Mixtape For The End of the World

33. Brendon walks Sexy Stranger #5's dogs.

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.