Vice

60: New Adult

Natara braces herself as she steps through the entrance to the Vicetech Corporation. 

She's an adult. She needs to accept that things like this happen and keep her head held high. Rumors will dissipate. Time will pass. She holds tight to her mother's words: Being an adult isn't about suffering at a job you hate, it's about giving your heart and efforts to the things you love.

Natara isn't sure what she loves, but she knows it isn't Vicecorp or Jace.

Vicecorp may have tons of money and a great reputation, but it's a horrible place to work. The secretaries are mean, the women are jealous and back-talking, the men aren't any more mature than boys in high school, and the owner of the corporation - Mr. Vice Senior - is as rotten to his core as a person can be.

Well, Jace was rotten, too. Or maybe he was less rotten and more immature, selfish, and inconsiderate. Natara doesn't know for sure, but she is certain he was out of line - both in his behavior and the way he reacted to her speaking her feelings. At least, at this point, their relationship is over. They probably weren't ever even together in the first place.

The relationship was probably just icing on the cake to try to ease her into the idea of sleeping with him. Of course an older guy with a successful career who looked like a model wouldn't be interested. Obviously it was a joke all along. She shouldn't have believed it from the start.

Yet, she had. She was so excited at the time by the thought of a new relationship with an adult who wouldn't hurt her, with someone who was handsome and far more mature than a high school boy. But Natara had learned two truths from it: Adult men aren't necessarily any more mature than high school boys and handsomeness can be tarnished completely by a poor personality.

The fact that Jace's feelings weren't genuine makes Natara nervous about Cameron. Cameron is also older, successful, and handsome, with no good reason to have feelings for her. She wonders why he even likes her. 

But unlike her experience with Jace, she can feel how much Cameron does care for her - in the way he touches her, the way he looks at her, and how needy he is for her. Cameron may be flawed but at least he isn't fake. Even though his personality is depressive, at least it doesn't seem like he's inherently rotten.

The woman at the front desk looks over and sneers at her as she passes. Not glares. Sneers. Natara grits her teeth but tries to keep walking. The woman loudly clears her throat.

"Didn't you hear? You're not allowed in this building," the woman says. As soon as she speaks Natara realizes why the woman in the bathroom had sounded so familiar. 

It was her. 

Natara's hands clench at her sides. She would really like to strangle this woman.

"I guess Jace wasn't enough. You had to slut around with Mr. Vice's son, too?" She scoffs, clearly enjoying herself. "You're disgusting. I can't believe either of them could even bear to touch you. But Mr. Vice said you're done. Not coming anywhere near his son or his company again. Good riddance. I hated seeing your ugly face walk in every day."

That's it. Natara can't take any more.

Natara has always been the type that avoids drama. Even when her ex cheated she hadn't done anything. She just looked away. She just wanted to forget it all. But this...she doesn't want to just walk away from. After standing up to Jace, Natara is done walking away from things.

Instead of walking to her office or out the door, Natara steps up to the front desk and slaps the secretary across her face. Hard. So hard her hand stings. So hard that the woman's cheek turns red and her head jerks to the side.

And it feels good, just like it felt to stand up to Jace. Natara pulls away, adrenaline buzzing through her arm as her heart beats out of her chest.

"What the fuck? You can't hit me! Psycho bitch!" She screams, stepping forward like she's going to hit Natara. 

Natara holds her ground and quickly slaps her again. The woman backs away, holding her face while scowling. She leans forward and opens her mouth, but Natara interrupts her.

"What are you going to do? Fire me?" The voice bursting from Natara's mouth sounds like it belongs to a stranger. 

This is all new. She's never hit anyone and she never raises her voice. But it feels cathartic. After all the stress, it feels nice to just let it out. And this woman a hundred percent deserves it. 

Natara wonders if this is what Macey feels like when she is being bold and brash. She understands why Macey acts like this so often.

But the front desk secretary was so much like all of the girls in high school who talked behind Natara's back in the bathrooms, who purposefully bumped into her in the halls, and who laughed when anything bad ever happened to her. Natara had never stood up to those girls. 

But today she had, because Natara bets the front desk lady was one of those mean girls in high school. Still as immature and mean as Jace but, just like him, she hadn't changed in adulthood.

Do many people change in adulthood? Natara wonders. And do they become better people or do they just stay the same?

Natara certainly has changed, even just a few months after high school.

Oh her first day of work at Vicecorp she was almost begging them to let her work and she'd do anything to stay, but today Natara ws planning on walking up to Jaquie's office and letting him know she was quitting.

Hearing that Mr. Vice Senior had orchestrated her layoff ahead of time stings, but even more than that it feels cathartic. Yes, it felt more painful than her directly quitting the job but it was the same outcome she would have wanted and it's all over now. She's free from the sick prison she subjected herself to staying trapped in. 

And now she knows that her parents will still be proud of her, no matter if she had this stupid job or not. She was loved, she was strong, and she was too good of a woman to be working at a company like the Vicetech Corporation.

With a smile forming across her lips, Natara turns on her heel and walks out of the building -leaving the front desk secretary fuming and all of the Vicetech Corporation behind her forever.