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The Only One Not Interested (OnnaOtaku and Josu_T)

Josu_T

Josu_T

Supernova
Joined
Oct 14, 2009
Location
B.C.
Brian Harris entered his office early in the morning and sat down behind his desk. He was very happy with his recent success. He was a tour manager for Eclipse Records, a big label with numerous artists and groups. Brian ran their tours and had just finished a huge comeback tour for a band from the seventies. The record sales were now through the roof and another tour was being planned. While the deals were made for that one, Brian had a feeling he would be set to run a tour for another of the label's artists.

Brian felt he was on top of the world. His past three tours had been highly successful. The artists he worked with always came out of the experience very happy with what he'd done for them. He'd received two raises within the past year. He felt his life couldn't be going any better. He leaned back in his chair happily. He looked at his reflection in his blank computer screen. He had short black hair, brown eyes, a semi-tanned complexion, and stood with a broad frame at 6'3", making him stnad out easily in a crowd and be able to control any situation. He congratulated his reflection for his recent success before getting to work.

He checked his messages and confirmed his suspicions. He was supposed to meet with his boss in half an hour to discuss it. He spent that time finishing his final report about the tour he'd just completed. Once he finished, he sent it off to the accounting deparment and walked to his boss' office. He entered and sat across the desk from the man he highly respected. "Hi Mr. Alverson, so, what do you have in mind for me now?"

Mr Alverson slid a file across the desk to Brian. "Well, Brian, I'm getting you to run possibly our biggest tour ever. It is going to be a long one, but that is what the artist wants. It will be all over North America. Imagine it. Packed stadiums, hundreds of thousands of screaming young people, millions of dollars in profit. Over the next two days you are going to spend a lot of time with the artist and get all the info you need to set up the perfect tour for her. I want this to be huge. Oh, here she is now. This is the star of the latest and biggest Eclipse Records North American Tour, ever." He pointed to the door as it opened. Brian turned to look at who he would be working with over the next couple of months.
 
"How long will this tour be?" a voice whined from next to the tall, dark haired agent. He was leading his latest smash towards her next meeting and she wasn't pleased at all. Alexa Thomas was her name and she was known for her 'angelic voice' to quote her latest review. Her career kicked off from the beginning at her high school talent show and she's been rising ever since.

"Months," he told her simply. "That's what you're going to be talking about today. We'll figure out where all you want to go and leave it up to the tour manager to figure out the rest." He looked towards Alexa and smiled. "It'll be a great tour and worth all the money we put into it."

With the sweet smile that knocked boys off their feet, the 5'5" red head bounced down the hallway, humming to herself one of the new songs she had written. There was a bubbly beat to it, one that you could certainly dance to. It was new for the upcoming tour and was sure to be a hit. They soon reached the door and the manager gestured towards them to Mr. Alverson and the other man inside. Then hearing their entrance, he opened the door and Alexa popped her head in before quickly entering and throwing her hands into the air. Her normal greeting.

"Hello," she cheered and looked at the two men sitting around the desk,
 
Brian took one look at the girl in the doorway and nearly got up and walked right out on his boss. H knew who she was and didn't want anything to do with her or her tour. The moment she did her typical entrance, he had to fight to keep himself in his seat. He turned back to Mr. Alverson. "Are you serious? You want me to run her tour? Isn't there anyone else? What about Alex? He usually does pop tours. I can't do this, you should know that by now. I won't be able to handle one minute with her, let alone two days discussing this thing and months on the tour!" He spoke as if she wasn't even in the room with him. He didn't care if she heard, he didn't intend to be working with her anyway.

