Jessica's Story - Appendix F
Her Skills on the Beach earn her a Sugar Daddy.
Yes, that was me. The girl that arose from the surf without her bikini during my second professional surfing competition. I'd been surfing since before I can remember. Both my parents were surfers, and I think I must have been raised with a surfboard under my feet. I surfed competitions throughout high school, but these were always amateur events, and the most you would ever receive were ribbons and discount tickets to local businesses.
My parents never wanted me to surf professionally because they knew it was a demanding and generally unrewarding venture. Less than one percent of college athletes ever make it in the pros. And for the fringe and
extreme
sports, like BMX and skateboarding. It's even less - way less.
But I was good, and I just knew I could make it. I'd never get million dollar deals, but if I was lucky, maybe, just maybe, I could support myself. Besides, who hasn't heard the old expression, "The best jobs in the world, are the ones you can't believe they are paying you to do."
Because of my experience in the amateur ranks of surfing, I was able to enter my first professional competition the summer after my high school graduation. I was already eighteen, and though my parents did not exactly encourage me, they did reluctantly approve of me pursuing my dreams.
That first event was held in Laguna Beach, and I was more nervous than I had ever been in my life. But I was so fired up that nothing was going to stop me. For those of you that aren't familiar with the waters of Southern California, they are cold. Many surfers wear wet suits year round. But it was summer, the water wasn't all that cold, and I was out to prove myself. So, I wore a one-piece speedo, like girls wear in swimming competitions.
I was a teenager, I had a nice figure, long blonde hair, and I wanted the judges to notice me. And I think they did. But despite a series of near perfect runs, I only scored in the middle of the pack. I was disappointed, but I wasn't mad. I was the new girl on the beach, and I just knew I had to work harder to get noticed.
In the following competition, I was determined to make a name for myself. I knew I had the talent; I just needed more exposure. And boy, did I ever get it. I decided to wear a bikini and a rather skimpy one at that. My first run went very well, and I was happy with it. But I needed to really put myself out there.
On my second run of the day, I passed on three waves, and as the fourth began to form over my shoulder, I decided that it was now or never. I started paddling like crazy, and as the water swelled up beneath me, I felt invincible. However, my confidence was about to write a check my cute eighteen year old ass couldn't cash. For as soon as I started to inch forward on my board, an underwater sandbar caused the wave to break unexpectedly, and down I went - headfirst over the front of my board.
I hit the bottom hard, and my board, which was tethered to my ankle, crashed down on top of me. As I struggled to get to the surface, I gasped for air. And to my shock and horror, the crowd was also gasping, but not for the same reason.
My bikini top was gone, I mean just gone. I had no idea where it went. And my bottoms were down somewhere around my knees. There was nothing I could do about the top, but I frantically tried to stand on the shallow sand bar so I could pull up my pants. However, my board was still tethered to my ankle, and the surf kept pulling my board and me toward shore.
My best friend Niki raced to bring me a towel. As did one of the female judges. And luckily, I kept falling back into the water. But more than twenty cameras caught the entire event, as well as numerous videos. I wanted to be noticed, and boy, was I ever.
* * *
During the day, when I wasn't surfing, I attended Orange Coast Community College. My parents paid for it, but I honestly had no idea what I wanted to study and just took general studies courses. At night, I worked part-time at a beach bar called
Paradise Found
. It was your typical beach bar, serving beer, wings, burgers, and shots. But mostly beer. So, after a day of spitting out saltwater and wiping it from your eyes, who wouldn't want to spend the evening on a wooden bench swilling ice cold beer?
And on the days I didn't have class, that's where you could find me. The only difference between being just another surf rat, was that I worked there and actually got paid. How the others supported themselves, I really never understood.
And that's where I met Mano Luna, or just Luna as most people called him. That wasn't his real name, of course. His real name was Keith, but I doubt many people knew that. He was about ten years older than me, probably about twenty eight or nine. He worked at a local surf shop, but spent most of his time at Paradise, drinking beer and shooting the shit about what a great surfer he was. And actually, he was a great surfer.
In competitions, he usually finished in the money, and though that would never be enough to make a living, surfing is not like golf or baseball or football. It does start to get you sponsorships, and Luna had several small ones. So, in my mind, he was a good guy to know.
As the season progressed, I paid particular attention to him. Making sure he always had a cold beer and flirting my ass off, as long as he wasn't too drunk and didn't already have three or more chicks hanging all over him.
One night as we were closing up, he had just come in, probably from working late at the surf shop. I brought him two cold Dos Equis (his usual order), and to my surprise, he handed one back to me. "Sit," he said as he returned one of the beers to me.
The bar wasn't actually closed, but it was late, and there were only a couple of people left, finishing up their last call. I looked back to see if the manager was anywhere around, and when I didn't see him, I sat down next to my teen hero and put the bottle to my lips. I was old enough to serve alcohol in California, but I was still too young to drink it. So, this was a naughty treat for me. And though I probably could have been fired for it, it was very unlikely. Unless, of course, a
Cal-ABC officer
walked in.