Finally, I arrived home. Esme was there and she was folding laundry. "Hey, I was wondering where you were. I thought you went for a jog, but you took a little longer than expected. Did you say you were going to talk to Fortia?"

  "Yes I did actually, but the reason why it took longer was that I got to visit Spectra again."

  "Lucky you. I wish I could have gone. What did you see?"

  "I saw Fortia's house and her sister's house." 

  "That's great. Did they have all these sort of magic things?"

  "Yeah, I learned about how they cook and how they can conjure up clothes and food."

  "That's so cool. I wish I could conjure up those things, especially clothes. It would save a lot of money and time." 

  "I know. That would be a wonderful ability to have. I'm going to my room to call Kyle now."

  "That's great. So you're going to continue the conversation you had last night."

  I nodded and said, "I feel more confident about it. Wish me luck." I smiled hesitantly. 

  Esme smiled at me and said, "I wish you luck, but I don't believe you will really need it. Let me know how it goes when you're done." 

  "Sure thing." I said and rushed off to my room, before I changed my mind.

  I noticed my phone was a little low on juice, so I went to charge it and watched a show I had recorded on my DVR while I was waiting. About a half an hour later, I deemed my phone charged enough to call Kyle. As I selected his number off of my phone, I took a deep breath and waited anxiously for him to pick up the phone. It rang a few times and I thought I was going to get off lucky, by having a little extra time to talk to him. Just as I was about to give up, he picked up the phone. "Sorry I was getting out my mail and couldn't get to my phone that quickly. I'm glad I didn't miss you," he said.

  "Hi. I'm glad I caught you too. How's your day going?"

  "Good. I went to the gym, did some laundry and went downstairs to get my mail, as you know. How about you?"

 "I went for my morning jog, caught up with a friend for a little while, went to get a bite to eat and just returned home a little while ago." 

  "Sounds good. Anyone I know?"

  "No. It's someone I met at the park and we became friends." That wasn't quite a lie. It might be a stretch to call Fortia a friend but we did seem kind of close now. 

  "Great. I wanted to say I had a great time with you last night. I hope we can do it again, but I was thinking just us maybe next time? What do you think about that?"

  I hesitated for a minute and pretended to think about it. "Um, when did you have in mind?"

  "How about tonight?"

  I thought about how from friends and dating articles in magazines, it's best to make yourself not so available, so I said, "Uh sorry. I already have plans."

  "What about brunch for tomorrow?"

  I pretended to think about that too and finally said, "Yes that sounds great."

  "Do you have any good places you been for brunch in Philly?" 

  I told him about a place I had gone that had great food but I knew you had to get their early or wait a while because they didn't take reservations. 

  "I'm an early riser, so that's not a problem. How about you?"

  "Me too. Sounds like a plan then." I was about to say goodbye before I remembered the real reason why I called him. "I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to continue the conversation we had last night."

  "Which one?" I was upset that he didn't remember what was I talking about, but I let it pass.

  "Remember I was telling you about my dream to be an actress before we sat down to dinner?"

  "Yes, you said you would continue another time because you wanted more privacy to talk."

   "That's correct. Well, I have been thinking about pursuing that dream of becoming an actress, but I don't know if it's silly," I said shyly.

  "I don't think it's silly. I told you about my dream to become a famous writer. That's a bit of a long shot that dream."

  "It's probably more realistic than my dream. You know the odds of becoming a famous actress."

  "Maybe that's true, but that shouldn't stop you from trying. You said you had some experience?"

  "Yeah, but just in school productions, nothing on the professional level." 

  "That doesn't mean you wouldn't be good."

  "I suppose."

  "I just don't want you to give up on your dream because you think it's a long shot or you aren't good enough."

  "That's really sweet of you to say that. You never saw me act though, I could be awful."

  "I know you. If you were really that bad, you would not even consider putting yourself through that. That kind of also explains why you haven't taken any promotions either."

  "My heart is really not into this job anymore. But I'm not sure what else to do."

  "You know what you want to do. You should give yourself the chance to try." 

  "That means a lot of you to say that. But if I did do it, I wouldn't leave right away."

  "That's good to hear. I'd miss you."

  I wondered if he meant he'd miss me as a friend or more than that. I didn't address that at this time because we weren't even officially dating as of yet. "I'm looking forward to tomorrow."

  "Me too. What time should we meet? Should we meet at the restaurant?

 "Is 8:30 too early for you? And yes at the restaurant would be perfect."

  "No and that would be perfect. See you then and I'm glad we had this conversation."

  "Me too." I really meant that. "Enjoy the rest of your day."

  "You too. Take care and bye."

  "You also take care and bye." I hung up and felt happy and relieved. I couldn't wait to share the good news with Esme.

  I went outside to look for Esme but she wasn't there. She probably went downstairs to take care of her laundry. I needed to do some too, so I got my laundry together and went downstairs. I had hoped to meet her there. I saw her approaching the elevator when I got down to the lower level where the laundry room was. "Hey Esme. I got some good news. I'll share it when I return to our apartment."

