A Tale of Upperville excerpt
“Why don’t you just come to work for me?’ I rolled my eyes.
Alex ran a small cyber security company out of her apartment, but she rarely had jobs, and I knew nothing about computers. “I’m not really sure I wanna work for a college dropout.” I said, slipping my coat on. Alex pouted, moving close. “That’s a Princeton dropout to you.” she scoffed.
I wrapped my scarf, one that Alex had knit, around my neck and sighed. Alex gave me a hug; her thin arms were uncomfortable but strangely comforting at the same time. “Just don’t do anything stupid okay?” she gave a quick peck on the lips and ruffled my hair. “Later, Perry.” I slipped on my boots and opened the door. “Yeah, later.”
I missed the bus by five minutes. So I had to walk instead, trotting along the icy sidewalks along with every other hoi polloi in the city. Alex and I had a special relationship. It wasn’t exactly romantic, in fact that was the last thing it was. We were friends, best friends in fact, but she was more like a mom or an older sister then a romantic partner.
She was always getting on about me doing the grocery shopping or cleaning up her apartment, but I didn’t really mind. After all, she was letting me stay in a very nice apartment for free, so picking up fruits and feminine products at the store was the least I could do. I have to admit it; it was kind of weird to have nothing but a box of tampons and a bundle of bananas in the checkout line.
-A tale of Upperville (a work-in-progress name for a work-in-progress novel)