They return to their lives... for now

As much as a part of me hoped for the days that followed to be filled with more of what transpired on my birthday, I knew it wasn't practical. For one thing, we barely had the rest of the day to clean up the house and have it look decent again (also making sure it didn't reek of sex from ceiling to floor), which ended up taking much longer than it should have. Amy and I had practiced our stamina to be certain, but the excitement and exertion we had in celebrating with our friends took far more out of us than we'd bargained for. The day after my birthday - or the half of it that was left - whizzed past us just as quickly, and we were back to our parental, responsible lives.

The same went for Elizabeth and Talia. While they did manage to meet us separately once or twice every week, the topic of conversation would often linger on how exhausted and busy we all were as functioning adults. Elizabeth was often haggard from her overworked, underappreciated career as a teacher, although she always reassured us that she never regretted her decision. Talia seemed to jump from job to job, but a month after our get-together she declared that she had landed a probationary position in a media company. Curiously, most of her time was spent around Adam, who she played with affectionately on her visits and almost treated him as her own son. It was a sight to see, although there was something strange about her demeanor I couldn't identify - a niggling seed of suspicion I guessed had been planted the night of the party. Amy would joke with Talia that she would be her first choice for babysitter if it ever came to that, but privately I knew we both suspected there was more to our friend's behavior.

Days turned to weeks, then into months. Our sometimes humdrum, sometimes hectic schedule had consumed our lives. Amy and I still made it a point to have regular sex, but we both admitted that it couldn't beat the night we shared with our friends. That wasn't to say we were dissatisfied with each other, merely wistful - and we realized that the two friends we saw on a slightly increasing basis weren't in the position to be asked for participation.

Still, we couldn't complain. Our lives had stabilized, and so long as our friends were in touch and single, there was always my birthday the following year.