We sat in silence for a few and then I commented, "Thank you for your support. I have learned recently that I don't have as much confidence in myself that I would like. I also learned that I have so many great people supporting me, like you, and with that, it might not be as scary as I thought."

  Kyle blushed and said, "Yes, please know that I'm here, I mean we're all here for you and want you to succeed. And no matter what happens, know that you're an amazing person."

  Now it was my turn to blush. I could have been turned off by Kyle coming on a little strong, but surprisingly, it didn't scare me at all. I was wondering where the boost of confidence was coming from, not just for the acting, but for trying out a relationship too, with a good friend. But, I felt sad for a moment. After our conversation before, I realized I didn't know Kyle as well as I thought. What kind of friend was I? He seemed to take more of an interest in my life, than me in his. Was it because I was self-absorbed about my insecurities or was I trying to purposely distance myself from Kyle because I knew he liked me more as a friend? I wasn't sure. I did know I was ready to change that. Was it because of Fortia? Did this experience with her provide me with the opportunity for self-exploration and improvement and finally I was ready to do both? It was a little scary though, but exciting at the same time.

  "That means a lot for you to say that, Kyle." I smiled. 

  "I say it because I truly mean it." Kyle said with a big grin. "Say do you have any plans after this? I been enjoying your company and was wondering if we could spend more time together. Maybe we can go for a stroll in Fairmount Park?"

   I was happy he suggested that park and not Wissahickon Valley park, which was the park I normally went to, because it was closer to where I live and of course where I saw Fortia/Gertrude. "That's great. It would be a good idea too to walk off this meal."

  So we flagged down the waitress and we fought over the bill, with Kyle finally winning. We left to walk towards the park. Since our brunch place was close to the park, it didn't take us too long to get there. We enjoyed our walk by the river and the great views of the city. I briefly thought about my walk with Kaleb in Chicago, but quickly put that out of my mind. That was a great experience, but it was in the past and I was enjoying my time in the here and now with Kyle.

  About an hour or so later, we finished walking and decided to say our goodbyes. "I had a great time with you today, Olivia." Kyle smiled sweetly and came close to me. I wasn't sure if he was going to give me a hug or kiss or what.

  "I had a great time with you too, Kyle. I'm glad we did this." 

  "Me too," said Kyle. Then he got even closer to me and gave me a kiss on my cheek. I thought it was sweet. It was nice but not too forward. I felt myself blush but then I gave a shy smile. "Enjoy the rest of your weekend and see you tomorrow." 

  "Same to you. Have a great day and see you at work!"

  We waved goodbyes and made our respective journeys home. I was part excited and part worried about our date.  I was wondering if I revealed too much on the first date. But then, I was thinking we have been friends for a while and we hadn't taken the time to get to know each other as well as we should, and this was a great opportunity to do so. I continued to think about the decisions I made during the date and debating if they were the right ones. I could always talk to Esme about it at home. And I was also excited to hear about her date. 

  When I got home, I saw Esme was there folding some laundry in the living room. "Hey, how was your date? I'm sorry I wasn't awake to see you off. 

  "That's ok, I know you aren't an early riser and you may have had a long and fun night, if you get my drift." I said kiddingly.

  "Ha-ha. Well it wasn't that kind of night, but we did have a lot of fun. I didn't want it to end." Esme looked so happy, her eyes were sparkling and she had a huge grin on her face. 

  "You'll have to share some details. I can't wait to hear more." 

  "Definitely. Have a seat here and we will talk more about my date and I can't wait to hear about your date too."

  "I had a great time too and I'll tell you more after you share about your date with me." 

  "Well, Tyler looked gorgeous when I met him at the restaurant. I loved his blue shirt. It matched his eyes and it fit him so perfectly. He brought me some flowers, which was so sweet."

  "That is very sweet. So tell me more."

  "The restaurant was great. He made a reservation, so we didn't have to wait long for our table. He got us a table in the back room, which was a bit more quiet and cozy. It was the perfect location."

  "He recommended what to order because he had been to this place before. And I could tell based on the type of reservations he made and the fact that the waiter knew him well and gave us excellent service. I was very impressed. Tyler made some excellent suggestions on our meal and drinks and everything was delicious."

  "I'm glad you had a great experience at the restaurant, but please tell me more about your conversation and all." 

