It was a beautiful day in April. Spring was coming to a close and summer was on its way, but unlike all the other eighteen year olds in my neighborhood, I was trapped inside.
Finals week was approaching, and my grades this entire semester had not been up to far. As a result, I was grounded until finals were done.
It was not as if I had anyone to go out with anyway. I had always had a hard time socializing with other people and making friends. I was the skinny weird kid who kept to himself most of the time. In fact, I wondered if any of my classmates would even recognize me when I went onstage to collect my high school diploma in a couple of months.
The truth was, I longed for friends. Even an acquaintance would have been lovely. But I wasn't allowed to. My parents strictly forbade me from mingling with anyone at school. They were sinners, they said. Sons of Satan and daughters of Jezebel.
I was only allowed to befriend the people at my church. Unfortunately, none of the people in my tiny congregation of 56 people were remotely close to my age. They were either too young or too old. I felt completely alone.
During dinner one night, my parents told me about a new couple that they met during bible study the night before.
"They just moved into our neighborhood not long ago," Dad said."They have a son who's attending college nearby. We haven't met him yet, but we heard he's a very bright young chap."
"That's nice," I mumbled.
"Well, your father talked about it," Mom said, "and we think that it might be good for you to have a private tutor. Math is your weakest subject and we've been trying to find a good one for ages, but there was no one from our church who was able to do it."
"So this guy is going to be my tutor?"
"He is very smart," Dad said. "His name is Jared and he's studying for his masters in physics. His parents said he's looking to make some extra cash so we brought it up and they said he would be happy to do it."
"All right. If you think it'll help," I shrugged.
That Sunday, the doorbell rang promptly at ten thirty in the morning just as our family was done with breakfast.
"That must be Jared," Mom said. "Joey, go let him in."
I headed over to the front door and my jaw almost dropped.
Jared was not what I expected at all. Most of the people in my town were either obese or thin and pale like me. There was no middle ground. He looked like he was plucked right out of an Abercrombie and Fitch catalogue from the 90s, standing over six feet tall with wide shoulders, azure blue eyes, tanned bronze skin, and short wavy blonde hair. He wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses and was dressed simply in a blue t-shirt and jeans.
"H-hi, I'm Joey," I stammered and extended my hand. "You must be Jared."
Jared flashed a dazzling smile and took my hand. His skin was warm and rough, like hot sand.
"Nice to meet you, Joey."
"Come on in," I said.
"Oh hello, Jared!" Mom greeted him as soon as he entered. "Thank you so much for this. Finals are just around the corner and our Joey needs all the help he can get."
"No problem at all, Mrs. Williams," Jared said, "I'm more than happy to help."
"Well, I'll leave you to it then. Joey, please show him to your room."
"Yes, mom."
I led Jared up the stairs and to my room on the second floor. Immediately, I regretted not tidying up the night before. There were several pieces of clothing strewn about and my desk was completely cluttered with books and papers.
"Sorry about the mess," I said and quickly proceeded to clean up.
"Don't worry about it man," he laughed, "I'm not the tidiest person either."
Once the desk was clear, I grabbed two chairs over to the desk and invited him to sit.
"You uh, forgot this," Jared pointed at his seat. On it were a pair of boxer briefs with "Leviticus 19:19" printed on it.
"Oops, sorry," I blushed, feeling my cheeks burn as I grabbed it and tossed it in the hamper nearby.
"Leviticus, huh?" Jared smiled.
"It's my mom's favorite brand," I said sheepishly, "she only buys it because all their stuff is one hundred percent cotton,"
"Is it because of the whole "you're not allowed to wear clothing woven from two kinds of materials" thing?"
"Yeah, are yours the same?"
He took a quick look around us before lifting his shirt slightly and showing me the top part of his briefs, which read "Ralph Lauren."
"Nope. Mine is a polyester blend, but don't tell anyone," he grinned.
I happened to catch a glimpse of his incredibly toned v-cut abs and promptly averted my eyes.
It turned out that my parents were right. Jared was not only the smartest person I'd ever met, he was also a great teacher. He was patient, understanding, and never once talked down to me. Within an hour, we made more progress than I ever did at school. He had the most wonderfully soothing voice and his breath smelled of fresh peppermint.
"So how did it go?" Mom said once she saw us walking down the stairs.
"Joey did great today," Jared said, "but with such a short amount of time left before the finals, I recommend increasing our time to three hours and doubling the number of sessions in order to catch up."
"Say no more," Mom replied, "do whatever you feel is necessary. We're happy to pay for it."
In any other circumstance, I would have hated having to spend six hours a week with a private tutor. But this time, I was jumping for joy inside. Over the next two weeks, Jared took me through my entire syllabus and by the time we were done, I was solving equations like pro. I also found out that he used to live in California but had to move after his parents' business fell apart and they could no longer afford his tuition fees and their mortgage. They had some family here and decided to settle here after selling their house. In exchange, I confided in him about how lonely I felt not having any friends.
"You know, I used to be like you," he said. "My parents are extremely religious too and they used to forbid me from mingling with the secular world."
"So what changed?" I asked.
"It turned out that not living with them was the key. Once I went to college and started hanging out with real people, everything changed. They then realized that I had become an adult and had to make my own decisions."
"What happened in college?"
"My freshman year was wild, man. It was like I had unleashed all my years of repression in a short period of time. I even had a threesome for the very first time."
"What's that? Like a study group?"
He looked at me like I was nuts.
"You... don't know what a threesome is?"
I shook my head.
"It's when you have sex with two other poeple. Although we didn't exactly use the bed that one time."
I felt my entire body tense up and my face began to flush.
"You ok?" He noticed my sudden change in demeanor.
"I.. I'm not supposed to talk about that stuff."
"What, sex?"
"Yes, I can't talk about that kind of thing. It's sinful," I shuffled uncomfortably in my seat.
"Really? You can't even talk about it?"
I shook my head.
"Wow, you guys are a lot more intense over here. I thought I had it bad. Alright, no more sex talk then. Let's get back to equations."
We continued going through several more sums before Jared spoke up again.
"Sorry, but I just have to ask. I know you aren't allowed to talk about sex, but you know what it is, right?"