9. Pete drives past Gabe's house while delivering pizza.

The next day, I spent almost all day making deliveries for Fall Out Bros. Pizza. I knew that this put me at risk for fulfilling Gabe's next vision, but what could I do? I tried everything. That morning, I called Billie Joe to tell him that I was sick. "I'm getting down the germs," I complained. "I think I might have a fever."

Billie, however, didn't fall for it. He simply laughed and said, "Pete, you've taken too many days off of work already. Besides, if you really have a fever, then why aren't you at the doctor's?"

I tried to convince Billie that I really was sick, but it didn't work. I had to go to Fall Out Bros. and deliver pizza, even if it meant driving past Gabe's house like in his vision.

That morning, I arrived at Fall Out Bros., and of course, Billie immediately noticed that I wasn't sick. "I knew that you weren't really ill," he said.

"I got better," I said, but again, Billie didn't believe me. He definitely wouldn't believe me if I told him the real reason that I wanted a day off of work, so I didn't tell him about the visions. Billie gave me a list of houses that I needed to deliver pizza to, and before long, Joe and I were in the Fall Out Bros. car, driving around Shermer and delivering boxes of deep dish pizza.

Thankfully, most of the deliveries were nowhere near Gabe's house. Joe and I spent most of our time on the other side of town, where there was no risk of going anywhere near Gabe's house. As the day went on, Joe and I drove back and forth from Fall Out Bros., always ready to do whatever Billie asked of us.

By the end of the day, I was confident that there was no way that I could make the vision come true. "We did a pretty good job today," I told Joe. "Let's head back to Fall Out Bros."

"There's one more delivery," Joe said.

"What do you mean?" I said. "I thought that we were done."

"We have to deliver one medium cheese pizza to 27 Fremont Street," Joe said. "I believe it's near the overpass." I froze - that was only a few doors down from Gabe's house. I had to somehow drive to 27 Fremont Street without Gabe seeing me. It was a seemingly impossible task. "Pete, are you okay?" Joe asked.

"I'm okay. Trust me," I said. "Let's go."

I drove toward Gabe's neighborhood, but just before I reached Gabe's house, I intentionally took a wrong turn. "Pete, what are you doing?" Joe asked. "The address for the delivery is that way."

"You're right, Joe," I said, pretending to be surprised. "I am going the wrong way. I'll turn around."

I turned the wheel around, but I didn't go back to Fremont Street. Instead, I headed toward 8th Avenue, hoping that Joe wouldn't notice that we were on the wrong street again.

"Pete, I can help you navigate if you'd like," Joe said.

"I've got this, Joe," I said as I turned onto another street.

"You literally just drove in a circle!" Joe exclaimed. "27 Fremont Street is just down that road."

"I can't go that way," I said.

"Why not?" Joe asked, deeply confused.

"It's too long," I lied. "There has to be a shortcut." Joe rolled his eyes, but he stopped complaining about the route that I was taking. However, even I noticed that I was only driving in circles. No matter how many times I tried, I couldn't find a route to 27 Fremont Street that didn't involve driving past Gabe's house.

"The pizza's getting cold, Pete," Joe said after nearly fifteen minutes of driving around Gabe's neighborhood in vain. "Why don't you just take the long route?"

I couldn't drive around randomly any longer without jeopardizing my job. I had to drive past the Saportas' house. I turned the car around and drove down Fremont Street. As I passed by his house, I desperately hoped that Gabe wouldn't see me. Maybe I would luck out, and Gabe wouldn't notice the Fall Out Bros. car.

To make myself feel better, I told myself that Gabe hadn't seen me driving past his house as I parked in front of 27 Fremont Street. "It's your fault that we're late for this delivery," Joe complained as he sat in the passenger seat, his seatbelt still on.

"I'll finish it off then," I said, taking the pizza. It was clear that Joe had no intention of taking the pizza to the door, so it was my job now. It was only fair though. Joe had done most of the deliveries earlier in the day - it was my turn now.

