time flies / j. christopher

4

summer and reagan pack two towels in their beach bag and toss it onto summers bed. "it's so fucking hot," reagan complains, falling into summers swivel chair and rolls in front of summers mediocre window fan.

"i'm about to call shareef, dude, it's too damn hot to wait for him," summer grabs her phone and facetimes shareef. he answers on the second ring and summer shouts, "where the hell you at!?"

"bro, chill, i'm almost there," he says. the phone gets taken from him and calebs face takes over the screen.

"there better be room in that car, i swear," summer says. caleb flips the camera and shows a single open seat between himself and shaqir.

"one of y'all gone have to sit in the trunk," caleb says.

"summer, that's all you," reagan says, eyes closed and face in front of the fan. sweat trickles down her back and into her shorts, making her back straighten.

"just hurry up, reef," summer says before hanging up. she drops onto the bed and extends her limbs, palms up, like she's doing yoga.

the two girls sit in silence until shareef texts summer, letting them know that he was outside. summer and reagan grab their belongings and head out of summers room and downstairs to say goodbye to summers parents.

"be safe, girls," summers dad says as they give them hugs.

"we will," reagan says and the two of them are walk outside, only for shareef not to be there. "what the fuck?" reagan says, throwing her arms up and craning her neck to look up and down the street.

"i swear, imma kill shareef," summer groans, putting her hands on her head and looking up at the sun. reagan fans herself, trying to create wind to cool herself down. why shareef said he was outside when he wasn't, makes reagan feel crazy.

seconds later, shareefs range rover pulls up in front of the girls and they simultaneously flip him off before walking around the back and throwing their bags in the trunk.

"what the hell, shareef?" summer says, hitting him through the window. he ducks as she tries to hit him again and groans.

"i didn't think you guys were ready, honestly." summer rolls her eyes and opens the back door. shaqir gets out and lets reagan get in, followed by summer who sits on her lap.

"summer, i can't see," shareef says. "sit somewhere else." summer sighs and slides onto caleb without warning.

"um, i didn't say you could sit here," caleb says, unsure of where to put his hands.

summer waves him off. "well i'm not sitting on the freshman, sorry."

"i'm literally a year younger than you, summer," shaqir says, rolling his eyes.

"didn't ask, don't care, plus you're younger than me. deal with it, woo," summer says, closing her eyes and leaning her back against the window.

reagan laughs and leans forward, the AC hitting her directly in the face. josh glances back at her and they make eye contact, reagan sending him a smile. josh messes with the air vents so they they're pointing mostly in the back.

"are y'all hungry?" shareef asks as they pull out of summers neighborhood.

"don't we have food in the back?" shaqir asks.

"oh yeahhh," shareef says, changing lanes and instead getting on the freeway towards the beach and not food. shaqir rolls his eyes.

"man, all you think about is food," josh says, shaking his head.

"and? a nigga can't eat now?"

"you stay with some food," reagan says, joining in on the teasing of shareef. it's fun to just get on him like that.