Earth. She listens to her music too loud when I’m studying, complains about my musical taste, and leaves me outside our room when her boyfriend comes by...ugh. I need extra income to get out of here. Anything new on your front?”
“What do you do with your music, AJ?” I haven’t discussed the conversation I had with Chris earlier this week with either one of my siblings. “The ones you compose.”
“Nothing.” She sighs. “Porter uses most of it…” I give her a stern look. She’s got to be shitting me. “Because we compose together.”
If I had access to the company records, I could check if Porter pays her any royalties for it. Knowing my sister, she gifts the shit to her boyfriend, not caring how much money he gets from each and every song he plays. Which could be a lot. His albums sell pretty well.
“Papi might buy our songs,” I tempt her. “There’s your extra money, Princess. We can build our own empire. JAMs can become a reality. We can cash in our talents to solve our basic needs.”
“Stop calling me Princess, Prince Charming,” she protests. “JAM? I forgot about that shitty name. Isn’t that the name of your investment company?”
“Our company. And it’s JAM, Inc.” That’s Jacob, Ainsley, and Matthew. At fifteen, when Dad taught me how to invest, I thought it was cool. I even convinced my brother and sister to hand over their savings to make them rich. We’re not rich, but I haven’t lost money. “This one would be named JAM CD, LLC. Guaranteed to bring a great cash flow our way.”
“Keep talking.” She gives me a narrowing, skeptical gaze. Matthew mimics both her gaze and her crossed-arm posture. Both wait for me to speak. “I might like this.”
“There’s a few ways to make it happen—well, two.” I tell them both about the two options Chris presented, the one where he’d pay a lump sum and the one where we receive royalties for life.
“Hmm, I only have Breezy with me,” AJ speaks about her guitar, “I can only do so much. If you can tweak each song I send you at the studio, I’ll say let’s do it. However, I’d rather go for option number two. Royalties for life. I have a job at a coffee shop for now. I have to wait until the summer to move out anyway.”
It impresses me to hear that from AJ. She’s impatient and likes immediate gratification most of the time—like me.
“Dude, let’s sell some songs right now,” Matthew finally says. “I refuse to work at some burger joint. I might end up hating the best match made in heaven—burgers and shakes.”
AJ twists her mouth, bites her lip, and fixes her hair. “Can I think about it?”
“Yeah, let me know when you’re ready.” I swallow my comments. Pushing her to agree will only tip the balance toward saying no to us. “As soon as you confirm, I’ll inform Papi. For now we’ll work for him doing office shit—Matthew and I. Decide soon, so I can start a company and split the profits between the three. We’ll sell a few songs to have money and some cash flow. Then we wait for the royalties.”
That’s my plan. I’ll start the company without telling her and will wait for her to send me the first batch. Though we are triplets, I am the big brother. I look after them. Making the big decisions is part of caring for the other two; plus it entitles me to tease them at will and make their lives miserable like a good big brother.
“Any girl on the horizon for either one of you?” AJ yawns. With the hundreds of miles and two times zones of separation between us, she wants to know as much as she can and asks the most ridiculous questions. Like we do about her too. But the same separation implies that she has to stay awake late to listen to us. While it is eleven for us, it’s one in the morning for her.
“Need to go to bed, AJ?”
I want my sister to give me some girly insight in case I bump into Twinkle, but then I would have to tell her how I made an ass of myself.
“There are no other