Love of Autism Ch. 17

Well...it has been a while hasn't it? Honestly life and a job that sucked my joy out of a lot of things is the big reason why this chapter took so long to write and get to my editor. As always thank you Tigersman for your amazing job editing my chapters. While this isn't a long chapter, it sets up the soon to be finale of this story as I try to tie up all loose ends left from this story and my previous one. Thank you everyone for your patience and enjoy!

"They were supposed to be here ten minutes ago," Scott complained.

"Just give them a few more minutes," Katie said.

Scott wanted to be patient, but everything about the situation was stressing him out. "I still don't understand how you convinced me to do this."

"Because you love me and know this is important to me. Plus, Alyssa asked that you come so you can give an honest opinion of the guy."

"And you can't because?"

"Because I'm not a guy and can't read a guy's body language like a guy can."

Scott turned and looked at her with a blank stare. "You and Alyssa want the autistic guy who has a hard time reading body language and picking up on social cues to read someone else's body language."

Katie quickly realized the problem that Scott was pointing out. "Ok...maybe you can at least pick up more easily how he talks to and about her and let us know if he seems like a good guy or not?"

Scott rolled his eyes before looking back at the entrance to the restaurant. "I should be able to do that, but honestly, Steve would be better at that."

"But Liz doesn't have the friendship I do with Alyssa," Katie countered.

"And Steve never did anything with Alyssa either. I haven't talked with her since I tutored her at the end of senior year and even then, I wasn't 100% completely comfortable around her."

Katie thought about telling Scott the truth about why Alyssa was a different woman at the end of high school, but before she could, Alyssa and her date walked into the restaurant and spotted them easily. They approached the table and sat down.

"Sorry we're late," Alyssa apologized. "I couldn't decide what to wear and well...it's just my fault."

"I told you sweetie, you don't have to pick out anything special for me," Alyssa's date said. "You always look beautiful."

Scott wanted so badly to roll his eyes at how clique Alyssa's date sounded, but knew he didn't want to give off a bad first impression either. "What's important is that you're here."

Alyssa's date turned and smiled at Scott. "Yes it is. I'm Nathan by the way."

"I'm Scott," he said, extending his hand to offer Nathan a handshake which he shook back.

A minute later the waitress came by and took their drink orders and Scott had to admit she was attractive. This made him think of to watch and see if Nathan would turn and watch the waitress walk away after she took their drink orders. Much to his surprise Nathan didn't and instead just looked at the menu. 'Well at least he isn't scoping out the waitress instead of paying attention to Alyssa.'

"So Scott," Alyssa said trying to get his attention which she did, "are you ready to start your second year of college?"

Scott just shrugged his shoulders. "As ready as I'll ever be I guess. Although one of my roommates might try to distract me from my studies once in a while," he said while tilting his towards Katie.

"I'm not that distracting," Katie said a little exasperated. "Besides I'm a damn good cook."

Scott turned and smiled at Katie. "That you are, but your pancakes need a little work."

Katie playfully pushed Scott's arm with a smile. "As long as you promise to never try to cook bacon again."

Scott shook his head and rolled his eyes. "That was one time."

"One time you burnt them and one time you uncooked them."

"And since then there have been no issues," Scott tried to counter.

"Liz and Steve still prefer me cooking the bacon over you," Katie said with an evil grin.

Nathan couldn't help but laugh at Scott and Katie. "Yep, you two have been together for a while. High school sweethearts probably from the beginning."

Scott and Katie's faces contorted trying to not laugh too hard as they both looked at Alyssa. "You didn't tell him?" Katie asked having a hard time from bursting out into laughter.

"Tell me what?" Nathan asked in confusion.

Alyssa grinned as she turned to look at her date. "Katie actually bullied Scott most of his life. It was only after homecoming senior year did things change when they started to become friends and shortly after that start to date."

Nathan's face contorted into confusion as he turned to look at Scott and Katie, still not believing what he just heard. "How does that happen?"

"Very, very, long story," Scott said, really not wanting to tell it nor thinking of a good way to condense it.

Katie on the other hand was ready. "Short version is he showed me that my ex was cheating on me, somehow helped salvage the night for me and made me realize how much I had misjudged him."

