Vice

7: Pumpkin Spice Coffee

"Hey, newbie." Her office door cracks open and the voice that trickles in doesn't belong to Jaquie. It's deeper - more of a boyish middle-tone - and she glances up from her desk to investigate the speaker.

The man standing in her doorway looks around twenty-five years old - a sharp contrast compared to Natara's eighteen. His face is more filled out than the boys from Natara's school and the slightest hint of stubble lines his jaw. In every sense, this guy in her doorway looks like a man and not a boy, and that is something Natara is not used to. 

Am I one of the youngest workers here? She wonders. AM I the youngest worker here?

The man leans against her doorway, propping his head in his hand and elbow against the wall. His fingertips tap against his shortly shaven brown hair, and he wears a prim navy blue suit with a black tie and matching black dress shoes. "Welcome to Vicetech. I'm Jace."

"Oh, thanks. I'm Natara." She stares down at her desk, wondering if she'll have more random visitors throughout the day coming into her office to introduce themselves. Perhaps it's something she should get used to. 

"Come grab a coffee with me." Jace smiles, beckoning her toward the door with his free hand, and Natara visibly recoils. Get coffee? Is he asking me out on a date? I just met him! Her face reddens and she shifts in her chair. Jace's smile disappears when he sees her discomfort, and he quickly laughs and shakes his head.

"It's just in the other room. I was going to show you where the coffee maker is," he clarifies. Natara visibly relaxes but she feels like a fool for misunderstanding. Why had she assumed he was asking her out, anyway? Was it because of the way he worded it or because he was a handsome older male stranger who suddenly appeared in her office?

"Uh, sure, coffee sounds nice." She rises from her chair. Wasn't she about to go make coffee, anyway? It seems awfully convenient that Jace would show up, introduce himself, and then offer to help her down to the coffee area. Maybe Jaquie sent him to help her. "What do you do here, Jace?"

Jace backs away from the threshold and opens the office door wider for Natara to step through. He leads her down the hall and back into the same red-and-gold elevator. Relaxing instrumental music plays in the elevator as they step inside. Unlike Jaquie, he presses a lower floor instead of an upper floor. Down to floor number four.

"I'm the team leader for graphic design." Jace leans back against the elevator's railing. "I do a lot of logo and web page design. Things like that." Natara has a feeling he's simplifying his explanation but doesn't comment on it. She thinks graphic design would be an enjoyable job, but she knows it's something that takes college experience.

"How long have you been working here?" Natara asks as the elevator doors slide open and the two of them step out into floor four. This floor seems to be more of a lounge area than an office filled one. Inside is a fridge, countertop, dishwasher, television, bathroom, and several armchairs and couches. It looks modern and comfortable.

"About five years," Jace answers. He leads her toward the coffee machine and grabs both of them a coffee cup from a cabinet. Natara is suddenly thankful Jace offered to show her how to work the machine because it is nothing like the one back at her house. There are too many buttons and nozzles she doesn't understand.

Jace presses a series of things that Natara tries really hard to memorize, sets the cup down inside the coffee machine, and the machine spits out almost a full cup of piping hot coffee. Jace presses another series of buttons and the machine shoots out a small amount of creamer. Natara can smell a hint of hazelnut in the air, either from the coffee or from the creamer.

"Your turn," Jace laughs. "I promise it's not as complex as it looks. When I started working here we had an older machine. When this thing came in several people looked at it like making a cup of coffee had turned into borderline rocket science." He walks Natara through the buttons.

She learns she can choose from several types of coffee beans and decides that chocolate flavored coffee sounds neat to try. Once the coffee is poured, she learns she can select one of many different creamer types. She tries a buttermilk creamer.

She can't deny the machine is impressive. It reminds her of one of those soda machines at fast food places that let customers choose their drink from a big list and add different flavor shots. Except yummier, because it's coffee.

"This is cool," she comments aloud and Jace chuckles. He has one of those boyishly cute lopsided and dimpled smiles that Natara's heart can't resist fluttering at. She raises the coffee to her lips and sips it carefully.

"Oh, right. I need to make one of these for Mr. Vice!" Natara suddenly remembers, grabbing another cup from the area Jace retrieved their original cups from. She presses a few buttons on the machine and then hesitates. There are too many options. She's not sure if Mr. Vice likes house blend or decaf or what.

"He likes pumpkin spice flavor with French vanilla creamer. I personally think it's disgusting but whatever." Jace's eyes simmer with curiosity as he spectates Natara. "I didn't realize Yuri quit already. She didn't even make it a week."

"Yuri? Was she..." Natara pauses, suddenly intimidated by Jace's gaze. Is this really a position that is that bad? Will she make it longer than a week? "She was the assistant before me?" Natara takes a larger sip from the mug, trying to calm her troubled thoughts with the coffee's warmth. Jace nods.

"I'm not sure what your background is, Natara," Jace's eyes flicker to her name tag and then back up to meet her eyes, "but it's well known around here that Mr. Vice's son is extremely difficult to work for. The pay is good, yes, but there are reasons why everyone quits."

"That's what people keep telling me." Natara smiles back nervously. She tries her best to summon up all the confidence she can muster. "But I promised myself I'm going to stick with this for more than a week, no matter what happens."

Jace laughs, pressing his coffee up to hers in a toast. "I think you'll need to keep yourself to that promise. Good luck."