Maynard Books [Larry Stylinson]

Chapter One

Hii! I hope you guys like my new story! Enjoy!

December 2014

Louis Tomlinson. 25 years old. Working as an editor-in-chief of Maynard Books for 5 years. Living in New York City in a loft.

I walk into the same building I've walked into for 5 years, Maynard Books. Walking over to the elevators, I click the button to the 48th floor. I listen to the slight elevator music sounding from the speakers and smile. I always seemed to enjoy classical and a little bit of classic elevator music. The elevator dings and opens the double doors. I step off and walk over to my secretary, Niall's desk.

I clear my throat as Niall is tapping away on his phone. He jolts his head up and slams his phone down on his desk. "I-I-I- I uhh- ugh. Hello Mr. Tomlinson." He corrects himself and sits up straight.

I let out a slight chuckle, "Hello Mr. Horan. Any meetings today?"

He holds up one finger as he turns to his computer on his right, tapping against the white keyboards and moving the mouse around. "Uhmm... There's a job application meeting from 3-6. There are 10 applicants who are applying for the job as an author on Mr. Malik's team."

I groan. I'm simply not looking forward to listening to a bunch of women and men having no creative and any writing skills. "Ring me when it's time." I drum my hands against his desk as he smiles and nods at me. I bite my bottom lip and turn to walk into my office.

I push open the giant glass doors and take my coat off, hanging it on the coat rack in the corner of the office. I walk over to take a seat on my black leather chair. My whole entire office walls are made of glass so I have no privacy at all. I spin my chair around once and pause at the window. I roll the chair over closer and look down 48 stories. The sight of yellow taxi cabs and crowds of people walking around fills into my eyes.

There is a voice clearing and a knock on my office door. I turn around to see my boyfriend, Robin leaning against the door frame with a smile across his face. I return the smile and run over to him. We both crash into a hug and I got onto my tiptoes, as he was much taller than me. "Hey babe." He mumbled and pulled away from the hug, giving me a peck on the lips.

I humm and smile, "Hi Robin." I turn back to sit onto my chair at my desk. "Did you need anything?" I watch him close the glass door behind him.

He sits down on the chairs in front of my desk and places his elbows on the edge of my polished desk. "I just wanted to visit my handsome boyfriend at work."

I raise my eyebrow at him at let out a soft giggle, "Don't you have to run after your little first graders?"

Robin places his head on his hands, and shakes his head. "Nope. They went on a field trip today, and I decided not to follow along. I've got the rest of the time in the world to visit the Bronx Zoo like I did the last 3 years."

I giggle once more and scrunched up my nose at the word 'zoo'. I absolutely despised zoos. "Well you can sit here for a while, I guess but you have to leave at 2. I've got job applicants at 3."

He gave me a wide smile and stood up, walking across the room towards the door, "I'll go get us some tea." I waved him off and straightened out my tie.

I started up my computer and the time displayed across the screen, reading 9:02 AM. I sighed, opening the file drawer next to my desk, taking out stack of manilla folders filled with manuscripts. As I opened the first manuscript, Robin came back into the office, placing a cup of tea next to my arm. I look up at him and flash him a smile, "Thanks Robin."

~*~

There was a knock on my office door, and Niall walked in shortly after. "Mr. Tomlinson, the 3 o'clock applicant is here." He handed me a manilla folder with the name, 'Susan Thomas' across the top. I take off my glasses and rub my face. He turns his gaze to the trash can next to my desk. I've been reading manuscripts for 6 hours now. 3/4 of all of them were thrown away in the bin. The other's are taken into consideration and in a stack to my left. Robin left around 1 because of boredom.

I took another deep breath, "Send her in." Niall bowed his head town and turned to leave my office, closing the door behind him.

After a minute or so, a young lady with wavy brown hair walked into my office. "Hello." I gave her a smile as she sat down. "Susan Thomas?"

She fixed her top and straightened out her skirt, "That is me."

I nodded, "So," I open up her file and scan through each of her papers. College graduate of Columbia University in the English major, graduated with excellent grades, and working as a blog writer. I nodded, "Why have you applied for Mr. Malik's team?"

She stares at me right in the eyes, "I hear that he has the best editors on the team. I'd feel safe knowing that my editor is the best of the best."

I gave her a slight smile. Off to a good start.

~*~

I rubbed under my eyes and stretched out my arms. The sun was setting from my view and it just looked absolutely gorgeous behind all of the buildings. My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I take it out.

Want to go out for dinner tonight, babe? -Robin Galligan.

Sure :) xx -Louis Tomlinson.

Louis looks down at his phone with a smile, until Niall once again steps into the room. "One last applicant Mr. Tomlinson. 'Name is Harry Styles." He hands me another manilla folder with the name 'Harry Styles' written in Sharpie across the top. I reply with another 'send him in'. So far only Susan and another lad named Stephen has caught my attention. They're not exactly what I had in mind for Zayn's team but they'll do.

A tall lad pushes open the glass doors and carefully makes his way to my desk. He sits down and looks up at me. I was taken aback a bit at his glorious green eyes. They were just beautiful and the sunset just added to it. "Hello." I cough and looks down at his file.

"Hi..." He replies. My heart jumps a bit at his voice. They were so deep, yet soothing. Like Morgan Freeman but hotter and not old. I blinked my eyes a couple of times before reading over his file. College graduate of Yale University, graduated with perfect grades, and currently has a part-time job for writing small childrens books and young-adult books for the city library. I nod my head as I read through the rest of his file. He's done exceptional work in the past and is still currently doing well.

"You traveled around the world? Like to each continent and country?" I raised my eyebrow at him.

He smirked and nodded, "Yeah. It was pretty amazing. I've recieved many love from each place and they're all very lovely places."

I let out a sound of disbelief, "Doesn't that cost a fortune to do that?"

"Yeah it does, but it's all worth it in the end." He smiles. "Like, what's the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable?"

~*~

"Thank you for applying for Mr.Malik's team. We're glad to have you join out team." I stood up and shook Harry's hand. His big hand clasped around mine as we shook.

He looked at me straight in the eye, with his green eyes still glimmering. "Glad to be accepted here... But uh... When do I start?"

We stopped shaking hands and I walked over to my coat hanger, taking my coat off the rack. "Tomorrow, 8:00. Same floor, 48, and just stop by my office. I'll guide you to your team." I slipped on my coat and Harry followed behind me as we walked out of my office, turning the light off. "Bring one of your best works tomorrow. You're gonna meet the entire team, show Mr.Malik your work and he'll decide who's gonna be your editor." We entered the elevator and he pushed the button to the lobby. "You learn the basic stuff like when each due date is, which type of work we would accept, and what kind of work gets published. You hand in manuscripts on each due date, your editor decides which ones gets passed up to me, and I review each and every manuscript." He nods as I continue, "Did you see the pile of paper in the bin next to my desk? That was a total of 30 manuscripts. Out of the 30, only about 7 or 8 got passed and is getting published. This is a professinal building. This is not a silly childrens book for libraries anymore. This is reality. Do it right and you'll be fine."

Harry gulps as the doors open to the lobby. We step off and I turn to him to say goodbye. We exchange farewells and go our seperate ways.

~*~

SOOOOO what did you think? I know I said 3,000+ words but ehh. Too much work and I have homework. Do you think I should continue with this story?