Josh hated riding the bus, but it was necessary today. Gym Bro was on a business trip and wouldn’t be back until the weekend. Normally, Josh would be upset about left alone for so long, but he was happy for the freedom this time. He took the opportunity to cut back on some of the Zoe activities and get back in touch with himself a little.

  He looked down at his outfit and felt his breasts jiggle as the bus bounced along the road. Technically, he was Zoe right now, but that was only because he was going to meet Devon. Josh had no intention of outing himself to Devon as a man; he needed every friend he could get.

  The only bad thing about Gym Bro’s business trip was that he took his truck. Josh wasn’t allowed to use the sports car, so that meant he had to take this stupid bus to meet Devon at an arcade. A part of Josh’s mind flickered. Yes, that’s true. They didn’t have to take the bus since Devon offered to pick them up. However, Josh still hadn’t told Devon about Gym Bro or Gym Bro about Devon. For some reason, he thought it was a good idea to keep those parts of his life separate.

  Josh exited the bus and looked around. He didn’t see an arcade anywhere, but this was definitely his stop. He pulled out his phone and waited for the map to slowly load. When it finally popped up, all Josh could do was groan. This was exactly why he hated buses. He thought his stop was at Fifth and Main Street but it was actually Fifth and Main Street Station.

  Josh’s mind flickered. He had to agree. It was a stupid decision to give two bus stops such simir names. He opened the walking directions. Thankfully the arcade was only a twenty minute walk away and Josh still had an hour before his and Devon’s meeting time. His mind sparked. Josh nodded his head as he set off to wards his destination.

  He was gd that he’d been practicing walking in heels so often. The twenty minute walk didn’t even seem daunting to him now. He chuckled as he thought about how sore his feet were at the baseball game. Another mental spark. Very true; the baseball game did feel like it was a long time ago.

  Josh made it to the arcade with plenty of time to spare. He sent a message to Devon to let him know he made it safely. A part of him chuckled. It was adorable that Devon thought they were a woman and needed him to check on them. Josh was used to his guy friends knowing that he had the skills to navigate life without problems.

  His mind sparked. Fair enough. He was used to the idea of his guy friends not checking up on him, not that they assumed his abilities. Technically, he’d never really had friends. Spark. Except for Malcolm. Josh took a deep breath.

  He looked down at the outfit Zoe picked for them today. She’d gone with a pair of boots with a two-inch chunky heel, some jean shorts that sat about one-fourth down Josh’s legs, a casual v-neck t-shirt, and a messy bun. She wore a slightly different version of their everyday makeup by adding some eyeshadow and a brighter red for their lips that matched their shirt. She also had a small backpack that held all of their important things like their wallet and extra makeup. It was easy enough to carry Josh’s phone in their back pocket.

  Josh stood quietly and looked around. The area around the arcade was a basic, small outlet mall. There was a Chinese pce, a Mexican pce, and a nail salon. Josh’s mind buzzed. Yes, he should definitely go to a real nail salon using his Zoe mode. He wasn’t sure why that’s something he wanted to do, but it must be true. Otherwise his brain wouldn’t be thinking of it.

  He took another deep breath and returned to silence.

  Josh wasn’t sure how much time had passed before he saw a car pull into the parking lot and Devon hurriedly running over to meet him. Devon came to a stop and awkwardly waved. “Hey Zoe,” he said. Josh grinned as his insides flinched. He replied, “Hey man.”

  Devon said, “I’m so sorry. I must have gotten the time wrong or something. Were you waiting long?” Josh shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. I got here early because of the bus.” Devon pulled out his phone and scrolled for a bit. His eyebrows raised in surprise. “Oh yeah,” he said, “I guess you were here pretty early.”

  He put his phone away and smiled again. “No worries, we can get lunch a little earlier than pnned. The Japanese pce over there is really good.” Josh looked over where Devon was pointing, but didn’t see exactly what he was talking about. His mind buzzed. It didn’t matter.

  Devon gestured back to Josh and said in an elevated voice, “You look amazing by the way. Really different too. I mean, not that you look different because you look better now than you did before. But, like, you’ve always been really pretty, but today you look extra pretty.” He suddenly stopped talking and simply smiled at Josh.

