33. Brendon walks Sexy Stranger #5's dogs.
I finally got a chance to talk to Mikey about the visions the next day. While Gabe and Brendon were still asleep, I snuck upstairs and found Mikey making breakfast. "Hey Pete," Mikey said. "What's up?"
"Not much," I said. "I just wanted to talk to you about something."
"Is it about Gabe's visions?" Mikey asked.
He was clearly one step ahead of me. "Yes," I said.
"What's the next one?" Mikey asked.
"Brendon walking Sexy Stranger #5's dogs," I answered.
"Who's Sexy Stranger #5?" Mikey asked.
"I don't know," I said.
"Let's figure out who Sexy Stranger #5 is, and then we can go from there," Mikey said.
"How would we do that?" I asked.
Mikey looked at me like I was stupid. "We'll ask Gabe, obviously," he said.
"We haven't had much luck with that before," I said. "Gabe is terrible at describing people."
"I know, but he can't be that bad," Mikey said. "We can ask him about it when he comes upstairs. By the way, I think that Frank might be coming over today." I remembered him from Mikey's letters - he was the short guy with all of the tattoos in the picture from the Bon Jovi concert. It would be interesting to meet him in person. "Hopefully, he and Gerard will stay out of our way."
"Do we have any other plans for today?" I asked.
"Not really," Mikey said. "Once Brendon and Gabe are awake, we can figure out something fun to do."
"I wouldn't mind watching more horror movies, although Gabe might," I said.
Mikey laughed and said, "He's such a scaredy cat."
"Speaking of Gabe, he also said that Gerard is Sexy Stranger #6," I said.
Mikey gagged and then said, "Please don't say my brother's name and 'sexy' in the same sentence ever again. I hear it enough from Frank."
"I just thought that you should know about that," I said.
"It is useful information," Mikey admitted. "Gabe needs to stop trying to seduce Gerard though. This whole thing is nothing more than a wonderful caricature of intimacy."
All of a sudden, Gabe emerged from the basement. "Are you guys talking about me?" Gabe asked.
"No," both Mikey and I said simultaneously.
Gabe looked at both of us suspiciously and then sat down at the table. "Can I ask you something, Gabe?" Mikey asked.
"Sure," Gabe said.
"What does Sexy Stranger #5 look like?" Mikey asked.
"Sexy Stranger #5 seems like the sort of person who would randomly jump out of your locker and scare you," Gabe said.
"You didn't answer my question," Mikey said.
"Sexy Stranger #5 is kind of short and kind of hot," Gabe said.
Mikey rolled his eyes and said, "I could have guessed the second part of that, but now we're getting somewhere. What gender is Sexy Stranger #5?"
"I don't like to assume genders," Gabe said.
"Can you guess?" Mikey asked.
"No," Gabe said.
"How old is Sexy Stranger #5?" Mikey asked.
"I don't know, but definitely older than fifteen, and definitely younger than one hundred," Gabe said.
"Let's try a different approach. Does Sexy Stranger #5 have brown eyes?" Mikey asked.
"I don't know, but if he had a band, he'd probably change its name constantly," Gabe said.
"It was a yes or no question!" Mikey exclaimed. He sighed, turned to me, and said, "You were right, Pete. This isn't helping."
Gabe shrugged and said, "I'm just not very good at describing people."
All of a sudden, someone knocked on the door. Gerard came out of nowhere, ran up to the door, and opened it, and sure enough, it was Frank Iero. He was wearing a black jacket over a white T-shirt and black, ripped jeans, and his skin was covered in all kinds of tattoos. I was a little bit jealous of the scorpion tattoo on his neck, but I also knew that it meant that he would probably never get a real job. He was holding onto dog leashes with both hands, and I could hear his dogs barking outside the door. "Come on in, Frankie," Gerard said, and Frank stepped inside, bringing the dogs with him.
