6:45pm, Saturday
"Really, never?" Fiona asked, with an air of slight disbelief.
They sat facing each other on the grass, the hustle and bustle of the nearby train station/shopping centre mixing with the large open space in front of the colossal, fluted columns of the State Library.
"Nope." Jules replied, for at least the 3rd time since they left the gallery.
Jules took another bite of her barbecued beef with rice. She'd decided to get something simple and relatively plain from the Korean BBQ place, on account of her complete lack of spice tolerance. As the flavour saturated her tastebuds, she was glad she had.
"I basically have the tastebuds of a 10-year-old white boy..." She said sheepishly.
"Hmmm." Was all Fiona said in reply, having just started chewing a piece of pork.
"In my defence, that's what I was when my tastebuds developed..." Jules said on autopilot.
She wasn't quite sure why she felt the need to explain everything, and she wasn't sure that what she was saying was even that helpful.
"Hmm...?" Fiona replied, still chewing.
Before Jules could say more, she'd finished chewing.
"Is that how you see your pre-transition self?" She asked.
"Not entirely..." Jules responded, not exactly sure how the conversation had ended up at this point.
She felt Fiona looking at her, still slightly confused.
"Like, I don't actually see myself as having ever actually been a boy..." Jules went on, "I kinda just... find it funny to sometimes treat 'old me' like 'he' was a different person."
"Fair." Fiona responded, seemingly satisfied with that answer.
Why was she talking about this?
"So..." Jules said incredibly awkwardly, "Where's your family from?"
As she was pondering whether what she'd just asked was racist, or if she was just being weird, Fiona answered with a simple: "My Dad's Korean."
Jules pondered for a second.
"Is your mum... white?" She asked.
"Italian." Fiona answered.
"Cool..." Jules said unsurely.
She cringed internally a little at how she'd just responded to a date's ethnic heritage like a kid who'd just been given permission to stay up past their bedtime...
"What about you?" Asked Fiona, unsurprisingly.
"Well... my Dad's Dutch, and my mum's family is vaguely English." Jules explained.
"Ok." Came the somewhat disinterested reply.
As Jules shoveled a fork-full of rice into her mouth, she thought about how she couldn't blame Fiona for finding her family boring. She'd known them for her entire life, and she did too...
"Ooooo..." Came a voice.
Jules looked up to see Fiona looking at her phone with an excited look on her face.
"Huh?" She enquired, confused.
"She finally uploaded it!" Came the reply, excited but unhelpful.
"Huh?" Jules said again, confused.
Fiona turned to her with a smile on her face.
"Do you want to see the ray we say this morning?" She asked excitedly.
YOU ARE READING
Depth Perception
RomanceJuliet doesn't know when the spark in her faded. She doesn't hate her life. She knows she has a lot to be thankful for. She's got friends, she's got hobbies she enjoys, she's got a job that she doesn't completely despise, and miraculously her re...
