Desires of a Lead

"Okay, so look I didn't have time to save a draft for this new story. This is a brand new laptop. I'm letting you take it, to do the editing like I pay you for." Nadia raised a delicate eyebrow at Laural Benis. She was a well known writer actually, did a lot of novels mostly online, but had several published books now. Nadia had been helping her edit the books grammatically and such since she first started. They used to be friends, but Laural was getting on Nadia's last nerve lately. She thought she was god's gift to writing. Were her books good? Yeah they were pretty good, but she still was not a world renowned writer.

"Laura," Nadia started which was her real first name. Not the pen name she used and now liked to be called by. "I can not get all these pages edited perfectly in one weekend. Are you crazy? I also have plans, you might pay me but I am not your slave." Nadia commented holding up the slim device that was kind of like a Mac Book. It was black and slim, very light to be honest. She didn't even give her a cord. How much battery life was on this thing? Laural needed to remember that Nadia was not a friend for hire anymore. She needed to start saving her stuff and getting it dated. How was she not doing this with her drafts yet? Seemed negligent to Nadia.

"I will pay you double if you can. My readers are really looking forward to this one. I want to start getting the ebook out. You're the only one that does it the way I want it, no changes or suggestions. Just fix the grammar and stuff." Laural made a motion with her perfectly manicured hands. Her dark blonde hair was up in a ponytail. Nadia was far more simply dressed. Plain aqua fitted shirt, with a nice pair of faded jeans. No makeup, with dark brown nearly black hair that had a slight curl to it.

"I still have plans." Nadia said her grey nearly silver colored eyes narrowed. Laural laughed.

"No you don't, you're a closet shut in. You don't socialize." Nadia gave her a look, what the hell was that supposed to mean? So she didn't go out a lot. She still had friends and did stuff from time to time. What was she going to do when Nadia wasn't there anymore?

"Laura," Nadia started again but Laural cut her off.

"For the thousandth time, call me Laural please!" Nadia just stared at her. Man she was becoming a serious jerk. Nadia held the computer to her chest for the moment.

"Why couldn't you give me a copy now? Why this? Aren't you working on two other books?" Nadia asked annoyed. She'd probably get a call for those too.

"Because I didn't have time the computer is complicated. I couldn't figure out the way that one works. It's a brand new prototype! Now this is pretty cool." Laural said pointing at the computer. "I got it because this groupie reader of mine loves my stories. She also works in the tech field and is into like new age wicca or something. She was jabbering on about how cool it would be if you could meet a character. Blah, blah boring." Luaral waved her hand like it mattered little.

"Anyway, she said that if I started writing in this, the program for writing would learn my characters and then actually help make the next story. As you write it learns, and then makes suggestions. Like giving your character's voices, then predictive text to give suggestions. I thought it was pretty awesome. She's a big fan of my Hex series, and so I wrote the next one on there to see. I wanted to upload the others, but I'm struggling. Here." Laural pulled out a small sheet.

"What's this?" Nadia asked frowning.

"It's some kind of input that I couldn't figure out to get the program running. Can you give it a try? See if you can do it, it might help you with grammar and fast editing too." Well if it did that, why wasn't she doing it herself? Though the program did sound kind of cool if that was true. Nadia had been trying to write stories herself, but she was always to bogged down with editing for Laural.

"I can come get it monday morning." Laural said. They were standing in front of a local coffee shop. It was where they normally met. Looked like no coffee for Laural, she was off to go somewhere. To be honest it kind of felt like Laural wasn't caring so much about the quality of her books as she was the volume she was putting out. Nadia meant that in content, not grammar of course.

"We'll see how far I get. It's going to cost you extra if you want me to set up the program." Nadia quipped and Laural rolled her eyes.

"Fine whatever, just get me the edits. This one will be good, can't wait to shock the readers." Nadia raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah? How many characters did you kill this time?" Nadia asked sarcastically and Laural laughed.

"Guess you'll see. Look I have to go, thanks hon." With that Laural pretty much dismissed her. Nadia shook her head slightly. Man she was starting to take Nadia for granted, paid or not. She was not her slave, and she was crazy if she thought that getting proper editing and looking at her plot holes and such was going to be done in a weekend. Nadia really did have plans this weekend.

"Whatever." Nadia stated. Honestly Nadia was looking at a few jobs out east for a few magazines. Doing editing for them, and their online platforms. Nadia had enough experience now, and she had finished school a couple years ago. She wondered what Laural was going to do then, because Nadia wasn't going to keep doing this at this price.

"Well, coffee. Then let's see what she's done to you." She commented to the computer and the story on it. Nadia glanced at the paper and the directions. Kind of really strange directions and input data. She also saw that Laural scribbled a login on the corner. Nadia shook her head. Laural was playing a dangerous game not backing up her story. Just giving it to Nadia, pretty foolish. People stole and bought stories all the time. With a shrug Nadia went into the coffee shop to get her usual. She had no idea that what she was holding in her hand was about to change everything she knew about words on a screen. Nadia was going to wish she'd thrown the slim device back at Laural as she left with what was waiting for her inside.