  Devon pointed with his thumb at the building behind him. “Maybe we should go ahead and go inside.” Josh chuckled. “Sounds like a good idea.” The two walked inside and Josh looked around the arcade. He heard the familiar sounds of buzzers and arms going off from all the different machines. “Wow,” he said, “I haven’t been to one of these in forever.”

  Devon turned his head and replied, “You’ve been here before?” Josh shook his head. “No, I meant an arcade in general. I usually only py video games at home, you know?” Devon paused and put his hands on his hips. “I love a good video game, but there’s something special about an arcade.”

  Josh chuckled and interjected, “Yeah, you have to pay every time you py a game.” Devon turned around quickly and waved his hand dismissively. “Don’t worry, about that. Since today was my idea, I’ll handle the tokens. One second.” Devon quickly dashed over to the counter and spoke with the attendant. He returned and handed Josh a pstic card with the name of the arcade written on the front in a wacky font.

  Devon said, “They updated the card design, so I got us both new ones.” Josh looked up and asked, “You’ve been here before?” Devon nodded. “Yeah,” he said, “My brother used to bring me here all the time.” They started walking towards the game floor.

  Devon continued, “When we were kids, my brother would save up a little money from his part-time job all week so we could py games here. The prizes were never worth it and we were both terrible at everything, but we had fun getting to spend time together. It’s been years since I’ve been back though.”

  Josh said, “I’m guessing you and your brother don’t talk anymore.” Devon paused and whipped his head to look at Josh. He had a confused look on his face. “What?” he said, “Why would you think that?” Josh felt panic sinking in; he’d said something bad. His mind started buzzing.

  Josh said, “You said your brother used to bring you here, but you guys don’t hang out anymore.” Devon chuckled. “My brother and I talk and py games all the time. We haven’t been here in years because he lives in New York.”

  “Oh.”

  The two started walking again. Josh looked at the different games. There were a lot of cw machines and digital fshing screens, but nothing caught his interest. Devon said, “I guess I’ve never really talked about my family before.”

  “I guess not.”

  Devon fshed a smile at Josh. He said, “Pying games at an arcade can be a great time to talk more.” They stopped at one of the cw machines so Devon could try to win a stuffed video game character he liked. Devon said, “So, yeah, I have an older brother who lives in New York. He’s a wyer.”

  “Oh wow. He must be really smart.”

  “A total genius. He started taking college csses in his junior year of high school. He even earned a schorship to Harvard, which made our parents very happy.”

  “He’s kind of their favorite son then?”

  Devon ughed and moved to another machine. “No way,” he said, “Our dads love us both equally.” Josh felt his brain hiccup. “Dads?” he asked. Devon stood up from the machine and faced Josh. He said, “Sorry, I always forget that my family structure is really weird.”

  Josh felt an urge push him to say, “No, no. It’s fine that you’re adopted or whatever.” Devon shook his head. “It’s way weirder than that. So, my brother is technically my half brother. We have the same mom but different dads. Both of our dads are married to each other and their friend is our mom. Well, the woman who gave birth to us. It always felt weird to call her our mom, so we call her our aunt.”

  Josh tried to process the information. Devon reached forward and patted Josh on the shoulder. He said, “Don’t worry. Like I said, my family is really confusing.” Devon froze with his hand on Josh’s shoulder for a moment before suddenly ripping it away like he’d touched a hot stove. “Oh crap, I’m sorry about that,” he said.

  Now Josh was really confused. “About what?”

  “I touched you and I didn’t ask permission first. I’m sorry; it won’t happen again. I mean, not that I don’t want to touch you, but I’ll ask first. And you can say no. I mean, obviously you can say no, but I mean that I’ll respect it.”

  Josh scrunched his face. “Dude, rex. It’s not a big deal.” He patted Devon on the shoulder. “See?” Josh’s mind buzzed. He reached out and grabbed Devon’s hand and started walking through the game machines again. Devon’s hand felt tense and weird to hold for a moment before it rexed and comfortably fit into Josh’s.

  Josh followed the buzzing and looked up at Devon to smile. Devon returned the grin for a moment before asking, “You sure you’re okay with this? I don’t want to pressure you or anything.” Josh rolled his eyes. “It’s fine dude. Rex.” Josh didn’t see what the big deal was. His mind sparked.

