Mixtape For The End of the World

9. Pete drives past Gabe's house while delivering pizza.

9. Pete drives past Gabe's house while delivering pizza.

The next day, I spent almost all day making deliveries for Fall Out Bros. Pizza. I knew that this put me at risk for fulfilling Gabe's next vision, but what could I do? I tried everything. That morning, I called Billie Joe to tell him that I was sick. "I'm getting down the germs," I complained. "I think I might have a fever."

Billie, however, didn't fall for it. He simply laughed and said, "Pete, you've taken too many days off of work already. Besides, if you really have a fever, then why aren't you at the doctor's?"

I tried to convince Billie that I really was sick, but it didn't work. I had to go to Fall Out Bros. and deliver pizza, even if it meant driving past Gabe's house like in his vision.

That morning, I arrived at Fall Out Bros., and of course, Billie immediately noticed that I wasn't sick. "I knew that you weren't really ill," he said.

"I got better," I said, but again, Billie didn't believe me. He definitely wouldn't believe me if I told him the real reason that I wanted a day off of work, so I didn't tell him about the visions. Billie gave me a list of houses that I needed to deliver pizza to, and before long, Joe and I were in the Fall Out Bros. car, driving around Shermer and delivering boxes of deep dish pizza.

Thankfully, most of the deliveries were nowhere near Gabe's house. Joe and I spent most of our time on the other side of town, where there was no risk of going anywhere near Gabe's house. As the day went on, Joe and I drove back and forth from Fall Out Bros., always ready to do whatever Billie asked of us.

By the end of the day, I was confident that there was no way that I could make the vision come true. "We did a pretty good job today," I told Joe. "Let's head back to Fall Out Bros."

"There's one more delivery," Joe said.

"What do you mean?" I said. "I thought that we were done."

"We have to deliver one medium cheese pizza to 27 Fremont Street," Joe said. "I believe it's near the overpass." I froze - that was only a few doors down from Gabe's house. I had to somehow drive to 27 Fremont Street without Gabe seeing me. It was a seemingly impossible task. "Pete, are you okay?" Joe asked.

"I'm okay. Trust me," I said. "Let's go."

I drove toward Gabe's neighborhood, but just before I reached Gabe's house, I intentionally took a wrong turn. "Pete, what are you doing?" Joe asked. "The address for the delivery is that way."

"You're right, Joe," I said, pretending to be surprised. "I am going the wrong way. I'll turn around."

I turned the wheel around, but I didn't go back to Fremont Street. Instead, I headed toward 8th Avenue, hoping that Joe wouldn't notice that we were on the wrong street again.

"Pete, I can help you navigate if you'd like," Joe said.

"I've got this, Joe," I said as I turned onto another street.

"You literally just drove in a circle!" Joe exclaimed. "27 Fremont Street is just down that road."

"I can't go that way," I said.

"Why not?" Joe asked, deeply confused.

"It's too long," I lied. "There has to be a shortcut." Joe rolled his eyes, but he stopped complaining about the route that I was taking. However, even I noticed that I was only driving in circles. No matter how many times I tried, I couldn't find a route to 27 Fremont Street that didn't involve driving past Gabe's house.

"The pizza's getting cold, Pete," Joe said after nearly fifteen minutes of driving around Gabe's neighborhood in vain. "Why don't you just take the long route?"