Well, it's been a long time, hasn't it?

Business Partners

November 23, 12:52am

It was an intelligent idea, by far one of the best ones she'd had ever. Not only could it help prevent any more climate change, but it could also provide a steady source of income for Danny and herself. This was good; so far, they were living off of Sam's multiple part-time jobs and Danny's freelancing photography — an idea he got from the Spider-Man movies that actually worked for him, as he didn't take pictures of himself — while taking online college classes at night. They had rented an apartment that, while nice, was just too expensive for them, by about fifty dollars a month. They had been using Sam's emergency funds (aka her inheritance) to help out with the rent; however, they were still living as they would had Sam not come from a wealthy family; they saved every penny and Sam desperately wanted enough money to stop using the contingency funds she kept in the bank to pay rent for the apartment.

Her idea was a car that could run off of water. She knew all of the details: how the engine would run, how water could be re-used, how much water the car needed in order to go a certain distance, and everything else. And she knew it would work, as Danny had helped her build the thing using a 3-D modeling program that he was learning about in his studies. She just needed to build the damned thing: she didn't have the skill, the time, or the equipment to build a sophisticated idea such as the one she had.

It was heartbreaking. How could she have forgotten about this one detail? She was infuriated with herself forgetting about reality while drafting the stupid thing; she had wasted plenty of hours that she could have been sleeping or having fun or out on a rare date with Danny on a stupid plan that would never work because she forgot — she forgot — that she couldn't build the damned car!

"GAH!"

"Sam?" Danny asked groggily, sitting up and looking to where his girlfriend was sitting at her computer with her knees to her chest and her head in her hands, looking like she was about to cry. "What are you doing up? It's…" he paused, looked over at the alarm clock on his side of the bed, "…one in the morning."

Her response was muffled and the opposite of clear. Danny sighed and rolled out of bed, walking over to Sam and crouching down next to her.

"What's wrong, Sam?"

"I finished the plans for the water-powered car idea I had," she said softly, despair clearly shown in her voice.

"That's great, Sam!"

"Yeah," she snorted.

"You're not excited. Why are you not excited?"

"I can't build the damned thing! I don't have the time, and I don't know how to build it, and…" Sam stopped talking when she looked at him and one of his eyebrows was raised and he looked like he was trying to hold back laughter. "What's so funny?"

"Sam, you'll figure out a way to make this work. I'll bet once you get some sleep and think it over, tomorrow or the next day you'll come up with a solution," Danny soothed. "Also, you forgot that you need to get the patent for this idea so that nobody else can build it first."

"Oh, yeah," she said, sheepishly. She started to crack up and soon the two were laughing quietly to themselves. They stopped only when Sam tried to suppress a yawn and failed, causing Danny to say that they she go to bed, a statement which Sam agreed with whole-heartedly.

November 29, 12:34pm

She was at home in between her job working as a grocery store clerk and her job as a gardener at the senior center two blocks away. Tuesday was the day where she had the longest amount of downtime for lunch; her first job started at seven and ended at 11:30am and her second job started at 2pm. Danny had come home five minutes before; he was in the kitchen throwing food into his body. He would leave in ten minutes for his job as a receptionist at one of the only hotels in Amity Park.

Sam usually was in the kitchen with him, but she was in the bedroom, back at the desk, wondering how she would build her car again. She had figured out that she would file for a design patent, and she had used the contingency for the filing fee. All of the paperwork had been filed as soon as Sam had come home; she thought she would've been able to file for a patent the day after she had her breakdown, but it turns out the process was longer than she had expected; she was okay with this, though, as it gave her more time to figure out a solution of how to build the water-powered car.

And then an idea came to her. It hit her suddenly, and she felt stupid for not thinking of it sooner. Sure, it wasn't a foolproof idea, but maybe it could happen in the summer.

She'd call Tucker.

