The invincibility of youth had been pierced that night, but the air had yet to fully escape. Before that, like most young people, they had all thought they would live forever.
-- Narrator (Yesterday Once More)

Importance: This quote deals with how the characters feel in the wake of Alec's death. He dies at 22, when all of them are about to graduate from college, and it strongly affects each of the characters because of how young they are. As the quote states, the veneer of invincibility that the friends thought they had because of their young age goes away when they see one of their friends die so suddenly and tragically.

They were not here for Marielle in the wake of her divorce, or Naomi after her parents’ private plane went down, or Craig when he pleaded guilty to art fraud. This was not their little game as usual, “funeral” as pick-me-up, designed to give them...
-- Narrator (Yesterday Once More)