? You're mad because I'm telling the truth!?" she screamed, glaring at me intensely. "Get off your high horse, Samantha. You're just as bad as I am. I know about the fucking contract you signed with Harry."

I turned to her and groaned, "That, just like everything else, is none of your freaking business. Get out. Now."

"Go to hell, I'm not leaving. Luke wants me here," she said, shaking her head and a sly smirk appearing on her face."Unlike you, Luke has connected with me and he likes me. So there's no way I'm leaving. " 

My jaw dropped and tears rose in my eyes. Luke was not supposed to be involved in this. "Don't talk about him. Don't you dare."

"Don't you wonder what we do every night you're gone," Riley taunted. "We talk. We eat. It's almost like we're dating."

I just stared at her. 

Was it possible? Was it truly possible that they were doing what she was implying? Had he cheated on me with my own sister? 

My heart broke into a million pieces, the look on her face told me exactly what I needed to know. 

~

Christmas day was awkward to say the least. I had yet to confront Luke about any of this, not wanting to put a damper on my parent's favorite holiday. But I was seething. Internally, my heart was broken and I was broken. But I refused to show this.

Luke had betrayed me just as I had betrayed him. Unlike him, though, I was woman enough to tell him. He was hiding behind my sister. 

I slipped on a red sweater and leggings and pulled my hair into a loose braid. My holiday spirit was crushed, but I could at least act. My mom was lounged on the couch with a glass of wine with my dad rubbing her feet. Luke was seated at the kitchen table with my brothers playing cards and Riley was observing them, calling out hints to Luke regarding my brother's cards. 

"Good morning, love," my mother shouted a smile spreading across her face.

"Hey mom, everyone is coming over at noon so you all should be getting ready!"

"We waited for you for presents, sit down, honey," my mother smirked, sitting up. Everyone agreed and began to sit down in the living room, but I still stood, not wanting to go near Riley. My mother gave me a look, though, so I sat at her feet. 

"Okay, kids, your mother and I decided to do a group gift this year," my father smiled, squeezing my mother's hand. "Sammy will you do the honor, please."

He handed me a card in a gold envelope, a grin covering his face. I took it and sliced it open, pulling it out.

Dear Kids,

As your loving parents are the best people in the world, we have decided to gift you all with a family trip to Hawaii!

Love

Mom and Dad

My jaw dropped and I practically yelped. "You guys!"

"We leave in a week, for a week," my mother smiled. "We figured we haven't done anything like this since your brother's death and we wanted it to be special." 

A week. 

With my family.

Dear Lord.