Mixtape For The End of the World

30. Sexy Stranger #1 gets a high score on Super Mario Bros.

"Do you want to play?" I asked.

"I'd love to," Patrick said.

I turned on the NES, handed Patrick a controller, and let him select a game. He picked Super Mario Bros., and the two of us played the game. He started off with the controller, and I was blown away by how good he was. I almost always got stuck on the first level, but he got past it easily. He then handed the controller to me, and of course, I died within a few minutes. "How are you so good at this?" I asked Patrick.

"I don't know," Patrick said. "I've never played this particular game before, but I've spent a lot of time at the arcade practicing." He paused and then added, "Besides, I haven't beaten your high score yet."

"I think that's actually Andrew's high score," I said, but it didn't seem to matter to Patrick. "Let's try playing this again."

Patrick and I tried again, and the exact same thing happened. When Patrick was playing, we did well, and when I was playing, we died quickly. "Maybe you should play by yourself, Trick," I said. "I'm just holding you back."

"No, I want you to play with me," Patrick insisted.

"You'll do better if I don't play," I said.

Patrick thought about it and then asked, "Are you sure you don't want to play?"

"I'm sure," I said. "I'd rather just watch you." Patrick switched to single player mode, and it was amazing to watch him play. He scored nearly every single point possible on the first few levels, and it wasn't long before he got close to beating the high score.

I panicked, knowing that I had to do something to make sure that he didn't get a high score on Super Mario Bros. I reached over and touched his hand, but Patrick wasn't distracted at all. His full attention was on the TV screen. Patrick just continued to rack up points, and I tried my best to hide how worried I was about the vision, but it didn't work.

When Patrick finally did beat Andrew's high score, I told myself to relax. Gabe hadn't seen him do it, so it didn't really matter. I could forget about all of this, as long as Patrick didn't do it again. "Why don't we switch over to another game?" I suggested.

"I'm not done playing yet, Pete," Patrick said. "We can play a different game after I'm done."

"Okay," I said. Surely, Patrick would be done within the next few minutes or so, and then we could play another game.

That was when I heard someone knock on the door. I rushed upstairs, and I saw that Gabe was waiting in the doorway. "Don't answer the door!" I shouted as I ran back downstairs.

"Why not?" Mom asked as Gabe knocked on the door again. "Pete, is there any reason why you don't want Gabe to come in?"

I didn't answer her. Instead, I ran into the basement and told Patrick to turn off the NES. "Why?" Patrick asked as he continued to play.

"Gabe's here," I answered. "He can't see that you have a high score."

"I told you that I wasn't getting involved in this psychic business," Patrick said.

"It's a life or death situation!" I exclaimed.

Patrick threw down his controller, causing him to die in the game, and reached over to turn off the NES, but it was too late. Gabe opened the door to the basement, came downstairs, and immediately noticed that Patrick had gotten a high score.

"Seriously, guys?" Gabe said.

Patrick turned off the NES, while I gave him an angry look. "Why are you even here?" I asked.