"Marni, what-a do you do-a for a living? Pavi asked one day while he and Marni sat going over his homework.
"I'm a singer. Mostly right now I just teach up and coming young stars. I'm teaching a girl named Magdalene Defoe right now, she's showing amazing promise, I think she could be a star if her training keeps going well. She's blind though, I wish there was some way I could help her…" Marni replied with a sigh. "What do you want to do when you grow up, Pavi?"
"I want-a to own Geneco. Just-a like papa." Pavi smiled brightly.
"What if you can't own Geneco, though? You've got competition, Luigi or Carmella could own Geneco just as easily." Marni said, not wanting to crush Pavi's dreams, but wanting him to have something to fall back on.
"Then I'll-a just live off my inheritance and-a get all the women I want-a." Pavi grinned.
"Are you sure, Pavi? You could be anything you want and all you want to do is be a rich playboy?" Marni asked.
"I dunno…" Pavi shrugged. "I don't-a like to work."
"Well, you have plenty of time to think about it. You've got the rest of high school and all of college to decide." Marni smiled. "Now, can you repeat back to me in your own words what we just went over before this conversation?"
"Um…This-a guy named Hitler killed a bunch of people and-a it was really bad?" Pavi asked.
"Technically you're right, care to go into a little more detail?" Marni asked "Like, for instance, why?"
"Because-a…he was-a…a douche bag?" Pavi asked.
Marni clapped a hand to her forehead. "Were you even paying attention?" She asked "never mind, sorry to have snapped. Do you even remember what it was called?"
"The Holocaust?" Pavi asked, cocking his head to one side. "That part I-a remember, I learned-a that in fourth grade."
"Yes, but now you're in eighth grade; you should know more than the name, Pavi, now focus! You're going to pass eighth grade history with straight A's if I have to keep you up all night! Now, what countries were the axis powers?"
"Italy…um…Japan…and-a…Russia?"
"You forgot one and Russia was only part at the beginning of the war, then they switched to help the allies."
"Austria?"
"Germany. Let's move on to literature…The Great Gatsby."
"I-a hate that book." Pavi whined.
"I don't care, you're going to learn it, I care about you and I want to see you succeed." Marni sighed. But Pavi couldn't focus on the boring book he was forced to read, the whole time he was just staring at Marni. Damn, she was beautiful. He couldn't imagine anyone more perfect than her and she was so smart too, not even to mention how nice she was. "Pavi…Pavi? Pavi!" Marni's voice called him back to reality.
"Hm?"
"If you want, maybe we can read it together, that would make it less boring, perhaps." Marni smiled. Pavi smiled a little. He wished Marni would do more than read to him though. He felt his heart quicken in his chest imagining her on his bed in the lingerie he'd seen her wear when he spied on her and Luigi. She was truly amazing. "Oh Marni…" He gasped softly.
"Hmm?" Marni asked.
"Um….Nothing…" Pavi blushed brightly. Marni giggled a little, he was so cute when he blushed.
"You're adorable, Pavi, come here!" Marni said, pulling Pavi close to her and hugging him tightly. Pavi grinned a little when his head was pressed against Marni's breasts. He'd have to remember this feeling so he could daydream about it in school instead of paying attention like he was supposed to.
Meanwhile, Luigi couldn't get Marni off his mind, she was what he looked forward to everyday, she was the reason he got up in the morning anymore. He couldn't stand it when she spent time with Pavi. The little brat was stealing all her attention, just like he'd stolen dad's attention! The little brat was systematically ruining Luigi's life and he'd be damned if he was going to let Pavi do that with no consequences. That little fucker was going to pay, he'd be the one Luigi would take out his frustration at Marni's inability to make a decision on.
Marni had no idea that anything was even wrong with Pavi; he hid what Luigi did to him very well behind that stupid, lovable smile and his adorable behavior. Marni didn't have any reason to believe that Luigi would do anything bad to Pavi. He was, she reasoned, just threatened because Pavi was such a cute kid. But deep down, Marni thought, Luigi must be a good big brother who would do anything in his power to keep Pavi safe and happy. "Why don't we take a break for a while and you and me and Luigi and Mellie can go do something fun?" Marni smiled, standing up.
"Um…I-a…I'm actually feeling a little sick-a I think I'll-a just lay down for-a a while." Pavi muttered, walking over to his bed.
"You were fine a minute ago…" Marni said. "Do you not want to spend time with me?"
"No! That's-a not it! I…I want-a to spend time with-a you, but…but…"Pavi struggled to find words to explain to Marni why he didn't want to, but in the end he couldn't. "I'll-a go get my coat…" He sighed miserably as he walked to one of his four wardrobes and pulled out a light jacket.
