Mixtape For The End of the World

13. Pete tells Gabe that he sounds too much like a motivational speaker.

13. Pete tells Gabe that he sounds too much like an overly positive motivational speaker.

The next day, I spent all morning delivering pizzas with Joe Trohman by my side. He still hadn't completely forgiven me for driving in circles when we were delivering that pizza to Patrick's house, but I had bigger problems to worry about. Brendon was still panicking over the iDKHOW breakup, I still hadn't told Patrick how I felt about him, and still, nobody had found a way to keep Gabe's visions from coming true. It didn't seem hard to keep his next vision from coming true though. Gabe just had to avoid saying or doing anything that would make him sound like an overly positive motivational speaker, and I, regardless of the circumstances, couldn't tell him that he sounded too much like one. It wasn't hard at all.

I returned home in the middle of the afternoon, but as soon as I got there, the phone rang. I rushed to pick it up. "Hello?" I said.

"Hey Pete," Gabe said.

"Hi Gabe," I said. "What's up?"

"I wrote a song!" Gabe exclaimed.

"That's nice," I said. "I thought you were supposed to be at work right now."

"I am at work," Gabe said. "I'm calling from the phone there. Anyways, do you want to come to my office and take a look at the song?"

"Sure," I said. "Why did you write a song anyways?"

"It's my purpose in life, remember?" Gabe said. "The cobra said so."

"Gabe, you don't have to listen to everything the cobra said," I said.

"It's been right so far," Gabe said.

He was right. Twelve of Gabe's visions had already come true, a worrying fact. What if we can't stop them? I thought. What if Gabe really will die? I couldn't bear to think about it. I pushed the thought out of my mind and said, "I'll be there soon. See you in a few minutes."

"See you soon, Pete," Gabe said.

I hung up, climbed into the DeLorean, and drove to Hot Mess Music Management. It was the firm that managed all of the best local bands, and Gabe also happened to work there. It was a little bit of a drive, but I eventually found the building and parked in front of it. I walked into the building and quickly found Gabe. "I still can't believe that someone actually hired you to be a band manager," I said, in awe of Gabe's workplace. Hot Mess Management was so different from Fall Out Bros.

Gabe shrugged and said, "Adults love me. They think that I'm the nice Jewish vegan next door." I laughed and Gabe nudged me. "You're going to blow my cover," he said. "Let's go. A few of my friends and I reserved an hour in the studio across the street."

We walked into the studio, and Gabe took a bass guitar and started playing the song that he had written. I listened carefully, and I wasn't particularly impressed. Then again, that wasn't a bad thing. It made it far less likely that Gabe's song would play in the background while the world ended like Gabe had seen in his vision. "What do you think?" Gabe asked.

I paused, trying to decide what to say. "It was better than anything I Don't Know How But They Found Me has ever written," I said.

Gabe laughed. "You can tell me that my song sucks if you want, Pete," he said. "I won't be offended."

I decided to be honest with him. "The tune is okay, but the lyrics need some work," I said.

"What's wrong with the lyrics?" Gabe asked.

That was when I realized that I couldn't tell him what was wrong with the lyrics without making his vision come true. "Uhh...well..." I stammered.