Deeper than Skin – Beach Run (I)

He enjoyed the smell of an early summer morning; it was the refreshing scent of something new that always got him excited. Sweat dripped down his face as he passed the dunes for a third time. Jake never ran with a shirt, he thought that it took away from the reason he worked out in the first place, to get the perfect body.

Jake was already a chiseled spectacle. There was always an eye on his perfectly packed in muscle beneath his caramel skin. He wasn’t just a modern day Hercules; rather he was a mixture of every perfect statue and the paintings of every Italian artist who spent his days focusing of the beauty of God’s eye. Jake might have been the most beautiful man on the West Coast, but for him that wasn’t enough. Jake wanted to be the greatest sight to the most sophisticated eyes in all of the world.

It was almost insane the amount of attention he gave to himself. Jake struggled with the deepest levels of narcissism; he knew this, but didn’t have a problem with it. He even had a debate with himself once about the possibilities of getting a tattoo of his name across is his chest, to remind him that he is the number person in his life. He decided against it because he just didn’t want to have anything blocking the view of his perfect skin.

Jake usually ran early enough to miss out on the beach paparazzi, who tried with all their might to catch a clear glimpse of him, but for some reason never could. His run was never too early for the regular goddesses of Southern California; he loved this almost as much as he loved himself. It was another reason for him to run with his shirt off, just so he could watch the eyes of the next hottie stare into abdomen. For the longest time, this was so satisfying for young Jake, but now he longed for something slightly greater.

Once more Jake made his way around the dunes and spotted his next victim. He was excited for this one because she was more of sight than the others. This bronze toned beauty floated across the sand with long black hair flying back into the wind. He watched her eyes, anticipating the gradual “look-up and gaze.” She was now just a few strides away; his heart began pounding harder and harder from anticipation. Here it was, the big moment… and there she went.

Jake immediately stopped in his tracks. He was mortified and confused. Was there something wrong with him or her? It had to be something wrong with her, he thought. Jake ran back to try to figure out what went wrong.

“Hey, you know you might wanna look up sometimes, you never know when a pole might just pop up outta no where.”

“Is that right?”

“Yea. You haven’t looked up for a good two hundred yards.”

“I try to focus on running. If I look up I might get distracted.”

“Or you might just keep running along enjoying the scenery.”

“Worked for you, didn’t it?”

Jake stopped again.