The One

"And the winners of this year's 'The One' are Julie and Justin!"

"Boo!" Cara said, throwing a piece of popcorn at the screen.

"Not those two!" Sam moaned, waving his hand toward the television.

"Why did those two have to be the winners?" Cara asked, picking up a handful of popcorn and shoving it into her mouth.

"Seriously," Sam agreed, reaching for some popcorn. "I mean, we could do a better job than those two."

Just then, the announcer said, "And don't forget, if you and your significant other want to be on the next season and win one million dollars, casting is going on in a city near you!"

Cara stopped chewing and looked at her best friend, who was munching on his popcorn, then she looked back at the screen and lunged for her phone.

"What are you doing?" Sam asked, watching Cara as if she'd just sprouted a second head.

She looked at her phone, then up at her friend and asked, "Wanna win a million dollars?"

"I still can't believe I let you talk me into this," Sam said, as they waited in the lobby of the building where auditions for "The One" were being held. "I mean, we drove a day and a half to be here, and we're not really even dating!"

"Keep your voice down," Cara hissed, then glanced around to see if anyone had heard him.

Leaning toward him and keeping her voice low, she said, "We've got this in the bag! I mean, how long have we been friends? It's like we can read each others' thoughts, we're so close. I mean, just look at Bambi and Bruno over there."

She nodded her head toward a muscular guy and his blonde girlfriend sitting across the room from them. The guy was checking himself out in one of the mirrored pillared, while the girl was playing on her phone.

"Do you think those two know each other better than we do?" Cara continued, shaking her head.

Sam sighed and rolled his eyes, then said, "You're right. You're always right."

"And a million dollars split two ways will go a long way," Cara added, nudging him with her elbow.

Sam nodded, saying, "True. I could really use that money these days."

"You and me both," she said, then sat up as their names were called.

"I still can't believe we made it onto the show!" Cara said, looking around their assigned room.

"Me neither," Sam said, putting his bag on the bed.

He looked around the room, then asked, "Uh, Cara? Have you noticed anything about this room?"

She was turning around in a circle to take in everything and said, "What? That it's so magnificent?"

Sam shook his head and said, "No. That there's only one bed."

Cara stopped spinning and looked at the double bed, then up at Sam.

Shrugging, she said, "It's not like we never slept in the same bed before."

"Yeah," he said, "but we were kids at the time. We're adults now."

"Do you think that's going to make a difference?"

"Well, we're kinda built differently than the last time we shared a bed," Sam said, his face flushing with color.

"Oh, pish, Sam," Cara said, waving his concerns away. "We're both adults, and I think we can handle sleeping in the same bed with no issues."

"So, are you all ready for your first challenge?" Dick Hartfield, the host of the show, asked.

"We're ready, Dick!" the ten couples shouted back at him.

"For your first challenge, we're going to ask you questions about your significant other to see how well you really know them," he said.

"We got this," Cara said in an undertone to Sam, who nodded at her.

"So, what we're going to do is have the ladies go into our special room while I ask the guys some questions," Dick Hartfield said. "Then, we'll do the same to the guys and the ladies will answer questions."

Everyone nodded, and he said, "Okay then ladies, come with me."

Cara stood up and started to follow, but then noticed everyone kissing, so she sat down and leaned toward Sam. He noticed as well, so leaned toward Cara.

Their lips met, then they quickly pulled apart, their eyes wide. They stared at each other for a moment before Cara shot to her feet and hurried off to follow her fellow contestants.

Sam shook his head and looked around at the rest of the guys, wondering what just happened.

"Well, we survived that round," Cara said later that night in their room. "I told you we could practically read each other's minds."

"Right as always," Sam said, looking at the lights of the city from the balcony.

She came out to join him and said, "Wow, what a view."

Turning to her, he said, "You know, with half a million dollars, you might just be able to afford a view like this every night."

She looked back at him and said, "That might be nice. If we win that is."

She stared at him for a few moments longer, then started to lean toward him. He leaned toward her. Their lips were so close.

A knock at their door made them jump apart.

"Uh, um, I'll get it," Sam said, then hurried to answer the door, leaving her staring after him.

He came back a moment later, holding a bottle of wine and two glasses, and said, "It's from the show. A congratulatory gift for making it through the first elimination round."

She stepped into the room and said, "That was nice of them."

He nodded, then they stared at one another until he held up the bottle and asked, "Should I break it open?"

"Let's do this!" she said, grinning at him and taking the glasses from his hand, so he could open the bottle.

A few weeks later, it was down to two couples. Sam and Cara was one and Bambi and Bruno was the other.

"Can you believe we're up against these two?" Cara asked, shifting from foot to foot in front of the pool.

Sam looked over at them and shook his head.

"Nope," he said. "Who would have thought it would be us and them?"

"Seriously," she said. "Let's hope the viewers like us more than them."

"Well, we'll find out shortly," he said. "I think Dick's on his way with the results."

She took a deep breath and said, "I think you're right."

"Okay, couples," Dick Hartfield said. "I have the results of the voting right here."

He held up the envelope and smiled at them.

"I'm going to announce the winners in just a few minutes, so I want to wish you all good luck."

"And we're back," one of the directors told him.

"In my hands, I have the results of last week's voting," Dick Hartfield said into the camera.

Cara slipped her hand into Sam's. He gave hers a squeeze. They looked at one another and smiled.

"So, we're down to the two final couples, Sam and Cara," he pointed the envelope to them, "and John and Darlene."

"Ah! That's what their names are!" Sam muttered, causing Cara to giggle.

Dick looked at her with a small frown. She composed herself, and he turned to look back at the camera, a dazzling smile on his face.

"Are we ready to learn who this year's winners of "The One" will be?" he said, then opened the envelope to read the names.

"Come on" Cara said under her breath, shaking Sam's hand in her anxiety. "Quit stalling for the drama. and read the names!"

"And the winners of this year's 'The One' are...Sam and Cara!" Dick said, sweeping his arm at them.

"Yes! We did it!" Cara said, leaping onto Sam.

She wrapped her legs around his waist, grabbed his head with both of her hands, and gave him an enormous kiss.

"Wow! Talk about excitement!" Dick said as he watched them kiss.

Sam grabbed her legs to hold her as they continued to kiss. Dick looked at them, looked at the camera, then back at them. He cleared his throat. They continued to kiss. He cleared his throat louder. They still continued to kiss.

"Sam! Cara! Break it up already!" he said, holding the microphone away from his mouth.

This caused them to break apart. Cara realized she had wrapped herself around Sam's body and untangled herself from him. Sam took a step back when she was free of his body.

"That's better," Dick said, then turned back to the camera to say, "That's all for this year! Auditions are live for next year!"

"We did it!" Cara said, grabbing on to his hand.

"We're going to be almost millionaires!" Sam said, grinning.

"Thousandaires!" she said, then pulled him in for a hug.

"Cara?" Sam asked as he held her close.

"Yeah, Sam?" she responded.

"Wanna go out on a real date with me?"

She grinned at him and said, "You should already know the answer to that one."