Member-only story
Never Let Me Down Again
A Short Story Inspired by Depeche Mode Songs
“What do you have in that bag?” Mackie asked. “Your own personal Jesus or something?”
Vivian glared at him as she hefted her purse higher on her shoulder. “If you were walking in my shoes, you wouldn’t say that lightly.”
Mackie had to shrug — better than his other option, a tried-and-true one, which was to leave in silence. “Just can’t get enough of me, can you?” he asked, a mocking lilt to his voice. Vivian’s glare only managed to deepen. Theirs had always been a tug-and-pull of opposing forces — or maybe a master and servant relationship where the roles were always shifting back and forth.
“If it’s a question of time, I would probably be better off spending it elsewhere,” Vivian said, and Mackie felt the cut as sure as if she had said he was bad in bed — a strike that certainly would have gotten under his skin. Another impulse to walk away struck him. Why couldn’t he and Vivian ever get the balance right? Even their friends had paired off much more amicably than he and Vivian had, as if they soured just by being in each other’s vicinity.
“You know what?” Mackie said, his patience hanging by a thread. “You and me — it’s no good, Viv. I might have been able to stand you the last few months, but not tonight.”
