Julianne has just finished up for the night and she is headed to the elevator. She hears Mike screaming from down the hall, "Hey Juli! Wait up!" Julianne slows her pace and waits for Mike to catch up.
"Headed out too?" Mike says gesturing towards Julianne's bags.
"Yes, thank gosh! I feel like this has been the longest day of my life."
"Yeah, tell me about it. I am not quite ready to head home though; do you want to grab a drink with me?"
"Um…" Juli hesitates to answer because she's unsure of how Mike is meaning this.
"As friends, if that's what you're worried about. It's just that I don't really get along with the other Associates. With them calling me 'Speed Bump' and all, doesn't exactly make me want to go grab drinks with them."
Juli shrugs and says, "Sure, why not? I could use a crown & coke right about now."
"Ahh, hard liquor kind of gal, I like that."
Laughing, "When you grow up with 4 brothers, they don't let you drink that 'sissy stuff.'" Juli just pauses to remember the last time she was actually with her brothers. She really misses them. "Do you mind if we swing by my place first? I would love to get out of this skirt and these heels. "
"No," Mike says shaking his head, "Not at all."
As soon as Juli opens her door, her cat Chessie runs up to greet her, but once she realizes Juli is not alone, she freaks out and hides under that sofa.
"Wow, nice place! How did you manage to snag this?"
"My friend sells real-estate, so when I told her I was looking, she found this for me. It cost a pretty penny, but hey, I'm living in New York, only do that once right?"
"I guess? My place looks like a shit hole compared to this though. Thanks a lot."
"Sorry! Feel free to make yourself at home. I'm just going to go into the bedroom to change. Oh god, that started to sound like a line from the movies," switching to a lower sexier tone of voice, "I'm going to change into something… more comfortable." Amused with herself she proceeds into the bedroom where she opens her closet to pull out a plain black t-shirt that is one size too big, which she likes after wearing such form fitting clothes at work, then puts some jeans on and grabs her silver flats.
"Damn, what are you doing in there?" Mike yells because he is starting to get impatient.
Emerging from her bedroom, "I wasn't gone that long. I'm ready now." Oh shit, the cat. "Oops, one more thing, I've got to feed the cat." Mike just groans. "Oh calm down, the bars aren't going to close or run out of liquor, so just hold your horses."
Once at the bar, they get a table. They sit and wait until the waitress comes to take their order.
"I'll have a Budweiser for right now and she'll take a Crown & Coke." The waitress nods in clarity and takes off to grab the drinks.
"So… Mike, what's YOUR story? How'd you end up at Harvard Law? Were you running from anyone?"
"Oh, no not running, just decided to go there." Quickly trying to change the topic, "Anyone in this bar you'd consider hitting on tonight?"
"God no Mike, I am just wanting to get a few drinks in me, go back to my apartment, curl up with my cat and pass out."
Mike's phone starts to ring. "Great, who could this be?" Glancing down at his phone, he sees Harvey's name. "This should be good, it's Harvey. Sorry."
"Don't apologize." Mike answers his phone.
"Mike. I'm calling to tell you that I am going to meet with a client in the morning. When I get back I better have what you came up with to get the client out of this mess. We need this win Mike, if we don't…"
"Harvey, I know. I am going to work on it. I was going to ask Julianne to help with it."
Juli looks up from the menu with a puzzled look on her face. "She looks like she agrees to it."
"You're with her right now? Where are you? Why am I asking? I don't care about your personal life."
"We are just grabbing drinks; it's not like that though Harvey. We're friends."
"Mike, I just said I don't care about your personal life. Just get your ass to work early in the morning and get this shit done."
"Fine." Mike places his phone down on the table and begins to look at the menu.
"Excuse me, are you going to tell me what it is that I agreed to?" Juli asks very curiously.
"One of our clients is being sued. We have a hearing on Friday. I need to come up with something that will throw the law suit right out the window."
"Mike, I'll help you. But can we get into the specifics tomorrow? All I want to get into right now is this cup of Crown."
"Thanks Juli, I just need to get this done so Harvey doesn't have a shit fit."
"Understandable, remember, I work for Louis. I get it."
"How's that going by the way?" Juli shivers in her seat.
"He is something else. The way he talks to me, I can't tell if he's hitting on me or if he's just a creepy, creepy man"
"It's probably both. I know among the Associates, the guys have a thing for you."
Juli starts to blush, "Yeah… I can't believe I'm the only female Associate. I thought I was being acknowledged for my hard work at the firm, so when Louis invited me to an art gallery opening, I was pleased. Come to find out, a potential client was going to be at this opening also. Louis told me I should flirt with him to get him to join our firm."
"What did you do?"
"I told Louis there was no way I was going to degrade myself to bring in a client, that if he wanted me to try and convince him, I'd do that, but I that I wasn't going to flirt to make it happen."
"Was Louis mad?"
"He was mad that I spoke to him like that, but he got over it because I scheduled a lunch meeting with Mr. Whitman and he signed an engagement letter the next day."
"Wait, you brought in a client?" Mike says dropping his jaw.
"Yes." Smiling. "Jonathon Whitman."
"That was you?"
"Yes."
"Wow, and here I was thinking I was the only Associate to bring in a client! We need another round of drinks to celebrate. How come you didn't tell me anything? You know? When it happened?"
"It's an accomplishment I guess, but I was just doing my job. It is what it is."
"Very modest, admirable even. Are you sure you're a lawyer? We're supposed to be gloating bastards you know?"
Juli just smiled and sipped her drink. This is the first time in a while that she has felt at ease. She has finally made a friend that she feels she can trust.