Chapter 4

One of the theaters at the Cinema-Plex was having a special showing of old-time comedy movies, so Eric and Jerrod sat through over four hours of Charlie Chaplin, The Little Rascals, Laurel and Hardy, and The Three Stooges. They nearly laughed themselves sick over the non-stop, inane slapstick sight-gags and one-liners.

Afterward, they checked in at the home front and got grudging okays to substitute burgers, fries and sodas for a sensible, healthy dinner, then they cruised the mall for a while and it was almost eight when they headed home, taking their time walking the two miles.

Eric had genuinely enjoyed himself. It was the first time he’d done a thing with a friend in ... gosh, he couldn’t remember when he’d spent a day just hanging out with somebody he really liked. Maybe he never had. Well, there were those four days with Rachael, but she couldn’t be considered a friend, could she? Sure, they’d had mad, passionate sex, but being physically intimate doesn’t mean the same thing as being friends. Does it?

Truth be told, he wasn’t too sure he even liked his cousin all that much because she came off so pushy and domineering. Of course, he’d always be grateful to her for the awesome initiation rites, and he obviously felt some kind of a closeness to her, but he could hardly think of her as a friend ... more like a collaborator or a co-conspirator. Yeah, that sounded about right.

Eric hadn’t lost sight of his goal, though. He still wanted to do something naughty with his new pal, Jerrod, except now that didn’t seem so much the all-consuming focus of his needs. Just being in the company of his new friend was a comfortable and pleasant way to spend time. He couldn’t think of Jerrod as purely a sex object any more. He was becoming much more than that.

But Eric being Eric, he wasn’t all that secure in the thought that Jerrod felt the same way. He seemed to be enjoying himself, but was he really? Or was he being nice because it was the proper and neighborly thing to do? Eric felt his insecurities leaking out all over the place and mentally tried to put a plug in it, but they just kept oozing to the front of his brain. For the first time that he could recall, it was very important to Eric to be liked by someone; namely, Jerrod.

So, he went fishing.

He clapped his hand on Jerrod’s shoulder and gushed, “Hey, I really had a lot fun today, didn’t you?”

Jerrod agreed, “Hell, yeah! I mean, I think I’ve seen all of those old movies on TV, but it’s a lot better watching them on a movie screen like they were originally presented. It’s also more fun to watch them with a friend.”

Eric couldn’t let that one slide by. “So, uh, you think of us as friends?”

Jerrod shot him a perplexed sideways look. “Sure! Don’t you?”

“Yeah! Of course! I’m just glad you feel the same way.”

Eric decided he was probably coming off as a bit too needy, so he dropped that line of thinking and jumped to something else. “Oh, by the way, I finished the Hamilton book last night. You can borrow it any time you want. Maybe I can trade for ‘Alas Babylon’ at the same time.”

“Right. Well, my folks are off to some kind of a big dinner party tonight, so the house is empty. If you want to bring it over, we can hang out some more and watch TV or something. Would that be okay with your mom and dad?”

“No problem. They let me make all my own plans as long as they know where I’m going to be.” That wasn’t entirely true, but close.

Jerrod laughed, “I’m jealous. My folks aren’t quite convinced that I’ve matured to that point yet. They say maybe when I’m sixteen. So, heck, as long as you’re coming over, why not spend the night? We can stay up late and catch a creepy movie or something.”

Eric’s heart leapt. “Really? Yeah, I’d like that. Should I, um, you know, bring a sleeping bag or something?”

“What for? My bed is a queen. That should be plenty of room for a couple of skinny guys like us, shouldn’t it?” Then Jerrod seemed to have second thoughts and quickly added, “That is, um, unless you don’t feel comfortable sleeping in the same bed with another guy. Do you?”

“Not a problem for me! I just thought maybe you did. Some people are really picky about sharing their bed. I’m not, but some people are.” His racing brain was thinking “Well, if ever I was going to get a shot at it, here it is being handed to me on a platter!”

Jerrod shook his head, confirming, “Not me. Great! We can make some popcorn and stuff!”

“I’m up for that. Um, maybe we should trade phone numbers in case something comes up. It’s easier just to text stuff like that.”

“Good idea.”

They swapped phones and entered their numbers.

Eric, all keyed up and already planning what kinds of moves he might use to seduce Jerrod, was in the front door and charging up the stairs to his room when he heard his mom’s voice emit a loud, agonized groan followed by, “Oh my God! No!”

He stopped in his tracks and listened, thinking, “Shit, this can’t be good!”

He turned and quickly descended the stairs, following the woeful sounds into the kitchen where he found his mom sitting at the kitchen table with a shocked look on her face.

“Mom! What happened? Who are you talking to?”

She waved him off and said into the phone, “Yes, of course. Yes, we’ll be there as soon as we can. Thank you for calling. Bye.”

She killed the call and looked at Eric. “Well, it’s bad news, I’m afraid. Your grandmother collapsed while she was on duty at the hospital. They think it was a stroke, and from what the nurse said, she’s in a bad way. We need to get there quickly.”

Eric, who loved his Granny Sonya more than he loved anyone, was floored. “Are you saying she might die!?”

