new life | depeche mode

Chapter 12 - The "Talk"

Teresa went back to school after the weekend was over.

I actually missed her presence. I felt that Hank and I had less in common than ever before.

I thought I was home alone, so I was blasting the Sound Of Music soundtrack at top volume. When Teresa and I were little, we used to pretend to be all the parts and act out the songs. After we moved to England, we sometimes dragged Dave into playing with us.

Halfway through singing the Mother Abbess' solo, Hank bursts into the living room from the upstairs.

"Can you turn that fucking shit off?" He screams.

My mouth drops to the floor. "Henry! Language! What is wrong with you?" I reprimand him.

"I just hate music." He says coolly, and stomps up the stairs.

"Woah woah woah, you hate all music?" I say, quickly turning off the record and running up the stairs after him.

"Well, I don't like Bowie. He's odd." Hank offers.

"So, there's nothing you want to listen to? Ever?"

"Blondie's pretty good."

"You think she's attractive?"

"If you say so." Hank says, and walks into his room and closes the door.

Since I am the catalyst that's bringing Depeche Mode together, I just assumed that would affect my family too. That in a few years time, Hank would be bragging that he's friends with all the members.

Guess not.

"Going to watch Andy at band practice then." I say to Hank's closed door, and walk over to Vince's house.
I walk down the road and up to Vince's door.

"Hello, Eve." Vince says when I knock on the door and he opens it.

He doesn't sound too thrilled to see me, but I'm used to it at this point.

Vince's parents are out at a church party, so the boys don't need to worry about how much noise they make.

Since Dave's still a new member, they're just covering songs until they get used to each other.

"We started working on original songs." Andy tells me during their break.

"Can I hear them?" I ask.

"Not until our first performance!" Andy says, and slips his arm around my waist, pulling me close to him.

"When is it?"

"June 14th."

"Where?"

"School."

"School? As in Nicholas Comprehensive?"

"Yes."

"That's a few weeks away. I'm expecting VIP treatment, of course."

"Backstage pass and front row seating. You got it." Andy says, laughing.

"And I'm opening for them!" Martin calls from the other room, where he's getting a drink with Dave and Vince.

"How are you opening for the band you're in?" I ask, puzzled.

"I'm in two bands. French Look and-"

"What he's trying to say is that he's a shameless dirty two timer." Dave calls out to us.

"It's not like that! I just don't want to be rude to Paul and Robert." Martin says.

"C'mon, let's get back to work!" Says Vince.

***

"Do you guys want to go out to eat or something?" Asks Vince at the end of practice.

"I would love to, but I have a date." Dave says.

"A date? With who?" I ask, shocked.

"If you must know, it's Gemma." He replies.

"Really?! Wow! Good for you! Tell her I say hi!" I tell him, and he nods.

I get a weird look from Vince, but decide to ignore it.

"Martin?" Vince says.

"French Look practice, sorry."

"Andy? Eve?"

"Yeah! I'll go." Andy says.

"I'll come too."

"Just don't third wheel me." Vince says, and grabs his coat.

***

"I'm going to use to restroom, I'll be right back." Andy says, and leaves me and Vince at the table.

Vince stares at the table and fiddles with his straw wrapper.

I sigh. "Look, I don't want this to come off the wrong way, but did I ever do something to you? Did I say something that bugged you? Because I feel that you hate my presence. And I want to be friendly with you, really I do. You are friends with three of my closest friends. What can I do to make this situation better?"

At first, Vince looks taken aback, but then he looks almost embarrassed.

"Eve, I don't hate you. In fact I think you're a super sweet person. When you first started to date Andy, I was very skeptical. Even though Dave was AWOL at the time, everyone assumed you were an item before. I didn't want Andy to get hurt. I was okay with you, then Dave came back, and I got concerned again. Andy's very keen on you. After Dave was back for a while, I realized that you were genuinely in love with Andy, but I was afraid Dave would screw it up. But now Dave's going out with Gemma, so I feel at ease again. I was just concerned for a friend, I know you're not that type of girl who runs around. Why don't we start over?"

"I understand. Let's start over."

"I don't think I ever properly thanked you for showing us Dave. I hope he's the voice we need to bring us to the top."

"It was nothing! I'll think you'll go far as a group, I just have that feeling."

"I hope so."

Then, Andy comes back to the table.

"Hope you didn't have too much fun without me!" He says cheerfully.

Vince and I laugh.

***

Short chapter, but it's been more than a month since I last updated. No more shady vince! When I started to write this, I wasn't the biggest fan of his, but I really love erasure and yazoo, so I wanted to make him more likable. No, I don't ship vandy, so that's not what i mean when Vince didn't want Andy to get hurt.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter, BIG changes coming soon!

Going to attempt to make the upcoming chapters a little more mature, but it'll most likely be very cringeworthy. Sorry in advance 😂