The Families in Rossford

COMPANIONS

PART TWO

Later that morning, there was a knock on the apartment door, and at first Brendan and Sheridan looked at each other as if they weren’t sure it had happened, and then Sheridan got up from the table in the little main room and went up the steps to answer it.

“Todd!”

“Hey! The husband sent me around to ask if you wanted to come join us for a late breakfast.”

“You know what?” Sheridan said, “I’ve noticed that Fenn calls you the husband and you call him the husband. Does that mean you’re both the wife?”

Todd thought about this and then said, “I think Fenn’s still more the wife. Not like June Cleaver, but like Eleanor of Acquitaine. You know?”

“Not really, but we’ll be glad to come up. How soon?”

Todd shrugged. “Half hour?”

“Half hour it is, then,” Sheridan said.

“Go back to your honeymoon,” Todd told him, turning to head back into the house.

Downstairs Sheridan told Brendan about their breakfast appointment.

“Are we on our honeymoon?” Brendan asked him.

“Well, until you go back to work tomorrow, I guess. We’ve been having sex for the last day, and I’m not tired of it, so yes.”

Brendan gave him a look and Sheridan said, “See, the way you did that, I just wanted you to fuck me again.”

Brendan colored.

“I forget you hate that word.”

“I don’t hate it. It just embarrasses me,” Brendan said, sipping his coffee and looking down at the paper.

“Yet you do it so well,” Sheridan commented.

“You’re trying to make me red.”

“I’m trying to make you bend me over the table before we go upstairs.”

Brendan said, “Despite my calm appearance, you’re making me want to do it, so I guess I’m as bad as you. Or as good as you.”

“That would be the fourth time since last night.”

Brendan considered this and said, “What about after breakfast? I’d feel self conscious about having to rush in a quickie and then go upstairs.”

Sheridan stood up, and took off his shirt.

“Wha?”

He unbuckled his jeans and pulled them down, standing in his boxer briefs.

“What about now?”

Despite his polite protestations, Brendan stood up, and began unbuttoning his shirt.

“Because there is something else I want you to do after breakfast,” Sheridan said, matter of factly as he came around the table and helped Brendan with his shirt.

“Which is—?” But Brendan started as Sheridan unzipped his pants and placed his hands inside. Brendan moaned while Sheridan stroked him, and then they fucked on the floor until, his sides held in Sheridan’s hands, Brendan’s started with the force of his orgasm, arched up and came with a low groaning, feeling himself shoot, and shoot.

He lay naked on top of Sheridan and Sheridan’s hands caressed his shoulders, went down his back, and rested on the hills of his ass.

“Which is,” Sheridan answered, “to work on your book.”

That evening the phone rang, but neither of the boys bothered to get it. There was a tap on the door, and then the twins turned and saw Matthew.

“Elias, it’s for you,” Matthew told his brother while Elias rose and went to pick up the phone in the upstairs hall.

Bennett looked at his little brother a while and Matthew said, “Yes?”

“I was just thinking how I’m Elias’s twin, but you’re the one who looks like him.”

“Yeah, it’s real curious,” Matthew returned, disinterestedly, and was turning to walk out when his brother called back to him.

“Huh?”

“Nothing,” Bennett said. “Just hadn’t seen you in a while.”

“I’m always here,” the thirteen year old said with a shrug.

“You’re a weird kid,” Bennett said, affectionately.

“For all you know I’m a gypsy prince.”

“Well, you could be,” Bennett allowed. “But for now you’re Matthew Stanley-Anderson.”

Matthew was quiet as he leaned against the door and screwed up his face.

Bennett tilted up his head, waiting for his brother to speak.

“I just wonder who I really am,” he said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“What I said. You and Elias are so close. I think it would be nice if I had a real brother out there. Or a sister. Or knew where I came from. That’s all,” Matthew said, and turned to go away.

“Hello?” Elias said to the phone, watching his little brother pass, and Bennett lean out the door, looking perplexed.

“It’s me.”

“Huh?”

“Lance,” Lance Bishop said.

“Hey. I didn’t recognize your voice.”

“You didn’t expect me to call.”

“Uh, no. Not really.”

“But I told you I would.”

Elias said nothing and Lance said:

“Look, kid, I don’t appreciate what you told me before I left.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You think you’re so clever, Elias. And you are, I’ll give you that. But you tried to tell me how I feel, and you don’t know how I feel.”

“I think I knew it when you spent the entire break—” Elias looked around, reminding himself he was in the hallway of his family’s house.

“You should have called my cell phone.”

“I didn’t even know your parents let you have one.”

“They broke down and let me have one because they gave one to Bennett—to track him, and didn’t think it would be fair for me not to have one too.”

“Well, how the fuck was I supposed to call you on a phone I didn’t know existed? You’re really worrisome.”

“Have you called Dylan yet?”

“What’s it to you?”

“Have you?”