Running into the living room where she'd left her iPhone, she picked it up and pressed the home button. The phone didn't turn on, and Sam remembered that her phone had died. Groaning, she went back to the bedroom and plugged it in. She couldn't sit there though, so she decided to tell Danny her idea.

"Danny?" Sam asked, walking into the kitchen.

"Yeah?"

"I think I figured out how to build the car," Sam exclaimed excitedly. Danny smiled.

"How?"

"I'm gonna call Tucker."

"…He's in Boston."

"I'll wait until the summer. I think it'd be a good project, and the patent won't be published — if it is published — until mid-summer, earliest. However, we can say it's patent-pending. We can prototype until then; hopefully it'll be published, and we can make a fully operating prototype, then maybe find a manufacturer, come up with costs, start a business…"

Danny looked at the clock and stopped Sam in her ramblings. "I have to go." He kissed her on the cheek and started out the door. "Say hi to Tucker for me!"

August 18, 5:07pm

"…And we're done!" Sam cried, throwing her hands up into the air happily. She breathed a sigh of relief, wiping sweat off of her brow. "Thank you so much, Tuck."

"It's not a problem, really. I love building things," Tucker said. "Has the patent been published yet?"

"Not yet. I just got word this morning that the patent is still waiting action," Sam replied. "But it's certainly better than having the patent be rejected."

The two decided on leaving the warehouse that Sam had reluctantly used her inheritance money to buy, locking up so that the car prototype they had just finished wouldn't be stolen. They started walking towards Sam and Danny's apartment, as the trio was planning on hanging out tonight. Comfortable silence fell between the two as they walked.

"Tucker, I've had a bunch of ideas about stuff," Sam started to say.

"Oh god. We just finished building an entire damn car, and you want to start another project right away?" Tucker exclaimed, incredulous.

"NO! No, no, no. I want to take a break — trust me — but I was thinking that maybe once you're out of college next year if you wanted to try and start up an engineering company with me, one that tries to solve problems in an eco-friendly way," Sam explained. Tucker stayed silent for a minute, and Sam was worried that he would outright say no.

"I have no idea, Sam," Tucker started. "I mean, it sounds great; co-managing a business with my best friend? That's a dream job for me. But it seems unrealistic, you know?"

"I know, Tucker. But it's not like there are many jobs available, anyway. And we can keep our own hours, so we can work part-time on the side — like I do now."

"Well, let's see if you get the patent, and if we can get a company to manufacture and sell these cars," Tucker agreed, "because if that happens, you pretty much already have a business, right?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"Cool."

The two continued to walk quietly, Sam happy with Tucker's answer and Tucker wondering if Sam's optimism would be crushed if the water-powered car didn't get manufactured or if the patent was rejected.

"How'd you learn to do this anyway? It sounds like it would take years to learn this stuff, years that I don't think you really have." Sam asked suddenly, throwing Tucker off guard.

"Eh, my mom used to fix up the old rust bucket- remember that car, the one we had before my dad got a huge promotion? Anyway, I'd help her fix it up and learned that way," Tucker answered.

"Your mom?"

"Yeah, she doesn't look like she's a techno geek like me. But I learned all the basics and then some from her."

"Wish someone did that for me. I'm so pathetic, I can't build jack shit on my own. And I never got a computer until I was thirteen. Did I tell you that? And they had other people block me from so many websites, I couldn't unlock one until my grandma got me my second computer..." Sam stared down at the ground as she berated herself when Tucker jumped in.

"Hey! Give yourself some credit. You came up with the idea of the water-powered car, right? And you drew up all the blueprints from information on the internet? I know how to build stuff from plans, and I can make the plans, but I need the idea. I'm not good with those, and ideas are what are most important."

"Yeah, but-"

"Listen, my mom and I, we'll teach you the basics. Deal?" Tucker asked impatiently, sticking out his hand.

"Deal," Tucker sighed as Sam smiled and added on, "business partner."

And Tucker groaned.

WHOOP! I'm ba-ack! For now, at least. I'll probably disappear in a day or two. One-shot albums are very nice. R&R!