"Come on Jeremy!" Christine grabbed his hand and pulled him along, leading him out of the food court.
Jeremy smiled fondly and let the excitable girl pull him along, not resisting. He and Christine hadn't worked out, but they agreed to remain friends. And Christine was a sweet friend. Sometimes a bit oblivious, but sweet.
"What is it you need to find again?" he asked.
"There's this new store that opened up," Christine said, "and it's perfect timing! I needed to update my wardrobe." She slowed down, letting Jeremy catch up to her and then walking his pace. When they got there, she let go and ran inside the store. Jeremy slowly followed after.
He felt slightly out of place but stayed nearby Christine. He wasn't even sure if he should be here, but it tended to be hard to say no to Christine. He watched as the girl who had been the subject of his affections for the past few years peruse the aisles.
"Oh, what about this one?" Christine asked, startling Jeremy, as his mind had started to wander. She held up a dark violet knee-length skirt.
"That looks nice," Jeremy commented, and Christine smiled and added it to the pile that had already accumulated in her arms. Jeremy smiled slightly, trailing after her throughout the store. Something caught his eye, and he stopped to stare at it.
It was a pleated skirt that looked like it wasn't too short but also not too long. He guessed that it would end an inch or two above the knee. It had a galaxy tie-dye sort of design and, despite looking out of place, it was pleasing to the eye. He reached out a hand to touch the fabric.
"Jeremy?"
Christine's voice startled him out of his trance. The theater-loving girl had noticed that Jeremy had stopped following her and had gone back to find him. She looked at the skirt Jeremy had been looking at. "That's a pretty pattern, Jeremy," she said brightly, balancing the pile of clothes in her arms and reaching out to feel the fabric.
"Y-yeah…," Jeremy muttered, feeling very small. "It looks… really nice." He fidgeted.
Christine glanced from the skirt to her friend. "You know, Jeremy, there's nothing wrong with boys who wear skirts," she offered.
"I'm not—" Jeremy blurted, quickly stopping himself before he could finish that sentence, biting his lip. He didn't meet Christine's eyes for a good few moments. His hands clutched around air. He had been working on accepting himself. However… despite being the one to help Jeremy find the word to describe how he felt in the first place, the Squip often used it against him.
"Are you okay?" Christine asked warily. Jeremy had frozen up, his breathing shallow and eyes wide. His hands were clenched into tight fists at his side. "Take your time, Jer," she said softly, setting her items down and gently taking his hands into hers.
"I'm—" he stuttered again, forcing himself to breathe.
"You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to."
"I want to," Jeremy decided that moment, trying to take steady breaths. "I'm—I'm not a boy." Christine looked like she was going to say something, so he quickly continued to speak before she could. "I'm also—also not a girl. I'm… neither."
Christine's hands lessened their grip on his when he calmed down, but she didn't abruptly drop them like Jeremy expected her to when he told her the truth. She had a look of contemplation on her face now, and she nodded slowly. "Do you want me to call you something else? And use 'they'?"
He shook his head quickly. "No, I think I'm—I'm fine with my name and pronouns." He tripped over his words, but kept talking. "I—I don't think I'd be—averse to that, though?" Christine nodded, and still he pressed on. "I've been—considering experimenting with my, well, presentation." Doing some research after deactivating the Squip had let Jeremy learn a lot of things.
Christine let Jeremy's hands go and grabbed the galaxy-patterned skirt off the rack. "Did you want to try this on?" she asked, and at Jeremy's nod, she added it to the pile of clothing. She led the other teen to the dressing rooms. "Does Michael know?"
"No…" He had wanted to, but feared Michael's reaction, like he'd been scared of Christine's possible reaction. Christine had reacted positively, though, so maybe Michael's reaction wouldn't be so bad?
"Do you want him to?" Jeremy nodded. "I can help, if you'd like?" Christine placed the skirt in Jeremy's hands. Jeremy nodded again. "Okay," she agreed, gently pushing him into one of the dressing rooms. "Call me over when you're done; I want to see!"
He stood in the middle of the empty dressing room stall, thinking that went way better than he expected.