There were numerous reasons he didn't want to work with her. the first was that he didn't like her music. It sounded way too fake. There was no heart and no soul in it. It was all a bunch of pandering to the fans. Dance music that would sell to naive young people, that's all. The second reason was her shows. She would go onto stage and the focus would be on her dancing. She would probably expect him to make some costume designer create some skimpy outfits for her so she could flaunt her body, just so boys would buy her music. The third, her personality, it seemed so fake, even in private. Her entance to the room proved his point. The final answer was most important. He'd been her friend in middle school. He didn't even think she remembered him any more. She was too caught up in her fame. She had been much nicer, and more about the passion for real music before.

His boss stared at him for a moment before giving his reasons why Brian would be the tour manager for Alexa. "Brian, listen to me. I am serious, very serious. Alex is busy with someone else at the moment. You know that. Anyway, I'd be asking you to do this anyway. You have been on fire lately. This is our biggest tour ever. I need you on this project to make sure it goes perfectly. Whether you like the music or not isn't important. Ok, I'll put it like this. If you do this tour, you will get a promotion and the ability to pick whatever tours you want to manage. If you don't, you can go looking for another label to work for. Do I make myself clear?" Brian sighed and nodded, signing his contract that was the first page of the file. He then turned to face Alexa, a forced smile on his face.
 
"Yeah Brian, don't be a prick," she forced out at the end of it all, brushing a lock of her hair from her face and watching it fall over her shoulder. "What happened to the old you?" She obviously remembered him from school. Why would she forget him anyway? He was the one that started her whole career. Smoothly, she sat down in the second seat across the desk and quickly glanced at the contract before her manager whisked it away and read over it.

Alexa really only started singing to get Brian's attention. She knew he was very much into music so maybe if she sang, he would start to talk to her more and perhaps treat her like a person instead of just another girl in the school. She changed her looks, her attitude and even her musical preferences, just to try to speak to him more. But in the end it failed with her hot new career and he refused to speak to her.

But maybe this tour would do some good? he would be stuck on a bus or a plane with her for hours, days, months so at some point he would have to speak to her. Maybe she could convince him that she never really changed. She was still the oddball Alexa from years back...
 
Brian was surprised by Alexa's added comment. Then she asked him a question that gave him mixed thoughts. Apparently she remembered him from school. At least she hadn't forgotten her past as a normal member of society. He also was annoyed by her comment about the old him. She was the one who had gone through a drastic change. yet he did have to wonder if he had changed much since then.

He watched her take a quick look at the contract, only to have it taken away by her manager. He looked at the man who he could already tell didn't really care what was best for Alexa, but cared more about the money. He knew that the moment he finished reading the contract, he would put it down on the desk, make a few statements about what Alexa would need, and then ask for more money as well. He'd seen guys like him many times before. He leaned back in his chair and waited for the negotiations to start and finish within a minute.

Once he was sure the contract would be signed, he decided it was time to get to work. He had his file there ready to read in detail. He knew that in a little while, he would start a busy two days with Alexa, planning the tour in detail. He got up from his chair slowly and looked to his boss, who knew what was coming next. Brian had his methods of planning tours, and he intended to follow that plan, even if it meant being alone with Alexa. He turned to Alexa's manager. "Over the next two days, I am scheduled to work with Alexa, planning this thing. You will not be needed. At this stage I work directly with the artist and only with the artist, to get exactly what they want, not what their managers want."
 
The negotiations did start right on cue, but before much could be bickered about, Alexa looked back and raised her one eyebrow. "What's the big deal? I'm sure they've worked everything out. Why do you have to be so difficult with everything?"

With a small snicker, the man slowly shook his head. "Let me do the talking. You just sit there and sign when I tell you." He then quickly went back to his job and very soon, they worked everything out. Choosing that it was all good enough for the singer, he handed her the pen and she quickly signed her name, then pen flying across the paper in a rather 'pretty' manor. She set the pen down onto the desk then looked towards Brian, listening to his words. Her manager began to rebel, but she quickly stood up and smiled. "It'll be fine. You can go...do manager type things, alright? Brian will watch out for me. There won't be a problem."
 
