Mixtape For The End of the World

24. Gabe and everyone else he knows make a music video...

24. Gabe and everyone else he knows make a music video involving Pete's dad's car and Gabe wearing a purple hoodie.

The following Monday, I called Gabe and asked him if he wanted to get smoothies. I was bored and wanted to get out of the house, and after the garage sale, I was a little bit worried about Gabe. The fact that the visions were still coming true was clearly starting to get to him. It would be a good idea to check up on my best friend.

"I'd love to get smoothies with you, Pete," Gabe said. "I can even bring along the latest chapter of The Cobra Factor for you to read."

"You don't need to do that," I said. I had no interest in reading Gabe's trainwreck of a novel, but he didn't get the hint.

"It's not a big deal," Gabe said. "I'll see you this afternoon."

"See you later, Gabe," I said. He hung up, and a few hours later, we met at the smoothie shop. Brendon wasn't working - he had play practice the whole day - but I recognized the cashier from high school. I just couldn't quite remember her name. As usual, Gabe and I both ordered Strawberry Dream smoothies, and we found a table for two next to the window.

"How have you been?" I asked Gabe as I sipped on my smoothie.

"When it all goes to hell, will you be able to tell me sorry with a straight face?" Gabe asked.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Everything," Gabe said. "I've had it with these visions, I've had it with my ex-girlfriend, and I've had it with the Flaming Zombie Heads."

"Who are the Flaming Zombie Heads?" I asked.

"They're one of the bands that we're managing," Gabe said. "The Flaming Zombie Heads were supposed to turn in their latest single and music video last week so that we could submit it to MTV, but they haven't done it yet. I don't know what we're going to do."

"Are the Flaming Zombies Heads really good enough to be on MTV?" I asked.

"Of course not," Gabe said. "They all just have gigantic egos..."

"And you don't?" I said, laughing.

Gabe rolled his eyes. "My coworkers and I agreed that a rejection from MTV might take them down a notch."

"Why don't you just not submit their single and video?" I suggested.

"I already told my boss that I'd have it in by now," Gabe said. "It's not my fault that the Flaming Zombie Heads are this lazy, but my boss is going to think that it is my fault somehow."

"I can't help you, Gabe," I said.

Gabe sighed and then said, "It's okay. I just hate my job sometimes."

When he stood up to throw out his smoothie cup, I saw that he had tears in his eyes. I quickly gave Gabe a hug and then said, "Gabe, I promise everything will turn out fine. You'll figure something out."

Gabe wiped his eyes and then said, "Thank you, Pete. By the way, do you want to read the latest chapter of The Cobra Factor?"

"Sure," I lied. Gabe passed me his manuscript, and I began to read. I quickly realized that the chapter was nothing more than a fictionalized version of everything that had happened over the last few days. Garrett Santiago, Paul West, Bradley Upton, and Upton's new boyfriend Randall Rose went to a garage sale, and West found a document containing government secrets in the jacket that he bought. Santiago then returned to the White House to see William Beckett, but the encounter was interrupted by the news that a highly egotistical rock band had turned out to be a secret group of Soviet spies. Santiago then sent the Secret Service to brutally murder the rock band, giving him more time with his lovely Secretary of the Interior.