Gerard kissed Frank passionately, prompting Mikey to complain, "Get a room, you two. It's bad enough that I have to put up with your cutesy nicknames for each other."
"Mikey, you'll understand if you ever find someone that you truly love," Gerard said. He kissed Frank again, possibly just to annoy Mikey.
"Aww, thanks, Gee," Frank said. He then looked toward us and asked, "Are these your brother's friends?"
"Yeah," Gerard said. "I think I told you that they're staying in the basement for the next two weeks."
"That's terrible," Frank said. "How are you supposed to write your comic?"
"I know!" Gerard exclaimed. "It's not fair at all, but I didn't get any say in the matter. Mom and Dad just let these teenagers stay in our house without ever asking me about it."
"They have names, you know," Mikey said. He gestured toward me and said, "This is Pete Wentz," and then gestured to Gabe and said, "and this is Gabe Saporta." Gerard, however, didn't seem to care.
"Anyways, I'm going to the dog park," Frank said. "Does anyone want to come with me?"
"I'll come," Gerard volunteered.
"What about Pete, Gabe, and Mikey?" Frank said. "Do any of you guys want to come?"
None of us replied right away, but Brendon ran out of the basement and asked, "What's all of this about?"
"Gerard and I are taking my dogs to the dog park," Frank said. "Do you want to come?"
Brendon took one look at Frank's dogs, and he was immediately overloaded by their adorableness. "Your dogs are so cute!" he squealed.
"Thanks," Frank said.
"I'll definitely come to the dog park with you," Brendon said.
"We should go too, if only to make sure that Brendon doesn't get into too much trouble," I said. In reality, I had no interest in going to the dog park, but we had to make sure that Brendon didn't make the vision come true. Brendon going to a dog park was too close for comfort to him walking dogs.
"That sounds like a good idea," Mikey said. "Let's all go."
Gerard seemed surprised that all of us were willing to go, but he let us tag along anyways. Mikey, Gerard, Frank, Gabe, Brendon, and I all walked to the dog park together, and Frank's dogs yipped and barked the whole way there. After a while, it started to get on my nerves, but nobody else seemed to care. However, out of all of us, Frank was easily the most excited to go to the dog park. He jumped up and down the whole way there, and I got tired just watching him.
On our way to the dog park, Gabe pulled me aside and whispered, "Frank is Sexy Stranger #5."
"Seriously?" I said. "Why didn't you just say that?"
"I didn't know who Frank was until today!" Gabe insisted.
"You could have at least mentioned the scorpion tattoo on his neck," I said. "We might have identified him earlier if you had just said that!"
Gabe didn't have a good response to that. Instead, he said, "It's just not fair. Gerard is so beautiful, and then it turns out that not only is he taken, but his boyfriend is super hot too."
"Gabe, focus," I said. "How do we stop Brendon from walking Frank's dogs?"
Gabe was about to answer, but we then noticed that the rest of the group was far ahead of us. We would get lost in a strange city again if we didn't catch up. Gabe smirked and said, "I'll race you." He dashed toward the rest of the group, and despite my years of playing soccer, my legs were too short to keep up with Gabe. He caught up a few seconds before I did, and the whole group headed toward the dog park.
When we finally got there, Frank played with his dogs, while Gerard and Brendon watched him. Meanwhile, Mikey, Gabe, and I found a spot under a cork tree where we could relax and people-watch. "Do you have any dogs?" Frank asked Brendon as he petted one of Frank's dogs.
"I have one back home," Brendon explained. "Her name is Penny Lane, and I miss her so much."
"I might get a cat," Gerard said.
"Aren't you allergic to cats?" Frank said.
"There are hypoallergenic breeds," Gerard said.
"Fine, but your cat had better get along with my dogs," Frank said.
Mikey lay down in the grass and asked, "Gabe, have you made any progress in figuring out who Sexy Stranger #5 is?"
"Sexy Stranger #5 is Frank," Gabe said.
