Justine Graves woke up sore and disoriented. She remembered going out with her friend against her better judgment. She knew that she had an early morning meeting with the partners of the law firm that she was a junior partner at but dinner and drinks with her best friend and fellow junior partner Pam was too hard to pass up.
"Come on Justine, we'll be home early." Pam begged.
Early turned out to be about midnight and both of them had way too much to drink. Justine rolled out of bed and headed toward the shower moving slowly because of the pounding in her head.
"What in the hell was I thinking?" she asked herself as she stripped.
The hot water felt good as it hit her aching head and neck and then ran down her back. As her sore muscles began to relax she promised herself that she wouldn't let Pam con her into going out on a weeknight again. As she finished her shower, she wondered why she was so sore; it wasn't the first time that she had too much to drink and woke up fully dressed.
She stayed in the shower for as long as she dared before hopping out and grabbing the bottle of aspirin from the medicine cabinet. She chewed three of the tablets usually enjoying the bitter taste but this morning they tasted more bitter than usual.
She looked at the expiration date on the bottle, "January 2013" she read aloud. She shrugged and decided that her taste buds were off and finished getting ready for the day. She sprayed some leave in conditioner in her shoulder length naturally curly hair and applied Shea butter to her walnut shell colored skin which was already beginning to dry out.
She brushed her teeth and applied just enough makeup to hide the dark circles under her eyes. She looked at her reflection in the mirror and decided to wear just a little lipstick. She really felt like crap and gave a very brief thought to calling in but it wouldn't have looked good especially since some of the others heard her and Pam talking about going out.
The good thing was that it was Friday, she only had to get through today and then on Saturday she was going to buy her first new car ever. She even had it picked out, she thought she did anyway. At this point it was going to be something sensible like a Prius or maybe a Honda. The one thing she did know was that she wasn't going out tonight and nothing Pam said was going to change her mind.
Justine dressed in a dove gray business suit, one of only two and slipped on her shoes. If she didn't want to miss the bus she had to hurry. "One more day of riding the bus." she told herself as she grabbed the briefcase that had been a gift from her grandfather. She put on her scarf and then her heavy winter coat thinking that she would be happy to see spring but it was a long way off, it was just mid January.
She made to the bus stop in enough time to buy a cup of coffee. She fixed it as she usually did with plenty of cream and sugar but when she tasted it, she almost spit it out. It tasted much too sweet and strong at the same time. She shook her head, took another sip spit it back into the cup and threw it away. She heard the bus approaching and gave the coffee no more thought.
As the bus headed downtown toward Center City where she would catch the subway, Justine closed her eyes as she usually did but she didn't fall asleep. She knew that she had four stops from the time she got on the bus until she reached her subway connection. Usually the ride was relaxing but this morning the engine of the bus seemed louder, the conversations going on around her seemed louder and her head was beginning to hurt again.
"I have to be getting sick." she thought to herself as she tried to block out some of the sounds going on around her. As soon as the bus stopped she got off as quickly as she could and headed toward the sub way, she couldn't wait to get to the office and to sit in her little cubicle for a few minutes peace before she started her day.
She found the subway ride to be just as unsettling as the bus ride and was grateful that she wouldn't be riding public transportation again.
She made her way to her cubby hole and reached into her drawer for the bottle of aspirin that she kept there. She poured three tablets in her hand and tossed them into her mouth and gagged at the bitterness of them.
"What in the hell is wrong with me today?" she mumbled.
Pam came in a few minutes later looking even worse than Justine felt.
"What did we drink last night?" she asked.
"I don't know but I feel like shit." Justine replied.
"Me too and everything taste awful, maybe we caught something." Pam said reaching for the bottle of aspirin. Like Justine, she gagged as soon as the aspirin touched her tongue.
"Damn Justine!" she exclaimed as she spit the offending pills into the trashcan.
********
The meeting seemed to drag on forever and everyone seemed to be talking with what Justine's mother used to call their outside voices. She was so intent on trying to mute the voices around her that she missed it when she was asked a question.
"Justine!" Mr. Mathers said sharply, "I asked if you're feeling alright."
"I.... no, I don't feel well." She replied.
"Perhaps you shouldn't go drinking on a weeknight." he said sternly.
Justine wondered how he knew that she had gone out after work. He wasn't there when she and Pam were talking. She looked around the room to see if she could pinpoint the snitch, her eyes landed on.....Malcolm Payne. It was him, she knew it, it was more than the fact that he didn't like her and she disliked him as well. He was a brownnosing bastard who had managed to get another junior partner fired and she was next on her list. Justine also knew something else; he had a thing for Pam. That was a fact that Pam refused to believe.
"It's your imagination." she said when Justine told her how Malcolm was staring at her.
"I'm telling you the man's got it bad for you."
'I think it's you he wants." Pam shot back.
Justine heard a hint of jealousy in her voice and tried to tell Pam that she wasn't interested in Malcolm in any way shape or form but Pam didn't believe her.
Justine stared at Malcolm until feeling her eyes on him he looked up at her and grinned at her. She didn't return the grin but continued to stare at him until he abruptly stopped grinning and looked away
********
Justine spent the rest of the day working on briefs and wishing the day was over. Every so often she would feel eyes on her and would look up to see Mr. Mathers looking at her. She swore under her breath as she realized that he had watched Zoë Carter the same way and by the end of the next week she was gone. She wondered if she shouldn't confront him and get it over with but decided against it. It was Malcolm that she needed to confront. She took three more aspirin and was relieved to find that they tasted as they usually did but the relief didn't last long. When she opened her soda and took a drink, she gagged. She recapped the soda and put her head between her knees until she felt better. She put off the idea of confronting Malcolm for the moment, she really didn't feel well.
The end of the day finally arrived and she couldn't wait to get out of the building that had become increasingly stuffy throughout the day. Pam met her at her desk looking even worse than she had at lunch.
"I would ask if you wanted to go grab a drink but I feel like crap."
She looked up to see that they were being watched not only by Mr. Mathers but by Malcolm. She plastered a fake smile on her face and waved at them somewhat surprised when they waved back. She grabbed her briefcase and hurried out with Pam close behind her.
The first blast of fresh air felt wonderful and then began to smell.
"What is that smell?" Justine asked Pam.