She wants to know his secret. He hasn’t decided what it is yet.

Danny was an exceptional young man: he was captain of his football team, excelled in his academics, and had an exceptional amount of confidence. If you asked him for his weaknesses, he probably would've just told you he has a severe penchant for staring at himself in the mirror, T-shirt removed, and taking "gym-gains" selfies. He was the antithesis to gamers everywhere.

However, there had been one quality absent from his life: romance.

He'd always had a crush on Sarah; what man wouldn't? If there was one thing certain at university: everyone who was anyone, wanted to be with Sarah. And now, due to some sleight of hand by his and her friends, Danny was on a date with his dream girl.

It was the perfect plan: all he needed, was to play it cool. He would answer her every question whimsically, he would be aloof if she stared into his eyes with warmth and affection and if she tried to get to know the real him, he would displace the topic immediately. However, no plan is bullet-proof and Danny slipped up. Perhaps she had planned it to break through the social armour he covered himself with or maybe his vibe was working too well because she said:

"So Danny..." she twiddled a finger on the table. "I can tell you've got a big secret, and I'd love it if you can tell me what it is..." her voice tapered off seductively. This was a woman whom knew what she was doing. Danny's heart sunk and for once he actually had nothing to say. Despite his outstanding life and achievements he really didn't have any secrets... not any worth hearing anyways. He didn't know what possessed him, because it was so trivial, but some insecurity he didn't even know even know existed inside took hold as he blurted out:

"Yeah... but I don't think you're worth knowing about 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 yet. No-one who's ever heard about it has looked at me the same way again."

From the outside Danny looked comfortably suave and even added a wink for good measure. Internally however, his anxiety screamed at him for telling an outright lie!

2 hours later and Danny had kept up the façade of having a deep dark secret. He could see Sarah was interested and they were becoming quite close. As they were on the verge of a kiss, Sarah stopped just short of Danny's lips and said:

"I think I'm worth hearing that secret now..." again her voice tapered off seductively.

Danny, digging himself into an easily resolvable corner, yet for some reason being frantically determined to maintain the lie, excused himself to the nearest bathroom. He watched as his mirror clone's face was splashed with tap water. He hunched himself over the basin like some toilet gremlin and made more eye contact with his reflection than he had with Sarah and said:

"She's so beautiful... why did you have to tell such a stupid lie?" His voice cracked into a wail. "She totally likes me but only because of this darned secret. I've had 2 hours and..." he looked up to the ceiling as if searching for god in the dirty toilet lights.

"I haven't decided what the bloody secret is yet."

Unfortunately, due to Danny's crazy brain, the rest of the date was a disaster. And despite the number of "gym-gains" selfies he takes, to this day, Danny has never recovered.

Don't get inside your head. Don't be like Danny. Success is when you present your authenticate self every waking moment.

End