Teri's Point of View
"That's weird...what's with all these new orders of nowhere?" Teresa wondered.
The e-abacus was pretty simple to manufacture and only required a few cheap, readily available components. The contractor she found was cracking out thousands of them, no trouble. It wasn't all that different from making plastic children's toys, after all. They were selling the things at a huge markup, ten times what they cost to make, printing money, basically.
Teri checked the inventory. Did they have enough to fulfill all this new demand?
Let's see...
She opened up their company analytics on a new tab, and sure enough, they were already out. The unfilled order backlog was huge and just kept growing.
Did a video go viral or something? Why the drastic increase in sales?
She checked the Mr. Math Youwatch channel, looking for answers. There was a sharp increase in subscribers and views, but no individual video stood out. The new views were more or less evenly distributed across the dozen newest videos, the ones made after they learned a few lessons about production values and clickbait thumbnails.
The view on her laptop made Teri's legs squeeze together involuntarily. There was Alex in all his glory in the thumbnail of every video, muscles straining against a tight shirt or brazenly displayed in a tank top. His body's gap with his kind face and patient, fatherly teaching style was absolutely delicious.
She felt a burning in her stomach, an emptiness that craved to be filled. Alex was a born daddy. Many times she'd fantasized about the family they would have one day, once he got over his immature attachment to that bimbo Alice.
After years of observing him and pumping her brother for information, Teri had a pretty good idea what kind of man Alex Wagner was. Quite simply: "first girl wins". He was stupidly loyal and devoted to his girlfriend, as unworthy as she was. The first decently attractive woman that showed interest would have him for life. Teri was under no illusions about this. If something wasn't done to break them up then Alice would have his heart forever. That couldn't happen. That must not happen!
It was pure, dumb luck. If Teri had only shot her shot first she'd have everything Alice had, everything and more. She knew Alex wanted children. Her brother Terry told her so. They'd stay up late at night in their college dorm, working on projects, studying, and discussing their hopes and dreams. A family was what Alex wanted most of all.
Teri was ready to get pregnant now, today! Fuck her career, if Alex wanted a baby she'd give him one, give him as many as he wanted. Mr. Math was blowing up so much now that he could easily afford it. The blonde bitch was holding out on him, Teri was sure. Whatever weird secret job she had was more important to her than Alex's happiness. NOTHING was more important than Alex's happiness!
She gripped the armrests of her home office chair firmly and breathed out slowly, trying to calm down.
No, no, this is good. If Alice got pregnant, Alex's attachment to her would be unbreakable. He'd never abandon his family. Sad to say that such a positive trait was now working against her, but there it was. It was a good thing Alice was too stupid to give her boyfriend what he wanted. Teri still had a chance, and she didn't intend to waste it.
She'd been so flattered when he asked her to join his new startup. He'd humbly called it a "side hustle" but Teri knew better. Without the constraints imposed by an incompetent like Chip Lackland or the bureaucratic bloat of a dinosaur company like Lockhole-Merlin, anything Alex touched was destined for unprecedented success.
"I better call the contractor," she said out loud to her empty apartment. That "unprecedented success" was going to be a problem unless she found a way to massively ramp up production of their product.
***
Phew. That'd been a hell of a conversation. The contractor was willing to work with them, but it wasn't going to be cheap. Fulfilling all the orders on their own wasn't possible, so Teri authorized them to subcontract out the additional work. Quality control might be a problem, but she'd handle it on a case by case basis, delaying delivery if she had to. Their per-unit profit would take a hit, but they'd more than make up for it with volume. A satisfying transaction, all-told.
Teri was feeling pretty pleased with herself when she saw an alert from their company Friendscroll page.
"Flame war...what the heck is this?"
The comments were an absolute mess, and it took her some time to fully comprehend the situation. Aaron Hacker supporters were all over the page, praising Mr. Math.
Why would they...
