Ben agreed to stay an extra day so he could take me to dinner on Monday. I didn't dress as nice as I normally do for dates, nor did I put on as much makeup or style my hair. I decided to do that because I didn't really consider this a date but more of a "meeting." I wanted to apologize, of course but also to find out what really happened.

I was a little surprised when I saw him. He was dressed much nicer than I was. Hopefully he would get the hint that I wasn't taking this as seriously as he was.
We went to a nice steak restaurant called CUT and he told me I could get whatever I wanted. I gotta admit, I almost started drooling as I looked at the menu and decided on filet mignon. I always giggle when I think of filet mignon because it reminds me of my old friend from Connecticut named Kristy Thomas. In 8th grade, I brought her and all of my friends to my hometown of New York City and when we went to a restaurant, she pronounced it "fill it mig non." Oh, Kristy.

We mutually decided that there would be NO drinking on our date whatsoever and then we began talking.

He asked, "So did you grow up in California?"

I answered, "Actually, no. I'm originally from Manhattan. I also lived in Connecticut from age 12-18."

"Wow. Really? What brought you out here?" he asked.

"I came out for school. I don't know if you remember from Friday but I mentioned that I go to UCLA. I'm in grad school," I replied.

He shook his head and muttered, "I'm sorry. It's still a bit of a blur."

Since it was a blur for me too, I changed the subject to start asking him questions.

I asked, "So..how about you, where are you from?"

"I'm from California," he said. "I grew up in the valley. I still live there. Not sure if you're familiar."

I laughed and said, "Of course I am! I've been in California for 6 years. In fact, my new apartment is in the valley. Sherman Oaks."

He laughed and said, "Oh, how funny. I live in Studio City."

THEN, I laughed, since the two cities are right next to each other. He kept talking..

"Well, I went to CSUN, in Northridge. It's no UCLA but.."

I shook my head and said to him, "No, I dont judge people like that. There's nothing wrong with a Cal State School."

He said, "I graduated 2 years ago."

I asked, "what did you major in?"

He answered, "Business Admin. I played it safe. Now I work in real estate. I'm an account manager but I'm trying to work my way up. It pays pretty well but my goal is to become a real estate agent. I'm actually studying for the test right now."

I was kind of impressed. It seemed like the guy had his stuff together. I said, "that's great."

I had to admit that I was having a nice time. We were just having a normal conversation. It pretty much was like a blind date. A blind date that was working out very well. He wasn't really my type though. Physically anyway. He was taller than me but had a stocky build. He didn't look like he worked out much and had dark curly hair. He wasn't what I would call "handsome" but not what I would consider bad looking either. Just an average nondescript guy but he was NICE. He seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say. We had a nice dinner, nice conversation and spent 3 hours together at the restaurant before we decided to call it a night. He didn't bring up anything that happened between us on Friday so I decided not to either. He walked me back to my car, which was parked in the parking structure of MGM. He looked at me for a second before giving me an amorous hug. I hugged him back. I really was appreciative of his efforts.

He looked at me and asked, "So I guess the big question here is..would you like to see me again after you get back to L.A? I'd like to see you."

I had to be truthful with him so I thought for a minute before I told him:

"Yes. I think that would be great."