Emmerson felt a mix of excitement and nervousness as she made her way onto the conference floor. She was looking forward to the day ahead of learning and socializing, but she was also anxious about how things might have changed between her and Henry and Irena. She didn't want last night's events to change their relationship. Or more accurately, she didn't want it to change their relationship in a negative way. She was interested in exploring more of their lifestyle if they were open to it.

She had no reason to think things would have changed for the worse. They'd sent her a cute picture of the two of them from bed last night and wished her sweet dreams. But she was in her head about it. She'd put herself well outside of her usual comfort zone and she was struggling a bit.

"Dr. Emmerson Green! Is that you?!"

She turned in the direction of the booming voice and before she could register what was happening, she was tackled and pulled into the embrace of a musky scented man. It took her one whiff to know exactly who it was.

"Jamie!" she squealed. "I didn't know you'd be here!"

"Last minute change in my schedule meant I could make it. I didn't want to miss out on seeing so many of my favourite people. And of course there's the riveting session on atrophic ridge treatment, and oral cancers, and how could I forget, all the live on-stage demos," he said wiggling his perfectly trimmed, bushy dark eyebrows comically.

Jamie and Emmerson had gone to dental school together. They'd somehow been in almost every class and lab together. It became a bit of a joke with their friends that they were school spouses. In university, they'd always had significant others, so they'd never been anything more than friends, though Emmerson had fantasized about being more.

Jamie was a six-foot-four chocolate god. He'd played college basketball and almost made it to the NBA. His fallback had been dental school. That's how good he was. He had the whole package: brains, athletics and good looks. He was always on the go. They'd given him the nickname "hurricane Jamie" because he'd rush up to you full of exuberant energy, and then rush off again leaving you feeling happier, a bit flustered, and usually amused.

Emmerson surreptitiously eyed him up. He was obviously not slacking in the self-care department. He had kept his athletic physique but had bulked up. Back in school he'd been a bit more wiry. He'd also ditched his glasses and got laser eye surgery shortly after they graduated. She kind of missed his sexy Clark Kent glasses. Way too many times during late night study sessions, she had dreamed about pulling the frames off his face and kissing him.

"Have you seen anyone else we know?" he asked surveying the room.

"No, I just got here myself. I did run into my old mentor last night and his wife," she said, hopefully sounding normal about it.

"Nice. That's Henry and Irena, right?"

"Yeah! How'd you know? I mean, I guess it's a small world."

"Exactly. Small world," he said looking her up and down. "You look good Em. How's life been treating you?"

She blushed under his focused gaze. "I'm good... good. You know, just living life. My cousin Hannah got married. You remember Hannah, right?"

Jamieson squinted, evidently trying to recall.

"Table dancer. Slipped and twisted her ankle. I spent the night in the emergency room with her."

His eyes lit up in recognition and he snapped his fingers. "Right! Now I remember her. She was a real party girl," he said with a wink.

Hannah had given one of his friends a blowjob in a bathroom before climbing atop a table and attempting to flash everyone in the pub. Instead, she tumbled off the table and wrecked her ankle (and bruised her ego).

"Oh, yo! Is that who I think it is?!" he said excitedly.

Emmerson turned and vaguely recognized one of their profs from school. She couldn't remember what he'd taught.

"It's that doctor we had in second year for that section on oral hygiene. The one who was stoned the whole time. I gotta talk to that guy. I'll catch you later, Em," he said clapping her on the back and rushing away.

Emmerson was laughing and muttering to herself as recovered from her experience with "hurricane Jamie" as she wandered into the tradeshow.

"What's so funny cupcake?" a raspy voice she would recognize anywhere called out to her.

Emmerson zeroed in on her friend and pulled her into a tight embrace.

"Woah, woah, woah. You break it, you buy it," her friend Matty grumbled.

Matty (short for Matilda) and Emmerson roomed together for the first year of dental school. Matty was the polar opposite of what you'd think of when you thought of a future dentist. At the start of school, she had smoked half a pack a day of cigarettes. For breakfast, she downed one Coke, not diet Coke: real full sugar Coke. Her diet was so bad, during one of their third-year lab sessions, they'd diagnosed her with scurvy. Matty remedied the situation by adding ketchup to her diet.

"What are you doing hiding out in this corner?" Emmerson asked.

"I'm avoiding Tiffany Walters. She drives me up the bloody wall. She was trying to get me to sign up for some evening extra curriculars and I was like, listen sweetie, if I wanted to gouge my eyes out and die of boredom, I'd totally come to your thingy. But I value my life and my time much more than that."

Emmerson covered her mouth as she snickered. "Matty, you are brutally honest and that is one of the things I've always loved about you."

"Thanks toots. So, what's the haps? Are we going to go hit up some booths for some fancy swag we don't need but will take because we live in a consumer obsessed society?" she asked, linking her arm through Emmerson's.

They headed toward the shiny booths, staffed by shiny happy people hocking their shiny wares. Toothbrushes, drills, dentures, invisible braces, you name it, it was all being given away. They loaded their tote bags with free samples and Emmerson laughed at Matty's raunchy jokes and mocking imitations of the people around them until her stomach hurt.

Emmerson eventually broached the more serious topic. "How are things with Annie?"

So far, Matty had kept things pretty surface level, but that wasn't out of the ordinary. She usually played her cards close.

"If I tell you, you have to promise not to laugh. Not to say, 'I told you so.' Ok?"

"I don't know what you mean. I would never make fun of you!" Emmerson said with a smirk.

"Yeah, yeah, well don't give me any crap ok. I can't believe I'm saying this... Well, first of all, I'm vaping now. I'm off the cancer sticks because Annie says she loves me, so there you go. And then the other part is, she said I had to stop smoking because she doesn't want me holding the baby if I've been smoking."

"Holy shit! OH MY GOD!" Emmerson was shrieking with joy, but the people around them didn't realize her outburst was one of exuberant happiness.

"Honey, you are drawing a bunch of nervous energy. You want to dial it back a little," Matty said tugging Emmerson out of the tradeshow and back into the conference mezzanine.

"I am SO happy for you." Emmerson started to tear up. "I'm just so... so... happy..." she said blubbering.

"Yeah, ok. Well, your reaction isn't saying happy right now," Matty said surveying her closely. "I thought for sure you were going to throw my words back at me about being 'single until I die'! And 'no woman is ever going to tie me down'," she said wrapping her arm around Emmerson and guiding her to a more private place.

They found a quiet alcove with a bench to sit, and Emmerson found herself pouring her soul out to Matty in the most brutally honest way. She confessed to the jealousy she'd felt watching Hannah go through the wedding festivities. The loneliness she felt pretty much all the time. How much she still mourned for the life that she thought she would be living.

"It's so stupid. I have a really great life. But I want more. But what's most confusing is that I can't quite figure out what that even means. I don't know what I want anymore. So, I've been kind of, opening myself up to some new experiences."

"That's great cupcake. New experiences are great. What are we talking here, pottery classes and training for a marathon? I feel like those are kind of a rite of passage hobbies at our age."

Emmerson grinned and shamelessly shared her alphabetical adventure with Matty, right up until the night prior with Henry and Irena. Matty was not someone who hid her emotions. Her face contorted with all the right emotional responses as Emmerson described the various experiences.

When Emmerson was done, Matty sat back and shook her head in awe. "I don't know what you've done to my little cupcake, but I very much approve. I always knew you'd make a delicious snack for someone one day."

"Wait, is that why you call me cupcake? I thought it was because you thought I was sweet!"

Matty chortled. "And there she is. My sweet little cupcake. Come on, we're going to be late for oral surgery demo."