Brian had expected the manager to argue with them. Most of them did, wanting to be in on the planning. He just wouldn't listen. He was glad when Alexa stepped in and told him to leave. I seemed she trusted Brian enough to deal with her tour. He smiled and waited for the manager to leave. He then turned to his boss. "I guess we will go get started now. You will get my tour proposal in two days." He got up and, as always after setting up a tour deal, shook Mr. Alverson's hand.

He turned to Alexa. "Well, lets get going to my office. We can be comfortable there and discuss what you want the tour to look like. The label has some locations set, but the rest will be up to you." As he spoke, he moved toward the door and opened it for her. He then led her toward his office. After a quick comment for his secretary to hold all his calls and tell anyone who needed him that he was busy, he opened the door to his office and held it open for Alexa. No matter how much he didn't want to work with her, he would hold up his standards and manners that he showed every one of the label's artists.

Once inside, he pulled out a chair for Alexa and sat in one across a small table from her. Rather than be behind a desk, he prefered a casual discussion. A tour was not just about business, and he felt he got better info from artists about what they wanted when it didn't feel as formal. He smiled briefly at her and pulled out a note pad. "Ok Alexa, let's get started with locations. In the file I have the mandatory locations, but the dates we play there and any other locations are fully up to us to decide." He placed the file on the table so she could look at it if she wanted.
 
The pop star followed closely after Brian, her eyes wandering around the halls then the front office as they arrived in her sight. She always took notes in her mind of everything around her just in case she needed something later. Alexa never knew what small facts that seemed unneeded were actually be useful.

She sat down in the directed chair when they moved into the office though and smiled towards Brian a little. Nodding slowly at what he was saying, she looked down at the file and gently picked it up. "I didn't really get a lot of information on this," she told him softly, almost hesitating. It wasn't that she was stupid or didn't care, it was more along the lines of her manager just seemed to love to keep her out of the loop on most things in her own life. "Will it be a country tour or a world tour?" She glanced up towards the man with a small smile.
 
Brian was surprised by Alexa's lack of knowledge about the tour she was going to be going on. It seemed her manager had a tight grip on her and felt she was only good for her voice and stage presence. He frowned as he opened the file.

"I thought you were smarter than this, Alexa. The girl I remember from when we were younger was much too smart to be controlled like you are by that manager. You would have never let someone keep you in the dark like this. Anyway, here are the details. It will last three months, starting one month from now. It is a tour of North America. We will have stops in cities all over Canada and the United States. The list of mandatory cities is there for you. As I said, everything else is up to you, and only you. I can't decide, Mr. Alverson can't decide, and especially your manager can't decide. They way I work is that this is your tour and it will happen your way or it won't happen. Now, take a look at the file and start thinking of what you would like."
 
Taking the file back, Alexa set it down in her lap. Her hair quickly fell over her eyes, hiding them quickly before Brian could see the real look she had on her face. She was hurt with that comment. She knew she was smart and she knew she should be able to do better then that, but some how she just couldn't bring herself to telling her manager to piss off and let her do what she wanted. She truly hated that about herself.

"I definitely want to go to Toronto," she told him, reading over the list. "Edmington too. I want to hit the mall there before we leave." Slowly, Alexa looked up at Brian with a small smile, hiding the pain. "Would we be able to make time for that? Even for just like...a few hours maybe? Please?"
 
Brian sat back in his chair and waited for Alexa to read over some of the info in the file. He couldn't see her eyes since they were covered by her hair. He didn't really care. He didn't even want to be there, or at least wished she was some other artist. As long as she didn't use her new personality around him too much, he might be able to handle it.

He listened to her requests for stops, taking notes. then she asked about the West Edmonton Mall. She even made it sound like she was pleading before he had even answered. That definitely sounded like the old Alexa. It might also be a part of the new one, but that didn't matter much. He smiled and took a note. "We will work something out, though you may have to go in disguise so you don't get surrounded by fans asking for autographs. Now, anywhere else you would like to go? Keep in mind that this is not a shopping tour, or a sight seeing tour, though that may be squeezed in somewhere, but this is about the music."
 
