It began like a usual party. It was organized by Emily, in her house, on Saturday. It was meant to celebrate her twenty-second birthday. She convinced her parents to leave us youngsters alone. They have a really nice house. Emily's dad is a manager in one big IT company and the family has a lot of money. So, the parents left to cottage they have near the sea, leaving Emily alone to greet the thirty guests. They would have stayed away for at least three days. The first guests came by 8 pm. Stylish clothes, music at not-so-high volume (to avoid complaints from the neighbours), alcohol without drunkenness... for short, your average boring birthday party.
At midnight the party ended already. Emily had told of this early ending before the party even began. She was busy with her college exams, and she couldn't wake up too late, as that would mess up with her study routine. Everyone understood, duty is duty. So, by a quarter to midnight the first guests started to leave. Some stayed a bit longer to help Emily clean the remains. As guests, they had no duty about it, but they knew Emily would have to do everything by herself the following day, and they didn't feel it was right to leave this burden to her. And so, the house was cleaned: the plastic plates and bowls, that contained chips and pizza slices but were now empty, were thrown into the trash bin. By midnight and a half, the last of the thirty guests seemed ready to leave. There were just ten of us when the birthday party closed... and the real party began. And everything started with John saying, with an unsecure voice: "Are you really on board?"
Let me explain. My name is Thomas, I know Emily since we were children. She is one of my closest friends, maybe even the best friend among all the people I know, both female and male. And most of my friends are from Emily's circle, anyway. I believe in friendship between man and woman, and I had no problem in sharing this beautiful friendship with her while we both lived our romantic relationships with other people. She had become a constant of my life and of my acquaintances. For me, she is just like any male friend. I recognize she is a beautiful girl, but for me she has no sexual value. She is like a sister and the simple idea of a sexual intercourse with her is unthinkable for me. I could have some interest in her female friends, but recently I found a girlfriend outside Emily's circle. The relationship with this girl lasted two years, but, for reasons I don't want to recall, by the time of Emily's birthday party we had broke up. I felt really sad the first days after the breakup. Two years are two years, after all. My mood healed rapidly though: I'm young, and even if I was not looking for another girl, I wanted to enjoy life.
And so, there was the party. John, my second best friend (after Emily) and Emily's second best friend (after me), informed me of the event. We were hanging around and we were alone near the park that day, when he said: "Do you know about Emily's birthday?"
"The birthday? That's in a week, right? Have you a gift in mind?"
"No, the point is... Emily told me to tell you something..."
"What?"
"A thing she is organizing..." He is so rare to see John being embarrassed and dragging it out.
"So, what's the matter?"
"She is organizing an erotic party after the birthday's one."
"Bullshit."
"It's truth," he says, with a face more serious than at a funeral.
"But why would she tell you?"
