Ticking Clocks

Chapter 2

"Dude, Deb just texted me," Chase said.

He had his Calculus textbook propped on one knee and his iPhone in his hand.

"Mac'n?" Derek teased.

"No. She texted me," Chase said, rolling his eyes.

"What does she want?" Alyssa asked.

"She's trying to get a group of people to chill with her at Santa Monica tomorrow night," he replied, tapping away at his phone.

"She said club earlier," I muttered. They all looked at me.

"What?" Derek asked.

"I ran into her earlier. She asked me if I wanted to go clubbing with her," I replied. Alyssa snorted and Chase laughed.

"She asked you to go clubbing with her?" Chase asked. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Who asked who to go clubbing with them?" Brooke asked, walking into the room.

We were all sitting in Brooke's and mine's apartment, trying to get studying done. But it was already three in the morning and we were now distracted.

"Deb asked Soph if she wanted to go clubbing," Eli explained, not looking up from his anatomy textbook. Brooke raised an eyebrow at me.

"She clearly doesn't know who Soph is," she said.

"After 4 years of studying together..." Derek said, grinning at me.

"Wah, wah. I'm so hurt," I replied. They laughed.

"We should go," Brooke said.

"She changed her plans. She wants to have a bonfire at the beach," Chase said, holding up his phone. Brooke took it from him, reading through the text-conversation. She looked a little better now, more rested.

"Bonfire sounds fun," she said.

"Dude, we need to study," Eli said, looking up at her. She glanced at him.

"Well you can stay here and study. I want to go to the beach and relax for a night. We've been studying all day, all night for the past week. I'm bored and my head is getting ready to explode with information," Brooke said.

We all exchanged glances. She had a point.

"And besides, we're young. We're in our twenties. What's the use of having youth when you waste it on studying all the time? We need to live a little. Studying will always have its place, but living...you can't stop living," Brooke said.

Chase began clapping.

"Wow. What a speech! Everyone, hands up for our future senator!" Chase said, standing up. Brooke threw a pillow at him and he laughed, dodging it easily.

"She's right, guys. We need to live a little. I found a gray hair yesterday. We're literally not going to stay young forever. We might as well make the most of what we have right now," Alyssa agreed.

"Ok, fine. But I'm not drinking," I said.

"We're going to get you wasted, babyyy," Chase said, smirking at me. I grabbed another pillow and threw it at him, which he also dodged.

"Chase, stop being a douche," Eli said, shaking his head.

"Eli, stop being a pansy," Chase replied. Eli raised an eyebrow at him quizzically. Chase ducked his head, backing down immediately.

Eli had that sort of power over us. He was the quiet, thoughtful type of guy and we respected him for that. He was the last member to join our little group. Derek had been partnered up with him for a chemistry lab and they ended up finding a research job together. So Eli started hanging out a lot with Derek, who was always with us. And then after some time, he just became incorporated into our circle of friends.