30 Lays in 30 Days - The List Book 1

Chapter 3

After lunch the next day, Beth drove us to Coffs Harbour in her little Prius, a gift from her rich, green parents. The four-hour drive allowed me plenty of time to muse over my next move. I hadn't been home for a while and there were a few moving parts to this plan.

Beth had seen a Facebook invite to a welcome-home party for Sean, my oldest high-school crush, back from his latest tour. Fortunately, my parents were away on a cruise, so I wouldn't have to go visiting. This was a mission of a different kind: get in, get laid, get out.

We arrived just as the sun was setting in a painted pink sky. Pulling into Sean's parents' driveway, I wasn't surprised to see most of the kids from my school years milling about on his porch.

"Oh God," I said, suddenly very nervous. "I don't think I can do this! It's like Year 12 all over again."

Beth fluffed out my curled hair, which was slightly flattened from the car trip. "Sister, don't take this the wrong way, but I've seen your photos from high school. It wasn't a pretty time for you."

"Hey!" I squeaked. "I wasn't that bad. Was I?"

Beth searched for something diplomatic to say. "Umm ... The pageboy haircut and extra dress size and the denim-on-denim combos... Let's just say you are way more attractive now than back then. Tonight will be nothing like those days."

We stepped from the car just as a group of guys who used to be hot footballers plodded past. When I had seen them last, they'd been youthful and fit. My brain tried to assimilate the fact that they looked a little like melted-candle versions of their previous selves.

There was a general appreciative noise from their group, lustful hooting sent our way. Beth and I smiled and winked back. While I was feeling slightly horrified at the thought that Sean had aged similarly, I was thrilled that they didn't recognize me.

"Check me," I asked Beth. She pulled a stray thread from my favorite aqua blue jeans, which teamed perfectly with a sparkly silver shirt. My strappy heels were silver too, along with my extra-long necklace, which dangled between my braless breasts. I was feeling pretty good for a girl essentially walking into a high-school reunion.

People seemed to be migrating to the backyard, so we followed, our heels sinking pleasantly into the grass. The garden was decorated with white Christmas lights and a giant bonfire lit up the area. Top-forty music played tinnily somewhere and people drank from white plastic cups. It was just like high school again, except for the small children running between the legs of the adults.

A little boy with blond curls crashed into Beth, looked up with a gorgeous grin and said, "Solly, lady!" He scooted off as Beth dusted off whatever imaginary stain she seemed to think he'd left.

"Gross...kids..." Beth had never been a fan of small people.

I couldn't stop looking at the little boy as he shrieked and continued his dash around the yard. Richard had held the same opinions as Beth when it came to children.

"If I wanted something messy and noisy that eats everything, I'd buy a goat. And besides, do you know how expensive it is to raise a child? For the same price it would take to rear a kid, we could invest in blah, blah..." Always the same argument. I would nod and agree, but inside, my uterus cried out to me, my maternal longing for a child a pain I couldn't ignore.

But tonight wasn't about kids. I'd put the craving for a child on the shelf about the same time as I'd signed the divorce papers. Tonight was about sex.

"You know," I said to Beth, "there's every chance Sean won't remember me. And even if he does, he might not be into me. Just because his profile says he's single – "