“e over, I’m bored.”

  “I ’t, I have a project due tomorrow and I don’t want to get fired.”

  “Ugh, fine. But one day, yoing to run out of excuses.”

  I knew Juniper was right. Truthfully, I could’ve fihis project a week ago, but a bination of not wanting to seem too petent at my job and uo be promoted and my fear of not having an actual excuse to wave Juniper off kept me from pleting it. I hope she fives me when I meet her.

  So far, Juniper and I had only unicated via text. I’d been pying a female catkin in my favorite MMO whe, and she’d always referred to me as a girl. It was… hough I was scared to say so. Whenever we talked, she usually did most of it, going on about her life and what its like being a vampire. At first, I’d dismissed what she was talking about as some new gehing, but as we tialking, she got into more detail of how she fed and I realized she was being pletely serious.

  That first night I’d realized she was a vampire I went hunting the web for information. What I found was a big mix of information, all of it flig. It took me a while to sort through everything, but it seemed like most reports and stories of vampires being monsters were frious or spiracy sites while social media ptforms and blogs usually told a story of vampires being just like humans, a mixed bag. That doesn’t sound so bad.

  Then I started asking more questions in our text chats. How the feeding worked for her partner. How she handle daylight. Everything I could think of. She found it adorable and also intriguing that I’d spent so much time researg this. “Why don’t we meet in person and talk about this face to face?” I still remembered that text that started my ay and spat out lie after lie.

  It wasn’t that I wao lie to her, she was nid pretty and ied and I really wao be there for her. But I felt like such a fake. She was a lesbian and I’d just been looking for a friend. So why does it feel sht to imagine myself in a retionship with her? This wasn’t the first time I’d done so to a lesbian friend, and them to me, but it was the first time that said friend had thought I was a girl. Even refusing to get on voice or to show my face, Juniper only ever referred to me as a girl. And I didn’t know how to feel about that.

  The day, after I got home from work, I check my messages as I was getting undressed when a packaged arrived. I was on my way out when I heard the distinctive ding of a new message ing in. I’ll get it when I get back. I didn’t remember anything online, but that was hardly weird. I opehe door of my apartment and picked up the package. Sure enough, it was for me. Huh, I thought it would be for one of my neighbors. Oh well. I brought it with me bay bedroom, the only other ‘room’ in the apartment other than the living room/kit bo.

  Sitting back down at my desk, I pulled up my chat with Juniper. “I sent you a little something, wear it a me in an hour?” Underh that was a nearby address for a local restaurant, when I’d mentioned in passing only once. I started to feel cmmy, my heart rag as I realized I was suddenly out of excuses to not meet her. I hesitantly opehe nondescript package and found a beautiful blue sundress inside. Another ding. “I hope I got your size right! You never mentioned your size so I just had to guess. ;)”

  I gulped and decided that there was no bag out now. I didn’t want to lose a friend who’d kept me pany for over a year now. I slipped out of my male work clothes and delicately pulled the dress on. I ended up not needing to be so delicate, as the material was thicker, but I still didn’t want to get any wrinkles on it. After pulling it on, I sed to some fortable walking shoes and stood in my mirror. My eyes started watering.

  Why am I g? I shouldn’t be g. But why does this feel so like me? I took a few mio y self and gather my things before finally heading off to see Juniper in person for the first time. The dress, thankfully, had pockets, whistantly made it eveer. Will she like me? Will she tell me that she’s disgusted with me? My thoughts were ed with all sorts of ive sarios for how this could go.

  As I reached the restaurant, I got extremely nervous and nearly turned around, but my phone dinged and I pulled it out. “I know you’re probably nervous since you never wao give out too muformation, but you really don’t o be. If you want to turn back, you , but I’d rather see your beautiful self. Please?” I was stunned. Does she really think I’m beautiful? Maybe she’s just being friendly. Yeah, that has to be it. I’ve never shown her a picture of mine, so it has to just be friendly banter. I’m sure girls say that to each other all the time. I stopped again. Did I just refer to myself as a girl? I kept walking, trying to process what was happening. I didn’t even notice where I was until I got to the door.

  Pulling it open, I immediately met sneers from most of the regurs and I realized I had e here in my new dress to impress someo that society at rge didn’t really like crossdressers. Just as I was about to turn around and never order from this pce again, I saw the only friendly face waving me over – Juniper. She’d grabbed a booth that let her see the door but would ceal me from a walking over to us. I swallowed, my mouth dry, as I made my way over, preparing myself for the dressing down I was doubtless going to receive over having lied to her for years.

  Juniper got up just as I was about to reach the booth. Here we go, I inwardly ged. To my surprise she ed me up in a hug. “Oh my gosh, it’s good to finally see you in person! You look great! e on, take a seat a’s order so we get to talking. There’s a new expansio week and I want your opinion on it.” Juniper dragged me into sitting at the booth before taking her ow.

  The waitress came by and seemed disgusted by me but a quice at Juniper’s angry face had her trying to hide her disgust. I ordered my usual, a pte of pancakes with a side of assorted fruit, and Juniper got a chi sad. As soon as she was done writing down our order, she made a mad dash away from us. “Hmph, good riddance,” Juniper said before turning bae. “Now, spill. New css is ing. Think its gonna be any good?”

  We fell into casual versation, just going bad forth oher the new csses were any good or just fshy visuals and overplicated kits to make people feel superior while outputting less damage. I’d almost fotten that I was supposed to be afraid by the time the waitress came back with our food. Thankfully, she hastily put our ptes down and ran, but I was still nervous, heart beating faster at remembering all that had happened after I walked in. My breathing came quicker as well.

  Juniper reached across the table and put her hand on mine. “Hey, look at me,” she requested. When I didn’t ply she repeated herself, a demand this time. “Look at me.” I looked up and into her eyes. “It’s okay, this is all new for you, I get it. But you don’t have anything to worry about. Just ride out your panic attack, okay?”

  Is that what this is? A panic attack? But I don’t have a history of those. Even through my disordered thoughts, I tried to keep focus on her hazel eyes. It was so f, so rexing to have her be there for me. “There you go, that’s a good girl.” I felt… happy when she said that. It seemed almost natural. Why shouldn’t I be referred to as a girl? Then I started g.

  Years of suffering came bae in a fsh as I started remembering things from childhood. When I was more free to try things out. How I’d wao hang out with girls and had in fact done so. I was ‘the one boy who doesn’t have boy cooties’. Adorable at the time, but it made me feel so wele.

  More memories surfaced, oer another, until I was actually g. Through it all, Juniper just held my hand, caressing it softly, g at me about how I should let it out. It felt right to do so, and with each passing memory that resurfaced, it felt more and mht to be called a girl as well.

  About ten minutes after I started g I calmed down enough to be able to eat. Juniper had a bright smile ready for me as I wiped my tears free of my eyes. “That’s better. Now let’s eat! I’m starving. And maybe we do more ter, hmm?~”

  The desire she had in her eyes at that had me w if I shouldn’t just bolt for the dht now.