Page 21 of Just My Type of wrong guy

“It wasn’t smart to put a song in a language you guys don’t sing in on the band’s digital platforms.” He responds firmly. “But you guys were right, top 30 globally with a song that half of it’s sung in Portuguese. That’s insane.” He admits, his face flushed and lets out a slight sigh as he sees another person joining us in the meeting. “You guys are a success, Alex is a success, everyone won.”

I think about saying that it doesn’t feel like everyone won, since he not only didn’t believe inMaybe, but also ignored it when it went viral worldwide and only caved when he realized he was losing a lot of money by not having it on streaming.

“Good morning, boys. Sorry I’m late. Our first topic today is the shows that haven’t sold out yet.” Paola, Victor’s personalassistant and girlfriend, tries to cover for her man. “We want to know if you or Dani have any suggestions.”

“Welcome, Paola. We’re still talking about Maybe.” Guilherme points out. “We need to be careful with these releases, it took us so long to get on streaming, now we have to keep taking down live versions people upload as podcast episodes just so they can hear the biggest hit of the year.” Guilherme expresses my frustration in a more polite way, but no less impactful.

“There wasn’t any delay, Almeida.” Paola laughs, flipping her gray hair like she’s in a shampoo commercial. “We needed to understand if fans worldwide had approved the song, or if it was just the Brazilian ones. The second case would be a big fuss over nothing.”

“We didn’t delay? So, we have our biggest release, and we’ll never know its full potential because people were already listening to it elsewhere, but the company is sure it did the right thing by holding back the song?”

“Business can’t be emotional, Guilherme.” Victor answers impatiently.

“Yeah, guys. We can’t be emotional.Maybeis probably our biggest hit and almost didn’t go to streaming because of our boss’s ego.” Richard concludes with a slight sneer in his husky voice. “Is this the problem with the boy bands you guys kept talking about?” he mocks, and Victor takes a deep breath, squirming uncomfortably.

“Exactly, Richard. The good thing about owning a brand is that you don’t have to explain everything you do with it.” He says with no guilt in his voice.

“Good thing the Vagabonders worldwide fought for the song then, right?” I break the tense atmosphere growing in the room, and Dani opens her mouth before Victor does.

“Alright, guys. The song’s finally out, and it’s a hit.” My best friend interrupts the discussion. “And, if I may suggest something, Paola, I think it would be great to have Maybe recorded in English. All in English, I mean. What do you think, Victor?”

“I think I was right to bring you into the meeting, we can always count on our fifth member for the most useful ideas.” Victor winks with a half-smile, and Richard’s neck cracks so loudly, his jealousy is palpable. “But where’s our golden ticket?” he asks, aware that Alexandra isn’t in the room.

“There’s no way we can record this song on the road, Victor.” I laugh at the absurdity. “We’d have to pull an all-nighter in the studio adapting the lyrics and…”

“You’re not recording, A.J., she’s the one singing in Portuguese. But we need to know if Alexandra wants to sing the song in another language and how she feels about adapting the lyrics to French and Spanish so you can sing them during the tour.” Victor lists and sighs tiredly, as if I should know this. “And no matter how much you ask, these versions will only be for the live shows.”

“Makes sense.” Paola ponders.

“Which shows haven’t sold out yet?” Daniele asks, but she’s not looking at us, she’s writing something in her idea notebook on the table.

“Paris and Madrid still need to sell out, three out of the eight shows outside of festivals.”

“Paris in two weeks and Madrid in three, right?” Dani asks, still scribbling, and we confirm. “The song in the local language will be good marketing, and you” – she points at me – “will take Alexandra somewhere very simple but famous, like a café. No disguises this time, you’ll go as tourists.”

“I’m not sure I like that.” Victor comments, scratching his ear. “He’s our die-hard bachelor.”

“We want to sell tickets or not?” Daniele asks, as if he’s stepping into her territory.

“MakeOne Last Kissthe biggest act of the night.” Victor smiles with a smirk, suggesting with every unspoken word that Alexandra and I sell ourselves to sell tickets.

“I’m your singer, Victor. But my personal life isn’t your business.”

“Sure. It was just a comment.” My boss laughs as if I’m seeing things where there’s nothing, but I’m not joking.

The last thing I need is another douchebag manager.

“Paola will get in touch with Thalia with the documents for the new versions of the song, and you guys, please, find Alexandra.” Victor asks, but it’s an order. “She’ll need to work on the versions of this song as soon as possible.”

“I already messaged her, Victor. You want me to go grab her? Her room’s just nine floors from here.” Richard sighs, and Victor shakes his head with the same friendliness our drummer shows.

“Alright, let’s talk about the extra shows in Cork and London.” Victor uses the plural and surprises us, until this morning we were only expecting one more show, in Lomdon.

It’s still insane to think that, after selling out seventeen shows in Brazil, most of them in stadiums, we arrived in Europe in festivals and pretty big venues and, although some places still have tickets available, in others the demand was so high that we’ll have more shows.

Victor goes over everything we need with us, and he and Paola leave the call with new ideas to discuss with the marketing team.

“These two are such dicks.” I murmur, turning my cap backward.

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