"Misjudge him how?" Nathan asked, now even more confused.

Katie opened her mouth but then stopped, hesitant to admit the reason she bullied him. She looked at Alyssa who also had a look of discomfort realizing how bad Katie was going to look in Nathan's eyes.

Scott could sense the tension and decided it was best for him to tell Nathan, but not before trying to soften the truth. "Before I tell you, you must know that I have forgiven Katie for being a bully to me." Nathan still was unsure if he wanted to know, but nodded his head in understanding. "She used to bully me because I'm autistic."

As much as Katie was grateful that Scott was handling the situation in the way he was, she still felt ashamed for how she bullied him in the past. Even with him saying that he forgave her, she still had a hard time forgiving herself.

Nathan's opened his mouth, but then closed it. He wasn't sure exactly how to respond to either piece of information. A few seconds later he decided to make a statement directed at Scott. "I don't know how you could forgive her for that."

Scott turned to look at Katie with a smile that told her that he loved her. "Most people wouldn't, but I'm glad I did. She's one of the best things to happen to me and I would go through it again knowing how much I love her now."

Katie melted as Scott said that and felt so lucky to have him as her boyfriend. She kissed him on the lips and said thank you to him loud enough for him to hear.

A few seconds later their waitress came by with their drinks and asked if they were ready to order. While Scott had decided what he wanted before he even entered the restaurant, everyone else had still yet to decide. She said she would come back in a few minutes and left them to tend to another table.

Silence fell amongst them as everyone, except for Scott, scanned the menu. After a couple of minutes everyone had decided on what they were going to get and flagged down their waitress to give her their food orders. She left again and Scott decided to try strike up a conversation with Nathan. "So how did you and Alyssa first meet?"

Nathan smiled remembering how he first met Alyssa. "We are both taking the same math class this summer and pretty much hit it off right away. After our second class, we started doing homework together and studying together." He turned to look at Alyssa. "Again, I just want to apologize for making fun of you for using flash cards. You were right and turned out to be really helpful."

Scott couldn't help but grin knowing that he was the one to introduce flash cards to Alyssa. "You might have actually found a good guy Alyssa," he commented. "He is actually willing to admit when he is wrong and apologize for it."

Alyssa smiled at what Scott said knowing Nathan was getting his approval, but something more pressing was taking place. "I'll be back. I have to use the ladies' room."

"I'll come with you," Katie said standing up with Alyssa.

Once they left Nathan decided to say something to Scott that he wanted to say if they ever got alone at the table. "Hey, I just want to say how sorry I am that you have autism."

Scott had heard that sentence several times in his life and he had just come to terms with the fact people still think autism is some debilitating condition and ruins people's lives. If anything, he was very disappointed that people still thought that way. "You don't need to apologize. Being autistic isn't that worst thing."

"But it is part of the reason why Katie bullied you."

"Actually most of the reason, but I forgave her and don't hold that against her."

"Yeah, I mean it is more of your parents' fault that you have autism."

That statement seemed very odd to Scott. "Um, it's not my parents' fault that I'm autistic."

Nathan looked at Scott with empathy. "Yeah it is buddy. I mean if you weren't vaccinated as a young child, you wouldn't be autistic now."

That statement right there shocked Scott. He had heard that claim many times that autism was caused by vaccines. He had done research himself and found that there was no basis for such claims, especially when there were stories of parents' who didn't vaccinate their children and they still were autistic.

"I'm going to stop you right there. I'm only autistic because my dad is autistic."

Nathan shook his head in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Autism is genetic."

"Dude, I think you are greatly misinformed," Nathan said as if Scott were dumb.

Scott took a deep breath to calm himself, not wanting there to be drama and ruin Alyssa's night. "Let's not talk about this," he suggested.

"Alright," Nathan said, not really wanting to let this go. "Just thought I'd try to empathize with you and suggest ABA therapy as well."

Scott looked at him dead in the eyes, not sure if he heard Nathan right. "Excuse me?"

"What? ABA therapy could probably help you a lot. I mean, I know it's for kids with autism and stuff but maybe they could help you."

