Alan's Biggest Case

Chapter 2

Alan sits at the table observing Sam, who is chugging his second Dr. Pepper. He has an awful haircut, which Alan guesses was cut at home, he's wearing a dirty t-shirt and an oversized jacket. After a rather long wait, their food arrives, and Sam eats quickly. He finishes before Alan is even halfway through his meal.

"Hungry?" Alan says as he takes a bite of his stir-fry.

"Haven't eaten in almost two days." Sam says between sips of yet another soda.

Alan stops eating for a second and contemplates whether or not it has to do something with his dad, but decides it's best not to since Sam seems to be in a better mood. "Feel free to order dessert, you can have it to yourself if you want." Sam looks up at Alan with joy in his eyes, "Really??" Alan smiles after he sees Sam look so happy, "Of course, you need to eat."

Sam doesn't wave down someone, which confuses Alan since he said he seemed to want dessert. "Did you want dessert?" Alan asks and Sam nods. Alan raises his hand to catch the attention of their waiter and he quickly comes over and asks what he wants. Sam doesn't say anything. Alan leans in asks, thinking he didn't hear him, and he sees Sam pointing at something on the menu.

"We will have the chocolate cookie with vanilla ice cream," Alan says. The waiter writes it down takes the menu before he walks away. Sam seems to have plummeted mood wise, he just seemed so happy a second ago.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Just thinking about all this. If my dad finds out I came to you he'll go crazy."

"Don't worry, if he does, he can't hurt you. You are in safe hands."

"Thank you. Seriously, thank you. You don't understand."

"Do you want to talk about it? I understand if you don't want to, I know these things are difficult to discuss."

"Well, I came out to him last year, and he obviously didn't react positively. He told me it was a phase like every other parent that doesn't care for their kid. He made sure that it was clear I was his "daughter" whenever we went out, whether it was to dinner or even just to a gas station to grab a soda. He knew it upset me since I told him I want to be referred as "he" and stuff, but he obviously doesn't care about my well being, he finds it amusing. I don't know if he knows I have breakdowns every night over it, but I know it's been going on for a long time now. I can't handle it anymore. I heard you are really good at this whole court thing so I decided to come to you. I don't know how I'm gonna get the money for this, but I will find a way. I promise I'll get the money, I just can't pay you right now. I literally have nothing."

"Don't worry about it," Alan said, "it's okay."

"No, I will get the money, I don't want you wasting time, which you would be doing if you're not getting money out of this."

"I insist. Yes, I get paid by my clients, but I think it's important that I help you. This isn't something that I will say no to. When I saw you at my door today, I was working on one of the biggest cases I have had in years. But when I saw you, I knew you needed help. So you don't have to give me money. Even then, you're a kid. I would feel uncomfortable taking money from a child." Alan chuckles as he watches Sam react to his response. He looks surprised that Alan was serious when he said not to worry about it.

They sit in silence for what seems like hours when the waiter comes back with two giant skillets with cookies and a scoop of ice cream on top.

"Here you go," the waiter says, putting the dish in front of Alan.

"And here you go, ma'am." He says to Sam.

"Sir," Alan says.

"What?" The waiter looks at him, thinking he has a question.

"Here you go, sir. He's male." Alan looks at the waiter dead in the eyes watching the man begin to panic.

"I'm sorry, sir. Enjoy your desserts gentlemen." He swiftly walks away out of embarrassment.

Alan looks over at Sam, who is looking down, picking at his nails again.

"Thank you." He mumbles.

Alan is confused and asks, "What?"

"No one has ever done that before. Corrected someone. Thank you."

"There's no need to thank me, the man made a mistake and I corrected him."

They both enjoy their desserts and head back to Alan's car.