I made sure I got there early. When I arrived at the restaurant, I checked my watch and I was 10 minutes early. That was good, I thought to myself. It would give me enough time to relax and see if there was a wait. I peeked inside and didn't see him there and it looked like there was still a handful of tables, which was good. I walked outside to wait and about a minute or two later, Kyle arrived.

  "Hi. I hope you don't mind that I'm early. I wanted to make sure I wasn't late and sometimes places like this can get busy even at the earlier hours." 

  I smiled at him. "Hi. I had the same idea. So it works out perfectly." We walked inside and the hostess quickly sat us. 

  "I'm really excited to try this place. After you told me about it, I went online to check the menu and everything sounded so good."

  "I do that sometimes too when I go to a new restaurant. Do you know what you want yet?" 

  "I'm torn between one of the Belgium waffles and one of the eggs benedicts."

  "Both sound like good choices."

  "Do you know what you are getting?" 

  "I'm actually in the mood for one of the egg benedicts too." 

  "Hmm. I guess I'll look the menu over one quick time and make my decision." 

  We both quickly looked at the menu even though I already knew exactly what I was getting. "So what did you decide?" I said a few moments later. 

  "What do you recommend between the hash brown eggs benedict and the avocado BLT eggs benedict?'

  "I never had the hash brown eggs benedict, but I love the avocado BLT eggs benedict. That's actually what I'm getting. If you really love avocados, it's the dish for you."

  "I love them and it sounds perfect. That's funny that we're both getting the same thing."

  "I guess we both have good taste."

  Kyle laughed and said, "And what are you getting to drink?" 

  "I love the mimosas here, but I hear people like the bloody Marys too. It depends on your preference. And also the coffee is good too."

  "The mimosa sounds good to me and maybe some coffee." 

  "I prefer tea but I'm definitely getting a mimosa." 

  "Just when I thought you were the perfect girl." Kyle said kiddingly.

  I giggled and said, "Oh darn. It's been nice knowing you. I pretended to get up and Kyle laughed again.

  Shortly after, the waitress came and we put in our order.  "Has Esme ever been here?"

  "Yes. We went to brunch here a few times."

  "I bet Tyler would like this place. Maybe we can all go to brunch together." 

  "Funny you said that. Last night Esme said we should also double date and if the restaurant was great they went to, we should all go there together."

  "What kind of restaurant was it again? Mexican?"

  "Yes that's correct. Did you get a chance to talk to Tyler this morning regarding his date?"

  "Nah. He's a late riser."

  "Esme's a late riser too. They're also perfect for each other."

  We smiled at each other. "Did you have a good evening last night?"

  I was about to answer and tell him about my shows and books, but I remembered I made a big show of having plans, so I told him, "Oh I went out with some friends for an early dinner at some pizza place."

  "Any place good?" 

 "Nah. It's not my preferred place for pizza."

 "What's your favorite pizza place in Philly?"

"I really like Nomad and you?"

"Nomad is good, but I think Rione is better." 

 "I heard of Rione, but I haven't been there yet."

  "We can go there on our second date. It's kind of casual if you don't mind, but the pizza is very good..."

  "Let's just see how our first date goes," I said jokingly. 

  "What?" Kyle pretended to look crestfallen.

  "Seriously, that sounds nice though. I'm curious to see why you think it's better than Nomad." 

  "You'll change your tune, once we go."  As Kyle said that, our drinks arrived. 

  "You know what, all this time we known each other, and I don't even know where you live in Philly." 

  "Technically, I don't live in Philly. I live right outside it, in Bensalem."

  "That sounds vaguely familiar. Where is that again?"

  "It's in Bucks County, right outside of Philly." 

  "Ah, I probably passed it before when driving from New Jersey to Philly."

  "Yeah you probably did."

  "How do you like it there?" 

  "It's nice. It's close enough to the city and slightly cheaper and more quiet. I like working in the city and being near it, but not living there."

  "Oh really? I can't believe knowing you this long, I didn't know that about you."

  Kyle blushed and said, "Well I know you live somewhere in Chestnut Hill but not much more."

  "I feel bad we never had you to our apartment. We have to change that soon." 

  At that, Kyle smiled and said, "That would be wonderful and you will have to come out to me too."

  "They are not exactly close to each other, unfortunately." 

  "No worries. We will figure it out," he said.  "Hey did you know that they have a number of good community theaters in Philly? Have you ever thought of getting your feet wet and trying those out? You can get some more experience and see how you do and if you want to continue acting."

  Now it was my turn to blush. "Uh, actually I haven't thought about it. But, it's something to think about. Thank you for the suggestion."

  "You're welcome."

  "Do you think you will contact Amazon about publishing your book as an ebook?"

  "I'm still looking into it, but I'm leaning towards yes."

  "That's great. You'll have to keep me updated on that."

