Free Juice: Part One (Juice #1) by Victoria Starke

 
    Chapter One
     
     
         “… And I need all this by Friday,” he says while leaving a hand on my shoulder a little too long. “Oh and I almost forgot. Make sure it’s done right this time.”
         Ugh. My day is ruined.
         I work as a paralegal at Dunbar Williams and Williams LLP, a law firm in Manhattan, and Barry, a lawyer with the firm and my boss, always makes sure I’m busy. Plus, a little sexual harassment is thrown in as a bonus.   
         “Sure, Barry, I’m on it,” I say calmly.
         “You’re my girl, keep it up,” he half-whispers in my ear. The scent of stale coffee on his breath hits my nostrils like nerve gas and jolts me out of my mid-morning daze.
         He offers one last parting blow for me as he walks off, “I better see you at happy hour this time. You keep standing us up!”
         “I’ll try, Barry!”
         Finishing college with a management and political science double major, I felt like I could hit the ground running in New York City.  Now the world was hitting back.
         “Is Barry back to his old tricks?,” sympathized Denise, my office mate and only real friend at the company.
         “Yes, he just added six more cases to research on top of the fifteen I’m already working. He’s such a creep sometimes, too.”
         “I know, he really is… Don’t worry, Bronwyn, it’s probably because he just found out his wife is cheating on him,” she confides with me quietly.
         Denise always knows the right things to say to me. She works as a clerk alongside me and receives much of the same treatment. A never-ending set of changing deadlines, lying clients, and misdirected anger from stressed-out lawyers is our daily routine. Welcome to New York.
         “Atleast we have Thirsty Thursdays to look forward to.  You’re coming right?” Denise offers.
         I could use a few right now.
         “Yeah, I’ll be there” I say half-believing myself.
         “I couldn’t believe how hot the guys were at Marquee last week, you really missed out. We met this group of hilarious British tourists on “holiday”.  They made me laugh so hard, I didn’t feel like such a slut when I sucked one off in the bathroom.”
         “Ha, you are a slut!”
         “Atleast I have fun! When was the last time you even had sex?”
         “Ugh, let’s not talk about it.”
         Oh yeah, Denise is not only my best friend at work, but also my wingman when we go out for a drink or ten.
         I get back to my work for a moment, being careful to follow Barry’s directions despite his rudeness earlier and overall creepiness.

Chapter Two
     
         My phones buzzes.
    Email: [New Order] Two (2) Cases Energize – Delivery to 432 Park Ave. | 8pm
         Shit. Why did we offer same day delivery?
         In the spare time I have not being Barry’s personal slave, I started an all-organic juice cleanse project with my roommate Piper. We call it Namaste. She usually handles the grunt work while I do the web design, branding, and marketing.
         We’re starting small and delivering to addresses in Manhattan. We’ve picked up over a hundred orders in our first three months and having a lot of fun with it. Plus, at $9 a bottle, we’re pulling in almost a thousand dollars a week from New York’s richest and finest.
         My phone buzzes again, it’s Piper. “Hey, can you take care of the new order? I’d take it, but I’m covering a double shift at O’Malley’s right now!”
         Making our Namaste juices is the fun part. The hard part is everything else, and delivery is one of the toughest challenges. Today’s order for two cases came just short of cut-off time, 4:59pm. How was I going to finish my work, get the two cases of juice, and make the 8pm delivery time in midtown Manhattan?
         Piper and I usually have our friend Jorge help us with deliveries. He’s a bike messenger