Mixtape For The End of the World

17. Brendon gets a puppy to counteract his sorrows.

17. Brendon gets a puppy to counteract his sorrows.

In the end, life went on. My cuts and bruises healed, although I still had a nasty black eye. My family never doubted for a second that I had run into a door, and I stuck with the same story when everyone at work asked me what had happened. Lying only made it easier for me to move on, and that's what I did.

On Monday morning, Brendon called me. "Can you pick me up from rehearsal today?" he asked.

"Why do you need to be picked up?" I asked.

"My dad's staying late at work, and my mom's trying to help Ryan get a job," Brendon explained. "Can you please just pick me up at the community theater at four?"

"Yes, I can do that," I said.

"Thanks Pete!" Brendon said. He hung up, and I went back to lying on the couch, thinking about the Neo-Nazis. Even as I lied to everyone I knew, my mind wouldn't stop replaying everything that had happened. I tried to distract myself with a book or a video game or a song, but nothing worked. I wrote some poetry, and then reminded myself that the poets are just kids who didn't make it. Besides, writing only made me more miserable.

Shortly before four o'clock, I got into the DeLorean and drove to the theater. When I got there, Brendon was standing in front of the theater, talking to a group of girls. As soon as he saw the DeLorean, he waved goodbye to his friends and climbed into the passenger seat of the car.

"You just wanted me to pick you up so your theater friends would see you getting into a DeLorean," I said.

"Yeah, pretty much," Brendon said. He smiled as he looked out the window and waved to his friends one more time. Once we were far enough away from the theater, he looked back at me and noticed my black eye. "What happened to your face, Pete?"

"Do you remember anything about Saturday night, Brendon?" I asked.

"Saturday night was kind of a blur, which means that it must have been awesome!" Brendon said. I decided not to break whatever fantasy Brendon had about what had happened that night, so I stayed quiet. "Tell me, Pete, was Dallon Weekes there?"

"No, I never saw Dallon at the Sunshine Riptide," I answered.

"That's disappointing," Brendon said. "I'm still mad at him for breaking up iDKHOW, but he's just so cute."

"He doesn't like you," I reminded Brendon.

"Maybe he'll change his mind," Brendon said.

"I doubt it," I said.

"You don't get it, Pete," Brendon said as I parked in front of his house. "Dallon's worse than nicotine." I was about to respond to him when Brendon suddenly got out of the car and yelled, "Pete! Come over here!"

"What is it?" I asked. Brendon didn't respond - instead, he sprinted across the yard, running after a little black and white creature. At first, I just sat in the car, bewildering by what I was seeing. After a few minutes, Brendon was still running back and forth across the yard. I eventually got out of the car to see what all of the fuss was about, but then I saw what Brendon was chasing.

It was a puppy.

The dog barked happily as it ran around Brendon's yard, and when Brendon got close enough, it jumped on him, yipping and licking his leg. "Isn't it adorable?" Brendon said.

"That puppy is pretty cute," I admitted. With its oversized ears and huge, deep brown eyes, I could see why Brendon was so obsessed with chasing down this puppy.

"I just want to take it inside and keep it forever," Brendon said. He picked the puppy up and scratched its ears. The puppy curled up in Brendon's arms, gently licking him, and even I had to admit it was pretty adorable.