new life | depeche mode

Chapter 15 - The Fight

The three of us walk in to see Robert Marlow and Paul Redmond yelling for Vince.

Dave and a mutual friend of everyone's, Tom Davis are sitting on chairs, having a smoke.

"Oh Dave, snuff that out, it isn't healthy!" Gemma exclaims, going over to Dave to kiss and congratulate him.

I turn to see Martin talking to Andy, I can hear him muttering "Oh God this cannot be happening."

Vince waltzes in with a grin on his face. "Eve! Gemma! Teresa! We fucking killed it out there! I've never been this confident about anything!" He exclaims.

The three of us give weary smiles, as Vince notices Paul and Robert.

"Vince, you're a fucking asshole!" Paul shouts

"What the hell are you talking about?" Vince asks, a scowl forming on his face.

"We know you decided to be smart and mess around with the settings on our synths. Thanks to you, our opening number sucked!" Robert exclaims.

"You're one to talk, I noticed mine were messed up, thanks to one of you being 'clever', but I fixed it while Dave was introducing us. You tried to sabotage us, not the other way round." Vince says, anger rising in his voice.

"I wouldn't stoop to your level, Clarke." Paul snarls.

The three of them go back and forth for a little while, then suddenly Robert lunges at Vince, who is standing near Teresa and me. We jump out of the way, and in a flash, Tom and Dave are trying to pull Robert off Vince, while Andy and Martin hold Paul back.

"Calm down Robert, you're making a fool out of yourself." Dave says.

"Robert, Paul, you should go." Martin says firmly. We all look at him in shock. I don't think any of us have ever seen Martin be so stern.

"Well, what about French Look?" Paul says, annoyed.

"I don't think we should play together anymore, you two have made such a spectacle tonight, who knows what you'd do in the future." Martin explains.

Paul and Robert grab their stuff, and leave. Not before they flip all of us the bird.

"Well." Andy says, after they leave. "Wasn't that fun?"

"Teresa! Oh my God! I didn't even see you! You said you couldn't come!" Martin exclaims, and runs over to where Teresa and I stand.

"Surprise!" She exclaims, and they embrace.

I walk over to Andy, and wrap my arms around his waist.

"That was very fun, you were right." I tell him. "You all did an amazing job by the way."

"Well, as much as I'd love to go out for a drink, and celebrate our success, the crazy situation that we just experienced makes me want to go home and sleep. Does anyone else agree?" Dave asks us.

We all nod in agreement. Gemma, Teresa, Tom, and I help the guys pack up the synths and other materials, and we all make our way to the parking lot to say goodbye.

I hug Vince, Martin, and Dave in turn and congratulate them.

"See?" I say to Dave as we pull apart. "I knew you could do it!"

"Thanks for having faith in me, Eve." He says, and gets into Tom's car with Gemma.

Teresa, who had taken the bus from the train station to a stop a few blocks away from the school and walked here, got in the car with Vince and Martin. Both cars drove away and left me and Andy.

"So," Andy says, turning to me. "What do you want to do now?"