new life | depeche mode

Chapter 24 - The Conference

I wake up to the sound of Cathy coming into the room in what must be the wee hours of the morning. The lights are still on in the room, and I realize that I was sleeping on top of the comforter, using my copy of Rolling Stone as a pillow.

"Hi," Cathy whispers. "I didn't mean to wake you, go back to sleep."

"No no, I'm fine." I say, sitting up. I glance over at the alarm clock on the bedside table. It's three A.M. "Someone was out late."

Cathy giggles. "Yeah, wait til I tell you about the night I had! It was kind of wild! You should have come with me!"

I laugh to myself. I partied with a famous bassist. Well, he's not famous yet.

"Tell me! I want to know!" I say.

"Well, it's a good thing you didn't come to meet my cousin Luke-"

"I have a boyfriend, Cath."

"That's changeable. Andy's cute and all but he's kind of like an old man. You need passion. But that's irrelevant. He eloped with his secretary! I don't even think my mum knows! Aunt Daisy and Uncle Tim are so mad. But, they have three other kids so it's not like they're never going to see their kids get married. And then their neighbors came over for dessert and drinks. I was a last minute addition. Their neighbors are a nice couple called the Thomases, and they have a son about my age. He was dragged along. His name is Lee. He asked me if I wanted to smoke, so we went outside and..."

"Yes?" I question.

"We had sex behind my aunt and uncle's bins!" She giggles.

I laugh.

"We also exchanged numbers. This may be the start of a long distance relationship!" She laughs.  "How was your night?"

I relay events that occurred at the Rum Runner to her. Her jaw drops to the floor.

"You passed up a band member? What is wrong with you?" She exclaims.

"Uh, Andy is in a band. Hello?" I remind her.

"Oh God I bet this John was hot. We have to go tomorrow. I have to see him for myself. Maybe I'll ask Lee to go with us."

"I have the numbers of the girls I met, should I call them tomorrow and ask?" I heard myself saying before my brain had a chance to think. Going back? As much as Eve from the 21st century loves Duran Duran, I really can't go back there. I can't face John again. That would be mean. I would like to see Mallory and Winnie one more time before we head back to Basildon, though.

"That would be perfect!" She squeals. "Anything else that happened?"

"I checked our messages at the front desk, Joan wants you to get a Waterford bowl back from your aunt? She was relaying a message from your mother. And I had a message from one of my friends back home, he wanted me to call him. His girlfriend just broke up with him, he was bummed."

"We'll get the bowl before we go home. What friend? Is it the cute brunette that came to our office one day?" She asks.

"I guess? Cute? You were kinda short with him that day." I say, remembering.

"I feel stressed when Mr. Watson is there, I'm sorry. Well, you should drop Andy for that guy!"

"Stop trying to get me to break up with Andy!" I laugh. "He's really good to me."

We talk for a little while longer, then Cathy gets ready for bed. I fell asleep again while she was brushing her teeth.

A couple of hours later I wake up to the alarm going off. 7 A.M. I sigh and sit up in bed. Sunlight is peaking through the curtains, and I turn to see that Cathy has put her pillow over her head to try to silence the alarm. I turn it off.

"Excited for the conference?" I ask.

"I regret staying up late." She groans. "I am gonna need a lot of makeup to cover this." She says, motioning to her face.

I laugh and get out of bed. I quickly brush my teeth and wash my face. I go over to my suitcase and take out my dress for today. I had no idea what would be considered conference appropriate, so I brought a long sleeved purple dress with a white collar, a belt, and white buttons.

"Cute." Cathy says from her bed. She got up and got dressed into a cream colored top with a wide collar a laced up part with a bow. She matched it with a brown skirt with a matching belt.

After she finishes slapping her face with makeup, we left the hotel room and took the elevator down to the lobby. The conference center is only a short walk away, so we didn't feel a need to take a car.

My stomach starts to growl. Cathy laughs.

"Don't worry, Eve. They usually have a big breakfast buffet with croissants, muffins, and scones. You'll survive!" She laughs.

The minute we get our lanyards and enter the space for the conference, I see the breakfast buffet. I have to stop myself from making a beeline towards it, that would look silly and unprofessional. I walk slowly towards it, Cathy behind me.

I fill a little styrofoam cup with coffee and creamer, then I grabbed a little plate and put a chocolate croissant, a mini blueberry muffin, and a couple pieces of fruit on my plate. Cathy takes a styrofoam cup of tea, a scone, and a danish.

Across the room there is a stage and rows of folding chairs. On the stage is a podium, and a man in a gray suit walks up to it, taps the mic to check for feedback, then asks us to make our way over for the conference to start.

The day passes by pretty slowly, we listen to speakers talk about the company, it's profits, losses, how the CEOs plan on expanding, and so on. Cathy and I got to interview some higher ups in the company.

During the lunch break, I find the phone numbers of Winnie and Mallory in my purse and call them to ask if they plan on going to the Rum Runner again tonight.

"Ooh! Are you planning on seeing a certain tall brown haired man tonight?" Mallory jokes.

"No!" I exclaim, and tell her about how Cathy wants to check the place out.

"Get Winnie to come as well!" Mallory says.

"I will." I promise.

Winnie didn't answer. Oh right, I thought to myself, she's babysitting today. I call Mallory back up and she assures me that Winnie will be there.

I walk away from the row of pay phones and see Cathy.

"So?" She asks.

"We're all good to go! I couldn't get in touch with Winnie but Mallory swore that she would be there." I explain.

"I called Lee and he's coming too. This is going to be much needed, I can't take much more of this." She states.

"Tell me about it." I say.

"Oh, one more thing." Cathy says before we walk back into the conference center.

"Yes?" I question.

"You and I are going shopping after this. I've seen what you packed, you don't have anything to wear tonight." She states matter-of-factly.

I begin to protest, but I realize she's right. I didn't think I'd go clubbing two nights in a row when I was packing.

"Sounds like fun." I say, and push the doors to the conference room open.

Only a few more hours until I have to face John again, and I wasn't looking forward to that.

a/n- sorry for being absent for so long! here's a nice 1,200+ chapter for you all! hope you are all enjoying the new year, let's hope 2021 is less crazy! hope you enjoyed this chapter!