Her Coffee Slave

The story was always the same. Julia came to a struggling restaurant or cafe, where the employees were lazy or absentminded. Julia would start by firing certain employees (usually the unattractive ones, Erin dimly noticed) and re-training the ones who stayed on. Although the employees balked at first, Julia would always bring them in line until they were the ideal employees.

In one example, there was a girl named Andrea working the front desk in a tattoo parlor who refused to get a single tattoo. She was a tall, slender girl with pale skin and dark hair. An aspiring model, she was short tempered and highly critical of the tattoo artist's work. In the first interview, Andrea said that any tattoos would ruin her modelling career and that they made women look trashy and 'branded.'

By the time Julia had worked her magic, though, the girl got two elaborate full sleeve tattoos containing images like thorny vines and hummingbirds drinking from flowers. Far from being critical, she was a walking billboard for the tattoo artist now sporting tattoos on nearly every inch of her body. She also had several piercings in each ear, in her nose, her eyebrow, her lip and even her tongue. She wore midnight black eyeshadow and dark plum lipstick, along with a dark blush that all accentuated her pale skin and shimmering green eyes. She gave a serene smile almost constantly in a way Erin found unnerving.

Barry, the shop owner, gave the closing interview with Andrea sitting to his side, two legs draped across his lap admiring and slowly running her hands across her own tattoos. She wore a sheer top and a black skirt that showed a lot of leg, along with open-toed platform sandals. Her feet were not tattooed whatsoever from the ankle down, creating a sharp contrast with the falling amber leaves and bird sillhouetes that decorated her toned calves.

Close-up shots revealed that the words "Barry Glaston" were woven into the design on many of her tattoos: stylistically stretched so they looked like the vine to a flower, or as a black border that surrounded an abstract pattern, and many other not-so-subtle ways.

"The difference is unbelievable. We get more clients than I can handle! And having Andi here advertize for me has been huge. Here, babe, show them my signature," Barry said.

Andi blushed, but took her legs from his lap and turned her back to the camera. Written plainly across the nape of her neck in large letters was, "WORKED BY BARRY GLASTON." She turned again and showed the backs of her dainty hands. Her left hand read, "BARRY GLASTON TATTOOS" in cursive print, obviously a copy of his own handwriting. Her right hand read, "323-555-5474."

Andi took a seat in the same position as last time, and Barry rested one large hand posessively on her knee. Erin was struck by their age difference: Andi looked barely old enough to drink alcohol and Barry was clearly middle-aged. And why was he wearing a wedding ring when Andi clearly wasn't?

"I owe everything to Julia. She's worth every cent of her fee, and I wish I found her years ago." Barry explained.

The film cut to a different location, and some B music of drumming picked up. Erin felt very tired all of a sudden in the cramped, warm room. She leaned back and closed her eyes.

"Wake up!"

Julia shook Erin awake somewhat violently. Blushing, Erin wiped some drool from the corner of her mouth.

"I'm so sorry," Erin said, totally flustered.

"Whatever. So you saw the DVD. You'll give me the job now?" Julia asked.

Erin wanted to say no - she found the DVD kind of over-the-top and creepy. But as Julia stared her down, she felt nervous and unsure of herself.

"Yeah, you can have the job," Erin said. Julia seemed unsurprised.

"Great. I'll bring in the paperwork tomorrow. I'll need to meet with everyone who works here individually, for performance evaluations.

**

That was the day her life changed.

Almost immediately, Julia began calling the shots at the cafe. It unfolded this way: Erin and her friends hated listening to Julia and complained about her constantly, but whenever she asked them to do something they would hop to it. She started with small and even productive demands: higher standards for cleanliness, better suppliers for their coffee and pastries, and implementing daily specials to drive business.

Every day Erin wanted to say something to assert herself, but she started getting anxious whenever she tried. In fact, without really noticing, each of the girls at the cafe became less outgoing and more acquiescent in their own lives. Winter had toned down her goth style at her parents' insistence. Allison had slipped from her place at top of her class which shook her confidence, and Camille started taking a back seat on the drive to pass Measure M.

