Vice

26: Mr. Vice

Natara rolls her bike to a stop outside the Vicecorp building and pushes last night's memories to the back of her mind.

Today is a fresh start. She's going to be on guard for Crystal's sabotage, she'll keep an eye on the front desk secretary, and if someone tells her she's fired she's not going to believe them. The memories of yesterday are a thing of the past and today is a brand new day.

Natara chains her bike outside the building and strides past the front desk with her shoulders high. She doesn't turn her head to look at the secretary - she simply walks to the clothing room, changes into a streamlined yellow dress, and heads to her office.

She clicks her pen to life and barely places it on the first document when Jaquie comes wheeling the corner into her office.

"What are you doing at your desk?" He skirts across the room and tugs the papers she was working on signing out of her hands, gesturing for her to stand. "You need to accompany Mr. Vice at the charity luncheon this morning."

Mr. Vice? The man I haven't seen at all since I first started working here? I'm supposed to accompany him in person right now to a charity luncheon?

"I am?" Natara blinks. "Are you sure?"

"Well, yes. It was in your list for the day. Have you not looked at it yet?" Jaquie steps closer and grabs the list - which she hadn't taken a look at yet - and waves it in the air.

"Oh. I thought I had to do all these papers-" She looks down at the tower of pages.

"You do, but not yet. This is a priority." Jaquie widens his eyes, looking at the corner of the room as he fiddles with the buttons on the wrist of his long sleeved pastel pink dress shirt. "Mr. Vice doesn't have to go to big events often, but this is one. If you're able to attend him well today, it'll be a big test for your future at this company. None of his secretaries have successfully joined him for an event so far."

"What-" Natara stammers, rising from her desk and trailing behind Jaquie en route to the elevator. "Have they never gotten that far or does something go wrong at the luncheons when they meet him?"

"A little of both." Jaquie presses the elevator button to head back down to the dressing room. "A bit of background: The Vice family donates to several extensive charity organizations and meets with everyone semi-regularly for publicity and to listen to pitches from new charities who'd like their donation. Your job on paper is to look interested in everything they're saying, but your main job is to keep Mr. Vice in line. He can be...well..."

Jaquie shakes his head and leads Natara into the dressing room. He pulls a tight red dress with a dangerously low sloping v-neckline and a terrifyingly high rising side-slit from one of the racks. It's nothing like the modest outfits Natara picks for herself. He piles some additional accessories on a nearby chair. 

After Jaquie slips out of the room, Natara tugs on the dress. It hugs her in places she's not used to feeling fabric clutch her body and it comes with a set of black heels she doesn't even know how to walk in. She steps forward, wobbling. These heels are way worse than her graduation wedges.