  Exactly. He and Gym Bro had been in way more compromising positions than shoulder touches or hand holding. They made their way through a couple of other games occasionally cheering each other on and talking about nothing.

  Eventually Devon asked, “What about you? Do you have any siblings?”

  “Nope. Only child.”

  “Weird, I can’t imagine what that would be like.”

  “It was fine. I’m used to being alone a lot.”

  They stopped pying for a bit to sip on some drinks in the small cafeteria area of the arcade. Josh took the time to look over his friend some more. Devon wasn’t the most attractive guy in the world, but he wasn’t ugly. He had nice teeth, nice hair, good skin, his lips seemed nice. Josh blinked his eyes. Why was he evaluating his friend’s physical appearance?

  “You okay?” Devon asked. Josh rapidly shook his head. “Yeah,” he replied. Devon said, “You sure? You were kind of dazing a little bit. I thought you were staring at me at first.” Oh crap. Josh quickly said, “What? No, I wasn’t staring at you. I mean, I was wondering if you work out is all.”

  “Oh! I do! Actually, I never get to talk about this. Do you know One Punch Man?” Josh shook his head. Devon continued, “It’s this really cool anime. Well, it was a manga first. Actually it was a webcomic, then this guy decided to make it a manga, and that got really popur so they made it an anime.” He paused.

  “Sorry, that’s not relevant. Basically, the story takes pce in a world with monsters and superheroes. The strongest superhero is so powerful that he can beat any opponent with a single punch.”

  Josh interjected, “That sounds pretty cool.” Devon grinned and bounced in his chair a little bit. “Right?” he said, “Well, early in the story, everyone wants to find out how he got so strong. He reveals that he did it by doing the same exercise every day. One hundred push-ups, one hundred sit-ups, and one hundred squats. Oh, and a ten kilometer run which is about six miles.”

  Josh scoffed. “That’s it? He did some push-ups and sit-ups and became the strongest person on the pnet?” Devon held his hands up and nodded. He said, “I know, I know. It sounds easy, but it’s pretty hard to try and do it every day. And the run is brutal.”

  Josh replied, “You actually do this?” He looked at Devon closer again. Devon wasn’t thin, but he also wasn’t jacked. He definitely didn’t look like he could sy anything; let alone be a superhero. Devon smiled sheepishly. “I’ve only been doing it for a couple of months. And I don’t do the entire run yet; only a mile or two.”

  Josh smiled. “I probably bike more than that every day no problem.” Devon’s eyebrows raised. He asked, “You work out too?” Josh nodded his head. “I bike for over an hour and walk for almost an hour. I do strength training too. I know I’m still pretty fat, but I’m working on it.”

  Devon shook his head violently with a concerned look on his face. “You’re not fat at all,” he said. Josh smiled. “Thanks,” he said. He told himself he knew that wasn’t true. He wasn’t wearing the waist trainer today, so his big belly was definitely visible. His friend was trying to be nice because he thought Zoe was a girl and girls might cry if you call them fat.

  Devon spoke, “You’re in great shape! Actually, this gives me an idea. You finished with your drink?” Josh looked down at his cup. He actually hadn’t drunk any of the soda Devon bought for him. Soda was one of the banned foods on his diet pn. He grabbed his cup and Devon’s. “Yeah,” he said, “let me throw these out.”

  When Josh returned from the garbage he saw Devon with a giant grin on his face. “Okay,” Devon said, “follow me.” He led Josh up to the second floor of the arcade as he talked. “Remember how I said my brother and I came here all the time? Well, our favorite game to py was this.”

  He gestured to show off a weird stationary bike with a giant screen and a bunch of lights and dispys around it in the shape of batteries and lightning bolts. The whole set up was very corny. Josh asked, “A bike? How is this a game?” He looked at the sides to see if the bike could move or tilt like the racing games on the first floor.

  Devon said, “It’s more like a challenge than a game.” He pointed at the screen. “The whole idea is that biking generates power. Each level, you need to generate more power and the difficulty gets harder. But, you only have thirty seconds each time. You earn tickets for each level you pass.”

