"YOU were the one who gave my entire family mono after drinking directly from the cider bowl at our annual Holiday Tea!" Junior shouted into Jake's face.

"Yeah, but you purposefully changed your answers on every single organic chemistry exam so that I would fail," Jake replied with a feverish grin.

They had been going at it for a few hours now, their faces inches away from each other, hashing out every single act of cruelty from their upbringing. Junior, nursing her third drink of the evening, would rest her head on his shoulder every now and then, bursting into a fit of giggles. In return, Jake would squeeze her hand during every tale.

"Jake, I think it's time to go," Quentin interrupted their conversation. At this point Jake and Junior had locked eyes for an extended period of time, clearly not inviting anyone else to join this impenetrable bond.

"What do you mean?" Jake asked, his voice fluctuating a little excessively.

"We had that thing to do… that thing we were supposed to go to," Quentin clearly sounded impatient.

"I don't know what you're— " Jake began, but Quentin grabbed his arm.

"Sorry Junior, but we have people we promised we would meet earlier. See ya," Quentin said halfheartedly as he whisked his friend out of the bar.

Once they got out the heated venue, Jake turned to Quentin. "Ok, dude, what the actual fuck? Why where you so rude to Junior?"

"Because," Quentin wasn't looking at him, instead focused on catching a cab, replied "you're way out of her league, you've never given her the time of day and I didn't want you to make a poor life choice tonight. Besides," he motioned for a yellow vehicle to come closer, "I have a brilliant idea."

"We've been family friends forever, we were just hanging out," Jake protested, trying to believe his lie.

"Dude, you were three seconds from making out with that nobody. C'mon, get in," he ushered Jake into the cab.

Jake wanted to argue, but the alcohol put him in a less than peppery mood. It hurt him that his best friend said those foul comments about her. He, too, had been lying to himself these past few weeks. He would often visit Junior's research cubicle, at first with the intention to bother her work rhythm or disorganize her papers, which usually turned into hour long conversations about their more successful friends, her aloof mother, or his lovably crass father.

All animosities aside, they still had an understanding for each other incomprehensible by all others.

"Where are we going Quentin? It's almost two in the morning"

"Don't worry about that. I've been thinking," he replied, slightly slurring his words.

"Yeah, you usually do after you've tossed a few back," Jake muttered. He started to feel a little queasy from the taxi driver's erratic navigation skills.

"No, but seriously. Sitting in that bar made me realize how unhappy I am in the lab," he turned to Jake, a bit of lunacy in his eyes. "Aren't you?"

"I think that's your problem, bro," said Jake as he closed his eyes, hoping to calm his uneasy stomach.

"Listen to me, Jake!" he shouted. "I don't want to waste away in this stupid lab for another year, doing jack shit, hoping that something great will happen, only to get rejected from medical school once again."

Jake groaned. He loved Quentin like his own brother, but sometimes, especially while drinking, he would have moments of selfishness and feel self-righteous, usually bringing Jake down, the people pleaser and crowd magnet, as a result.

After some time, Jake shifted his body to look out the window of the cab, startled to see that they had arrived at the lab.

"Quentin, what are we doing here?"

At this moment Quentin turned to face him, making eye contact with his friend for the first time that evening. He flashed a devilish grin, his manic eyes a telltale sign that he was indeed drunk, but more importantly, insane.

"Jake, we need to do something revolutionary."