  "Sure. And the same with you, if you decide to go forward with the acting thing."

  "Will do."  At that time, our food came. We were quiet for a bit as we sat and enjoyed our meal. 

  A little while later, Kyle said, " This was a good choice for a first date, great food, good company, who could ask for more?!"

  I smiled and replied, "Thank you. I certainly feel the same way. I'm having fun with you."

  "Yes, same here. So I know you told me about your family and you said they are still in New Jersey, right?" 

  "Yes, my parents still live in the house where I grew up." 

  "Right that sounded familiar. Didn't you tell me one time that you could have ended up in New York City, depending on what job offer you got? Do you regret not being offered the opportunity to work in New York City? Do you think things could have been different?"

  I was surprised about that question. It was very deep. Plus, he could have meant different things about it. Did he mean that we would have never met? Or maybe I would have tried the acting thing being in a place with a lot of acting opportunities? "Uh, what do you mean about that?" I said awkwardly.

  "I'm sorry. I hope I wasn't being too personal asking those questions. You don't have to answer," he said shyly.

  "No it's okay. I'm glad I'm here, because we would have never have met otherwise. Is that what you mean?"

  "Uh, kind of. I was also curious about if you would have continued to pursue acting,"

  "Ah. I don't think I would, even if I was in New York. I don't know if I would have had the courage anyhow."

  "Again, if I'm being too personal, just tell me so and I will stop asking this questions. But, I wanted to ask you, why did you lose the courage to stop acting?"

  I hesitated for a moment. I wasn't sure if I should tell him I wasn't comfortable talking about this or tell the truth. He did give me an out. I was feeling nervous and unsure and didn't know what to do. "I..uh...it's going to sound silly." 

  "You don't have to feel silly. I won't judge you, but if you still don't feel comfortable, we don't have to talk about it." 

  "No, it's okay. I had a bad experience when I was acting in college that made me doubt my abilities as an actress and my confidence that I could actually make a career out of it."

  "Again, you don't have to talk about it." 

  "It's alright. It might help me to talk more about it. Esme and my family knows, but even with them I don't like to talk about it. Maybe that needs to change." 

  "Perhaps, but don't feel pressure to do so, if you don't feel ready to yet."

  "That means a lot for you to say that, but I'm ready to tell you." 

  "Fine, by all means then, please share, I'm here to listen," he said smiling.

  "I thought I would try out for the musical and try something new. I was an okay singer but not outstanding. But I was overconfident and thought because I was such a great actress, I could wing it and get the part. I tried out and ended up becoming very nervous when I sang and sounded awful and embarrassed myself. I ran out of the theater after my audition. The assistant director came after me and tried to talk to me, but I ignored him. The director tried to call me a few days later, but I kept on ignoring her phone calls. A friend from the theater group at the university told me that the director was trying to tell me that I should not ever try for a musical again, but I should continue to try out for the plays. There was more she was trying to tell me but I wouldn't hear of it. I was just convinced I was awful in general and had no business acting. I dropped out of my theater major and never acted in a play again in the university or elsewhere. I changed my major to communications and pursued advertising. A few of my theater friends tried to get me back into acting, but I was very stubborn and wouldn't do it. I thought for sure I was awful and had no business being in acting, no matter what they said." I couldn't believe I said all this to Kyle and in public. There was something about him that made me feel comfortable with sharing my feelings with him and know that he could be trusted and would not judge me. My thoughts were confirmed when he responded to my story.

  "Sometimes we make mistakes and lose confidence, but it doesn't mean we should give up. I remember when I wrote my first story, a fan fiction, I didn't get many reads and no one would comment on my story. I thought that meant my writing was crap. I was ready to give up. But I went back to look at my story and realized there was some work I needed to do but it wasn't awful and I shouldn't give up. In fact, I had a friend who was an excellent writer and editor who gave me some good advice on how to improve that story and my writing and his advice was invaluable. It helped me get perspective on what I was doing and how I could improve my writing. Perhaps, you were not ready at that time to see that perhaps you went in the wrong direction by the decision to try out for the musical, but it didn't mean you shouldn't have acted in the university anymore and give up acting totally. The fact that you're thinking about going back into acting, leads me to believe that you think that you are willing to try again and not give up. After all, that director said that you shouldn't give up and  you still should try out for plays. As I said, you can do that here in Philly if you desire. If you need someone to listen to you practice for auditions or support, I'm here."

  "That really means a lot that you said that and I will really take that to heart. If I decide to go down that route of pursuing acting in Philly, you will be one of the first to know."

  "Thank you and I hope that you do pursue it. I think you will see that  you shouldn't give up and see what talent you have that has lied untapped."

  I was just beaming after he said all that to me. It made me feel so good. And I was also feeling great knowing that I was with someone who's inspiring such confidence in me and had such a strong belief of me as a person and he really wanted me to succeed.