Between the Lies

1| Rival

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Rival

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Chapter 1: Rival (Vanessa's POV)

My eyes moved from the countdown to the elevator doors as a ding echoed before they opened. I sighed and walked out, past our CEO's office and past the coffee room, stopping at the glass door and pushing it open. 

"Morning, Vanessa," Madison smiled. 

"Morning, Maddie," I smiled back, passing her desk and reaching mine. I hung my purse on the back of my chair and sat down, turning the computer on and logging in. I glanced at the chair right in front of me, separated only by our desktops and a small divider that was a part of the tables. 

I'm early and he's not. 

I answered all my emails first and made a fresh to-do list for the day. Once I did that, I grabbed yesterday's list. This is usually how my days are planned to go. Make a new to-do list and check on whatever's pending from the last. "How many people from our team are already in the office, Madison?" 

"Uh, you, me, and Zach, I think. No one else is in yet." 

I sighed, "People on this team really need to stop coming in late, you know." 

She blinked in confusion. "Nobody from the other team is here yet." 

"Says who?" We both looked up as John walked in, coming straight to my desk rather than going to his own. 

Madison and I exchanged a look before I faced him. "How can I help you, John?" 

"You couldn't help me if you tried, Van," he smiled. 

I nodded, completely ignoring his words. 

"Tell me something though. You come into work early every single day yet somehow you fail to get your work done and win Davidson over. Your ideas are almost never pitched right or approved, you hardly get any projects in comparison to us... Why don't you just quit, my dear? It's probably the best you can do." 

"Why? Because I'm not a man?" 

"Well..." He shrugged. 

"Oh, but I'm still young, I have room to learn from my mistakes. I'll tell you what I'm not. A middle-aged white man intimidated by a twenty-three-year-old competitor because she's a woman," I smiled, leaning back in my chair. "And if you want to talk about the number of projects we've done, then let me remind you that your team has no project this month and ours has three." I held up three fingers. "How many is that, Johnny? One... Two... Say it with me now." I wiggled my fingers. "Three." 

"You—" 

"So go whine in a corner to your boss. Not to me, okay? Okay. Now get lost," I bit out, rolling my eyes and turning to my computer. 

He glared at me, slowly backing away from my desk and going to his own. 

"Stop attacking my production manager, Vanessa."