Rachel Berry enjoyed her life. She was a Tony award-winning actress on Broadway, she lived in a plush loft on the Upper East Side, she had amazing friends, and a very happy wallet.
She had joined the Broadway scene fresh out of Juilliard at the young age of twenty-two. Now, two years later, she was already making a name for herself. She was sweetheart of The Great White Way, and she intended for things to stay that way.
Things hadn't always been so fantastic. She had first started out in a rickety apartment in Brooklyn, only getting ensemble parts, or going months on end without getting any parts whatsoever. She had finally made her big debut as Eva Peron in Evita, and after that, roll offers came rolling in.
After one year she had finally retired from her first roll, and she had then taken an offer to play Eponine in Les Miserables. It was hardly major, but it paid well and she had always identified with the poor girl's unrequited love; she had felt that sting many times, and it would be easy to utilize it in her performance.
After a particularly grueling rehearsal, Rachel wanted nothing more than a large iced coffee. The sun was beating down hard, and Rachel was already coated in a light sheen of sweat from all her hard work. She walked into the nearest coffee shop and smiled thankfully to see it was empty. As she made her way to the counter, her phone rang in her gym bag, and she fished it out to see that her friend Scarlett (who played Cosette) was calling. She answered immediately.
"Hey, Scar, any particular reason you're calling me, even though I saw you literally five minutes ago?" She rang the bell on the counter to catch the attention of the workers, who were probably in the back room.
"Well, who wouldn't want to talk to their favorite person on the planet?"
"A girl who can only handle so much of her best friend in one day," Rachel joked, leaning against the counter as she waited. Someone finally emerged from the back room, and without really looking at them- she was preoccupied with her conversation- Rachel ordered an ice coffee with lots of cream (Coffee Mate, more specifically, as it was a non-dairy creamer) and lots of sugar. The man nodded, his head ducked as he filled her order, and Rachel finally recognized who was making her coffee.
"Jesse?" she choked out in shock. "Jesse St. James? What are you doing here?"
Jesse looked like a deer in the headlights. "I… I work here."
Rachel hung up on her friend without saying a proper goodbye. "But why?"
"Because I'm not talented enough to make it, okay?" he snapped, "I'd really rather not talk about it."
"No need to snap at me, Jesse, I've done absolutely nothing wrong, unlike you!" Rachel growled, snatching the coffee out of his hands and slapping a five dollar bill on the counter. "You can keep the change, I don't need it." She turned to storm out, but Jesse called after her.
"Wait, Rachel! I'm sorry!"
"Sorry doesn't cut it, Jesse!"
"Well, let me at least try to make it up to you!" He jumped over the counter and ran over to Rachel. "I was an idiot all those years ago, I know. I regret it every minute of every day, and I still have nightmares about it. I want to make it up to you. Please," he begged, "just give me a chance to prove that I'm a different person, and that I'm genuinely sorry for what I did, and nothing remotely like it will never happen again."
"You're going to have to work for it," she said after a moment of consideration. "There will be a lot of groveling involved. You hurt me quite a bit, and I fully expect for you to make it up to me."
"I would expect nothing less," Jesse said easily, a wide smile making its way onto his face.
"Jesse, why do you choose to work here?" she asked unsurely, gesturing around the coffee house. He blushed.
"It's the only place that hired me, Rachel. I needed somewhere to work while I was trying to make it on Broadway, and, well… I never made it. I'm stuck working in this dead-end job as a freakin' barista."
Rachel couldn't help but feel sorry for Jesse. Sure, she had hated his guts for the better part of eight years, but nobody deserved to have their dreams crushed. "I'm so sorry to hear that. Why don't you at least try getting a job somewhere else, where you could at least work your way up or something? Or at least a higher pay. I'm guessing being a barista doesn't make you much money."
"Nobody will hire me, and unfortunately, you're right. I barely make enough to afford my crappy apartment in Manhattan." He sighed and collapsed at a table, burying his face in his hands in anguish. "I gave everything up for a scholarship so that I could get a good education and make something of myself, and I end up a barista in some run-down café."
"Well, I suppose that if you're going to make it up to me, you have to be around to do it," Rachel mused. "How about I hire you as my assistant? Scarlett has been pressuring me to hire one since the day I met her and her life seems a hell of a lot easier than mine since she has one. I'll pay you well, and you can stay in the guest room at my apartment."
