20. Pete and Gabe meet at a vegan restaurant.

I ran into Patrick again the next day. I had just finished off a long shift at Fall Out Bros. Pizza, and I was ready to go home, but as I entered the parking lot, I spotted a bespectacled boy in a fedora, and I knew exactly who it was. "Hey Lunchbox!" I shouted.

"Pete, that one doesn't even make sense," Patrick said. He laughed and walked right up to me with a huge grin spread across his face. "It's good to see you again. I couldn't stop thinking about last night during work today."

"Me neither," I said.

"I wish that I could have stayed longer," Patrick said. "It was so wonderful to be with you. I'd trade all my tomorrows for just one yesterday, you know."

"You don't need to," I said. "Patrick, I don't have the right name or the right looks, but I have twice the heart, and it's all for you."

"You're so sweet," Patrick said. "Why aren't there more guys in the world like you?"

"When they made me, they broke the mold," I said. I paused for a moment, and then said, "Patrick, I'd like to ask you something."

"What is it?" Patrick asked.

"Would you like to go out with me sometime?" I asked.

Patrick smiled and then said, "I was wondering when you'd ask. I'd love to, Pete."

"When would you like to go?" I asked.

"I would say tonight, but I'm working this evening," Patrick said. "Tomorrow night should be fine though."

"Tomorrow night works for me too," I said. Gabe and Brendon had talked about going to the Sunshine Riptide that night - it would be nice to have an excuse not to go. Besides, I wanted nothing more than to go on a date with the boy that I was falling in love with. "How about this? I'll pick you up at five, and we can have dinner and see a movie."

"That sounds amazing, Pete," Patrick said. "I'll see you then."

I got into my car and drove home, but as I did, I thought of Patrick. I still couldn't believe that he had agreed to go on a date with me, but was it so unbelievable after he had told me that he liked me the night before? A lot of seemingly impossible things had happened this week, and this was only the tip of the iceberg. Of course, I wasn't complaining. These last few days had been incredible. For once, I could take my mind off of Gabe's visions and focus on my own life. Between my soccer team winning all of its games, Billie Joe giving me free pizza, and best of all, Patrick going out with me, my life was going surprisingly well for once.

Only one thing was for sure: I couldn't wait until my date with Patrick.

The next day went by far too slowly for my taste. I went back and forth between soccer practice, working at Fall Out Bros., and telling anyone who would listen about my upcoming date with Patrick. Unfortunately, my siblings didn't want to hear about the boy that I was going out with, and neither did my soccer teammates. Joe at least listened to what I had to say about Patrick, but it was clear that he didn't care all that much.

I called Brendon, but Ryan picked up. "Brendon's at play practice," he said.

"That's okay. I just wanted to say that I love Patrick Stump," I told Ryan.

"Nobody cares, Pete," Ryan said.

"Oh come on, you're just bitter because of Brendon, aren't you?" I said, but I realized that Ryan had hung up.

I tried calling Gabe, but he didn't pick up - I wasn't sure where he was, but he clearly wasn't home. I didn't bother to leave a message. Instead, I grabbed my Walkman, put my headphones on, and tried to distract myself. It didn't work very well - I had a mixtape for studying, a mixtape for sleeping, a mixtape for going to the gym, a mixtape for eating leftover pizza for breakfast, and two mixtapes for crying on the couch, but I didn't have a mixtape for falling in love.

Finally, it was close enough to five o'clock that I could think about leaving for the date. I went back to my bedroom and spent far too much time applying eyeliner and standing in front of my closet, trying to figure out which outfit would impress Patrick. I eventually concluded that it didn't matter all that much - Patrick had probably never seen me wear anything that wasn't black.

When I felt like I was ready to go, I drove the DeLorean into Patrick's neighborhood and parked it in front of his house. I then climbed out of the car, went up to the door, and knocked. Patrick immediately opened the door and smiled. "Hi Pete," he said. "You look beautiful today."

"Thanks," I said. "So do you." Then again, Patrick looked good in everything.

He followed me to the car, watching in awe as I opened the doors. "Your car is incredible," Patrick said. "It's like something out of Back To The Future."

"Actually, it's not quite the same car as the one in Back To The Future, but it's pretty close," I said. I told him the story about how my dad was friends with John DeLorean as he climbed into the car, and he seemed pretty impressed.