Alexa grinned and nodded. "I completely understand. I'll keep the sights and shopping down to a bare minimum." She looked back over the list and took notes in her mind about what was listed. "Las Vegas," she began to read off to herself. "Let's see...Seattle, San Francisco...Phoenix." She nodded slowly, agreeing with most of these stops. "They all sound good so far," she told him. "How many concerts should we be having?"
 
He took notes as she listed off cities. He looked up as she asked how many concerts they would be having. He put down his note pad for a moment. "Well, that is up to you. The list of cities we have to go to is only ten. We could have only ten concerts spread out over the three months, however, we will want to do more. Ten is too few."

He pulled some things out of the back of the file and opened them up, smiling. As usualy they had given him exactly what he wanted. He had a map of Canada and the U.S. with all possible tour stops on it. With that he had a list of possible locations in each city where they could play and what days each location would be available. Finally, he had a list of hotels in each city where they could stay.

He pointed out some things to her. "Ok, what we want to do is make a bunch of lines from city to city. Beside each stop, we want to eventually have a hotel where you will stay and the number of days. Also, location of the show or shows, with date and time. Then a line to another city with a method of travel. We need to account for every single day during those three months, even if it is a day off. Only once that is done can we work on what we want it to look like and what we want to happen."
 
She nodded and began to point out a list of cities that she would like to stop at, dragging her finger along an invisible-at-the-moment trail. By the end of it, there was going to be eighteen concerts.

"How's that sound?" she asked, looking up towards Brian once again. "Or should I find an even twenty?" Looking back down, she began to search for a few more spots that she might want if she had to choose.
 
As Alexa looked at the map and made invisible lines, he made notes about everything she pointed at. Brian started mentally planning it already. By the time she was done, he had the list of cities written down. It seemed a little short as he looked at it. He looked at the map again. "As a note, we have ninety days. If we have only eighteen concerts, that means one concert every four and a half days, approximately. That is a lot of time between shows. I would consider having at least one more city and more than one show in some of the larger cities."
 
She nodded. "Alright, two in Philly, two in Toronto and...two in Vegas?" she asked, looking back at Brian. "How's that sound? And we could add a stop in Salt Lake maybe?" She couldn't help but smile. Finally, she was getting his attention but not exactly in the way that she wanted. But for now, this would do.
 
Brian made the notes to the new changes and agreed. It was a bit better. He hoped to convince her to a few more concerts by the time they were done, to get to a good average of a show every three days, but it was good so far. He spent the next couple of hours going over the possible locations she could play at in each city, discussing the pros and cons of each building. When it got close to noon he stopped and had a smile on his face. It was going quite well now. He looked at her. "So, do you feel like going to get lunch, or having it brought here?"
 
Alexa hesitated. "I think we should have it brought here. Otherwise I'd have to hide myself and still have to do with the paparazzi outside and such." She shrugged a little. "I would be easier in the long run, I think." She hated having to be stuck inside so often, but that was the only way to keep herself safe from everyone.
 
Brian nodded, that made sense. "Ok, I'll make the call and get some food for us." He reached over, picked up his phone, and made a quick call. Ten minutes later a knock came at the door and it opened, revealing an entry level employee with the food. They put it down and left. Brian opened the bag, got out his burger and gave Alexa her food. He'd ordered what he remembered to be her favorite meal in middle school.
 
The thin girl quickly took the bacon burger from Brian's hands and smiled. "Yes, real food," she cheered, half jokingly as she unwrapped and took a good sized bite out of the edge of the fatty grilled food. She was sure to chew it all before she looked towards the man and nodded.

"Thank you," she told him quickly with a smile. "I haven't had this in forever. You're a soul saver." She took another bite before leaning back in her chair, glancing over the map a little from her angle.
 
