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.

"What do you think?" Gabe asked when I finished reading.

"It's pretty good," I lied again. I didn't have the nerve to tell Gabe that his words were knives that often left scars.

Gabe smiled, and the two of us stayed at the smoothie shop a little bit longer, whining about nothing and everything all at once. Eventually, we both went home, and although the rest of the day was fairly uninteresting, I couldn't help but worry about Gabe. I still believed that everything really would turn out fine, but Gabe seemed miserable. I wanted nothing more than to see him smile again, and at that moment, I would have done anything to make him happy.

The next morning, the phone rang, and I picked it up, hoping that it was Gabe or Brendon or best of all, Patrick. However, it was none of those people. "Hi, this is Alex Suarez from Hot Mess Management," the man on the other end of the line said.

Alex must have been one of Gabe's coworkers, but I couldn't figure out why he would want to call me. We barely knew each other. "How did you get my number, and why are you calling me?" I asked.

"Gabe gave me your number," Alex explained. "We were wondering if we could borrow your car."

"I don't have a car," I said.

"Gabe said that you had a DeLorean," Alex said.

"The DeLorean is my dad's car," I said. "Why do you need it anyways?"

"We're making a music video for that song that Gabe wrote and then sending it to MTV and pretending that it's the Flaming Zombie Heads single," Alex explained.

"That is the worst idea ever," I said.

"I know, right?" Alex said. "Gabe came up with it, and everyone else is just along for the ride. I would complain, but Gabe's simultaneously flirting with Nate, Ryland, and Victoria at the moment, and I'd rather not get in the middle of that."

"I don't blame you," I said.

"I just want to say hello to Pete," Gabe said suddenly. "Bye now."

"Gabe!" Alex shouted. "Stop crashing my phone calls!" He groaned and then said, "Anyways, can we please borrow the DeLorean?"

"No," I answered.

"Okay," Alex said. "Bye Pete." He hung up, and I went back to lounging on the coach, but the phone rang again about a minute later. I reluctantly picked it up.

"Pete, we really need the DeLorean," Gabe said. "I don't want to blow all of the our money on a sports car."

"Why do you even need a sports car?" I asked.

"I don't," Gabe admitted. "I want one. No music video is complete without a cool car."

"Gabe, if I bring the DeLorean over and you make a music video with it, the vision might come true," I said.

"No, it won't," Gabe said. "I'm not wearing a purple hoodie. I'm just wearing a white T-shirt, so the vision can't happen."

I thought about it for a moment. As long as Gabe didn't wear a purple hoodie, everything would be okay. "I'll be there with the DeLorean soon," I said.

"Thanks Pete," Gabe said. "See you later."

"Bye Gabe," I said.

I hung up and drove the DeLorean to Hot Mess Management. When I got there, Gabe and his friends from work were in the parking lot. Alex and Ryland were busy setting up cameras, but it was clear that they hadn't started filming yet. Gabe had apparently found a unicycle somewhere, and he was racing it around the parking lot. "This is awesome, but it's harder than it looks," Gabe said as the unicycle wobbled back and forth.

"Where did you even find that?" Victoria asked.

"In the back with the rest of the music video props," Gabe explained. "It doesn't matter now. Pete's here with the DeLorean!"

Just as he said that, Gabe lost control of the unicycle and crashed right into a bush. "Gabe, are you okay?" I asked.

"I'm fine," Gabe said. He stood up, but when he looked down, he saw that there was blood all over his white T-shirt. "I can't film a music video like this," he said.

"You could just take your shirt off," I suggested.

"Oh, so you want to see me shirtless, Pete?" Gabe said. He winked and took off his shirt, but there was a nasty-looking scrape across his chest.

"I'll get you a bandage," Nate volunteered.

He ran off and came back rather quickly with a first-aid kit, but Gabe still seemed worried. "If we're going to film, I should probably cover this up, but my shirt is completely ruined," he complained.

"You could check in the back and see if there are any shirts that you could borrow," Ryland suggested. "Make sure to put the unicycle away while you're at it."

Gabe sighed and put the unicycle away. When he came back, he was holding a purple hoodie. "This is the only thing that I could find," he said. He looked at me, unsure as to what to do. I didn't know what to do either, so I just shrugged. Gabe threw the hoodie on and said, "Let's film this music video."

We spent the next several hours running around, lip-syncing, dancing, and driving the DeLorean around the parking lot. Gabe and I were having such a great time that it didn't matter that the vision was coming true. I was sure that the music video would turn out great - how could it not when we were having this much fun with it?

Brendon and Ryan showed up out of nowhere while we were filming, so they got to be in the video too. I wasn't sure that Brendon ripping off his shirt and screaming that love is not a choice would make it into the final cut, but Ryan sure seemed to enjoy Brendon's antics. All of us got to have our dance party, and it was the greatest feeling in the world. The only thing that might have made it better was if Patrick was there.

After it was all over, Gabe told me, "I think we single-handedly saved the Flaming Zombie Heads' career."

"I'm sure we did," I said. "This video is going to be awesome."

"MTV probably won't want to play it though, and I'm fine with that," Gabe said. "As I said, the Flaming Zombie Heads need to be taken down a notch."

"You never know," I said. "Why did you decide to wear the purple hoodie, by the way?"

"I didn't have a choice," Gabe said. "I had to cover up the bandage." He sighed and then added, "Fate is out to get me."

"I don't think so," I said.

"It's the only explanation for everything that's happening. At this rate, I'll be dead by the end of the month," Gabe said.

"That's not true," I said. "You have to at least survive long enough to meet Mikey."

"What if I don't?" Gabe said. "What if I don't live past this summer?"

"You will," I insisted. "Don't even think about that possibility. If you don't think about it, then it won't happen. We could be immortals."

Gabe nodded, but it didn't seem like he believed me. I didn't blame him - I wasn't even sure if I believed myself. "I should get back to work," he said. "I'll see you later, Pete."

I drove home, and when I got there, I put my headphones on, hoping that I might have a mixtape that would tell me what I should do about Gabe. There had to be a way to stop this, but what if there wasn't? What if Gabe dying young really was his destiny? I couldn't live a whole life without my best friend by my side.

I pushed those thoughts out of my mind and thought of Patrick and our date in Chicago. Just thinking of him gave me warm, fuzzy feelings. He was the perfect antidote to everything else that was going on.

Then, I remembered the way that we had danced when we were making the music video. That was a memory that I could be thankful for.