Mixtape For The End of the World

25. A storm knocks down a tree in front of Gabe's house.

25. A storm knocks down a tree in front of Gabe's house.

"Dad, can I borrow the DeLorean for today?" I asked as I picked at the pancakes that Mom had made for us. Finally, Friday had come, and I couldn't wait to go out with Patrick, racing through the city, windows down, with my boyfriend by my side. I had put on a brand new outfit, and I had spent forever styling my hair, all to impress Patrick. All I needed now was the car.

"Why do you need the car?" Dad asked.

"I'm going into the city with a friend," I explained. My parents knew that I was bisexual, and they were usually pretty supportive, but I didn't want to tell them that Patrick was more than just a friend if I didn't have to.

"I thought you said yesterday that Gabe and Brendon were both busy today," Mom said.

"They are," I said. "I'm going with Patrick."

"Who's Patrick?" Mom asked.

"Isn't that the boy that you're obsessed with?" Hillary said.

"Shut up, Hillary," I said.

"You're going on a date with him, aren't you?" Hillary said. "That explains why you're so dressed up."

Mom and Dad exchanged a look, and after an awkward silence, Dad said, "Pete, you can have the car, but please be careful."

"I will," I assured them. I shoveled pancakes into my mouth - all I wanted was to see Patrick as quickly as possible. "Is there a storm coming by any chance?"

Dad gave me a confused look, followed by another awkward silence. "The weatherman didn't say anything about a storm," he said.

"I just heard something about a big storm coming from a friend," I said, which was technically true. It had been sunny all week, but I couldn't be too careful. There wasn't much that Gabe or I could do about the weather, so as long as there weren't any big storms coming, Gabe would be okay.

"Your friend must have been mistaken," Dad said.

I finished off my breakfast and then said, "I'm leaving. I'll see you all later."

I ran out to the garage, got into the DeLorean, and drove to Patrick's house. When I knocked on the door, Patrick opened it and stepped outside, dressed in an adorable outfit with his fedora perched on his head. He adjusted his glasses and smiled when he saw me. "It's so good to see you, Pete," he said as we walked to the car.

"It's good to see you too," I said.

I climbed into the passenger seat of the DeLorean, and when Patrick sat down next to me, I told him that he could play anything that he liked. Patrick looked through my collection, but he soon declared, "These are all way too depressing." He turned on the radio instead, and even though half of the songs that came on were synthesized garbage, we screamed along to every single one of them.

As we approached the city, Patrick stared out the window. "What are you looking at?" I asked him.

"You know when you're in middle school, and you say that you 'love' something, and some budding smartass says, 'If you love it so much, why don't you marry it?'" Patrick said.

"I probably was that budding smartass," I said. "Where are you going with this anyways?"

"I'd so marry Chicago," Patrick said. He went back to staring out the window, in awe of the skyscrapers that we were about to drive past.

"So you're going to cheat on me with a city?" I said.

"This city is my city, and I love it," Patrick said.