  Esme smiled and said, "I can't wait to hear it. See you soon."  I rushed to get the laundry done and returned to our apartment.  "Ah, what's the good news?"

  "Well, when I was talking to Kyle and sharing more about my dream to become an actress, he ended up asking me out."

  "For tonight? You know you should tell him no, so you don't look too desperate."

  "Of course I know that. We're going out to brunch tomorrow."

  "That's great. That should be fun. Are you excited?"

  "Yes I am. It will be fun."

  "How did the conversation go about your dreams of becoming an actress."

  "Surprisingly, he didn't think it was silly and was very supportive."

  "And you were surprised about that? From what you told me about him, that doesn't surprise me about his response."

  "Thinking about it, you're right. I was just a little nervous anyhow. I'm glad it worked out well."

  "Me too. I hope you don't mind, but I told Tyler I'd go out with him tonight."

  "Of course I don't mind. Plus it will be an early night for me, since we're getting up early to go to brunch." 

  "Is he okay with that, getting up so early?"

  "Yes he is. He's an early riser just like me."

  "See, you're perfect for each other." Esme said and broke into a wide smile.

  "So what are you guys doing tonight?"

  "Tyler told me about this great Mexican restaurant we should try and I'm excited about it. I heard good things about it but never been." She told me about the place. I heard about it too and wanted to go there too. She read my mind and said, "If it's really good, maybe we can double date there one day?"

  "Let me get through the first date and then we will see, but maybe. I bet you guys will have so much fun. You'll have to tell me about it tomorrow."

  "Same for you with your date with Kyle. I'm so excited for us."

  "Yes, who would have thought that both of us would be going on dates with potential boyfriends."

  "I know. It's wonderful. And if this works out, it's even better because our potential boyfriends are very good friends too."

  "That's definitely an added bonus." We spoke a little longer and did some more laundry. We also watched some more episodes of "A Life's Journey". It was a little bittersweet seeing Kaleb with Hope and me not being there but it was the right thing to give up going into the soap. It turned out Hope still had a few more days in Clearview with Kaleb and Candace was being released from the hospital. So Kaleb was very sweet and offered to hang out in the hotel room and watch movies with both girls. 

  Finally, it was time for Esme to get ready for her date. "It's kind of spur of the moment, so I didn't get a chance to get a new outfit for the date. However, I don't know if you recall a few weeks ago when I got this gorgeous red dress that was on sale. I knew at that point I didn't need it for anything, but it was too good of a deal to pass. Now I can wear it tonight for our date. By the way, do you know what you're wearing for your date? I have a few minutes to look through your closet."

  "Honestly, I'm not sure yet. But sure, I'd welcome your input." We raced over to my room and went to my closet. Esme looked through many of the options and rejected them. There was one that she thought may be promising, but then she thought further and left my room. I was puzzled at what she was doing. She returned a few moments later with a top of hers. It was a lovely pink top with cold shoulders and flowing sleeves. I knew it was one of her favorite tops. 

  "You can wear this top with those dark blue jeans you have. It would look perfect."

  "Are you sure you want me to borrow this top? It's your favorite."

  "It's definitely worth the sacrifice for your first official date with Kyle."

  "That means a lot to me Esme. Thanks. I promise I will be careful."

  "You read my mind. And if you're not, you know you would have to pay the cleaning bill, so yes please be careful. I got to go get ready. I'll let you know when I'm dressed so you can see how I look. I'm excited for you to see this dress."

  "Sounds good." I went to quickly pick up a load from the dryer. As I finished folding it, Esme came in to model her clothes. She looked fabulous. She had a cute black, lacy cardigan in case it got cold and a cute gold necklace and a red and gold costume bracelet and matching earrings and a cute red and gold ring. "You look perfect." I said.

  "Thank you. I'm excited but nervous at the same time." 

  "Is he picking you up here or are you meeting at the restaurant?" 

  "We're meeting at the restaurant. Which reminds me, I got to leave now if I want to get there on time. I'll have to quickly schedule an Uber. She blew me a kiss because she didn't want to get her hair or makeup messed up and her dress wrinkled. 

  "Have a wonderful time. I can't wait to hear about it tomorrow."

  "So what will you do with yourself?"

  "I have this book I been meaning to catch up on and some shows I wanted to see on my DVR."

  "Very good. Okay, bye for now." She rushed out and I got to my reading and shows.

  The next morning I woke up super early, even more earlier than I needed to for my date. I was super nervous and wanted to have enough time to get ready and look good. I had left Esme's shirt hanging on my door, so it would be ready for me when I woke up and the jeans were also  hanging there too. I took a nice, long, shower and did my hair and makeup and finally was ready to get the clothes on. I had wondered if Esme would be up to see me off, but she seemed to get in late last night and never really woke up early to begin with. So it was unfortunate, but not so surprising. It was okay though. I took a deep breath and got everything I needed to go and locked my apartment door. It was showtime.