Mixtape For The End of the World

6. Ryan gets into an argument with Mrs. Urie.

6. Ryan gets into an argument with Mrs. Urie.

The next day, I woke up to the phone ringing. I wanted to go back to bed, but I reluctantly got out of bed and answered the phone. "Hello?" I said sleepily.

"Pete, have you seen the next item on the list?" Brendon asked.

I pulled out my copy of the list of Gabe's visions and looked for number six. "I have now," I said. "Ryan knows about the list, right? As long as he doesn't argue with your mom, this shouldn't be too hard to prevent."

"I agree, but it's better to be safe than sorry," Brendon said.

"Do you have a plan?" I asked.

"I was thinking that you and Gabe could come over to my house," Brendon said. "If things do get out of hand between Ryan and Mom, it will be much easier to keep things under control if more of us are there."

"That makes sense," I said. "I'll come over as soon as I can."

I immediately got ready to go, but since the DeLorean was still getting fixed, Mom had to drive me to Brendon's house, much to my annoyance. I sat in the passenger's seat, trying to find a radio station that I liked, but I couldn't find anything before we arrived at Brendon's house.

Mom said goodbye to me and told me that she would pick me up in the evening as I climbed out of the car. I knocked on Brendon's door, and he immediately let me in. "Hey, Pete," Brendon said. "Ryan and I are just hanging out in my bedroom. I called Gabe, and he'll come by sometime this afternoon. My mom's not supposed to get home until five, so I think that's okay."

"Sounds good," I said as the two of us headed into Brendon's room.

Brendon's room was covered in band posters, movie posters, and pictures of his friends. I noticed a new photo from our trip to Chicago posted next to a picture of Gabe, Brendon, and I from when we were thirteen. Ryan was sitting at Brendon's desk, admiring a poster of the Beatles. "I've always liked the Beatles," Ryan said. "They're one of my favorite bands."

"I like them too," Brendon said as he lay down on his bed, staring vacantly at the ceiling. "Actually, I once dumped a girl because she told me that the Beatles were overrated."

"Really?" Ryan said.

"It's true," Brendon said. "Mindy had terrible music taste. We only lasted for five days because of it."

"It didn't help that you two were freshmen in high school," I said.

"Yeah, that may have made it worse," Brendon said. "I still don't really like her. In retrospect, I'm not sure why I dated her in the first place."

"Me neither, Brendon," I said. "Gwen was worse though. Tell Ryan about her."

"Gwen might have actually been mad as rabbits," Brendon said. "Let's just say that lying is the most fun a girl can have without taking her clothes off."

"Oh, come on," Ryan said. "I kind of want to hear the whole story."

"Fine," Brendon said. "Gwen lied about just about everything - I think it was some sort of game to her. I knew that it was a bad sign when she told me that she had three cats when she only had two. Then, she told me that her best friend was in love with Pete, and it turned out not to be true..."

"It was for the best," I said. "I wasn't particularly interested in her."

"Then, Gwen turned out to be actually be some kind of squid monster," Brendon said. "That was when I knew that I had to break up with her."

"Now I know you're messing with me," Ryan said, laughing.

"I'm not!" Brendon exclaimed. "I barely escaped with my life, but I loved her anyway."