  Josh read the sign. You could get 100 tickets for level 1, 250 for level 2, 1500 for level 5, a whopping 10,000 for level 9, and… “Holy shit,” Josh excimed when he saw the jackpot. “Forty eight thousand tickets?” Devon nodded. “Mhmm, but it’s basically a pipe dream. The levels get super hard really fast. My brother and I would walk out of here with our legs wobbling, but we never made it past level five.”

  Josh pulled his focus away from the number. He had to win the jackpot and to win the jackpot he had to beat this stupid game. “How do you py?” he asked. Devon cpped his hands together and grinned. “Perfect. You might have a decent shot considering how much you bike.”

  “Like I said, you have to peddle to generate power. Each level needs more power and the resistance of the bikes gets harder and harder. If you can’t generate enough power in thirty seconds then you fail and lose everything. After each level you beat, you can choose to forfeit and you win half the tickets you’ve earned up until that point. For example, if you quit after level four like we often did, you get nine hundred and twenty five tickets.”

  Josh nodded along. He started trying to do the mental math to figure out which level he needed to get to to win the most amount of tickets. Then he realized that he needed to be able to add and divide a bunch of times over and over all while holding the numbers in his head and gave up. It didn’t matter. His goal was winning the jackpot.

  Devon continued, “I know you’re a strong biker, but the levels get seriously hard. The jackpot? Every time someone fails, their tickets get added to it. And every time someone gives up, the half they lose goes into the jackpot. I’ve never seen anyone get close to winning and it always got higher and higher every time they failed.”

  Josh stretched his shoulders and shook out his legs. “I can do it,” he said. He took off his heels and mounted the bike. A thought fshed through his mind that he was really grateful he was used to riding a bike while tucked already. Devon tapped his card on the game to get things started.

  *Level 1*

  Josh started pedaling as hard as he could, but the bike had almost no resistance. “Whoa,” Devon said, “take it easy. You don’t want to burn yourself out. You don’t get extra points for going faster.”

  *Almost there*

  Josh slowed his pace and still quickly met the target goal. He stopped biking and ughed. “Too easy,” he said. Devon nodded his head nervously. He said, “Obviously you want to get the halfway phrase around thirteen or fourteen seconds, so you have enough time to finish. But, yeah, no. You’re doing fine.”

  *Level 2*

  Josh started pedaling again. He felt a slight amount of resistance this time, but it was still nothing compared to what he was used to. He kept his legs moving and his breathing steady.

  *Almost there*

  Josh looked at the screen and saw his energy meter was basically full even though he still had twenty seconds left on the clock. He rexed his legs and cruised into the finish line. The sounds of victory dinged and cnged. Devon cpped his hands and said, “You’re doing great.” He gave Josh two thumbs up.

  *Level 3*

  There was noticeable resistance this time so Josh had to actually engage some muscles. He felt his legs heating up. He felt his heart beating fiercely against his chest.

  *Almost there*

  “Pick up the pace a little bit,” he heard Devon say. Josh pushed a bit harder as he looked on the screen. The difficulty of biking must not have changed much, but the amount he needed generate had gone up significantly. He pedaled harder and made it to the goal with five seconds to spare. Devon let out a sigh of relief.

  *Level 4*

  “This is where it gets hard. You can do it.” Josh really felt the drag this time. He had to grunt and push to get the pedals moving. His mind buzzed. Thank goodness he knew how to grunt like a girl now. He got into a rhythm and felt like he was gliding along.

  *Almost there*

  Josh looked at the screen and doubled his pace. He only had ten seconds left to make up the st half. He closed his eyes and pushed as hard and as fast as he could. He could vaguely hear some encouraging words coming from Devon. Finally, he heard the victory music pying and looked up.

  The screen dispyed his earned tickets so far: 1,850. “That was a close one,” Devon said, “Level five is way harder, so if you want to win anything you might want to forfeit now.” Josh shook his head and watched the timer tick down until the next level started. He said, “I’m going for victory.”

  *Level 5*

  Josh pushed down on the pedal and immediately regretted his decision to not take the tickets. It barely moved. He had to stand up and use his weight to get things started for the first couple of seconds. Devon cheered loudly and cpped his hands together. Josh finally got things moving and sat back down.

  “Push. Push. Push. Push,” he thought to himself. He had to go faster. The timer was counting down.