“No, not yet.  But what’s it to you? Like you said, I was with him most of the break. Look, what’s your number? Can I call you?”

Elias took out his phone and opened it up, reading the number.

“I’ll call you right back,” Lance said, and hung up.

Elias hung up the phone and headed to the bathroom, saying, “What’s with Matthew?”

“I’m about to find out,” Bennett said. “What’s with you?”

“A call.”

Bennett eyed him.

“Matthew thinks we’re so close. He has no idea.”

“It’s Lance Bishop, alright?”

His phone buzzed and Elias said, “I’m taking this,” and then went into the bathroom and shut the door behind him.

“You mean a hell of a lot to me,” Lance said.

“That’s great,” Elias turned the water on and moved all the way to the toilet. “How come you had sex with me and then acted like it never happened?”

On the other end, Lance said nothing and Elias said, “That’s a great answer, Lance.”

“See, that’s what you do, Elias! You know I’m not good with words, or about saying how I feel.”

“I know that you came into town and fucked Dylan for three weeks and then said, oh by the way, Elias, bye. Oh, yeah, and you picked me up on New Years. Not that I asked you, cause I didn’t.”

“I didn’t know you were upset with me.”

“I didn’t know either,” Elias said. “Till you tell me all this shit about how you care about me and ra ra ra. And I’m not mad at Dylan, or jealous. I love him, and I think the two of you should be together—”

“We should not,” Lance said.

“You should, and that’s cool. But what isn’t cool is you playing with me. I have feelings too.”

“Elias, we need to talk. We need to seriously talk.”

“You had three weeks to talk.”

“We started out friends. We started it out with me looking out for you, you looking out for me. Then it turned into something else, a few times. I was nervous about it. I felt awkward. I thought… maybe I used you.”

“How could you use me? I asked you to! What the fuck planet are you living on?”

“Stop shouting at me,” Lance said, wearily. “Please.”

Elias did stop.

“I’m bigger than you. I’m older than you,” Lance said. “I play at being more mature, but…  I think you’re stronger than me. Sometimes I can’t take it when you get angry. I don’t know how you feel. I don’t. I really thought you were okay with us just going back to being friends.”

“You wanted to go back to Dylan. I let you. He wanted it to.”

“But we’re not together. Not, really.”

“You’re not really not together.”

Lance sighed. Elias made himself stop. He could hear Lance’s breath trembling on the other end of the line.

“You may be right,” Elias said. “We do need to talk.”

“Do you want to know the truth?” Lance said.

“That’d be nice.”

“Dylan asked me if we could get back together. I told him no.”

“Are you trying to get together with me.”

“Fuck!” Lance said, a little exasperated. “Dude—”

“Please, you can’t fuck me and call me dude. You can’t.”

“Elias! Elias, I’m not trying to get with anyone. I’m trying to let you know… that I love you. That when we got together we made love. Alright? And it was important to me. It’s still important to me. Isn’t it special to you?”

“Don’t,” now it was Elias who pleaded, “don’t make me think about it. About us.”

“I want my friend back,” Lance said. “I just want us to be friends again.”

“I think one day you and Dylan will be together again.”

“Maybe you’re right. I’m not trying to make you second in the row. I’m not trying to make you my boyfriend. You’re sixteen. You’re two hundred miles away. I just want you to know I’m here. And I care. And I didn’t forget about us. Alright?”

Elias felt wrung out from this conversation. What he wanted to do is get off the phone, eat something, and go back to normal life. Beyond him, he heard the phone ring.

“Alright,” Elias said.

As he was getting ready to hang up, Lance said, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Elias said, sounding more defeated than happy about.

He opened up the bathroom door, and Bennett was on the other side.

“That was Dylan on the phone.”

“Shit!”

Bennett blinked at his twin.

“We’re going over there after dinner. Maia and Laurel just got home.”

“Alright,” Alex told her, kissing Laurel on the cheek, “I’m just glad you’re home. Lunch tomorrow?”

“I think I can get off campus for that,” Laurel said.

“Great. How’bout I go all out and we find a fancy place?”

“Like the Tasty Freeze on the Strip?”

Alex grinned at her. “That’s just what I was thinking.”

She kissed him on the cheek quickly and, hand in his, she walked him down the long hall to the door of the old house. Through the Victorian glass she watched him go down the porch onto the snowy street, and then get in his car across the street, and head in the direction of downtown.

“Oh, Mama, I’m so tired,” she said as she walked down the hall yawning, and entered the old kitchen.

Caroline, on the other side of the large kitchen tapped the microwave, the door popped open and she pulled out a hot plate.

“Juice is in the fridge,” she said.

As Laurel went to get a glass, her mother said, “So is that why you were strange with Alex?”

“Mother, are you nosing in on my love life?”

“Not on purpose,” Caroline said, shaking her head so that her springy curls shook.

Laurel looked at her mother.

“Sometimes this psychic thing you have is irksome. I wish you’d be a little less attentive.”