Brian watched as she took the burger and ate it. She seemed quite happy with it. That was good. A happy artist meant a happy Brian since they would be easier to work with. The big thing for him was how she called it real food. He looekd at her for a moment before continuing eating. He would have to bring that topic up at some point as well.

He watched her enjoy the food and look at the map. He quickly finished his food and tossed the garbage in a small trash bin. He then took out a black marker and started to work on the map. He marked down where they had picked the first city to be and then connected it to the next, and then the next, and so on until he reached the end of the list. He now looked at the map and wondered where they could add in some appearances, even if it wasn't a concert. He decided to leave that until after they had decided on all their dates and exact locations. He waited until she was finished her burger before continuing what they had been doing before getting food.
 
It took the girl less then three minutes to finish her food and she quickly tossed the wrapper into the garbage, much like Brian. So one thing that hadn't changed was her eating habits. She could still eat just as quick as the boys that she hung out with, meaning that her appetite hadn't changed too much. "So back to work," she told him with a faint smile before turning towards the map a bit.

"We have to set up dates, right? And find out where the hotels and such are."
 
Brian noticed that Alexa finished eating moments after him. That surprised him a little. He'd figured she had adopted an appetite that would go with her new personality. Apparently she hadn't, and ate mucht the same as she had before. That still didn't change his opinion of her though. He just continued with the map.

When she asked about setting up the dates and find out about hotels, he simply nodded. Without looking up at her, he started talking. "Well, I have been doing this long enough to know where all the hotels on the lists are, as well as all the good hotels in the cities we added that are not on the list we were given. Also, as we were discussing before, I know about all the possible concert locations in each city. So, we don't need to find out about that. I already know, its my job to know. All that I don't know is what days each location is available. I asked for that info when I ordered lunch. We should have it soon. Once we have decided on locations, we can discuss dates. So, onto Vancouver. There are a few places you can play. I would suggest one of their big stadiums to fit as many people as possible. Oh, and while we are in that area, I'd also suggest considering a stop in Victoria. A lot of people on Vancouver Island might go to Vancouver to watch you, but if we have a concert in Vancouver and Victoria, we can get more people and it is just a short ferry ride between the two cities. Really easy to do. Just a suggestion though."

He simply continued talking, pausing to wait for a decision or a question, then talking more with either an answer, a suggestion, or moving on to discuss another city. By the end of the day he wanted to have all the specific concert locations chosen so that all they had to do the next day was pick dates, hotels, discuss a few other things, and then he would ask her about the details of exactly what she wanted the concerts to look like.
 
Alexa agreed with nearly everything Brian had said, knowing that she could just leave most of it to him and it would be taken care of. She took mental notes and a few actual ones on what he was saying and things that she would have to remember for later. Knowing what she would like a few concerts to look like, she began to explain them, drawing a few out in sloppy rough copies, hoping that they would be alright in the end.
 
As it started to get into later afternoon, he had a few new lines added to the map, as well as most of the locations for concerts worked out. They picked the ones that would be the best for what she wanted the concerts to be like. Over the next couple of hours he had got her to finalize the cities and locations. His map was now complete with lines and concert locations. He now just needed dates and times as well as hotels and transport info. He decided to leave that for the next day.

He smiled at her and stood up, stretching. He held out his hand to her to help her up and for a handshake. "Well, this has gone better than I expected. I think that we can finish planning the basics for this thing tomorrow, and then I can spend the next couple of weeks planning the details and getting it all organised and promotion started. So after tomorrow we won't see each other for another two weeks at least, you can relax and do whatever it is you do. Anyway, I will see you here tomorrow. Thank you for being so easy to work with." He smiled again, partially glad he would only have to deal with her for one more day before he got a two week break from her. He didn't forsee any problems with getting everything done in one more day, unless she suddenly decided to be difficult.
 
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