"You can put on whatever music you want," I said as I started to drive toward the movie theater. Patrick turned on the radio and flipped through all of the stations until he found one that was playing "Let's Dance" by David Bowie. He sang along, and I simply listened, cherishing the sound of his voice.

"Did you know that David Bowie is starring in a movie?" Patrick said.

"No," I said. Despite the fact that I was the one who had suggested that we see a movie, I hadn't been keeping track of which movies were playing, much less who was in them.

"It's called Labyrinth, and I kind of want to see it just because he's in it," Patrick said.

"That sounds like fun," I said. "Patrick, what's your favorite movie?"

"Ghostbusters, for sure," Patrick said. "Did you see it when it came out? I think it was about two years ago."

"Yeah, I remember that it was really good," I said.

Patrick smiled, looking out the window as we approached the movie theater. We both got out of the car, walked into the movie theater, and bought two tickets for Labyrinth. Then, we bought a huge tub of popcorn for us to share. Unfortunately, there wasn't any pizza, but I was just glad that I was with Patrick. At that moment, he was all that I needed.

When we walked into the theater, there was already a trailer playing, and Patrick quickly identified the film. "Is this the sequel to Alien?" he said.

"I think so," I said as I took a handful of popcorn. We found seats near the center of the theater, and I said, "I think I know how this is going to end."

"The movie hasn't even been released yet," Patrick said, laughing.

"I can still guess the ending," I said. "Ripley actually died at the end of the last movie, and at the end of Aliens, it's revealed that she's been dead the whole time."

"Pete, have you ever seen Alien?" Patrick asked. "For that matter, did you even watch the trailer that was just playing? That is definitely not going to happen."

"I'll admit it - I wasn't really watching the trailer," I said, looking into Patrick's beautiful eyes. "It's hard to focus on a trailer when the most interesting thing in the theater is the boy sitting next to me."

Patrick smiled and held my hand. Having Patrick's hand entwined in mine was the best feeling in the world, but when we saw a middle-aged woman entering the theater gesture toward us and tell her young children, "Don't grow up to be like them," Patrick jerked his hand away.

How many mothers were out there praying that their babies didn't grow up to be me? I wondered. I inched closer to Patrick, but he suddenly moved away. His message was clear - he didn't want everyone else in the theater to judge us more than they already had.

I tried my best to focus on the trailer that was playing, but I felt the need to tell Patrick how I thought that An American Tail would end. "Fievel Mousekewitz has been dead the whole time," I said.

"Pete, this is a kid's movie!" Patrick exclaimed. "Do you really think that they would do that?"

"Yes," I said.

Patrick shook his head and said, "You're lucky I like you, Pete. Otherwise, I might think that you're insane."

I stayed quiet, occasionally taking a handful of popcorn from Patrick, until the beginning of the movie that we actually came for: Labyrinth. As the movie began, I had to tell him my latest ending prediction. "At the end, they're going to reveal that Bowie's character has been dead the whole time," I whispered to him.

"Pete!" Patrick exclaimed. "Stop guessing the ending!"

"I can't," I said.

"Just shut up and watch the movie," Patrick said.

I tried my best to do that, but all I really wanted to do was talk to Patrick, without all of the other people in the theater watching us. Patrick and I finished the tub of popcorn far too soon, and before long, there was nothing left for us to do but to sit in silence.

The movie itself was okay - Patrick and I both agreed afterwards that David Bowie's performance as Jareth the Goblin King was by far the best part. My prediction, of course, was totally wrong. "One of these days, I'll be right," I said when Patrick brought that up.

"You're ridiculous, Pete," he said as we climbed into the DeLorean.

"Where should we go to dinner?" I asked.

Patrick thought about it for a few minutes and then said, "There's a nice vegan restaurant downtown. Why don't we go there?"

I wasn't sure how to respond. Going to a vegan restaurant would make it far more likely that Gabe's vision would come true. However, Gabe would be smart enough to tell me if he was going to a vegan restaurant. There was no need to worry. "That sounds great, Patrick," I said.

Patrick directed me to the restaurant, and as it turned out, it wasn't too far from the theater. "Are you a vegan, Patrick?" I asked, just out of curiosity, as we walked toward the restaurant.

"No," Patrick said. "I just happen to like vegan food. Besides, my friend Andy Hurley works here."

