Teri's Point of View
"Something good happen?" she asked Alex. It was like the shadow looming over her favorite person had disappeared. The whole office felt lighter.
Her heart stopped beating for a second when he smiled back at her. "Oh, nothing much. Alice has been sleeping better. It's easier to relax when she can relax, you know?"
And just like that, all her hopes came crashing down. Alice! Alice! Alice! He just couldn't resist talking about Alice!
No, I'm being unfair, she stopped herself from spiraling into a jealous rage. They'd been dating for years. She should be used to this. Alex and Alice, cursed, perfect little couple that they were, got together after a football game. Teresa could remember it like it was yesterday.
Her twin brother Terrence, who she was visiting at MIT, introduced her to his hunk roommate, the football player. Alex casually invited her to his game the next day. Teri was never much of a sports fan, but something deep inside made her say yes.
It was so exciting! Terry explained the game in a way she could easily understand.
"You might be wondering why it's called 'football'," he began. "The relationship between the foot and the ball goes like this: when the ball carrier is on his feet the ball is alive, and in play; when he is tackled to the ground, off his feat, the ball is dead, and out of play. The players come in small, medium, and large. The large players are called linemen; they're in the front pushing in shoving. The small quick players are on the ends, trying to run and catch the ball or stop the other guy from catching the ball. The medium players are in the back. See Alex there? He's a medium player, a linebacker."
There was nothing medium about Alex. Even at the height of 5'9", or 175 centimeters, Teri took a lot of pride in keeping her weight at 110 pounds, or 50 kilos. Alex was at least twice that! She'd developed a pretty good eye for such things during her modeling days, not that she was arrogant or anything.
Anyway, MIT won the game easily, and she got to experience the fun of cheering on a boy she liked for the first time. He made some pretty big tackles!
Her parents were great, and she loved them, but they were strict Malaysian Chinese immigrants. Time was split between studying and trying to make it as a model. Boys were definitely not a part of Teri's schedule, not while she still lived with Mummy and Daddy.
At sixteen, the big modeling contracts her mother had been trying to line up for her never materialized, so Teri was told to quit and focus on getting into a decent college. Being a dutiful daughter, she agreed.
Maybe if I stayed out of the sun more, she ruminated. Teresa had the face, and the body, but her skin was a little dark for modeling in Asia. She grew up in California! The weather was too nice to stay inside! So what if she had a little tan? Sue her!
It wasn't meant to be, anyway.
One perfect score on the SAT and acceptance letter to UC Barkley later, and Teri was studying aerospace engineering in the heart of beautiful Silicon Valley. Why aerospace, you ask?
Teresa had a type, you see. Her brother's nerdy friends all had crushes on her at one point or another, and she was over it. No, Teri liked jocks! The hope was aerospace engineering would attract some hot guys who wanted to be pilots. Pilot seemed like a hot guy job, right? Sadly, it didn't quite work out like that.
There was one guy, just one, a Navy ROTC midshipman who wanted to fly planes off of aircraft carriers. As soon as his commanding officer or whatever found out they were dating, he got orders to dump her. Chinese are the enemy, you know. Being Malaysian, and not even speaking standard Chinese, was no defense at all. Her last name was Tsai, so her boyfriend had to break up or lose his NROTC scholarship. The heartbreak ate at her even now.
Meeting Alex after that was like a message from the universe. Her brother had made friends with a hot guy for once, and he was right there and easy to talk to. It was perfect!
Enter Alice Adelman, her arch-enemy, her apex predator. Blonde hair, big blue eyes, curvaceous and sexy, was it any wonder that Teri hated her?
Alice snatched Alex right in front of her eyes. They'd been chatting at the post-game party when this living Barbie doll brought Alex a beer. The way his eyes lit up when the walking, talking, cheerleader stereotype showed him a crumb of interest twisted her intestines into knots.
Her flight home was the next day and Alex was clearly the type of guy who considered the sister of his friend to be off-limits. She needed time to work on him, build rapport, assure him that Terry wouldn't care if they got together. Needless to say, Alice didn't allow her that time. The first thing she saw when her plane set down back in Cali was a notification that Alice and Alex were Friendscroll official.
That bitch didn't waste time!
At first, Teri tried to play the waiting game. Surely, a couple that formed over beers at a frat party couldn't last. But here they were, still going strong. She'd been so hopeful when she stalked his Linkedon and applied to work at the same company, but nope! Alice still had him! At least her brother was happy.
They were both busy with control programming and trying to generate a target-acquisition AI while she dealt with propulsion issues. ANIS, or Aero Naval Intelligent Strike, needed a lot of range. The South China Sea was big, and they really needed two designs, not one. Anti-air and anti-ship missiles had different requirement, so it was really double the job.
With a sigh, Teri saved her work. "You want to grab lunch?"
"Sure, Teri, just let me wrap this up," he replied, looking really handsome while he was focused like that.
Honestly, the world wasn't fair! At least she'd have some eye candy while she ate.
