36. Pete spends two and a half hours on the phone.

I couldn't sleep that night. I spent all night tossing and turning, so when the sun finally rose, I crawled out of bed, reached for my headphones and my Walkman, and listened to the road trip mixtape, but I had to turn it off when one of Gabe's favorite songs came on. Chapter 43 was still sitting next to the air mattress, reminding me of what Gabe had done to my fictional counterpart. I never did care about the plot of The Cobra Factor, but if Gabe killed me off in his book, then he must have been furious at me, more than he's ever been before. The apocalypse was coming, and I didn't want Gabe or I to die while we were still fighting with each other. I didn't want my last memory of Gabe to be him lifting up my severed head in his book.

I pushed that thought out of my head. Gabe wouldn't die. There were still four visions left. I still had some time to save this summer and Gabe's life. I headed upstairs to talk to Mikey about the next vision, but he wasn't awake yet, so I sat on the couch in front of the TV and channel surfed. There wasn't anything good on. Even MTV was playing the video that we had made again. I eventually found some brain-numbing news report, and I sat there and watched that for a while.

A little while later, Gerard emerged from his bedroom, wearing skeleton pajamas. "Coffee," he mumbled to himself. "I need coffee." All of a sudden, he noticed me. "Pete? What are you doing up so early?"

"I couldn't sleep," I explained. "Is Mikey up yet?"

"I don't know," Gerard said as he went into the kitchen and made himself a cup of coffee. "Why do you want to know?"

"I just wanted to talk to him about something," I said.

"Whatever," Gerard said. "Do you want any coffee?"

"I think I'm okay," I said.

"We have tea too, if you're a heathen and don't like coffee," Gerard said.

Just mentioning tea made me think of Patrick. I had only been in New Jersey for eight days, but I missed him already. I knew that he didn't want to be involved in the visions, but he would know how to fix my friendship with Gabe. I wished that he was there with me, but even talking to him would have been nice. I just wanted to hear Patrick's beautiful soul voice again. "Do you have the America's Suitehearts Blend?" I asked Gerard.

Gerard gave me a strange look and asked, "What's that?"

"It's a blend from Tea Monkey..." I said.

"What's Tea Monkey?" Gerard asked.

"Never mind," I said. They clearly didn't have Tea Monkey in New Jersey, and I didn't really want tea anyways, but the America's Suitehearts Blend tasted like Patrick in so many ways.

Gerard finished making his coffee, sat down at the breakfast table, and drank the whole cup in one gigantic gulp. "What are you doing today, Pete?" he asked.

"I don't know," I said. "What about you?"

"I'm probably going to Frank's house," Gerard said.

"Weren't you there yesterday?" I asked.

"Yes," Gerard said. "I like being around him, even with all of those dogs. He's a heart attack in black hair dye..."

Hearing Gerard talk about Frank only made me miss Patrick more. I wished that I could disappear back to my city and be with him again, but I was stuck in New Jersey for another few days, and not too long after that, I would have to go to college, assuming that the world didn't end, which was a strong possibility at that point. I had to make sure that the apocalypse didn't come before I could see Patrick again. If I had to die, I wanted to be the first to go, so I wouldn't have to watch Gabe or anyone else die, and I wanted to die in Patrick's arms.

The door to Mikey's bedroom opened, and Mikey walked into the kitchen. "Hey Pete. Hey Gerard," he said.

"Mikey, can I talk to you for a minute?" I asked.

"Sure," Mikey said. The two of us went into Mikey's bedroom, which was covered in band posters, so that Gerard wouldn't overhear us. "What did you want to talk about?"

"The next vision is me being on the phone for two and a half hours," I said. "How do I stop it?"

"That's easy," Mikey said. "Don't call anyone, and don't pick up the phone."

"I want to call my boyfriend though," I said. "I miss Patrick a lot. You only hear the music when your heart begins to break, and I think my heart's breaking right now."

"I told you that you should have brought him along," Mikey said.

"I didn't even meet him until after Gabe, Brendon, and I had this trip planned," I said.

"You can use my phone to call Patrick, but please keep track of the time," Mikey said. "Gabe might kill you if you're on the phone for two and a half hours."

"I doubt that it will take that long," I said. The two of us left Mikey's room, went back into the kitchen, and ate our breakfast.

After breakfast, I found the Ways' phone in the living room and dialed Patrick's number. "Hello?" Patrick said, making my heart beat a little faster. His voice was gorgeous, as always.

"Hi Lunchbox," I said.

"Pete!" Patrick exclaimed. "I've missed you so much. This week has been miserable without you. How's New Jersey?"

"New Jersey itself is pretty terrible..." I said.

"I could have told you that," Patrick said. "Chicago is the best city. It makes me feel so summer fling."

"You make me feel so summer fling, Trick," I said.

"Thanks Pete," Patrick said.

"Anyways, the people here are nice," I said. "Mikey and his friends are awesome, but I still miss you a lot. You're my partner in crime."

"I miss you too," Patrick said. "What have you been up to over there? I want to hear all about it."

"We drove here last Wednesday, but we got lost," I explained. "We've mostly been hanging around the Ways' house with Mikey and Ray, but we went to a dog park with Frank and Gerard on Friday. We also went to Action Park with them on Monday."

"What's Action Park?" Patrick asked.

"It's basically a waterpark that's trying to kill you," I said. "They have a looping water slide."

"I didn't know that was possible," Patrick said.

"Me neither," I said. "Maybe if you were here, you could have talked us out of going there."

Patrick laughed and then asked, "How are Gabe and Brendon doing?"

