Read Online grl2grl by Julie Anne Peters - Free Book Online Page A

Vinnie.” His arm swept to the side to indicate me.
    “Vince.” Dammit. Get it right. I extended my hand. Shegazed at it for a long second, then shook it. More obliging than willing. She let go fast. She had long, elegant fingers.
     Fake nails all manicured and lacquered. She wouldn’t be scraping the grill or chopping chicken strips anytime soon.
    “I need help out front.” Broomhilda’s gnarly face swelled up like an ogre under the heat lamps.
    Jerome answered in a lowered voice, “Lady, you need help in front, in back, in every which way.”
    I couldn’t smother my laugh. Nevaeh said, “Are you a girl?”
    Out of the blue. Just like that.
    I swallowed hard.
    “Sorry,” she said, lowering her eyes. “I couldn’t tell.”
    Boi, I thought. I’m boi. Transman. Born girl, but changing over. One day, soon as I get the money for T. For surgery to remove
     my breasts, maybe.
    Honey Bea, for once, saved the day by posting the customer’s order and sniping, “Nevaeh! You take this.”
    She startled, almost leaping onto the stove.
    Jerome snatched the order off the carousel. Nevaeh squinted her eyes at Honey Bea’s retreating back. She said, “Already I
     hate this job.”
    “Don’t quit,” I told her. “Give it a few days. Broomhilda’s just testing you. Exercising her authority over you, or determining
     if she can.”
    “Yeah,” Nevaeh said. “Well, she can exercise it over my gone ass.”

    “Ah, don’t sweat it.” I took a toothpick out of my pocket and rolled it between my teeth. “I’ll protect you.” I winked at
     her and balled a fist to jab her shoulder lightly. I only touched her arm playfully, but she reeled back into the trash bins,
     making a racket.
    Geez, sorry.
    “I’m not that way, okay?” She circled the bins, rolling a trash can between us.
    Not that way — like, human? I shrugged. “Whatever.”
    Jerome sauntered past with a plate of alfredo, which he slid under the heat lamp and announced, “Order up. One snarf and barf
     to go.”
    Honey Bea scuttled over and scowled at him. Some people have no sense of humor.
    There was a queue of customers around eight-thirty, nine, then it died again. Me and Jerome busied ourselves in the kitchen
     rapping about music and chicks and politics in the Middle East. His cousin was touring Baghdad. My shift ended and I told
     him, “Later, man.” He closed up.
    “See ya, Vince.” He saluted. “Mañana.”
    Outside the front door, I waited for Kevin. It was a brisk night. Bracing, Gramps would say. Invigorating. “ ’Tis an evenin’
     for the Willoughbys,” he’d say. I had no idea who the Willoughbys were. I should’ve asked when I had the chance. My breath
     streamed out in a vapor trail. Blow out. Suck in. I jammed my hands into Gramps’s suit coat and felt my box of round toothpicks.
     I fingered one out and stuck itin the side of my mouth. I counted cars in the lot. Three to be exact. Not exceedingly busy at this late hour. Where was Kevin?
    I leaned against the smooth brick and squeezed my thighs together to ensure it was still with me. It was.
    I loved the sense of it. The sensuality. It made me feel confident and complete.
    The door swung open and Nevaeh stepped out. I pushed off the wall. “Hey.”
    She lurched backward.
    My hands came out of my pockets and I held them up. “Don’t worry. I’m not contagious.” I slid my hands back into the pockets,
     balling my fists hard against my thighs.
    Her breath willowed up and dispersed in a mist. Her eyes swept the parking lot and she shivered.
    My first instinct was to offer her my jacket, but wow. She was cold to me. “You waitin’ for someone?” I asked. Her boyfriend,
     probably.
    She nodded. “My brother.”
    What, no boyfriend? She had to have a boyfriend. Hot girl like her?
    I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She was… I forced myself to glance away. Out of bounds.
    “Look, I didn’t mean anything, okay? I’m just not that way.”
    I twisted my head back