  "We talked non stop. There was barely a pause in our conversation. We spoke about everything from our jobs, to our hobbies and our families. We didn't delve in deep into certain topics, especially our jobs. I guess since it was our first official date, Tyler and I were being cautious about getting too personal. Which was fine with me, because I wasn't ready to share more at this point. I was happy the topic of me getting a promotion didn't come up, because I wasn't sure if I was ready to talk about it yet. I mean if he did ask me about it, I wouldn't shy away from it, but I'm still reluctant about pursuing a promotion if it came up. I'm not sure if I want to confide about that to Tyler either, but we'll see." 

  "He seems nice, like he would be supportive, but I get your concern since you don't know him that well yet."

  "Yeah, we don't know each other as well as you know Kyle."

  I blushed when she said that because I thought about my date with him and how even though we're supposed to know each other that well, we didn't know as much about each other as we had liked. "Yeah right. So did you learn anything interesting about Tyler?"

  "Yes, what I found very interesting was that he was very quiet as a kid, but he seems so outgoing now. Growing up, he was the youngest of four kids and kind of shy to begin with, so it was hard for him to get a word in edgewise. He decided to go away to college, to have some space from his siblings and it would give him the opportunity to force himself to become more outgoing and challenge himself. He said it was the best decision he made and it really helped make him the person he's today." 

  "That's great. Despite the whole acting debacle, I'm happy I made the decision to go away to college too, it was overall a great experience."

  "Really? Based on what you told me, you said that college was never the same after you quit acting."

  "It was tough at first to adjust when I quit acting and I actually took a semester off, but when I came back, I adjusted a lot better and made some new friends and became happy again." 

  "I never knew you took time off from college. You graduated on time right?"

  "Yes, that was because I had some AP credits for college and didn't need to make up any credits from the semester I lost." 

  "Ah. I wish I went away to college but we couldn't afford it. Even with the scholarship I was offered, my family couldn't make it work. Like Tyler, I came from a large family, but I guess his family was in a better financial position to send him away to college. I don't begrudge him that, but it's just something I think about and sometimes wonder if I missed out." 

  "True. But you moved far away from your family in Florida, when you got your first job, so in a way you got to experience what it was like to live on your own far away from home."

  "That's true and it's been great. Because of that, I got to meet you and we became best friends."

  "Yes I'm happy about that. So now I'm ready to hear about your date with Kyle! How did it go? I'm excited to hear about it!" 

  "I had a wonderful time with Kyle. We enjoyed every moment of our date. I was surprised how fast it went."

  "Did he like our favorite brunch place?"

  "Yes, Kyle loved it. We got the same meal to order too." I said smiling.

  "That's funny. I'm glad he liked the place. So tell me a little more about your date."

  "I was surprised how easy it was to open up to Kyle about things. And he in turn opened up to me. I remember that we had been friends for a while but hadn't shared too much with each other and we both regret doing that."

  "Wow. I find it interesting that you decided to open up to each other this time."

  "It just felt right. Somehow, I felt less anxious about the date thing and sharing with each other. And I'm glad we did. I learned how supportive and caring and non-judgmental he is. And I'm so happy we finally got to learn more about each other."

  "Did you also like what you learned about him?"

  "Yes, I had recently learned about his desire to become a writer and what steps he has taken to pursue his goal. Honestly, I always though he wasn't that driven and it was unfair for me to think that because I didn't really take the time to get to know him better, to know more what he is about."

  "I see.  You'll have to explain to me another time why you did that.  What kind of things does he write?"

  "Sure. I looked up some of his stories on Wattpad. Some have a sports theme but all of them are humorous. It's not really my favorite genre, but the one I read was well-written and I could see it being popular. That's the one he's going to publish to Amazon. And I discovered that he also won a contest on Wattpad."

  "That's great. I hope he's able to succeed. See, that's another thing you have in common. You have dreams of pursuing a different career that could be challenging but very exciting. I hope you follow your dreams too. I bet you will both will accomplish your goals."

  "Thanks Esme! That means a lot that you said that. I'm not sure if I can, but it does feel good to hear you and Kyle say that." I said beaming.

  "Does it help you to hear more people supporting your career path change? I can get more people to call you and tell you that you can be a success."

  I laughed. "Thank you. I don't know if that will be necessary, but it's definitely greatly appreciated." 

  "We also brought up double dating with you guys. That could be a lot of fun."

  "That would be wonderful. We'd just have to find a time and a place to do it. Well, I have to get back to my chores but it was fun to share about our dates. We haven't been able to do this for a while and when we did, we certainly weren't as enthusiastic and didn't have much positive to say."

  "I'd love to do that and I enjoyed too sharing about our dates. I have a feeling this is just the beginning of that. I don't want to jinx things but I have a good feeling about this for us."

  "Me too." She came over and we gave each other big hugs. We both went about the rest of our day with big smiles and in great spirits.