  *Almost there*

  Josh felt panic surge through his body. There was no way he was going to make it. He was going to look like a fool. He felt sweat beading on his forehead and a goopy sensation falling against his cheeks. He stood back up on the bike and pressed as hard as he could.

  He felt the rough texture of the pstic pedals pressing into the soles of his bare feet. He felt his breasts begin to jiggle and bounce as he put his entire body into making the power meter go up. With a final burst of effort, Josh closed his eyes and let out a passionate cry.

  The victory sounds pyed. He fell down on the seat and looked at the screen. One second left. He tried to catch his breath. He saw the countdown pying. He knew there was no way he could beat level six at this rate; let alone win the jackpot. Would it be better to fail at level six or admit defeat at level five?

  Josh felt like he was paralyzed. There was no winning; only different ways to be a loser. Josh felt the buzzing and sparking in his mind. He watched his arm move and hit the forfeit button. The victory music pyed. Devon cpped his hands and did a little dance. Josh stared numbly at his arm.

  “That was incredible!” Devon excimed. “I thought you were done for and then, boom! You kicked into another gear.” He ughed. Josh felt himself get off the bike and slide back into his heels. “Um,” he heard himself say,” I need to go to the bathroom.”

  Devon immediately calmed down. “You okay? Do you need something?” Josh leaned over and picked his bag off the ground. “No,” he said as he put a smile on his face, “I need to fix my makeup really quick. Be right back.” Devon nodded his head and grinned. “Great job though,” he said as Josh walked away.

  In the bathroom, Josh pulled out his mobile makeup kit and attended to his face. He dabbed away the slight smudges from the sweat and touched up his lips. He fiddled with his hair and stared at himself in the mirror.

  He held up his arm and looked at it in the mirror. It was definitely his arm the same way that that woman’s face in the mirror was his face. And her hair was his hair. And her breasts were his breasts. He looked down at the arm instead of the mirror.

  “Women don’t have to man up.”

  Josh flinched from hearing the words in his mind. He didn’t know how to expin it, but that was the thought that moved his hand. Zoe’s thought. He looked back at the woman in the mirror. She’d won the biking game. Devon was praising her.

  Zoe.

  He felt…they felt…

  They looked down at their hands. Their hands that started touching their body. But which one of them was moving and who were they touching? They squeezed their eyes shut. This was starting to hurt their head. Because. Josh. They were Josh.

  And sometimes Zoe.

  But only because…

  Because.

  “Because I can do things Josh can’t.”

  Zoe nodded his head. That was right. Zoe got the groceries. Zoe learned makeup and girl talk. Zoe was friends with Devon. Josh’s mind sparkled a little. Maybe he shouldn’t still be pretending to be Zoe when he needed to use her. Maybe Gym Bro was right and Zoe was this person he could control. Like a video game character. An avatar.

  He flexed Zoe’s fingers and cracked her neck. Things were feeling better. He looked down at his chest. No. Zoe’s chest. Men didn’t have boobs. He didn’t have boobs. These were Zoe’s. Zoe was the one wearing makeup and walking around in heels. Zoe was the one who could give up on a game and still feel like she won.

  Zoe could do more.

  Zoe walked out of the bathroom and went over to Devon. She tilted her head and smiled at him. She said, “What’s next?”

  Zoe and Devon spent the next hour pying different games and trying to win even more tickets. They spent a good amount of time pying a silly rhythm game that Zoe really enjoyed. Devon kept returning to the same cw machine again and again trying to win a specific Kirby plush, but he never got it.

  Finally, he asked Zoe to try using her game card. Zoe figured Devon was the one who paid for the card anyways, so she gave it try and won the plush on her first try. She expected Devon to point out that cw machines need a certain amount of pys before they allowed a pyer to win so that the arcade guaranteed making money and that was likely the only reason she won.

  But it never came.

  Devon grabbed his plush and squeezed it tight. He thanked her profusely and seemed legitimately happy with his new Kirby. He said, “Kirby is one of my favorite characters in fiction. I love how cute and silly he is.” Zoe nodded and said, “He’s really powerful too. He can blow up pnets and stuff.” Devon shrugged. “I guess,” he said, “but I like him for his cuteness.”