Scott had to take several breaths to calm himself and not reach across the table to slap Nathan. "We can talk about this another time, just me and you. We're on a double date and now is not the best time to talk about this stuff."

Nathan shrugged his shoulders. "Alright, whatever you say. I'm just trying to help." They sat there in silence for a couple of minutes until Katie and Alyssa returned.

As Katie walked back with Alyssa she noticed that Scott wasn't happy and he seemed somewhat angry. "Hey, so what did you two talk about while we were away?" she asked light heartedly, hoping it lighten the mood a little.

"Just stuff," Scott answered in a voice that told Katie to drop it.

However, Nathan didn't feel the need to drop it. "We were just talking about autism and stuff."

Katie knew Scott didn't want to start any drama, but she also knew there were only several topics related to autism that would make him upset. "What stuff?" she asked in a tone daring Nathan to answer.

"Yeah know, like how autism is caused by vaccines and how ABA therapy would probably help him even though..."

"You can shut up," Katie said harshly.

"Excuse me?" Nathan said incensed.

"I don't know where you get off telling someone how they got autism or what therapy they need, but maybe you should a do a little more research before you suggest therapy that is meant for children and that does more harm than good."

"Please," Nathan said incredulously. "I mean no offense to Scott. He seems like a normal person and his autism doesn't affect him that much, but children with autism need ABA therapy to function in today's society. Plus if they weren't given vaccines in the first place that gave them autism they wouldn't need..."

"You can leave Nathan," Alyssa said.

Nathan turned to look at her. "Excuse me?"

Alyssa turned to look at him and had a look ready to kill. "You can leave and never talk to me ever again."

Nathan couldn't believe what was happening. "Are you kidding me? I'm just talking about how people with autism..."

"Autistic people," Alyssa corrected, "and you still don't get to tell my autistic friend what would benefit him or talk about autistic people as if they need to be fixed. So you can leave us to have dinner in peace, delete my number in your phone, and leave me the hell alone."

Nathan got up angry and incensed. "Fuck you all." He stormed out of the restaurant and everyone in there was stunned by what had just happened.

Katie immediately sat next to Alyssa trying to comfort her after what just happened. "I'm sorry Alyssa," she said holding her friend.

Alyssa wiped the tears from her eyes. "It's not your fault. I just keep picking horrible guys," she said before she looked at Scott, "or I ruin something amazing with the one good guy I meet."

Scott wished he knew what to say or what he could say. He wanted to be supportive but thought that his words could be misinterpreted to mean something he didn't intend. It was always these situations he hated and cursed being autistic because he wanted to help, wanted to be supportive but didn't know the right thing to do.

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"Hey," Liz greeted as she saw Scott and Katie walk into the apartment, but noticed their sullen looks as they walked in. "What happened? Was Nathan a jerk to Alyssa?"

"No," Scott said, still feeling guilty about the whole thing.

That answer confused Liz. "If he wasn't a jerk to Alyssa, did she not like your opinion of him or something?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Scott said as he walked straight to his room. Steve followed him in soon after.

Liz turned to look at Katie. "Did Scott do something wrong?"

Katie shook her head. "No, Nathan was a jerk to Scott."

"What? Why?" Liz asked.

Katie sighed, still feeling emotionally drained. "He told Scott it's his parents' fault that he is autistic because they made him get his vaccines when he was a child and that he should consider ABA therapy."

Liz's eyes widened in shock and anger. "Where does he live?"

"Liz, don't," Katie begged holding back Liz.

"Oh hell no. I'm not letting some asshole talk to Scott like that and think he can get away with it."

"Yes, you are," Steve coming from his and Scott's bedroom, "and you are going to drop it."

"Are you serious?" Liz asked not believing her boyfriend would say such a thing.

"Yes, because Scott is already feeling like shit and guilty that he ruined a good thing for Alyssa even if it isn't his fault. You going to the guy's place isn't going to make things any better for him."

Liz understood what Steve was saying but still she couldn't let it go. "Steve, he fucking suggested ABA therapy for Scott. He literally suggested something that would have most likely given him PTSD and who knows how else they would have screwed him up."