"Okay, don't worry, Pavi, we'll have fun." Marni giggled, walking off to tell Luigi and Carmella her plan. Within less than a half hour, Pavi was stuck in the back seat of Marni's red sports car with Carmella kicking her legs and singing 'merry unbirthday' from the Disney adaptation of Alice in Wonderland. Pavi gritted his teeth in annoyance. How could Carmella be so cheerful when Luigi was in the car with them sitting up there with Marni, looking equally annoyed at having the two annoying kids with him. They really didn't know where they were going; all they knew was that they were stuck in the car together just to make Marni happy.
"You know what we should do?" Marni chirped. "We should go visit your dad at his office and see if he'd like to come with us! Maybe he knows a place outside the city where we can have a picnic or something."
"Nah, pop's probably busy with something and there really aren't any good picnic places around." Luigi shook his head. "We should go somewhere were Pavi and Carmella will be entertained so we can have some alone time to talk." Luigi said to Marni, thinking that Pavi and Carmella weren't paying attention and wouldn't realize they were being talked about. He was half right, Mellie was too busy with about the fiftieth chorus of 'merry unbirthday', however, Pavi heard what Luigi was saying.
"Or-a maybe we should-a go out to lunch together." He suggested, not wanting Luigi to be allowed to get Marni alone again. Luigi would have beaten the living hell out of Pavi if Marni hadn't been in the car.
"Great idea, Pavi!" Marni giggled happily. "How about Chinese?"
With that decision, the Largo family minus Rotti was off to the nicest Chinese restaurant in the city, they were seated immediately and treated like the royalty they were while they were there, it was wonderful to be having lunch with Marni, she was the Largo siblings' favorite person for different reasons for each one, but she was their favorite person nonetheless.
The conversation was a strange one. Carmella kept telling everyone that there was a Jabberwocky in her closet plotting her demise, Luigi tried to whisper a few things to Marni, but Pavi always interrupted with questions about Marni's life. "So-a, this Magdalene Defoe girl you're-a teaching, have-a you ever thought of-a getting her eyes fixed?" he asked.
"That's a good idea, Pavi! I should talk to your father about that, I'll bet he can help her." Marni exclaimed. Luigi rolled his eyes. He could have thought of that. Pavi was an idiot who had very few good ideas. It figured that Marni would be around for one of them and treat the kid like a friggin' genius.
Later that night, Marni was in bed with Rotti, they'd just finished up and they were talking. "I just adore your children, Rotti, especially Pavi. He's so cute! But you should really take an interest as a father in his school work, he's struggling with it. Just today, he was telling me the Holocaust happened because, and I quote 'Hitler was a douche bag'. He really needs help with his studies."
"Marni, Pavi's not a bright boy, we just have to accept that and hope that he doesn't squander his inheritance after I die because he's not smart enough to hold down a job." Rotti shook his head.
"Well, I just think that if you help him instead of putting him down, he could be an intelligent young man…"Marni began.
"I didn't ask what you thought, though, did I!?" Rotti asked, getting angry now. "I won't have you telling me how to raise my children!" He raised a hand to Marni for the first time in their relationship, but stopped himself before he slapped her. "I'm sorry, darling, I overreacted. Let's just put this behind us and forget about Pavi for now."
Marni sighed. "I think I'm going to go to bed…" She said, getting up and putting on her robe to go to her own bedroom. On her way there she heard sobbing from Pavi's room.
"Pavi? Honey? Are you okay?" Marni asked, knocking on the door and opening it. There was Pavi, sitting on his bed sobbing like a little kid. "Is there something you need to talk about?"
"No-a… I'm fine…" Pavi said softly, shaking his head. "I'm-a just…sad about-a….um…um….my-a…mother." He lied.
"Aww, Pavi, don't worry, she's in a better place now, come here…" Marni said softly, hugging him again.
"That's not-a really why I'm-a sad…someone is-a…hurting me" Pavi said softly.
"Shh, I'll make it all better; nothing can hurt you while I'm here, Pavi…" Marni said softly, still hugging him tightly, she began to sing softly to him, a song her mother had sung to her as a child, a song from a very old musical. "Nothing's gonna harm you, not while I'm around, nothing's gonna harm you, darling, not while I'm around…"
Pavi felt his eyelids growing heavy as Marni's sweet, beautiful voice carried him off to sleep. She laid him down and pulled the covers up to his chin and kissed him on the forehead. "Good night, Pavi…Sleep well."