"I don't think I know him," I said.

"He went to Glenbrook South," Patrick said. "Don't worry - Andy's really nice. He looks like he could kill you, but he's actually one of the sweetest people I know."

"You're the sweetest person I know, Trick," I said.

Patrick didn't respond, but I could see him blushing. We entered the restaurant, and there was a tattooed guy around our age standing near the door. "Hey Andy," Patrick said to him.

"Hey Patrick," Andy said. "It's good to see you. Who's your friend here?"

"This is Pete, and he's actually my boyfriend," Patrick said. "We'd like a table for two."

Andy found a table for us, and we both ordered drinks and looked over the menu. "What are you thinking of getting?" I asked Patrick.

"I'm still deciding whether I want a sandwich or some stir fry," Patrick said. "How about you?"

"I'm still trying to figure out what I want too, but I'm leaning toward getting a vegan pizza," I said.

Patrick laughed and said, "Why am I not surprised?" Andy came back a few minutes later and took our orders. Once we had both ordered, he left us alone together. "The pizzas here are actually pretty good," Patrick told me.

"That's good to hear," I said. "This seems like a cool place. I should come here more often."

"Don't forget to bring me along," Patrick said, smiling.

"I won't," I said. "We should do something like this again, Trick. This has been such a wonderful evening."

"I'd love to go out with you again," Patrick said. "Next time, just be quiet during the movie."

"We could do something different," I said. "Maybe we could go to that arcade down the street."

"That would be really fun," Patrick said. "I love video games. There's just something so magical about sitting in front of an arcade game."

I spotted Andy rushing out of the kitchen with several plates of food. He went straight to the table next to us, and gave them their meals. "Who ordered the imitation chicken with fries?" he asked.

"That would be me," a familiar voice said. I turned around to see who it was, and when our eyes met, we both panicked.

"Gabe!" I shouted. "What are you doing here?!"

"What are you doing here?" Gabe asked. "You knew that my next vision was us meeting at a vegan restaurant. You shouldn't be here."

I got up and walked to his table, where Gabe was sitting with a group of his friends from work. His friends were calmly eating their food, but Gabe was enraged. "You shouldn't be here either," I said.

"I'm a vegan!" Gabe exclaimed. "Vegan Square and Fall Out Bros. are the only two places in town that serve food that I can eat. You could have gone anywhere."

"Patrick wanted to come here," I said.

"So all of a sudden, Patrick's opinion matters more than my life?!" Gabe exclaimed. "What is wrong with you, Pete?"

"I didn't think that you'd be here," I said.

"I never suspected that you'd be here either, but here we are anyways," Gabe said. "You're trying to kill me, Pete."

"No, you're trying to kill yourself," I said.

Gabe glared at me and sat back down with his friends. "Go away," he said to me. "Leave me alone."

"Fine," I said, with more bitterness than my best friend probably deserved. "So long and goodnight, Gabe."

I went back to my table and sat across from Patrick. "What was that about?" he asked me, confused. Gabe and I may have been trying to hide his visions from everyone we knew, but there was no other way to explain what had just happened without telling him the truth. I told him about the visions, and how one of them was Gabe and I meeting at a vegan restaurant. "You can't be serious right now," Patrick said.

"I am serious," I insisted.

"Psychics aren't real," Patrick said.

"They're totally real," I said.

"You're just messing with me," Patrick said, and I knew that there was no point in arguing with him. I couldn't make him believe me, no matter how much I wanted to.

Andy finally brought us our food, and we tried to make small talk, but it was nearly impossible after my argument with Gabe. Eventually, we gave up and just picked at our food. After we were done eating, I drove Patrick home. "See you later, Patrick," I said as he climbed out of the DeLorean, but he didn't respond to me. He just headed into the house, not even bothering to wave goodbye. Once he was inside, I drove home, brokenhearted.

More than anything, I was furious at Gabe. Not only had he gone to a vegan restaurant, but he had ruined my date with Patrick in the process. It was all his fault, but I couldn't stay mad at him for long. He was my best friend, and I would have still done anything for him. That was what drove me to pick up the phone and dial Gabe's number as soon as I got home.

When he picked up, I asked, "Gabe, what can I do to keep you and Joe Trohman from beating up Neo-Nazis at Fall Out Bros. Pizza?"