It couldn't get worse, right? || The Pals Fanfic

Dinner Disaster

Sub's POV

All of us had decided to go out for dinner. We were going to go to a nicer restaurant, but they didn't allow service dogs so that was a no. 

We decided to go to AppleBees instead, which I didn't mind. They had a really good lava cake dessert. We all got into the car. Rosie sat by Elijah's feet and I pet her with my foot from time to time.

After 20 minutes of singing to music, we got to the restaurant. The hostess was a bit confused by Rosie at first, but she saw the harness and nodded.

"Hi!" She exclaimed. Denis stepped forward.

"Hello, can we get a table for 4 please?" Denis asked. The hostess nodded and led us to a booth. Elijah and Alex were on the ends and Denis and I were in the middle. Rosie laid under the table on Elijah's feet.

We all ordered our food and talked. 

Elijah started talking, but abruptly stopped and stared off for a few seconds before continuing.

"You okay?" Denis asked, rubbing Elijah's back. Elijah slowly nodded. Rosie stood up and looked worried. We all took that as a sign of a seizure. Alex stood up, took Rosie's leash, and gently helped get Elijah outside.

Alex's POV

Once outside, Elijah sat down and I let go of Rosie. She sat next to Elijah while I took my jacket off. I folded it and placed it on the ground for Elijah to lay on. 

Sub, Denis, and I were all taught how to care for Elijah when he has a seizure. We had to lay him on his side to prevent choking and time the seizure to make sure it lasted no longer than 5 minutes. If it went over 5 minutes, we were told to call 911. 

Elijah laid down. He curled up a little and started shaking. His eyes closed and his arms started jerking. It hurt to see him like this.

After about 2 minutes, the seizure ended.

"Elijah?" I whispered to see if he was okay. When he had seizures like this, he was often tired and weak afterward.

I waited for a few minutes until he sat up. Rosie went up to him and licked his face. He giggled and started petting her.

I stood and helped Elijah up. We were about to go back inside but when Elijah looked behind me, his smile faded. He looked down like he was ashamed or embarrassed. 

I glanced over my shoulder and saw a group of about 5 people standing about 15 feet away from us, pointing and talking among themselves. I was tempted to walk over there and confront them, but as soon as I turned Elijah pulled on my arm.

"I-it's fine, Alex. L-let's j-just go." Elijah mumbled.

"You're just gonna let them do that!? They're being rude and disrespectful. We have every right to go over there and confront them!" I started getting upset. I wasn't just going to ignore my friend being made fun of. 

I brought Elijah over to a bench in front of the restaurant. He sat down and I started walking over to the group. Elijah tried to stop me, but I ignored it. The group looked up at me and smirked.

"What do you think you all are doing?!" I yelled angrily. The group seemed to be teenagers. A boy stepped forward.

"Just watchin'. Why?" The boy said, in a sarcastic tone.

"Well, could you not. You're making my friend very uncomfortable." The group laughed a little.

"Is your friend possessed or somethin'?" A girl piped in. I felt my fists clenched. I took a breath and calmed down.

"No. He has a serious health problem that you shouldn't be joking about!" I snapped. The boy raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"Is it contagious?" One of the other boys snickered.

"No. If you just apologize then I can leave and we can forget this, okay?" I was getting impatient.

"What if I don't want to apologize? What are you going to do about it?" The boy at the front laughed and stepped forward. He looked down and suddenly jumped. I looked down as well and saw Rosie by my leg, growling.

"Hah! Not so scary now huh?" I blurted out. The group started talking to each other.

"You're scared of a dog?!"

"Let's just leave."

"No!"

The boy turned back to me and looked over my shoulder. He saw Elijah and smiled.

"Come get your stupid dog!" He yelled.

Elijah's POV

This boy is a jerk. I'm surprised Alex hasn't punched him yet. I wearily stood up and made my way over to them. I was still weak from the seizure.

Rosie saw me and ran next to me. I leaned onto Alex for support. The boy looked me up and down. It made me uncomfortable.

"What'd ya do to get like that? Ouija board? Ghost hunting?" The boy laughed. I felt anger build up inside me. 

I whispered to Alex that we should just leave. Denis and Sub were probably worried about us. We turned to leave.

"Freak," The boy mumbled. I stopped. Alex stopped too. I spun around and faced the boy.

"W-what did you just c-call me?" I asked. My fists clenched.

"Look! The freak can't even speak right!" A girl called. I lost it. I grabbed the boy's shirt. He stared at me in fear.

"You listen here. You never make fun of someone with a disorder. Ever! Do you understand?!" The boy nodded vigorously. 

I was suddenly hit with PTSD. I was hurting someone again. I quickly let go of the boy and turned to leave. I walked to the door of AppleBees and swung the door open, Alex and Rosie were following me.

We got back to our table. All our food was here and we all ate. I kept petting Rosie. Seeing people look at me with fear made me feel terrible. I don't like hurting people.

Everyone finished their food and was begging to get the lava cake. It's a chocolate cake with hot fudge in the center. It also came with vanilla ice cream. To be honest I just wanted to go home. My body still felt a bit weak from the seizure and I was tired. Denis asked if we could get the cake to go. We did and soon left.

The group was no longer outside. Good.

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