Jesse stared up at Rachel in shock. "Being an assistant seems a bit demeaning, don't you think?"
"Hardly. I'm not going to make you do anything terrible. You can get me coffee, or lunch, and you can work with my agent and my publicist and those kind of things. It'd be easy, I think," she said reasonably. "But just know this, Jesse; I am your boss, not your ex-girlfriend, or even a friend. You will earn my friendship, it is not a benefit of having this job. Understand?"
He nodded mutely and stood up before walking to the back of shop again. He came back a minute later, a bag slung over his shoulder, the once-present apron absent from his waist. "Well, I just quit." His voice was emotionless, as if he were too shocked to really understand the situation. A smile grew slowly, spreading across his cheeks as the information sunk in. "I just quit. Oh, god, I've dreamed of this day for four years!" he said, laughing excitedly. Rachel smirked and rolled her eyes.
"Good, then you can start tomorrow. You can move in today, if you wish. The sooner the better- I sometimes need things in the middle of the night, but can't find the will to get them myself."
Rachel didn't think she was being too demanding- she was giving him a nice house, a nice job, and a nice salary. She was being more than kind, in her opinion. Jesse looked a little troubled, but he quickly shook it off.
"Great. I'll move in tomorrow, I guess," he said easily. Rachel smiled politely and left the building, immediately dialing Scarlett's number on her phone.
"Hey, Scar, sorry I hung up on you, but you'll never guess who I ran into at some crappy cafe!"
"Hmmm," Scarlett replied. "I hope it was someone pretty damn important, for you to hang up on me like that."
"Oh, cry me a river," Rachel laughed. "I ran into Jesse St. James. The one I told you about from high school?"
"Wait, he was eating at the same café as you?" she said in shock. Rachel had confided in Scarlett, and trusted her to keep her past away from the press. She was the first one Rachel had ever told about it.
"No," she paused dramatically, "He was working there!"
Scarlett laughed loudly. "Oh my god! Serves that asshole right for turning you into eggs benedict!"
"You know Scarlett, most normal people would say omelet," Rachel chuckled. "And I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy, actually. He looked so miserable… I kind of… Hired him as my assistant," she said the last part quietly so Scarlett wouldn't hear.
"Sorry, I didn't quite catch that."
"I hired him as my assistant!"
"Rachel!" Scarlett whined. Rachel winced at how high-pitched she sounded. "You can't do that!"
"You're the one who's been pressuring me to hire one since the day we met!" Rachel replied defensively. "And come on, wouldn't you feel bad?"
"No, I would feel elated that the jerk got was coming to him!"
"You need to grow a conscience, Scarlett. The lack of human compassion startles me."
"I'm a cold-hearted bitch, I know. I got the message when you called me Scarletta De Vil."
"I thought that was pretty creative," Rachel reasoned. She could practically hear Scarlett roll her eyes through the phone.
"It was mean, actually," she said sullenly.
"Yes, because you're so kind and caring, Scar," Rachel replied sarcastically. Scarlett giggled.
"I know, they should call me Saint Scarlett from now on."
"Totally," Rachel laughed. "I gotta go, I have to clean out the guest room for Jesse. He's moving in."
"Ohh, you know what would really embarrass him? Late night Kotex runs!"
Rachel laughed loudly and unlocked the door to her penthouse, smiling in relief as she collapsed on the couch. "Later, Scar."
"Later, Rach! See you tomorrow, and bring your whipping boy with you!" The line went dead and Rachel chuckled, tossing her phone onto the chair across from her. She just sat staring at the ceiling for a minute before pushing herself off the couch and starting toward the guest room. She had some work to do.
-stands up-
Hi, everybody, my name is Harlot-
Members of WA group: Hello, Harlot!
-And I have an addiction to St. Berry stories. Oh, I also don't own Glee.
So, I am killing myself by writing this, and sorry to say updates will be slow. I have a cycle:
Led Into the Lead
So Not Normal
New Installment of the Bouquet Series
In Need of Assistance
So, yeah. That's the order it's going to be in from now on. I'll try and update daily, though!
Ten reviews, people! Tell me if you hate it!
Cheers!
-Harlot