Mixtape For The End of the World

39. Pete becomes Employee of the Month at Fall Out Bros. Pizza.

39. Pete becomes Employee of the Month at Fall Out Bros. Pizza.

I soon realized that I had nothing to worry about. The vision wouldn't happen, because I had no chance of being the Employee of the Month. Billie wouldn't give me that award when I was about to leave. Besides, there were plenty of other people who deserved it more than I did.

If I could have, I would have just not worked in the week and a half I had left before I supposed to leave for DePaul, but when Billie called me three days after I got back from New Jersey, I knew that I had to go to work. "You've already skipped two weeks of work," Billie told me when I arrived at the restaurant. "You don't have any more vacation days left."

Surely, skipping two weeks of work would keep me from becoming Employee of the Month.

I delivered the pizzas that Billie needed me to, never doing more than what I was asked. After work that day, I drove to Brendon's house to visit him. As soon as he saw the DeLorean in the driveway, Ryan let me in. Penny Lane wouldn't stop licking my leg as he led me down the hallway into the living room, where Brendon was lying on the couch, his broken foot propped up on a pillow. "Hey Pete," Brendon said.

"Hi Brendon," I said. "I just came to check on you."

"You didn't need to do that," Brendon said. "Ryan and Penny are taking care of me."

Ryan leaned in to kiss Brendon, and I said, "Aren't you two worried about Brendon's parents finding out?"

"Mr. and Mrs. Urie aren't home right now," Ryan said.

"Pete's right though," Brendon said. "Mom and Dad could come home at any minute."

"Pete, how was New Jersey?" Ryan asked.

"It was okay until somebody robbed Mikey and Gerard's house," I said.

"Mike Pedicone did it!" Brendon exclaimed.

"Who's Mike Pedicone?" Ryan asked.

"He used to sell merch for I Don't Know How But They Found Me," Brendon said. "Anyways, New Jersey was fun, but I missed you a lot, Ryan."

"I missed you too," Ryan said. "It was so lonely here without you."

"At least you had Penny Lane," Brendon said.

"She missed you too," Ryan said, just as the puppy hopped up onto the couch to lick Brendon's face, making him laugh.

Eventually, I went home, but I came back a few times over the course of the week to see how Brendon was doing, Sometimes, I brought Gabe along with me. However, I still spent my days at Fall Out Bros. Pizza, and the night after I went to visit Brendon for the first time, I went to Tea Monkey to see Patrick.

Patrick and Elisa were behind the counter, and Patrick looked as perfect as he always did. He was wearing a fedora on top of a Tea Monkey hat, and the smile on his face as he handed a cup of tea to a customer was just adorable. I used to say I wanted to die before I was old, but the way his baby blue eyes lit up when he saw me walk in made me think twice.

"Pete!" he exclaimed. "How can I help you?"

"I'm not here to order tea, Trick," I said.

Patrick shrugged and said, "That's okay. How was New Jersey?"

I told him everything that had happened, leaving out everything about the visions because I knew that he wouldn't want to hear about it. Meanwhile, Patrick tried to help as many customers as he could while still listening to my story.

"Holy smokes, Pete," Patrick said after I was done telling him about New Jersey.

"I missed you a lot while I was away," I said. "That's why I called you in the middle of the trip."