In those early days, the girls could overlook Julia's bossy personality and her sometimes personal requests. The first such request was that someone in the cafe take Julia's car to get cleaned and detailed each week. The girls knew that this wasn't a normal thing, but Julia browbeat them so much that it was just easier for one girl to suck it up and do it. But the demands only got worse from there.

Without realizing she was doing it, whenever Erin thought about objecting to Julia she enterred some kind of dysphoric state. Her head ached and her stomache heaved, and she had awful thoughts about being charged with a crime and thrown in jail. Months later she would remember all the times this happened. At the time, though, she would forget about each state so it was puzzling to her why she kept obeying Julia no matter what she said.

Any attempt to remember would trigger the dysphoria again.

Erin was also slow to notice the extent of the changes because she was so focused on her own faltering relationship with Ronnie. It seemed like every time they were going to hang out, Julia would push some work onto Erin's plate and she would have to cancel the date. On top of that, Erin could rarely muster the energy to go to the shows she used to enjoy. After work, she would usually just sit on the couch and watch stupid reality TV shows about rich families like The Real Princesses of Sunset.

She was also constantly under stress from paying Julia out of her own pocket since the cafe's earnings hadn't increased since she hired the woman. Each month, she would have to withdraw over $3,000 from her own savings to pad Julia's paycheck. All of these factors lead to fights with Ronnie where he said she didn't have time for him anymore, and she tried to argue that it wasn't like that.

One day, she walked into the back office to see Winter brushing Julia's hair as Julia worked on some spreadsheets. Erin's friend seemed very embarassed to be caught in this position, but continued brushing Julia's hair regardless.

"Oh, Erin, I'm glad you're here. I'm changing the wages for the employees, and I wanted you to be the first to know," Julia said, not looking up from her spreadsheets. There was no seat, so Erin was left standing to her side.

"Okay, what do you have in mind?" Erin asked.

"Well, in our state you only have to pay someone $2.25 an hour if they get tips. I checked with the Labor board, and we qualify for that wage. So from now on, everyone at the cafe will make $2.25 an hour," Julia explained. Erin saw Winter clench her fist, yanking the brush through Julia's hair.

"Ow! Be careful!" Julia exclaimed, turning to glare at Winter, who apologized immediately.

"Julia, I think people here are worth more than $2.25 an hour! These are my friends, I don't want to pay them slave wages," Erin said.

"Yeah, that's the problem: they're your friends. I'm not their friend, I'm their boss. This is what's best for the cafe," Julia responded, staring Erin down.

"What if they quit?" Erin murmured, staring down at the ground to avoid meeting Julia's gaze. She felt like such an idiot not being able to articulate her disgust.

Julia laughed.

"Trust me, they won't quit. But we can see. Winter, do you accept this pay cut?" Julia said with mock sweetness.

"Yes Miss Romm," Winter said through gritted teeth. Erin gave her a quizzical look.

"And would you keep working here, for ten years if I asked you to?" Julia said.

"Of course!" Winter answered cheerfully. Erin noticed that the girl's knees were shaking and all the muscles in her legs were tensed up.

"Julia-" Erin started.

"That's MISS ROMM," Julia answered, resting her chin one one finger.

"Miss Romm," Erin immediately corrected herself, feeling more and more uncomfortable. Her temples were searing in pain and she thought she might vomit. Still, she summoned all her courage and spoke up.

"I really don't agree with this. This isn't the direction I want the Golden Tree going."

Julia only smiled at her in response. The smile was victory and condescention and a mysterious aura of absolute power.

"That's the other thing, Erin. We're going to change the name," she said, as though Erin had never objected in the first place.

As Erin listened to all the things that would change, she wanted to scream out and fire the awful woman. As it was, she could barely stand for the agony her body was in. So she could only listen passively as Julia systematically laid out how she would destroy Erin's accomplishments and make her do the things she dreaded the most. Erin smiled politely the entire time, at Julia's request.

"Invite Ronnie over tonight so you can unwind, I know this day has been stressful for you," Julia said sympathetically as she dismissed Erin. Erin was nearly hysterical as she walked out of the break room, while Winter (now Annie) stayed behind brushing Julia's hair.

