The Internship (Stuart Twombly)

Chapter 5

"All right, guys, let's take this new team spirit, and let's apply it to this next app challenge. We got this." Billy encouraged his team, obviously fully charged with energy.

"Yo, it'd help if we had an idea for an app." Stuart put in.

"You bet your sweet ass it would, Stewie."

"No. Never Stewie."

"Okay, you don't like 'Stewie'. Perimeter breach acknowledged, Stuart." He said, and turned to face his best friend. "It'll feel good when this one opens up to me. You know it's gonna happen, right?"

Billy nodded in agreement as Nick turned back to face Stuart. "I'll break you down like a two-by-four bronco. Watch me do it."

Stuart looked up from his phone with a grimace.

"Okay, come on guys. Let's brainstorm this puppy."

"We're gonna put coffee in the pot, and we're gonna let it percolate. Let's go!"

"I think it'll be helpful to explore what apps have been most popular in the past." Yo-Yo suggested, heading towards the drawing board as Billy and Nick shouted useless words of encouragement.

"Oh, and we can bin it, you know? Uh, categorize needle-movers by type of user."

"You're gonna do what?" Billy asked in confusion.

"There you go, Neha. Hit it both by function and by user. The old two-prong. You're on the forest moon of Endor, taking out the shield generator, and you're launching an offensive with Admiral Ackbar. It's not a trap!"

"All right, guys, I don't want to kill the momentum, or the mojo you have cooking, but to be fair with you, needles and categories - they don't use apps. People use apps. So I have an idea. Nowadays, people are taking pictures, right? They have their phones now; they're out. Something catches their eye, they want to take it, but then the photo's just sitting there. What if they take that photo and instantaneously and put it out there on the line, and they share it with their friends?"

"That's Instagram. It already exists. It's one of the most popular apps in the world. Facebook bought 'em for, like, a billion dollars." Stuart deadpanned. "That's 'billion' with a 'b'."

"Oh, no, no. Mine is very different from that."

"How is yours something very different from that?" Yo-Yo questioned.

"Because, in mine, you're taking the photo instantaneously, you're putting the photo out there on the line-"

-online."

"-and creating an exchange."

"Yeah, that's Instagram." Juliette affirmed. Neha nodded in agreement.

"But mine's more of a social sharing on the line that's happening."

"Online."

"Quick interjection, when you keep saying 'on the line' you do mean 'online'?" Stuart asked sarcastically.

"Stuart, don't do that! You don't do that to a man. He's got a million-dollar idea right here."

"Billion-dollar idea."

"Even better! Let him flow."

"Nick, I appreciate it. You can't bring me down. I'm too positive. Come here, let me share something with you." Billy said to Stuart, ushering him to stand up.

Stuart scoffed. "No."

"Please, come. I'm gonna explain this to you in a way that's visual."

Stuart flashed an expression of animosity as he rose from his chair to stand next to the large man.