  Once their game cards ran out, so they went to the prize corner to check their total ticket count. Thankfully, the arcade let them combine their ticket totals. The attendant finished adding up everything and said, “You have four thousand three hundred and twenty tickets.” Devon cpped his hands together.

  “That might be the most I’ve ever won here,” he said. He paused and looked at Zoe with warm eyes. “And it’s all thanks to you.”

  “Me?”

  Devon grinned even wider. “Yeah! My brother and I loved coming here, but we’re both pretty terrible at the games. Plus over a fourth of our tickets is from you on the bike game. You beat level five! That’s awesome.” Zoe smiled and shrugged her shoulders a bit.

  She said, “It really wasn’t a big deal. I mean, you’re the one who paid for everything today.” Devon replied, “Yeah, but paying doesn’t really matter. Anyone can pay money for something. You earned this. And that’s why…” he trailed off and gestured towards the meager prize counter. “You get to pick first. Don’t worry about trying to leave any tickets for me either. You get whatever you want.”

  Zoe looked around at the prizes. She knew that Gym Bro provided most of what they needed for day-to-day living. And she didn’t really have any sort of gift in mind that she was looking forward to. Now that she thought about it, she wouldn’t even know what to ask for in general when it came to presents.

  Zoe creased her forehead. She had no idea what she wanted. She looked at the different pstic shapes on the shelves. It was all junk; stuff for kids. She gnced at Devon and saw him grinning like a big dork. She moved away and tried to find something interesting she could ask for to satisfy Devon’s wish that she get something worthwhile.

  She couldn’t get a bunch of candy since she wasn’t allowed to eat it anyways. All of the small prizes were essentially pieces of pstic garbage that she’d immediately forget about like rings or tiny yo-yos. There were a couple of t-shirts with the arcade’s name and different designs, but she would never be able to wear them without Gym Bro finding out about what they’d been doing behind his back.

  She had the same problem with the stuffed animals. Maybe she could cim she’d simply bought it to sleep with? She took a closer look at her options. One of them was worth three thousand tickets. Maybe that would make Devon feel happy about her choice.

  “I’ll that one please,” she said as she pointed at a big stuffed unicorn. The attendant grabbed the unicorn, scanned the tag, and handed it over the counter. Zoe held it against her chest and smiled at Devon. “Thanks,” she said. “No problem,” Devon replied, “You want anything else?”

  Zoe shook her head. “No, I’m fine,” she said. Devon said, “You sure? Because I’m probably going to buy a bunch of candy and one of those ear buds. That’s only around five hundred tickets, so you can use more.” Zoe shook her head. “I’m happy with this.” Devon shrugged and pointed at the items he wanted for the attendant to grab.

  They walked out of the arcade with Devon carrying a pstic bag filled with candy in one hand and his giant Kirby plush in the other while Zoe held onto her weird stuffed unicorn toy. She felt her stomach rumble. “Lunch?” she asked. Devon nodded. “Yeah, I’m pretty hungry too. Did you have something you wanted to eat?”

  “Anywhere is good with me. As long as there are vegetables.”

  “Cool, then we can go to the Japanese pce over there. They’re really tasty. And I think they have tofu dishes if that’s something you like.”

  “Sounds perfect.”

  The restaurant was basically empty, so they were able to sit in a booth and put all their bags and giant plushes aside and sit comfortably. Zoe found a simple stir-fried vegetable dish with white rice and Devon ordered some hibachi chicken and shrimp.

  “Are you a vegetarian?” he asked. Zoe replied. “Not really. I have a diet pn to try and lose weight, so I try to eat as many vegetables as I can.” Devon’s face changed. “You mentioned thinking you’re fat before. Are you trying to enter a competition or something? Because you look normal to me. Better than normal even. You’re super fit.”

  Zoe chuckled. “Are you kidding?” She leaned back and poked at her belly. “Look at how much jiggle there is,” she said. Devon looked and shrugged. “Nothing wrong with jiggle. I’m not trying to tell you to look one way or the other. My dad always said the important thing is that a person is happy and healthy.”

  Zoe was confused. “You don’t think I’m too chubby?” Devon leaned back. “I mean, you’re definitely voluptuous.” He ughed nervously. Zoe kept staring at him Devon cleared his throat. “But, yeah, no. No I don’t think you’re too chubby.” Zoe heard him emphasize the ‘too’ when Devon spoke. She nodded her head in understanding.