"Brendon's fine," I responded. "Gabe and I are fighting right now."

"Why?" Patrick asked.

"I insulted his book," I said, purposefully leaving out the part about how I had accidentally made his vision come true. "He then killed off the character that was based on me."

Always wanting to see the best in people, Patrick said, "Maybe that was just a coincidence."

"No, it was pretty obvious that he killed off my character just because we were fighting," I said.

"Well, Pete, if you're having a bad day..." Patrick began.

"...try to treat the world better than it treated you," I finished. "I know, Patrick, but that's harder than it sounds."

"You finished my sentence," Patrick said in wonder.

"It's like proof that we were meant for each other," I said, wishing that Patrick could see me smile.

"I don't believe in God, and I don't believe in luck, but you might just be right," Patrick said. "Nothing else could ever explain how I feel about you."

I was tempted to tell Patrick just how much I loved him, but saying that I loved him for the first time over the phone just didn't seem right. Besides, I was afraid that someone else would hear me. "How have things been in Shermer?" I asked.

"Nothing interesting has happened since you left," Patrick said. "My mom took me shopping for school supplies yesterday."

"Already?" I said. "School doesn't start for a while."

"New Student Orientation at Northwestern starts in a week and a half," Patrick said. "Honestly, I'm terrified."

"I'm more scared that the world's going to end," I said. "Is there any sign back home that the apocalypse is coming, Patrick?"

"Of course not," Patrick said. "Besides, I told you that I didn't want to be involved in all of this psychic business."

"Sorry," I said. "I just wanted to make sure that our hometown isn't in the dark yet."

"It's not," Patrick said. "I'm pretty sure that the world isn't ending anytime soon."

"That's good to hear," I said. "Anyways, how did your shopping trip go?"

"It was okay," Patrick said. "My mom got me some new outfits so I could 'impress all the cute girls at college.' I don't think she's figured out yet that the only person that I want to impress is you."

Patrick and I kept talking for a while, and I soon lost track of everything except for his beautiful voice. I closed my eyes and pretended that I wasn't stuck in Mikey's house with Gabe, who hated me because I had insulted his book. I could just picture Patrick, sitting on the couch in his house with his fedora perched on his head and his phone pressed against his ear. The only place that I wanted to be was next to him, and from the way that he spoke to me, I could tell that was what he wanted too.

"Patrick, how do I fix things with Gabe?" I asked him a little while later.

"Just give it time," Patrick said.

"I don't have time," I told him.

"Have you apologized to him?" Patrick asked.

"There's nothing to apologize for," I said. "He needed to hear that his book was terrible. He wanted that nonsense published!"

"An apology would go a long way," Patrick said.

"It would also make him think that I'm willing to help him get his book published, which I'm not," I said.

"What's the harm in helping him?" Patrick said. "If it's as bad as you say, it will probably get rejected anyway."

"You haven't read The Cobra Factor," I said. "It's absolutely horrendous."

"It can't be that bad," Patrick said.

"Trick, take my advice, because that book is bad news," I said.

Patrick said something, but I couldn't hear it over Gabe's shouting. "PETE!" he exclaimed.

"I'll talk to you later, Patrick," I said. Patrick protested, but I hung up anyways. I didn't want to stop talking to Patrick - he was everything to me - but I needed to know what Gabe was so angry about. Besides, I could always call him again later.

"Pete, you were on the phone for two and a half hours!" Gabe exclaimed. "You knew that was one of the visions!"

I looked at the clock and saw that Gabe was right. I cursed under my breath and said, "I'm really sorry. I was on the phone with Patrick, and I lost track of time."

"Why were you on the phone in the first place?" Gabe asked.

"I wanted to talk to Patrick," I said. "I miss him a lot. You'd understand if you had to be away from someone you love for this long."

"You still should have kept better track of time," Gabe said. "Now there are only three visions left before I die, and it's all your fault."

"I'm so sorry, Gabe," I said.

"You know, I came in here because I was going to apologize for killing off Paul West in The Cobra Factor," Gabe said. "That was kind of mean of me to do, but now, I'm starting to think that you might deserve to have your severed head paraded around Washington."

"Do whatever you want," I said. "It's your book, not mine. I don't care what you think as long as it's about me."

Gabe stood there for a few minutes, lost in thought. "I want us to be friends again," he said finally. "If I don't have much time left before I die, I don't want to waste my final days being mad at you."

I was about to say something about how he might not die, and that we would stop the next vision, but it had been said so many times that I wasn't sure if it mattered. Instead, I took a deep breath and said, "I don't want to fight with you either."

"If death is the last appointment, then I'm just sitting in the waiting room," Gabe complained. "I hate it already."

"Maybe we should both stop worrying about the visions for a little while," I suggested. "Let's see what Mikey and Brendon are up to."

Gabe and I left the room to find Brendon and Mikey. As it turned out, there were playing a board game, and Mikey was winning. "This doesn't seem fair," Gabe said. "I'm joining Brendon's team." He pulled up a chair next to Brendon and gave him suggestions on what he should do on his next turn.

"How is this fair?" Mikey complained. "Now I'm playing against two people!"

"I'll join your team, Mikey," I said as I sat next to him. Mikey ran over to the cassette deck and started blasting some metal song that he liked, and the four of us played the game.

Brendon and Gabe ended up winning, but I kind of let them do it. Gabe was dying, after all, and even if he wasn't mad at me anymore, I wanted to stay on his good side. "Tonight we are victorious!" Brendon shouted. However, Patrick was still eight hundred miles away, the apocalypse was still coming, and my best friend was still on the brink of death. Heaven knew I was miserable now.