Church Bells ｡ Matthew Murdock

2 - JOSIE'S BAR

As promised Juliette shoved open her next door neighbour's front door right on one o'clock in the afternoon. The apartment was dark, every curtain in the place drawn shut. She tiptoed around the mess of clothing hung over any free surface and the overwhelming amount of old newspapers stacked by the front door. She knew her way around the tiny apartment and found herself sitting on the end of a double mattress, smiling across at Lillian Peters, who was fast asleep with an arm thrown over her face. It was not the first time pretty Juliette Allen had wandered into her friend's apartment to wake her from her slumber. The poor girl worked night shifts mostly, meaning her sleeping schedule suffered. 

"Lilly, hey." Juliette let her hand touch the sleeping girl's ankle, giving her leg a little ruffle. A groan slipped from the girl's mouth as she piled a pillow over her head. "Come on, you can't sleep all afternoon." It was not long until Lillian was tugging away her blankets, giving her friend a pout of her lips and wishing she had locked her front door when she had stumbled through it hours before hand. 

The dark skinned girl stared upwards, pushing some hair away from her face. Her shirt was hanging loosely off her shoulder, revealing a long scar near her right clavicle bone. "How did the job interview go? I'm sure you blew them away, Jules." 

The two girls sat in a strange silence for a moment, worry already grabbing Lillian's attention. She had known Juliette for almost two years now, knowing very well that girl was lost in a pit of despair. She had lost everything two years ago; her parents, her money, her whole life. She still hadn't bounced back from it, not completely. "Oh no, tell me you got the job. Maybe a call back, is that a thing in the business world?" Lillian went on quietly. She had worked in bars and clubs since she was eighteen years old, never stepping anywhere near the wolfs of Wall Street. She was quite happy to fill her nights pouring drinks for rich men like Cornell Stokes. 

"I blew the interview," Juliette admitted slowly. "But--"

"Wait, I don't know how a but in that sentence is very good thing." Lillian added in quickly, pulling her knees to her chest and yanking up her shirt, noticing how it had dropped a little too low for her liking. 

Juliette blew out some air from her cheeks. "If you would just let me finish. But...I did in fact actually get a job, nothing much but it's a start."

That was not the sentence Lillian was expecting to hear, not today. "Really? Well, where at? I know the bookstore on 54th Street was hiring. You would look so cute stacking books and speaking with cute hipster men with long beards about Shakespeare and--"

"At a bar, actually." Juliette frowned, fanning her hands over her knees. Now the words were put out there and with the matching look of mild horror on Lillian's face, it did seem rather ridiculous she was working at a bar now. Surely, the bookstore job would have suited her much more. She had never stepped foot into a dirty dive bar before today, let alone worked at one. 

Lillian paused, her mouth popping open. She knew all about how soft and classy her little Juliette Allen was, she thought it was somewhat adorable how delicate she was. She was born and raised with money, never having to fight to survive. She was almost too good to work at some bar where men would eye her long legs and flirt shamelessly with her. Lillian tried picturing the very thought in her head but could not. Juliette Allen was not the type of girl to work in bar, not like herself.  "Oh." She choked out after a long moment.

"You think it's a terrible idea," Juliette moaned as her shoulders sagged downwards. She had spent a handful of hours already studying the cocktail recipe book Josie had given her, trying her best to learn every cocktail in the book. But now, with her friend's reaction, she was already doubting why she had asked for the job. "Oh no, what have I done? You're right, I don't belong in a crappy bar. I know nothing about bartending or well...anything to do with how to run a bar."

Lillian could see the panic in her eyes and was quickly pushing herself towards her friend. She knew Juliette had a tendency to melt down when things didn't work out in her life, when she was loosing hope. "No, no. You will be fine, Jules." She had her own doubt, knowing very well this Allen girl did not belong serving drinks in Hell's Kitchen but she wasn't going to let her fall into that black hole of self doubt again. "Pouring drinks is nothing, okay? Anybody can mix up a Cosmo, it just takes practice." 

"You think so?" Juliette asked quietly. 

The girl with sleep crusted under her eyes, her hair still ruffled from her slumber and with a long scar at the base of her neck, something she was very self-conscious about, gave her friend a smile. "Absolutely, let's go over some cocktails, yeah?" With that the two girls ventured across the hallway and buried themselves under blankets while they studied the recipe book together.

***

Juliette felt a little stiff in the extra tight low cut shirt Josie had handed her when she arrived at the bar that night. It clung to her chest too tightly, making her feel beyond self-conscious about it. Although it was a slow night, Josie had helped her out behind the bar, offering her help when she failed to mix a cocktail correctly or found it difficult to open the till. Sweat lined her forehead by the end of the night and her hands were sticky from alcohol. It was the last call when Josie had ordered her to start collecting drinks from around the bar where men and women had left them. Blowing out a sigh, her body slightly sore from standing all night, she grabbed a tray and a wet cloth and went ahead in wiping down tables and putting away glasses. That's when she noticed two men still playing a game of pool under the low lights. She had been too busy to notice them before, too focused on doing a good job. She could hear them muttering how crappy Josie's Bar was and that made her smile just a little bit. 

"Juliette, those tables aren't gonna' clean themselves." Josie randomly called out, snapping the girl back to reality. She glanced over her shoulder, seeing her boss staring at her and nodded her head quickly, going back to cleaning. 

When Josie went back to her tiny office, Juliette snuck another glance over at the men watching as they laughed about something one of them had said and wondered what they were talking about and why they kept coming back to the crappy bar, their words, not her own. Then she was turning away without a second thought. Little did she know, one of those men was the Devil that would plague her life soon enough.