Democrats were just the opposite, condemning Alex for selling out. She didn't understand what happened. That was until she saw a link to the Aaron Hacker podcast.
No...it couldn't be...
Alex! What did you do?
Her beloved was right there, having a friendly chat with that...that monster! Why hadn't he told her? If Alex wanted to go on a media tour or hit the podcast circuit to publicize Mr. Math, there were better ways! She could've arranged it, plotted out a whole messaging strategy that wouldn't tarnish their image. This was bad, really bad.
I've got to talk to him!
Teri slipped on jeans and a hoodie and rushed out of her apartment. Her trembling fingers barely managed to open the door of her car on the third try.
With a flash of self-awareness, she realized she was too emotional to drive. She pulled out her phone and ordered an Alter. The ride over would give her plenty of time to think.
Alex and Alice had just returned from a trip down to Norfolk the night before. They hadn't said why they went. Teri assumed it would be a weekend couple's getaway. That would be bad enough, but appearing on Aaron Hacker's show was absolutely over the line.
"We need to talk," she texted him once the Alter got close to their apartment building in Arlington.
"?" he texted back.
That's it? Just a question mark? Is he playing dumb?
Teri vaulted out of the Alter right in the middle of her driver reminding her to leave a review, stomped up the stairs and waited for Alex to buzz her in.
"What is it, Teri?" Alex asked over the speaker.
"Let me in already, Alex! I just told you we need to talk." She hoped she didn't sound crazy.
There was silence for few seconds. "Alice doesn't want me letting you in when she's not here," he tried to make an excuse. Teri would NOT accept it!
Alice wasn't here? Perfect! "Then come outside, Alex. I just want to talk." She tried to sound calm. Teri had never been a good liar.
"...fine," he agreed.
She paced back and forth in front of the apartment building, bouncing on her toes. She felt anger, yes, but also excitement. Getting Alex alone wasn't always this easy! It was ten in the morning and nobody was around, at least not that she could see. It wasn't quite privacy, but it would do.
Alex came out in one of his tank tops and every impulse in Teri's body demanded she rush into his arms and hug him, but common sense prevailed. He wasn't ready, yet.
Teri fixed him with her most stern, disappointed-Asian-mother glare. "What do you have to say for yourself?" she demanded.
"Is this about the Hacker podcast?" he asked dumbly. Alex wasn't dumb! Why was he playing dumb?
"Of course it's about the Hacker podcast!" she exploded. "This will destroy our brand! All publicity isn't good publicity, Alex. We can still get on top of this, salvage the situation, but you're going to have to trust me. Start by telling me where you even got the idea. Was it Alice?"
Alex sighed, rubbing the back of his head with his hand in a way that made his arm and shoulder look huge. He didn't know he was doing it, but if he was trying to seduce her into going easy on him it might've worked.
"Yes, but-"
"But nothing! Alice is causing damage to your brand, our brand," she said emphatically.
Alex's eyes narrowed. "You don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh, but I do! Alice Adelman is part of the Adelman family. Her father is one the largest donors to Republican causes. Being tied to her will only hurt you in the long run."
He looked genuinely surprised. "Her father is what? How would you even know? She's never talked about her family, not once. She avoids the subject."
"She would," Teri said in triumph. "There are skeletons in her closet, Alex, things she wants to hide, even from the man she claims to love." She tried to close the distance between them but he backed away.
There was conflict in his face. She was close, just push a little more and she'd get through to him!
"I don't have time for this right now." Alex kept backing away, recoiling from a truth he didn't want to hear.
"Baby, Aaron Hacker is a fascist and a militarist," she said kindly, like she was talking to a child. "Alice has you involved in things you don't understand. Let me help you."
Alex's expression hardened; Teresa realized she pushed too far.
"I have my reasons, Teri. There's more going on than you understand. We'll talk later."
He turned to go back into his apartment.
"Wait, Alex! Wai-"
He slammed the door behind him.