Erin looked at the decor of the place as it was now: understated wood and concrete with antique furnishings and eclectic artwork. How much would it cost to install the heated bamboo floors Julia wanted? Or to change their entire electric wiring to create the ambiance lighting like she requested? She saw Camille pouring a shot of espresso and couldn't imagine telling her about the pay cut. Allison meanwhile was standing near the sink looking through her flash cards, although the girl was careless with anger and muttering insults to herself for not getting them right. With a long sigh, Erin left the cafe and called Ronnie up to invite him over to her place that night.

It was the greatest humiliation that Julia had subjected her to so far.

She spent several hours doing her hair and makeup to perfection. In the end, she loved her appearance: girlish and smart with cleverly applied makeup that made her look attractive but not slutty or overly sexual. She spent a long time curling her hair and giving it volume so that she had a more bold appearance.

When Ronnie came over, he was vocal about how good she looked. They kissed and cuddled and Erin said how sorry she was to have been missing him. He was mad at first, but softened under her affection, and soon they were making out passionately on the couch as some idiotic TV show droned in the background. Erin tentatively touched his crotch and felt his hardness. He rested his hand on her sex, which was exciting enough for the young virgin.

Then there was a knock on the door.

Erin's heart dropped. She knew already who it was. Straightening up her hair and her shirt, she walked to the front door and opened it to see Julia on the porch dressed like she was going on a hot date.

The woman looked beautiful, to Erin's dread. She had on a bright red dress that clung to her tight body, showing off her ample cleavage and her toned legs. She must have been wearing diamond earrings, and her little leather clutch seemed like it cost thousands of dollars. Her makeup was flawless, highlighting her long neck and making her eyes look bigger. She carried with her a bottle of expensive wine and regarded Erin cooly.

"Aren't you going to invite me in?" Julia said.

"...Sure," Erin said. Her pulse began racing and she realized she was in danger right now.

"Thanks!" Julia said, setting her clutch down. She handed Erin the bottle and told her to pour two glasses and bring them to the living room along with the bottle.

"Oh, and take all that makeup off, you look cheap. And wet your hair and put it into a pony tail," Julia ordered. Erin grimaced - she would look plain in a ponytail and no makeup! And the water would undo all the hard work she did to curl her hair. Nonetheless, she obeyed Julia out of some vague fear of what would happen if she didn't. When she even thought about disobeying Julia, she felt a migraine coming on which scared her into obediance.

While Erin went to the bathroom cursing under her breath, Julia went straight to the living room and introduced herself to Ronnie. Erin could hear murmurs of their conversation as she thoroughly washed her face and hair. Looking into the mirror to examine her work, she saw an immature looking girl staring back at her. She was still cute, sure, but unremarkable and dowdy. When she put her hair into a ponytail, it gave her an unflattering and somewhat harsh appearance by accentuating her forehead. The idea of looking like a "peasant girl" crept into her mind, and she couldn't shake it.

With a sigh, she went to the kitchen and uncorked the bottle and poured two glasses. She heard Julia laughing loudly at something Ronnie said, and her breathing got quicker. She nearly shattered the wine glasses she was grasping them so hard.

She enterred the living room with two glasses in one hand and a bottle in the other. Her entrance caused Ronnie to start like he had been caught red-handed comitting some crime. Her boyfriend was seated close enough to Julia that their legs were touching, even though they were on a big couch. Julia smirked and held out a hand.

"Thanks, Erin. One for me and one for Ronnie here," Julia said, grabbing Ronnie's bicep.

"Oh, I'm not 21," Ronnie said, and Erin cursed him that he didn't try to get away from the other woman's touch.

"It's fine! You have adult supervision. Give him the wine, Erin."

He took the glass without much more argument, and Erin sat on the couch to the opposite side of Ronnie so he was sandwiched between the two women. She searched the room, thinking of something to talk about.

"Ah, these heels make my feet hurt so much!" Julia whined in a cutesy way, extending one of her long legs out for all to admire. "Erin, could you please give me a massage?"

Erin felt her stomache turn. Blood rushed to her cheeks.

"Uh, sure?" she said. She started to get up but Julia stopped her.

"You're the best!" Julia said, and Erin felt a surge of pride from the compliment. She immediately felt ashamed afterwards, though, that Julia's opinion meant so much to her.

"No need to get up. Here I'll make it easy for you."

