Jules Sinclair is an extraordinary woman. Beautiful, smart, and bold. There are many fascinating stories that could be told about her. But this particular story chronicles the special summer when she hosted a young foreign exchange student.
1. THE VISITOR ARRIVES
Jules has a son who, after completing his second year in college, wanted to spend a summer in France studying Economics. In order to make that financially possible, Jules and her husband agreed to allow a French student to stay in their home that same summer as part of an exchange program. Their student houseguest would be enrolled in an English emersion program through the nearby Amber State University as part of the foreign exchange arrangement.
Jules and her husband had been provided a photo and some background information about the exchange student in advance of his arrival. His name was Alexandre, but he always has gone by just 'Alex'. He was twenty-one years old. However, his pale, ruddy complexion, black tousled hair, and sparse Leonardo DeCaprio styled mustache and beard made him look younger. In the exchange program, in addition to English, he would be studying Philosophy.
He and his family were from an affluent suburb outside of Arles in France, and Alex attended Sorbonne UniversitΓ© in Paris. In his letters of referral to the exchange program, his university professors raved about his intelligence and aptitude for study.
The plans for Alex to stay with Jules and her husband for the duration of his twelve-week summer program were made well in advance. So when it happened that Jules's husband was required to be away from home on business most of the twelve weeks, there was nothing that could be done. And of course their son was in France. So Jules and Alex were going to be essentially living together alone all summer.
Jules picked Alex up at the airport to begin his American stay. On meeting him, she noticed that he was no taller than 5' 9" and was thinly built. He had a brooding kind of good looks. She quickly learned that Alex was a skilled conversationalist, asking meaningful questions and listening attentively to the answers. Although his accent was a little thick, his English was already excellent.
Alex was also soft-spoken and came across as almost delicate.
His classes began and within a couple of weeks, the household had fallen into a routine. Four days out of the week, Alex would ride the bus downtown to the college for his English and Philosophy classes. His classes were all in the morning, so his afternoons were generally free. He was also off Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. At first, in his ample spare time, he would either study or take the bus to various city attractions. But there are only so many attractions to see. So after a while, Alex started spending his afternoons and off days in his American home, usually reading. Increasingly, he was spending time with Jules.
Jules was a guitar teacher, but she usually didn't work much in the summer months. And since her husband was not going to be around to help out with anything, she had decided to take the summer completely off from teaching.
Considering the age difference, she and Alex hit it off amazingly well. Both loved the outdoors. And there was plenty of time and for her and Alex to take walks in a nearby park or longer hikes in the nearby forests, trails, and open spaces. They both enjoyed those walk and hikes immensely.
In addition, the two of them spent a lot of time sitting on Jules's big couch, talking. They talked about music, France, current events, history, books, movies, TV, his philosophy studies, anything and everything. Their conversations were lively and fun. Whenever they were together, Jules would help him fine tune his English and introduce him to various American idioms. And in turn, he taught her some basic French.
A friendship blossomed between the two of them. They both looked forward to not only their walks and hikes, but also their increasingly frequent "couch time".
Although their relationship flourished, Alex was not making friends at the college. He found the other students in his classes boring. His life revolved around exceling in his coursework and reading, and spending time with Jules.
2. THE HAPPY ACCIDENT
One day, Alex decided to skip his late-morning class and head back to his "home" early. He let himself in with his key and went downstairs to the guestroom that was his for the summer. He needed to answer the call of nature, and was in a hurry to get to the bathroom next to his room. Rushing downstairs, he immediately swung open the bathroom door. To his surprise, a gush of steamy warm air came out of the bathroom and there stood Jules, completely naked. She had apparently just stepped out of the downstairs shower.
There was a pause as they looked at each other. Alex was unable to look away from the beauty standing before him. Jules played it cool. She calmly lifted a towel off the rack and without hurrying, wrapped it around herself as Alex looked on.
She spoke first, "Well, I'm showering here because the drain for the upstairs shower is clogged, and you are here because you unexpectedly came home early. So... I think that about sums it up." Alex said, "Oh, I am so sorry to have interrupted your shower time, Jules!"
She replied, "Well, I'm sure it was not intentional. But don't you think you should maybe close the door, with you on the other side of it?" She smiled as she spoke, showing she wasn't angry, just surprised.
Alex blushed and closed the door. He went upstairs to use the main floor bathroom, and then came back downstairs to his room. He closed his bedroom door and laid down on his bed. Jules quietly slipped past Alex's guest room door and up the stairs to her main floor bedroom.
As Alex laid in his bed, he shut his eyes and recalled the image of Jules standing nude by the shower door. Then he yielded to the strong urge to release the sexual pressure that seeing Jules naked had brought on. He felt better after the wet finale to his self-stimulation.
Alex spent the rest of the day sitting in his room reading. When Jules came down to his room to tell him that dinner would soon be ready, the atmosphere seemed awkward. Neither knew quite what to say.
As Jules turned to go back upstairs, Alex said to her, "Did you know that in France, 'Jules' is a popular boy's name?" Jules stopped and replied, "No, I didn't know that." "Yes," he smiled, "But there is no cause for confusion -- you don't look anything at all like a boy." They both broke out into laughter.