Hacking Alderson

//Chapter 1//Moving In

 "So here's the deal. No loud music, no loitering, no soliciting, no visitors after 9PM, no unauthorized pets. Got it?" The landlord practically shouts in a heavy New York accent. He resembles the dad from Matilda. It's almost uncanny. "Yes sir." I answer. I follow him down the hall to two doors right next to one another. "This is your apartment. The one you had the movers come to. Without my knowledge, hence the move in fee. The guy next door is quiet so he's no problem." He says. He immediately takes off. "Have a nice day!" I say loud enough for him to hear, but not enough to seem like I'm yelling at him. He throws his hand up and does a quick wave as he continues on. "Without further adieu." I think as I excitedly attempt to open the door. But it's jammed. I try wiggling the knob, to no avail. I then decide there's only one thing to do. I look around to make sure the coast is clear and start pushing it with my shoulder. "Come on Lexi!" I cheer myself on internally. The door doesn't budge but I'm certain my shoulder plate did. The thought of asking the landlord for help occurred to me, but that's a last ditch option. I hear a rough voice behind me, "Do you need help?". I turn to a man in a black hoodie with a little black dog by his side. Kinda looks like ToTo from Wizard Of OZ, in a cute way. I'm guessing the guy is the one the landlord was talking about. "Yeah. I think it's jammed." I answer. He walks by me and examines the door. I can't help but feel drawn to the cute dog sniffing and licking my Converse sneaker. The urge to pick him up and snuggle him against my cheek ever so present. The man turns the key in the lock, pulls then pushes the door, it opens with ease. "My door does the same thing." He says with a laugh. "Well the landlord completely failed to mention that." I say. Hoodie guy's cute, but I swear I think I've seen him somewhere before.  "Well I'm headed out to walk my dog. Maybe we can talk later." He says. "Sure." I reply. He walks a short distance then stops, "I don't think I caught your name, I'm Elliot Alderson." He says. "I'm Lexi Abarai." I reply. We shake hands. "Lexi? Is that short for something?" He asks. "Nope, that's my full name." I reply. I've been asked that before. "Say, you wouldn't know Darlene would you?" I ask. He appears puzzled. "No, I don't." He answers quickly. Realizing I may have said something wrong, which I do often, I immediately apologize. "I'm sorry. It's just that your name and her name... You know." I say shyly trying to laugh off his change in personality. He still seems confused, but manages a smile. We both look away. "Do you maybe want to come over for dinner later?" I ask breaking the silence. "I'm not trying to be weird or anything it's just that I only have one friend here and I'd love to get to know you better." I add. "Sure, I eat dinner." He answers. "Okay, see you then." I reply. I go inside the apartment and he continues on.

The movers have already set the place up so it's pretty much ready to go, which is great because I have a new roommate coming soon. Her name is Darlene. We've been friends for 6 years so I agreed to let her stay without a rent agreement. She'll pay when she can and that's okay with me. I can't say I know much about her even now. She's really private and I was shocked when the topic of moving in occurred. Apparently she has a brother in town too. I've never met him but from what I hear he's a tech genius. I hear knocking and open the door, slightly yet Darlene manages to push by, "Nice, I love having doors slammed in my face." She says as she takes off her heart-shaped lens shades. "I didn't see you." I reply. "The guy next door is coming for dinner tonight." I say. "I guess he does deserve atleast one home-cooked meal with all that fastfood he's been eating." She replies as she falls onto the couch. "How do you know he's been eating fastfood?" I ask. She smiles, "You don't know do you?" She asks. Before I can reply I get a notification saying someone logged into my Gmail. "Well he said he didn't know you." I reply as I check the email. "Location New York." I read in my head. "Maybe my phone accessed the Wi-Fi and registered it as a new log in." I think to myself. "Anyways he's a really nice guy. The fact that he agreed to come over must mean he likes you." Darlene continues. Having accidentally blocked her out for a second I still have no idea how she knows him. "So what are you going to cook for him?" She asks. "Don't say it like that." I reply. "Well that's what it is." She says. "No, it's me cooking and him eating, you'll be eating too." I reply. She rolls her eyes. 

2 hours later.

I decided to make pork chops, collard greens, mac and cheese and cornbread. That's pretty much all I know how to cook. As I brush my dress off in the mirror I spy Darlene in the corner of my eye. "You're getting weird. " She says jokingly. "And you're getting judgemental." I reply. She always teases me about something. I wear comfortable clothes if I don't my skin will get irritated. I try to wear my hoodie to cover things up but it never works. I always either sweat to death or decide not to wear it because something would clash with it. We soon hear a knock at the door and Darlene causally goes to it. I hear it shut, followed by silence. Being nosy I put my ear to the door, and overhear a conversation. "Why are you here in her apartment?" Elliot asks. "We're roomies, relax." Darlene answers. "You're honestly not planning anything?" Elliot asks. "Yeah because I'm wise enough to hack the crazy, Puerto Rican, mafia family, hacker chick. Sounds like a jolly good plan." Darlene answers. I'm not crazy and I'm only part Puerto Rican! I should hide the pork chops and iced tea from her ass!! Alright maybe she's a little right. "Okay." Elliot replies. I make a break from the door to the table as the doorknob turns. "Guess who's here?" Darlene jokes as she re-enters the apartment. "I have a good idea." I reply pretending to stir the tea. I hug Elliot and show him to the counter. Darlene quietly laughs and I purposely bump the table as I walk by. "Everything looks and smells good." Elliot says, I get a plate and fork out and hand them to him, "Make sure to get seconds then." I say. He smiles and makes his plate. I sit down and death stare Darlene. She wraps her arms around her body and pretends to be making out with someone. "No!" I mouth. "You know you want to." She mouths back. Elliot joins us at the table. "So Lexi,  do you still hack?" Darlene asks. Elliot pauses eating. "No. I stopped long ago." I answer tensely. "Well we're going to need you to bring it back. We need a social engineer specialist." She replies. "For what?" I ask.