  Devon was a really nice guy. He didn’t want to hurt her feelings. Which meant he probably was lying to her about a lot of stuff. Of course he was. He thought she was pretty. And guys tell all sorts of lies to have a chance at being with a pretty girl like her.

  She let a sigh escape. “You okay?” Devon asked. Zoe caught herself and perked back up in her seat. “Yeah!” she said with a smile. “I think I might be a little tired. I’ll probably head home after we eat.” They waited in silence for a bit.

  Zoe tapped her fingers on the table and looked around the restaurant. “So,” Devon said, “What are your pns?” Zoe replied, “I told you, I’m going home after we eat. I’ll take the bus again.”

  “No, I meant, pns for your future.”

  “After we eat is the future.”

  Devon chuckled and smiled. Zoe smiled as well even though she wasn’t sure why Devon was so happy. Devon said, “I mean, like, five years from now, ten years from now, twenty years from now; what are your pns, hopes, and dreams for your future?”

  Now Zoe had to ugh. She said, “Nobody actually thinks about that kind of stuff.” Devon frowned. “Yeah they do. I mean, I’m pretty sure they do.” Zoe smirked and asked, “You have a pn for your life twenty years from now?”

  Devon replied, “Well, when you get that far out it turns into more of hopes and dreams than a real pn, but yeah. Right now, I want to save up enough money and gain enough experience to open my own pizzeria, so it would be great to be really successful with that in twenty years. Maybe have multiple locations or something.”

  Zoe asked, “You want to own a pizza pce?” Devon smiled and leaned forward on the table. “Yeah!” he said, “I love pizza. It’s delicious, you can make it all sorts of fancy ways, but making a simple, pin pizza is also its own art form. Pizza can bring people together and help people through hard times. It’s got carbs, fat, and protein so you can technically eat it as a banced meal. You can even put vegetables on it!”

  Zoe blinked her eyes in amazement. She knew they used to work in pizza pce, but all she remembered from it was the drudgery of the mechanical tasks. She couldn’t remember ever enjoying work.

  Devon continued, “Right now, I’m considering going up to New York to live with my brother for a year or two. I figure that if I want to learn about the pizza business, New York is the best pce to go.” The dreamy look in Devon’s eyes quickly shifted as he refocused on Zoe.

  He said, “Of course, I haven’t made any definitive pns yet. It’s not like I need to go to New York. There’s some nice business schools nearby I could take csses at if there was a reason to stay here.” Zoe nodded her head and smiled to let Devon know she was listening.

  Devon continued, “So, how about you? What are your goals for the near future?” Zoe thought about it for a second. She said, “Lose weight.” Devon nodded his head. “And beyond that?” Zoe scrunched her forehead and stretched her mind. What did she want from life? She started pulling at her hair.

  “Oh,” she said, “I’d love to grow my hair more. Try to keep it healthy.” Devon smiled and gestured with his hand to tell her to continue. This was getting difficult. “I’d love to get my boobs to shrink.” Zoe gasped and spped her hand over her mouth. Why did she say that?

  Devon raised an eyebrow. “Really?” he said, “I’ve never heard that one before.” Zoe felt panic rising. “I’m joking, obviously,” she said. She chuckled nervously. “Because I love my boobs. They’re awesome, right?” She pushed them together slightly with her arms. Devon looked confused and uncomfortable.

  Thankfully, the server arrived with their food. Zoe focused on shoving food in her mouth even though it was very hot. They ate silently for a few moments. Devon asked, “So, what about your career? Or hobbies? Like, do you want to train for a bike marathon or something?”

  Zoe groaned internally. Why was Devon so interested in asking them questions they never asked themselves? She smiled and said, “I’m still looking for a job, but I’ve never thought about a career or anything.”

  “What did you study in college?”

  “You know, the basic stuff. I never finished though.”

  “Oh really? Why not?”

  Now Zoe was screaming internally. She much preferred when all of her conversations were surface level and fast like at the grocery store or at the mall talking with the workers. Or when she and Devon only talked about the game they were pying. She didn’t know how to answer all these questions about a life she never lived.