“You have it too,” Caroline told her daughter, “so look inside and tell me what’s going on with you.”

“I met a boy.”

“Oh! In Chicago.”

“Yes,” Laurel said.

“You were supposed to be looking at schools,” Caroline smiled and sat down as her daughter began to eat. “But instead you were looking at boys.”

“I saw schools too.”

“Is there a particular boy?”

“Melanie Fromm’s nephew.”

Caroline raised an eyebrow.

“He’s Orthodox?”

“Yes.” Laurel chewed her food.

“And very aggressive about chasing me.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t let yourself be chased,” her mother said.

“What?”

“Don’t be difficult, be a little easier to catch.”

“But I have Alex—”

“That’s not the point,” Caroline shook her head. “I’m not saying get rid of Alex. I’m saying before you think about getting rid of him—”

“I’m not.”

“Look, as long as you are thinking about this other boy, you are thinking about not being with Alex. So, before you get serious about that, you better see how serious this boy is.”

While Laurel munched on her food, considering this, she said, “His family really likes me.”

“That’s interesting,” Caroline said. “They know you’re not Jewish?”

Laurel nodded, and then she chuckled.

Caroline looked at her.

“Moshe—that’s the boy—his mother says the only difference between me as a gentile and me as a Jew is a dip in some water.”

“And all the women sit behind this wall, but it’s not really a wall, it’s like a bamboo thing with fake leaves on it, and they can look through.”

“So you had to sit behind a wall?” Dylan said, disbelieving.

“Un huh,” Maia nodded her head. “And wear a scarf over my head. But that was only during the service. The rest of the time the men and the women mingled. But they have rules about touching.”

“Whaddo you mean rules about touching?” Elias said, folding his legs under him where they sat in the living room.

“It’s called yichud. Only relatives and husbands and wives are supposed to touch, but unattached men and women don’t.”

“That’s really stupid,” Elias decided.

“It seems to work for them,” Maia said.

Bennett looked at her strangely.

“What?”

“You liked it. Didn’t you?”

“I liked being with them,” Maia said. “I like visiting Orthodox cousins. I don’t know if I’d want to be Orthodox. But I do think I would like to be Jewish.”

“You already are,” Elias said.

“In that half assed my father is Jewish and so I go along with him to synagogue kind of way. But I never paid attention to it, and for the first time I want to. Like, I completely ignored Chanakuh except for when Dad lit the candles every night, and I never go to synagogue with him and Melanie on Saturdays, and then I was upset when he left the Reform one to be more traditional, and all of a sudden, I’m in a place that’s as traditional as you can get. And Dylan’s been serious about Hinduism for years.”

“And I’m still a mess,” Dylan told her.

“You are too hard on yourself,” Maia said, even though she had frequently said far worse when he wasn’t around.

“What, now?” she snapped, for Bennett was looking at her and smiling.

“You just surprise me a lot is all,” he said. “I’m glad you’re back.”

“Well, I’m glad to be back. Even though Chicago was great.”

“You were there with Meredith when…?” Dylan began. He cut himself off right before saying, “When the baby died.”

Maia nodded.

“Mrs. Fromm brought us to the hospital. It was so terrible. And then, here’s the part I shouldn’t tell...”

“Then don’t tell it,” Dylan said, seriously.

“Oh, not like that.”

“If you shouldn’t say it, don’t say it.” Dylan had a deep fear of gossip.

“It’s not shameful or anything,” Maia said. “And you’re going to hear it in a few days. In fact, it is the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen.

“When we came back to the Fromm’s house that night, Moshe, that’s their oldest son, and I think he really likes Laurel—”

“She’s dating someone,” Dylan said.

“Aren’t you prim and proper when it comes to other people’s dating lives? Anyway,” Maia continued, “he came to her and said, ‘In Orthodoxy, if a baby is still born, or dies before it’s eight days old, then you’re not allowed to mourn it because it wasn’t really a human being.’”

“Way to go, Moshe!” Bennett said. “This guy is a real—”

“Shush up,” Maia said, placing a hand on Bennett’s knee, “And let me finish.

“But Laurel felt the same way you did. She wanted to hit him. And then he said, ‘When I was four, my mother lost my baby brother. His name was Shimon, only they hadn’t had the ceremony yet, and when he died, the rabbi told her the baby was nameless, not real, and she should not weep for it. So my father and my whole family left that community. We moved here, and it was years before we ever belonged to a community again. She named the baby anyway and wept all she wanted to, and she said that Meredith should do the same.’”

“That’s so sad,” Dylan murmured.

“And then he kissed her,” Maia said. “And told her to go to bed.”

“Is he in love with her?” Elias asked.

“I think so. A little.”

“What about Laurel?” Dylan said, concerned.

Halfway because Maia thought Dylan was sanctimonious and hypocritical and halfway to protect her best friend, Maia lied and said, “I doubt it.”