His mom stood and put her arms around him, giving him a hug. “She may, baby. She is eighty-five, you know. You need to prepare yourself for that possibility.”

She handed him her keys and said, “Back the car out of the garage while I call your father and ask him to meet us at the hospital. He had to work late tonight.”

All thoughts of Jerrod and seduction evaporated.

Eric and his mom got to the hospital too late to say goodbye. Granny Sonya had suffered a cardiac arrest and had been pronounced dead while they were doing an MRI just minutes before their arrival. The attending physician said the scan showed a massive intracerebral bleed, a neurological insult almost impossible to recover from. At least it was quick.

His mom held him in a tight hug as Eric sobbed bitterly, devastated by his Granny’s death. He chose not to see her before her body was picked up by the funeral home people because he wanted to remember her as the vibrant, witty, loving best friend ever rather than as a pale, unseeing death mask. His mom understood.

When his dad arrived a few minutes later, they decided his mom should stay with her mother’s body observing Shemira. Eric and his dad went home and sat in the kitchen sipping tea and planning the events to follow. While his parents weren’t orthodox, they would observe the traditions of burial within twenty-four hours and sitting Shiva.

Eric’s Granny Sonya didn’t really believe in God (much to her daughter’s dismay) and neither did he, but he nevertheless felt some comfort in his parent’s intention to observe the traditions of mourning. It would give him a chance to express his grief and come to terms with the loss of his closest companion.

He called Jerrod when he and his dad got home and explained what had happened. He said any getting together would have to be delayed until after the week of Shiva. Jerrod, of course, understood completely and offered his condolences.

By the third day of Shiva, Eric was finding it difficult to deal with the heavy, morose atmosphere of the household, mostly the result of his mother’s unrelenting moaning and groaning. The Rabbi who dropped in for a visit a couple of times was far more upbeat and positive than she was and Eric hoped it would rub off. But it didn’t.

It was mid-afternoon and he was in the kitchen making himself a pastrami and swiss cheese sandwich on rye when Rachael came in to sneak another big slug from an open three-liter bottle of Manischewitz concord grape wine in the refrigerator. She leaned her butt against the counter next to him and asked, “Is that sandwich for me?”

“You can have half. And that’s your fourth or fifth drink out of that bottle of wine in the last hour. You must be feeling it by now.”

“A little bit, but believe me, I need it.” She leaned over and whispered in his ear as she gave his butt cheek a little squeeze, “I don’t know how you’re holding up, Cuz, but I could sure use a big dose of your dick right about now. Another day of this oppressive atmosphere and I think I’ll explode. Granny Sonya would have hated it. No disrespect for your mom intended, Eric, but that woman needs to lighten up some. Shit, you’d think she was a professional mourner, the way she carries on!”

Eric couldn’t disagree. “You’re probably right about that. This whole Shiva thing was all for Mom and Dad and Aunt Rhonda to start with. She’s really wringing it dry.”

“So true,” Rachael agreed. “And observing religious rites doesn’t make any sense in Mom’s case because following the commandments has never been one of her priorities, as far I can tell. Of course, Dad didn’t even want to come. He’s only here because he knows Mom would have raised a big stink if he had tried to weasel out of it.”

Eric nodded and chuckled, “Yeah, that’s what I figured, since he isn’t even Jewish. He keeps fidgeting and scratching at his yarmulke like it’s a fungus growing on his scalp.”

Rachael giggled at that, then she leaned over rubbing her tit up against Eric’s arm and said, “How about this: I’ll go ask him for the car keys. I’ll tell him I’m not feeling so hot and I need go back over to Granny Sonya’s house to lay down for a nap. You sneak out the back door and meet me at the car and we’ll haul ass over there and fuck each other’s socks off. I don’t think Granny would be insulted by that, do you?”

Eric got a big, wide grin on his face and nodded emphatically. “You’re on! Five minutes!”

“Bring the sandwich because we’re going to need the calories.” She reached around and gave his growing wood a couple of rubs before heading back into the living room with a new bounce in her step.

Her plan went off without hitch, and three minutes after they unlocked Granny Sonya’s front door, Eric was balls-deep in Rachael’s hungry pussy. All the emotion of the past few days rose to the surface as the cousins fucked each other with an energy and passion unmatched in their previous encounters. Eric exercised more control than either of them expected and managed to screw the nearly insatiable girl through three seismic level orgasms before unloading an impressive load of jizz deep into her insides. She didn’t know (or need to know) that while he was pounding her pussy, he was mentally picturing Jerrod’s bubble butt impaled on his rod.

“YEAH!!!” he shouted out as he emptied his balls, “THIS is a celebration of LIFE, Granny! THIS is what we TALKED about!”

Rachael, lying on her back with her ankles hooked over Eric’s shoulders, panted, “What the fuck are you going on about?”

Eric laughed, “Granny taught me more about sex than Mom or Dad ever did. By the time I took Sex-Ed in school, I think I knew as much as the teacher. All I lacked was the actual experience, and you’ve sure as hell taken care of that part! I thank you and Granny thanks you for being such a great contributor to my education.”