I was bored. A friend of mine and I had agreed to meet up an hour ago, but she had texted me to tell me she’d be running late. Now I was just wandering around Square One looking for something to do.

I stopped by a games store, but didn’t find anything interesting, so I moved on. I stopped in a few more stores, and found nothing of interest.

I wasn’t even sure what my friend and I would actually do once she showed up. I guess it was just an excuse to hang out.

I was leaving another store when I saw it. A bright blue, pink and white storefront. Inside was a typical fast food joint - the type that sells burgers and whatnot. The sign above the store read:

E-Burger

The Official Burger of E-Girls Everywhere

The place was new - I’d never seen it before. I could see a few people sitting at the tables inside eating burgers and fries and all sorts of fast food. All of them were very obviously girls.

I shrugged. Why not, right? I was hungry, so I might as well. I wasn’t a girl, but it’s not like they could bar guys from eating there, right?

I walked in and joined the short line. The girl in front of me had to be under five feet tall. Her hair was dyed bright pink. She was wearing a headband with some sort of animal ears, a cute black tank top, and a pleated dark purple skirt. She ordered herself a burger, and then it was my turn.

“What would you like?” The worker behind the counter said.

They were really pretty. And, by the way, I’m using ‘they’ very intentionally, their name tag read ‘Mia - They/She’. They had lots of piercings in their ears. Their curly hair was dyed blue. Basically: blue hair and pronouns. They were wearing glasses too, and I thought they looked very cute.

I glanced up at the menu options displayed above the counter. “Um, E-Burger Classic, please.”

I quickly paid for my order, then stepped aside to wait for my burger to be ready. I pulled out my phone to pass the time, but was interrupted by a giggle. I looked towards the sound. The person who had giggled was the girl who had been in front of me in line. She smirked at me. “You’re gonna love the food here. It’s really good.”

“Well, I’ll see for myself,” I replied.

For whatever reason, that caused her to burst out laughing, and she was still giggling as she picked up her order - a burger with some fries. As she walked past me to sit at a table, I heard her mumbling something under her breath about eggs, and giggling some more.

It wasn’t much longer until my burger was ready, and the worker - Mia - handed it to me.

“Enjoy your meal!”

I thanked them before going to sit down.

I unwrapped my burger. It wasn’t super big, but it wasn’t small either. It was a simple patty with some lettuce and tomato, as well as pickles and a lot of ketchup. I picked it up and took a bite.

That girl hadn’t been kidding, the food here was amazing.

After I finished my burger, my friend finally texted me that she was here, and I went to meet her.

She was waiting just inside the north entrance to the mall. She was wearing a purple t-shirt with a heart on it, ripped jeans, and a red toque, despite the fact that it was twenty degrees celsius outside.

I had always had a bit of a crush on her, but she was gay so I tried to forget about that. She was a really good friend; she’d been there to support me back when I had a breakdown over my voice getting deeper when I was around fourteen. I’d known her since I was ten.

“Miriam!” I shouted at her.

She looked up at me. “Hey!” She jogged over to me. “You look different.”

I frowned. “Different how?”

She shrugged. “Not sure, exactly. Just… different.”

I nodded.

“So… how you doin’?” she asked.

“I’m alright,” I said. “Found a new fast food place here.”

“Huh,” she said. “Why’s that of note?”

“‘Cause the food there is actually so good!”

“Oh really? Maybe I should try it then.”

“It’s called ‘E-Burger’.”

“Good to know.”

“Hey, check this out!” Miriam said.

“That’s a cute shirt,” I replied.

Miriam nodded. “Yeah… you want it?”

Miriam shrugged. “I mean, it is cute, but not really my style. You want it then?”

I sputtered. “What- but- that’s a girl’s shirt!”

“Actually, it’s the store’s shirt right now. And then if you buy it, it will be a boy’s shirt. Unless you want it to be a girl’s shirt, which I guess would make you a girl. But that doesn’t matter, you can wear what you want. It’s twenty-twenty-three, dude.”

I looked at the shirt. It was a cute purple crop-top with a cartoon kitten on it. I actually did want it. I looked at Miriam’s face. She was smiling, her blue eyes sparkling.

I grabbed it out of her hands.

“Hell yeah,” Miriam said.

I took it to the counter to buy it.

The girl behind the counter smiled at me as she scanned the tag. I quickly tapped my card to pay for it, then the girl handed me a bag with the shirt in it.

“Have a nice day, miss,” she said.

Wait, what?

When I got back to my apartment that evening, I placed my new purchase on my bed before going to the bathroom. Afterwards, I entirely forgot about it while I played some online game. I didn’t have many friends who played, so I went into public lobbies, which was pretty chaotic and often somewhat toxic. Eventually I gave up.

I stood up and stretched, letting out a small sigh.

Then I spotted the bag with my new top in it again. I frowned. I picked it up, pulling out the shirt.

Why did I buy this?

Then another thought entered my head.

I should try it on.

I was torn between shoving it deep into my closet and forgetting about it and trying it on. Normally, I’d suppress my desire to wear something like this, but this time, I found myself leaning more and more towards putting it on. I made up my mind. I put the crop-top down, then pulled my t-shirt off, tossing it onto the ground. I’d pick it up later. I picked the crop-top up, and, before I could talk myself out of it, I pulled it over my head.

It felt weird wearing something that didn’t cover my tummy. Not a bad weird, just weird. I pulled out my phone and opened my camera app. I flipped it around to selfie mode. I usually preferred to avoid taking pics of myself, but I wanted to see how it looked on me. I expected it to look ridiculous, but it… didn’t?

It actually looked really good. Actually, I looked kind of cute. I’d been growing my hair out, so it hung down below my ears. It was a red colour that I actually really liked. It was my face that was normally the issue. Except now… I didn’t hate my face that much. Sure, I didn’t exactly like it, but it wasn’t horrific like usual. I usually had some awful stubble or shadow going on, but now… that was just gone.

The top itself looked really good. I’d always been pretty thin, which had made me pretty self-conscious, but the way the top showed off my tummy was actually pretty nice. It also worked really well with my jeans.

I pressed the button to take a picture.

Then again.

Then again.

And several more times.

I scrolled through the many selfies I’d taken in my new top. A few were blurry, but there were none I outright disliked. Actually, I liked all of them. I looked good in this top, and I didn’t hate my own face for once.

Then I made the mistake of scrolling too far, and saw a picture where I wasn’t as happy with my appearance. It was a selfie with Miriam from the last time we’d hung out. We’d gone for a hike, and we’d found a point with a really nice view, and she’d convinced me to take a selfie. She looked amazing in it, as always, but the picture was ruined by my ugly face.

Except…

I scrolled back to one of today’s selfies, then back to the older pic.

That can’t be right. Can it?

I scrolled back and forth a few more times. Miriam was right. I did look different. Seeing the pics next to each other like this, it was plain as day. My facial hair was just gone. Not overly weird, except I was pretty sure I hadn’t shaved since yesterday. Not just that, but my face looked… softer. My eyes were a bit bigger, and had more of a sparkle to them than in that last picture. Hell, my hair hadn’t even been that long in the older pic, just above my ears, but it had somehow grown at an impossible rate in the past week.

When did that happen?

I want more.