I climbed out of the car, walked up to the door, and rang the doorbell. As I waited for someone to answer the door, I heard some noise coming from inside the house. It was difficult to discern at first, but I soon identified it as someone singing along to a David Bowie song. The person singing along had a voice that I could only describe as a "soul voice." It was simply beautiful. I wanted to keep listening - I could have kept listening to that voice for hours on end - but Joe was right. The pizza was getting cold, and we had to get back to Fall Out Bros. before it got too late. I rang the doorbell again, and this time, someone ran to the door and opened it.

It was Patrick, and he was wearing Batman pajamas.

"Holy smokes," Patrick said. "Hi, Pete."

"You remembered my name?" I said as I handed him the pizza, my hands trembling as I looked down at Patrick. Somehow, Patrick was shorter than I was, which in my opinion, made him even cuter than he already was. The Batman pajamas were absolutely adorable as well.

"Of course I did," Patrick said. "I didn't know that you worked for Fall Out Bros."

I shrugged and said, "I didn't know that you lived in this neighborhood. Do you go to Shermer High School?"

"No, I just graduated from Glenbrook South," Patrick said.

"That explains why we never met before this summer," I said. "I went to Shermer." Gabe's neighborhood was on the edge of town, and about half of it was in another school district. If Gabe had lived a few doors down, he might have gone to another school, and we might have never met - a scary thought.

"I have a friend who went there," Patrick said. "Do you know Elisa Yao?"

"I think she was in my math class sophomore year," I said, although my memory was a little bit fuzzy. I looked into Patrick's eyes, still unable to determine whether they were blue or green, and asked the question that was really on my mind. "Was that you singing earlier?"

Patrick chuckled and blushed. "Yes," he said. "I'm sorry you had to hear that. I'm sure that I am not the singer that you wanted..."

"Are you kidding?" I said. "I was so impressed by your singing. It's like you have a soul voice."

"Thanks, Pete," Patrick said, still blushing. "I think I'm better at playing the drums though."

How was Patrick this talented? He could sing, play the drums, make green tea, be polite and kind to just about anyone, and just to top it all off, he was cute too. It was as if I had made him up, but Patrick was real - he was standing right in front of me. Patrick was impossibly perfect - he probably had more talent in his little finger than I had in my whole body.

"Anyways, my sister and I were upstairs listening to Let's Dance for the millionth time, so I'm kind of surprised that you heard me," Patrick said, and I suddenly realized that I had spaced out again. "Mom had plans tonight, and neither Megan nor I can cook very well, so we just decided to order pizza."

"I'm glad that you and your sister get along," I said, attempting to stay on topic for once. The distance between us sharpened me like a knife, but for now, small talk would have to do. I wasn't even completely sure if Patrick was interested in guys. "My little sister's just kind of annoying."

"We don't always get along," Patrick said, but I found that hard to believe. I had never seen Patrick be anything other than sweet and respectful. Then again, I had only talked to him twice, and the first time barely counted as a conversation. We barely knew each other, but I wanted nothing more than to get to know Patrick better.

"What music do you listen to, other than Bowie?" I asked.

"A lot of Michael Jackson, Prince, and Elvis Costello," Patrick said. "How about you?" I was about to answer with a long list of bands that I liked, but he looked directly at my T-shirt and said, "No, wait, let me guess. Do you like The Cure?"

"They're one of my favorites," I said.

Patrick laughed and said, "I could tell from your shirt." I had nearly forgotten that I was wearing the T-shirt I had bought at their concert the year before. Seeing The Cure live had been one of the greatest experiences of my life, rivaled only by meeting Patrick. "How about Siouxsie and the Banshees?"

"I love them too," I said.

"The Smiths?" Patrick said.

"They're not really my thing," I said. "My friend Brendon likes them though."

Patrick shrugged and said, "Two out of three ain't bad. You have pretty good music taste, Pete."