  She said, “I ran out of money.” She shrugged. “No big deal. Maybe I’ll go back one day and figure out this future stuff you’re talking about.” Devon nodded his head along. He said, “You’ve had a lot of trouble with money I guess.” Zoe shrugged. “No more than most people I think. Really, right now, I’m only concerned because I need a job. But I’ll be fine.”

  Devon replied, “I know you have some experience, so I could ask the owner to give you a job at the pce I’m working right now.” Zoe shook her head. “I like eating pizza way more than I like making it.” She chuckled. There was no way she could tell Devon the real reason she was struggling to find a job right now.

  “It would be way easier if I was able to work as Zoe,” she thought to herself.

  Their mind buzzed a little bit. Devon said, “Well, in any case, you don’t need to worry about lunch. I’m not a very traditional guy in most ways, but I’ve always wanted to be the one who pays for dates.” Zoe felt her head tilt. “Date?” they asked.

  Devon looked at them. “Yeah, our date.” They weren’t sure what to feel right now. Josh wasn’t sure why their friend was talking about wanting to date them. “What are you talking about?” he asked. Devon looked confused. He pulled out his phone and said, “I swear I… Am I? No, right. Look.”

  He turned his phone around to show Josh their message history.

  MeHeyo! Do you have any free time this week? I’ve got a flexible schedule.

  ZoeYessss!! Minecraft? Smash?

  Me Actually, I was thinking we could do something in person. There’s this fun arcade I know about.

  ZoeSounds fun. I would love to get out of the house! -Smiley face-

  Josh looked back at Devon. “I don’t get it,” he said, “we agreed to hang out.” Devon looked back at his phone. “Oh, wait a sec. It moved when I turned it around. Here, look.” He flipped the phone back.

  MeSo…This is kind of awkward and I totally get it if it makes you uncomfortable. And We can totally just hang out at the arcade still as friends. But, can we make it a date?

  ZoeYeah sure -Smiley face-

  MeAwesome! What day works for you then? Like I said my--

  Josh stopped reading the messages and sat back in his chair. He’d said yes to a date with Devon. As Zoe. Devon looked at his screen and scratched his head. He said, “I mean, I guess I was sort of vague. And maybe I could have been more direct about things.”

  Josh went on a date with a man. As a woman. But he was a man. Which means he’d been gay. Even worse, he’d made Devon gay. Devon continued muttering to himself about syntax and grammar.

  “I’m sorry,” Josh felt himself say. Devon looked up concerned. “What? No. You don’t need to be sorry.” Josh shook his head. He’d tricked another person into being gay. Devon continued, “Zoe, seriously. It’s fine. We can just be friends.”

  Devon was going to leave them. He was going to go to New York and become some sort of pizza tycoon. Josh was stuck here. He was stuck in this fat, disgusting body with no job and no friends. All he did was confuse his friends and trick them into being gay with a loser like him. “I’m so sorry,” he heard himself say again.

  He was moving. He heard the familiar ccking of his heels on the pavement. Where was he going? “Zoe!” Josh turned his head and saw Devon dashing out of the restaurant. Oh, right, he’d forgotten to pay. Or did he? His memory problem was getting worse.

  “Zoe,” Devon said when he caught up, “What’s going on?” Josh felt a part of himself grin. Devon came after them. Maybe he cared about them. Maybe it was okay. Josh moved forward, closed his eyes, and leaned his head towards Devon’s. He felt hands press against his shoulder. “Whoa,” Devon said.

  Josh opened his eyes and blinked a few times. He jumped back. “I’m sorry!” he said. Devon looked concerned. “What was that?” he asked, “did you just try to kiss me after telling me this isn’t a date?”

  Zoe ughed, “What? No, I was…” she trailed off and struggled to find the right words. Her mind was bnk. Devon frowned and took a step back. They stood silently staring at each other.

  Finally, Devon said, “Well, um. I have to pay the bill before they call the cops. You have to catch your bus, right?” Zoe wasn’t sure when the next bus was or where the correct bus stop was, but she nodded her head. “Okay then,” Devon continued, “I guess. I’ll text you ter.”

  He turned around and walked back into the restaurant. Zoe stood still for a few moments. Josh reached into their bag and opened up the map. They walked to the bus stop and rode it home.

  Devon didn’t text them that night.

  Or the next day.

  Or the next.

  Qzar24