She decided on a chicken sandwich to seem more normal. Alex had commented on how she barely ate before, and didn't sound like he approved. For the big boy, it was a burger and fries.
"So, anything new happen?" Alex asked as they sat down. "Where's Terry, by the way?"
"He'll be along," Teri assured him. I asked him to skip lunch today. Say what you will about my brother, he's loyal!
"Word." Alex didn't question her. Such perfect boyfriend material: big, strong, book smart, good career, and obedient. Alice didn't know what she had.
She forced herself to take a bite. The office food court was pretty mid. "Oh yeah. Aaron Hacker clenched the Republican nomination."
Alex perked up. "Well, damn. This is almost as crazy as Blimp getting nominated years ago. I guess the economy is just that bad, makes people want to shake things up."
"The economy isn't that bad!" she insisted.
He gave her a look. "Sure, Jan."
Teri smiled. Talking politics with him was so engaging. "Madame President did her best, but nobody could've predicted covid. This inflation would've happened no matter who was in charge."
Alex nodded. "I can't disagree, but whenever the economy is bad the party in power gets blamed. Sixteen years is a lot of blame, and now what? Harriet Clayton leaves some big shoes to fill. The dems have anybody who can hang with Hacker?"
She wanted to say yes, but the Democratic primary was a shitshow, as much as it pained her to admit. "Lots of infighting, I'm sorry to say. President Clayton endorsed her Vice President, Jim Paine, but he is kind of a moderate nothing, empty suit, always was. Still, some see that as preferable to letting the socialist wing take over."
The man sitting across from her hummed in understanding. "Want a fry?" He jiggled the box invitingly.
Those fries were very greasy, and very salty, but this was Alex offering! "Oh, why not." She popped one into her mouth.
Big mistake...I can already feel the water retention.
"RRC is popular, but she's got a lot of haters. What do you think about her?"
"I like her," Teri said carefully. "But nominating her for president? We need to win." Rebecca Rodriguez-Cooper was pretty popular on social media; that couldn't be denied. Would boomers vote for her, though? Moderates? "Socialist" was still a dirty word in this country, no matter how bad the economy got.
"She's number one in the polls, though," Alex pointed out.
She shook her head sadly. "Primary voters and general election voters are two different things, and there are still a lot of minor candidates in the race. Who knows how all those voters will break? We need somebody that can keep Aaron Hacker out of the Whitehouse! He's not like Blimp, not at all. Evil bastard, but his debate skills are very real."
"I actually saw his livestream the other day," Alex mentioned.
Her blood ran cold. "Alex...you don't...support him, do you?" Alex did kind of have a macho side, and was in the military, same as Hacker. Could he?
"Fuck no," Alex said easily. "I was watching for Gareth Hart."
Oh thank god. "He disappeared, you know. Isn't that awful? I know you were talking about his book the other day. Think it will ever come out, now?"
Alex rubbed the back of his head, looking uncomfortable. "Eh, ehehe, I'm not sure." His eyes focused on his food. "RIP to a real one, if he's really gone," he added hastily.
What's that about? "Do you think Hart was on to something? Is the military really that corrupt?"
Alex met her eyes. "Some of it," he allowed. "It wasn't like that when I was in, at least the Marines. But with the pandemic? Standards have lowered everywhere, and the Army was always the grimiest branch. Yeah, they could do some real dirt."
That was so concerning. Hacker was popular with the military. She'd seen all the polls. Some even suggested he could stage a coup if he didn't win. "We can't let him win, Alex," she vowed. "We've got to do something!"
"Who has the best chance of beating him, I mean among the Democrats."
"That's the real question, isn't it?" She went to take a bite or her chicken sandwich, thought better of it, then put it down. "Some say it should be a moderate that won't rock the boat. That's Jim Paine. Hacker would eat him alive in a debate, though. You could nominate Rebecca Rodriguez-Cooper; she could go blow for blow with that fascist, but then the donors won't be happy. Why would rich people and corporations want to elect a socialist who would raise their taxes? It's a hell of a problem."
Alex scratched his chin in thought. "I don't know what to tell you. It seems like everything has just been getting worse my whole life. Maybe we need a change. RRC would at least do something, you know? Payne would just be Clayton's third term, and she hasn't done a lot."
"Come on, Alex, you're being unfair. Congress doesn't want to work with her! The Republicans have controlled both houses since 2018! Her judges can't get appointed. Her nominees for cabinet positions can't get confirmed. Forget about passing any bills. Her hands are tied!"
"I know, I know. It's just...like looking at a slow-moving car crash. At this point, Aaron Hacker seems...inevitable. Are we fucked? I think we're fucked. If war breaks out, all the vets are getting drafted first," he said bitterly.
This boy...I just want to hug him! "It'll work out, Alex, I'm sure of it. Blimp almost won in 2016. Imagine what a disaster that would've been! America dodged that bullet, and we'll dodge Aaron Hacker too!"