"Wait, seriously?" Mikey said. "Why didn't you say so before?"
"I only figured it out right before we left!" Gabe exclaimed. He sighed and said, "I can't wait for the weekend. Maybe the visions will finally stop after I leave and visit my grandparents."
"Do your grandparents live around here?" Mikey asked.
Gabe nodded and said, "I wouldn't be here otherwise. I grew up here, and let's just say that being from Jersey means never having to say you're sorry."
"I'd say that telling people you're from New Jersey is the equivalent of telling people you just got out of jail," Mikey said.
Gabe laughed and then said, "I'm moving back here, you know. I'm going to Rutgers in the fall, assuming that I live that long."
"You will, Gabe," I said. "Don't be so pessimistic."
"I agree with Pete," Mikey said. "Also, you should talk to Frank. He goes to Rutgers too."
"Is there anyone else attractive who goes there?" Gabe asked.
"Why the hell would I know that?" Mikey said. All of us laughed, but we immediately stopped laughing when we looked back at Frank, Gerard, and Brendon.
Frank had accidentally let go of one of his dog's leashes, and the dog was sprinting across the park. "HOUDINI!" Frank shouted. "COME BACK HERE!" However, the dog kept running. "Brendon, can you hold on to these?" Frank asked.
"Of course," Brendon said before any of us could protest. Frank handed the other dogs' leashes to Brendon, and he ran after Houdini. The other dogs all tried to follow Frank, and Brendon let them walk toward him, all of them simultaneously whimpering until Frank came back with Houdini.
After Frank took the leashes back, Gabe got up from his spot and walked up to Brendon, and Mikey and I followed him. "Why did you do that?" Gabe shouted. "You're going to kill me, Brendon!"
He seemed confused for a minute, but he soon realized what Gabe was talking about. "Is Frank Sexy Stranger #5?" he asked, horrified.
"Yes!" Gabe exclaimed.
"I didn't know," Brendon said. "You should have told me."
"You should have been more careful," Gabe said. "There aren't that many visions left now. I'm a goner for sure."
"I'm sorry, Gabe," Brendon said.
"You'd better be," Gabe said. "I'm going to die because of you. Let's just go home before something else terrible happens."
"No way!" Frank exclaimed. "My dogs still need their exercise."
We ended up staying a little bit longer, but Frank and Gerard were the only ones who was still having fun, blissfully unaware of the vision that had just come true. The rest of us sat under the cork tree again, wanting nothing more than to go back to the Ways' house and forget that any of this ever happened.
Eventually, we got our wish. Gray clouds appeared in the sky, and it started to rain, so Gerard and Frank finally decided to leave the dog park and walk home. Amongst the drums of the city rain, we returned to the Ways' house. "I should bring the dogs home, but I'll be back in a few minutes," Frank said.
"See you soon, Frankie," Gerard said. Frank went back outside and walked home, and Mikey crashed on the couch, turned on the TV, and switched the channel to MTV. Brendon, Gabe, and I all came into the living room and watched it with him. "Oh, come on!" Gerard shouted when he walked into the room. "You know I wanted to watch Star Wars!"
"I know you won't be watching it as soon as Frank comes back," Mikey said.
"You're right," Gerard said. He sat next to Mikey and said, "You know you're my favorite brother, right?"
"I'm your only brother," Mikey said.
"I know," Gerard said, smiling. "That's why you're my favorite."
All of a sudden, MTV started playing the video that we made. "Why do they keep playing it?" Gabe asked. "I specifically told them not to play it, and they keep doing it anyways!"
"I can turn it off," Mikey suggested.
"Or we could just watch Star Wars," Gerard said. All of us agreed, and he put the VHS in. As much as I hated how quickly Gabe's visions were coming true, there was nothing like spending time with Mikey and his friends. If I was lucky, the rest of the vacation would go smoothly, but if not, at least I would get to be together with all of my closest friends in New Jersey.