"So do you, Patrick," I said. "You should come to Fall Out Bros. sometime. It would be so much fun to chat with you some more."

"Wouldn't you get in trouble for chatting with a customer on the job?" Patrick said.

"I'm going off to college in two months," I said. "It's not like my boss is going to fire me now. If Billie Joe was going to fire me, he would have done it a long time ago."

"Where are you going to college?" Patrick asked.

"DePaul," I answered, more interested in Patrick's face than in my future.

"That's cool," Patrick said. "I'm going to Northwestern, so we won't be too far away from each other."

This boy never failed to amaze me. Still not believing that Patrick was real, I pinched myself, but when I looked back at Patrick, he was still there, still smiling and generally being adorable in his Batman pajamas. He was real, and I just couldn't get enough of him.

"Patrick!" someone shouted from inside the house. "Where's our pizza?"

"That's my sister," Patrick said. "If I don't get her the pizza soon, she might explode. I'll pay you and let you go." He ran off, and then returned a few minutes later with a wad of cash. Patrick gave me the money and then said, "It was nice talking to you, Pete."

"It was nice talking to you too, Patrick," I said. He smiled at me and closed the door, and I headed back to the Fall Out Bros. car, still dreaming of him.

"What took you so long?" Joe asked me.

"I just got caught up talking to a customer," I said.

"I could have been home by now," Joe said as I drove the two of us back to Fall Out Bros. "You took forever."

"Sorry, Joe," I said.

"Well, now I know that if I want something done right, I should do it myself," Joe grumbled. I disagreed with him - I was glad that I had gotten to talk to Patrick again. However, I still didn't know if his eyes were blue or green, and I definitely still didn't know if he thought of me the same way that I thought of him.

When we returned to Fall Out Bros., the restaurant was already closed. The other employees were cleaning up, but Billie Joe insisted that Joe and I had done enough for the day. Mom picked me up, and she was a little bit annoyed that my shift had gone later than expected, but in my opinion, it was all worth it for the cutest boy that I had ever met.

"Gabe called while you were gone," Mom said as she pulled into our driveway.

"What did he say?" I asked, worried that he had, in fact, seen me drive past his house.

"He wanted you to call him after you were done with work," Mom said.

I rushed into the house, briefly checking the mailbox on the way in, but there wasn't anything in there. I then picked up the phone and dialed Gabe's number. Gabe picked me immediately. "Hello?" Gabe said.

"Hi, Gabe," I said. "My mom told me that you wanted me to call you."

"Yeah," Gabe said. "Why did you drive past my house? You knew that was one of the visions."

"Gabe, I tried everything," I said. "I was on a delivery, and there was no other way to get to Patrick's house."

"Wait, Patrick's house?" Gabe said. "You went to Patrick From Tea Monkey's house?"

"I didn't know that it was his house until I went there," I said. "Apparently, you only live a few doors down from him."

"That's pretty odd," Gabe said.

"I got to talk to him for a while," I said. "Patrick is just such an incredible person. He's pretty like a cherry blossom, and we might have said goodbyes just a little soon..."

"Pete, I'm just going to stop you right there," Gabe said. "We're still going to that Cubs game tomorrow, right?"

"Of course," I said. "Why wouldn't we?"

"The next vision is the Cubs losing," Gabe said.

"Again?" I complained. I considered my options and then said, "We paid a lot of money for those tickets. You, Brendon, and I all have to go."

"How about this?" Gabe said. "I'll come up with a way to make sure that the Cubs win by tomorrow. We'll all meet at my house before we leave, and I'll tell you the plan."

"Sounds good," I said.

"See you tomorrow, Pete," Gabe said before hanging up. I lay on my bed and put my headphones in. I was still a little bit mad at myself for driving past Gabe's house, but it was worth it. Visions of Patrick danced in my head, and I broke down on memory lane, all alone. There were plenty of bigger things that I could have worried about, but for now, thinking of Patrick was enough for me.