7:01pm Friday - Currently Unnamed
"…You're gonna have a fun time convincing the staff that your photo ID is yours."
"Why?" Grace, what are you on about? Just put me out of my misery and tell me what new name I have to go by. What are you on about?
"I bet you they ask if David left earlier and if we can give him the ID back."
I had almost forgot what I was wearing. Being renamed by my rival was the only thing in my mind. And now in have to work out how to not out myself? Wait, I can just out myself. Yeah it'll be embarrassing, but I can just never come back here again. Pool was fun but I can go without forever.
"Evening Ladies. Have a good game?"
I'm sorry, what? What?
What?
What did he just say?
What?
No.
That's…no.
I'm wearing a mishmash of what? Tights? Shorts? A midriff bearing shirt that won't stay down and a coat with button holes and no buttons?
How do I look like a lady?
No. How do you come to that conclusion?
Is he blind?
Grace must have an opinion about this. She has been so much more talkative than Gavin tonight. She's gonna have some kinda comeback for that, right?
Fuck! She's really close!
Don't sniff her! Under no circumstances will you sniff her.
How does she look this good? Was I just never looking at Gavin before? Was he secretly androgynous? Is he intersex? No, bad. We can't guess other people's genetics, that was a thing from class I don't remember the name but…!
She's touching me!
Why is she touching me? I feel like I'm on fire. Just don't say anything, can't embarrass yourself if you say nothing. I feel like I've seen this exact thing in that lesbian romance manga Aaron recommended, the gentle chin lift thing.
Did I have vomit on me this whole time? Why is she touching me!?!?
"Ladies am I interrupting?" I'm dead. This is what being dead is like. Surely.
"No, I was just teasing my friend. How can we help?"
"Is David your brother?" The man behind the counter is pointing at me for some reason. "Don't use other people's IDs lady. It might have worked when you were younger, but not anymore." What is he on about? That's my ID, how can anyone make that mistake?
I can feel sunlight on my face. Why can I feel sunlight on my face?
How am I back outside?
"Grace. What did you do?"
"I was right, that guy didn't think you were you. I wanna know if I can do this to other people."
No!
"No!"
"Yeah, best not to press my luck."
A heavy silence. Somehow, in this busy street, a silence hangs between us. I can't talk, cause I'm still trying to work out why that guy called me a lady and not a freak or something more accurate.
"Hey, come over here." Grace beckons me from a few meters away and I drag myself over. "Look at her."
Grace is pointing to a pair of women inside the window of the shop we're now in front of who are looking our way. One is dressed just like she is, and the one next to her looks like a grown up skater chick. Grace is pointing to the skater chick, the same wry smile I keep seeing on her face like she knows something I don't.
"Wanna know her name?" Am I about to be embarrassed in front of one of Grace's uni friends? Wait, why would any of Gavin's friends know what Grace looks like? Wait, why are those women looking at us? Wait, why is the lady who looks like Grace pointing at me? "She's called Amity."
The word hits me like a truck.
I can't cry.
I'm not allowed to cry.
Men don't cry.
But...