Chapter 4: Living close to you again?!

After a long, exhausting afternoon, learning, taking more notes and a few discussions, the first day was over.

On the way out, Alex came up to Piper. "Do you have plans for the rest of the day already?", she asked.

"Not really. Checking in, unloading some of this stuff in my hotel room and then maybe go and see some sights, I haven't been to Washington D.C. before." Piper answered.

"Not really? That sounds like a plan already. Mind if I join? My plans were kind of similar." Alex wanted to know.

"Not at all. Which hotel are you staying at?"

"It's actually not that far. I think it's called Capitol Skyline Hotel." Alex replied.

Piper's eyes widened with surprise. "You too? Me too. So we have the same way to the hotel. So many coincidences here…" Piper laughed.

XXXXX

They had been walking to their hotel together. Talking on the way there Piper told Alex how PoPi's was found.

FLASHBACK

Polly opened the door and was surprised to see her friend standing in front of her.

"Piper! What are you doing here? I didn't expect you at all."

"Hey, Pol. I needed to get away for a moment. Larry was just downright annoying."

"Oh, what did he do now? Did he forget to pick up something important again, or just be himself?" Polly chuckled.

"What? No. And you're playing all those events down a little. I'm not like that and freaking out about small stuff like that."

"That was exactly what you've been doing recently." Polly told her.

"No I haven't!" Piper pouted.

"You have been overly impatient with him for the whole time the two of you have been living together. And it's been like - what - a month now? You are both getting used to living with someone and not alone anymore. It's gonna take some time to adjust to that."

"It's not that, or well, maybe exactly that. He doesn't understand that even though we're living together now I need some free space and some time to myself. He's just always there, Polly always and everywhere. I mean I enjoy having him around most of the time. But I need some time for myself sometimes and he just doesn't understand that. Even if I tell him, he doesn't react to it. He obviously doesn't need any free time and space just for him." Piper told her best friend.

"I can understand what you mean. Do you want me to talk to him about it?" Polly offered.

"Yes - no. I don't know. Is it okay if I just stay here for a bit to have a small time out, so to say?"

"Yes, of course." Polly gave her an understanding smile.

"What were you doing before I surprised you with my visit?" Piper asked.

"Oh, I was trying something new. Come with me." Piper followed Polly to her kitchen.

"Oh it smells so amazing in here!"

"Yeah. I've been trying to make soaps by myself. It isn't that hard actually. I was a little annoyed by the scents you can find in stores currently and wanted something different." Polly looked at Piper curious for her reply.

"They definitely smell heavenly. Will you make me some?" Piper requested.

"If you want, of course. Just tell me which scent."

"Oranges. I always liked the smell of oranges. When they're freshly peeled… " Piper said excited.

"Okay. I'll have to find a way to get that in a soap, but it should be possible." Polly replied.

"So you're just doing that for yourself or do you have plans for that?" Piper was curious.

"Oh, no. So far I've just done it for myself. I've given a few away mostly to my parents or Pete's. They really liked them."

"Do you think you could sell those?" Piper enquired.

"Why are you asking me this? Do mean I should sell those? But that would mean so much that comes with that! I'd need a shop, or a website and I'd need to produce enough to be sold. And I would need to do at least a little bit of advertisement. That is so much work!" Polly replied trying to think about everything that would needed to be done and how she should do all that.

"I could do that! Or part of that. I'm tired of working as a waitress. I want to do something new. Something that is fun. And making soaps with my best friend sounds exactly like that!" Piper got all excited.

"You're serious about this?" Polly wasn't really convinced yet. "Yeah, I mean it would be great if we could work together. But do you know how much work this is gonna be? And what if nobody wants to buy the soaps? We don't have any idea how to build our own business."

"Please Polly. I'm not saying we should both just quit our jobs and spend all day here, making soaps. I mean we both have bills to pay, right? But could we at least try that? It smells so heavenly in here! Who could not want to buy something that smells so good. And after using the soap you smell so good yourself. It's a great idea Polly. Come on… Take a risk and let's try this."

"Okay." Polly gave in. "But you're right about not quitting our jobs yet."

"Yes!" Piper was super excited. "We could call it Piper's and Polly's. Or Polly's and Piper's."

"Definitely Polly's and Piper's. I mean I'm the one making the soap." Polly laughed at her friends enthusiasm.

"I was the one who had the idea for the business!" Piper exclaimed.

"Without my soap there wouldn't have been any business idea to be had." Polly explained. "But I thinks we should shorten it a little. How About PoPi's?"

"Oh, I like that!" Piper replied.

They went on talking about their plans and how they wanted to build their business for the rest of the afternoon until Piper decided to head home and apologize to Larry for just disappearing and to tell him about their business idea.

END OF FLASHBACK

"That was about a year ago." Piper told Alex after she finished telling the story.

They had been working from Polly's kitchen in every free minute they had. Slowly her kitchen was getting too small though as after a couple months their idea really took off and the business started to grow.

"So a surprise visit to your best friend because you were annoyed with your boyfriend turned into founding of your company?" Alex asked feeling a little uneasy when mentioning the boyfriend part.

"Yeah. What a coincidence, right?" Piper replied not noticing Alex's slight disappointment.

"Yeah." was the only thing Alex said.

They arrived at the hotel and both checked in. Shortly before they went up to their rooms Piper asked: "Want to meet back down here in 45 minutes for some sightseeing?"

"Yeah, sure" Alex replied and got into the elevator.