With that, Julia swung her legs over the couch so that her thighs were resting in Ronnie's lap and her feet were resting in Erin's. Erin couldn't believe her audacity! She wanted to throw Julia's feet off her lap but found herself instead removing Julia's high heels. They were made of sleek black leather and had red bottoms, with some designer name engraved onto the soles in golden script. Biting her tongue, Erin tried thinking of ways to take control of the situation but felt a tremendous wave of nausea until she focused on the task at hand. She observed that Julia's feet were the only thing she could think of without feeling like she was withdrawing from some horrible drug.

She didn't like the look of amazement in Ronnie's eyes during all of this, either. He had barely cast her a look since she came into the living room.

Erin looked down at her boss's feet, admiring Julia's unbelievably high arches and thin, shapely toes. She had on a sky blue nail polish and her feet had the scent of coconuts, vanilla, leather and girl sweat. Was everything about this woman perfect? Slowly, Erin began kneading Julia's soles with her thumbs but she had to scoot away from Ronnie to be more comfortable in the action.

"Cheers!" Julia said, clinking glasses with Ronnie.

They continued conversing like this was the most normal thing in the world. Julia asked Ronnie about college, books he read, and kept flattering him and making it seem like he was some worldly intellectual. Ronnie ate it up, of course, and as he drank more wine he got increasingly bold with her. One time, Erin tried to chime into the conversation.

"Yeah I've heard that Spain has a really high unemployment rate because -" she cut in, and Ronnie looked at her like he was surprised she was still there.

"Wait, Erin, could you put your fingers between my toes? It's a really good stretch for my feet and I really need it after I did spin class this morning," Julia cut her off.

With a tight smile, Erin put one of her fingers in each of the spaces between Julia's toes. Julia sighed and leaned back against the arm of the sofa. She started talking with Ronnie about her spin class, taking all of the young man's attention with her own charms.

At one point, she asked him to feel the muscle tone of her legs to see if the classes were working. Ronnie put one hand against her calf and gave her an awkward compliment.

"No, not there! Don't you know that spin classes work the thigh muscles? Feel my thigh and tell me the classes aren't amazing," Julia told him. Ronnie hesitated, although his eyes were already on Julia's delightful legs.

"I don't know if Erin would like that," he was forced to admit. It was the first mention of her he had made during the entire conversation.

"Erin asked me here to help teach her, though!" Julia answered, as though she were legitimately puzzled that Ronnie didn't know.

"What do you mean?" Ronnie asked, looking at Erin. Before Erin could respond:

"Well, it's embarassing, but Erin wants a little sex ed. She's really nervous around boys, so she asked me to come over and show her how to handle situations like this. I thought she would have told you. Why didn't you say anything, Erin?" Julia explained.

This time, Ronnie was forced to look at Erin. He had an ineffable look on his face, as though he was about to witness a sexual miracle.

"I don't know," Erin said. She couldn't think of anything to say. She wanted to scream at Julia but the words felt stuck in her throat just like every other time she tried to object. Her cheeks were on fire from either anger or embarassment and she felt some nameless fear take hold of her. She felt like she was on a platform miles above the earth, and any false move would send her plumetting to her death.

"Listen," Julia started. "Erin's a virgin. It's totally normal that she'd be curious about sex, and want to learn about it in a safe way. Now, I'm a little older, and I know all sorts of things about sex."

Ronnie couldn't contain his amazement. He was flush from the wine and utterly captivated.

"So, I figured I would help her. It's a weird request, sure, but I wish I had someone when I was her age to show me the ropes. I just didn't know her boyfriend would be so sexy," Julia teased.

Afterwards, Ronnie became significantly more bold in his affections. He rested one hand on Julia's upper thigh and slowly stoked its length, admiring her muscle tone. Their conversation became significantly more intimate, with Julia asking about Ronnie's previous girlfriends (which made Erin fume) and talking about the things she enjoyed sexually. She made herself out to be a ravenous vixen who needed a young partner to keep up with her appetites.

At one point, Julia lifted the foot Erin wasn't massaging and rested it on Ronnie's crotch. They made prolonged eye contact and then Julia pulled her feet away from Erin. She stood up and offered a hand out to Ronnie, who was clearly hard as he rose up to join her.

"Erin, would you show us to your bedroom?" Julia asked in a coquettish whisper.