"I know," Steve said approaching his girlfriend. "Scott would appreciate you standing up for him, but not like this and not tonight. He's already in shutdown mode."

"Fuck," Liz cursed.

Katie went to Liz and hugged her. "I know you mean well, but we can't do anything about Nathan now. Besides, Scott isn't the only one that needs help."

"What do you mean?" Liz asked.

"As soon as Alyssa realized what Nathan was telling Scott, she told him to leave and never talk to her again. After he cursed us out and left, she started to cry."

"At least she did that," Liz commented.

"Yeah," Katie agreed as she let go of Liz, "but she has had it rough for a while."

"What do you mean?"

Katie hadn't shared Alyssa's secret with anyone else but now felt like it was the right time to put everything into context. "Remember when Alyssa asked Scott to tutor her again and she seemed like a changed person?" Both Liz and Steve nodded their heads. Katie took a deep breath before telling them the truth. "She had a miscarriage shortly before that and the guy already had told her before it happened that he wanted nothing to do with her or the baby after she told him she was pregnant."

Liz and Steve couldn't believe what they were just told. "Shit," Steve said, "well...that explains a lot."

"That would help explain why you and her have become so close," Liz stated.

Katie nodded her head. "Yeah, once we found out each other's secret it just made it easier to be friends."

****************************************************

Even after Scott woke up the following morning he didn't get up out of bed. Katie even had made extra bacon just for him yet he still didn't get up. He couldn't help feeling guilty about ruining Alyssa's relationship. Katie tried to cheer him up and tell him it wasn't his fault, but that didn't help.

Scott felt no reason to get out of bed and told everyone to just leave him alone. The fact someone still came into his room around noon annoyed him. What annoyed him even more is that the person sat on his bed right next to him. He was lying face down on his pillow so he didn't see who came into his room and he was ready to tell them to get the fuck out.

"Scott," a familiar female voice said, "what happened last night wasn't your fault and I'm actually glad I found out how Nathan really felt about autistic people."

Scott turned over and saw Alyssa sitting on his bed. "He was still a decent enough guy..." he tried to argue back but Alyssa didn't want to hear it.

"No," she said shaking her head. "Anyone who talks down to autistic people, talks down to YOU like that, isn't someone I want to even be friends with, much less have as my boyfriend."

Scott heard what she said, but still felt guilty. "Alyssa, we could have changed his mind."

Alyssa smiled at Scott's hopefulness to change people. He wasn't exactly wrong in his thinking. He had gotten Katie to change her view of him and Alyssa was also starting to change her view of him. In fact, there was a reason she wanted to make peace with him during the end of their senior year and now was the time to tell him the truth.

"Scott, do you know why I asked you to tutor me again in Math at the end of our senior year?"

Scott thought about it for a second but nothing came to mind. As he thought about it, he realized it was strange for Alyssa to ask him to tutor her again after he and Katie told her to fuck off. The fact that Katie was also Alyssa's closest friend also struck him as odd. "No, why did you? I mean things between us were horrible."

Alyssa took a deep breath as Scott was only the fourth person she was going to tell her secret. "Three weeks before I came to ask you for help..." she took enough deep breath, having trouble saying it out loud again, "...I had a miscarriage."

Shock came over Scott. He couldn't believe what he just heard...and yet...everything started to make sense. The reason why Alyssa and Katie became such good friends, why Alyssa seemed like such a different person the second time around when he was tutoring her in math, and why she seemed to become such a different person. It all made sense.

"Alyssa...I'm so sorry," he said as he sat up and gave her a hug which she gratefully returned."

Scott then felt even worse realizing when she asked him for help, he all but told her off and was a complete jerk to her making him feel worse again. "Shit, you asked me for help and..." he didn't want to finish the sentence. He didn't want to finish saying how much of a jerk he was. Alyssa however picked up on the sudden change in his mood and pushed herself back from the hug, took her hand and lifted his chin up so she could look at her face.

"Don't start blaming yourself again," she said with a smile. "You had no idea what I had been through and honestly I was a bitch to you and Katie. You had every right to question my intentions."

"Still, you deserved better than that."

"Maybe, but you didn't know and that is in the past now. Now we're friends."