Attention or Attraction

She replied softly, “Nelson, I am not too sure that we can pull this off.” as they sat opposite each other trying to look like they were in love. Their hands were clasping each other tenderly and their eyes were staring into the depths of the other person. He smiled at her with a smile that said “I love you!” and his soft brown eyes held a twinkle that Sue had come to know as his “lying twinkle”. Whenever he was lying or trying to get out of doing something, his left eye would twinkle brightly as if to say don’t believe a word I am saying. The twinkle that would shine from his left eye was as brightly as a lighthouse light which was trying to alert everyone to the lie that he was about to utter from the depths of his soul.

She liked the way Nelson looked from the top of his soft brown hair that she daydreamed about running her fingers through its depth, to just feel the softness of his hair was really doing a number on her. She would daydream about gazing into his soft brown eyes with her fingers tangled in his brown hair moments before their lips would clash in a silent plead to get attention. Her arms bringing his muscular body closer to her in a loving way as their kiss deepened to a passion and caring one, she knew the more time they spent together as a so-called couple the faster she was falling in love with him. Deep down she knew that she would not have any difficulties playing her role as his lover and his girlfriend when the cameras were turned on them. She wanted to tell him now how she felt toward him and every time she told him that she loved him was becoming more of the truth than a lie to fool the reality show they were trying to get on.

Dream World was the new television show that wanted couple to come on the show and tell the world what it felt like to be in love. Nelson had their history all planned out, he was going to tell them they met in high school and lived a few blocks from each other. They hated each other until they got into college and that is when they started to date, so they wouldn’t get homesick being away from home for the first time as adults.   The two teenagers supported each other in a relationship that was bounding them together for life and didn’t really get serious until the fourth year of the college when they moved in together. He was the first to say “I love you!” and they both knew they would be there for each other for a long time to come.  Dream World had already called them once to say they were sending out a camera crew to capture them on film to preview for their show. They would be filmed go out to dinner, the movies, and anywhere else they went on a date. Dream World wanted to show the world how it felt to be in love.

Nelson was afraid how everyone would react when they saw the twosome on the new reality show expressing their love for each other. Would any of the other students from their hometown know they were lying just to be on the new show? How they had hated each other in high school and college, he would walk by her in the hallway and purposely knock into her muttering how crowded the hallways were at this time of the day. His friends used to tell him that he was in love with her and just wanted her attention. He would laugh at the nonsense they were spouting off because he was always in a relationship with Sarah Newton, the head cheerleader and prettiest girl in the school.  He remembered how Sarah used to pick on her as well by shoving her out of the way or tripping her to make her fall. They would laugh about the way they treated Sue back in high school and college. And now, she was willing to help him get out of debt by pretending they were lovers on the verge of getting married. He had told the Dream World producers that they were going to use the money for their wedding. They had everyone fooled with this stupid stunt and even some of his friends were remembering how they had acted toward each other.  

Nelson felt bad about acting like a bully toward Sue now. They had been bullies to act like that as children and when he mentioned it to Sarah, she had agreed to the point of calling themselves bullies. He wished he was single instead of married to Sarah. Sometimes, she could still act as if she really didn’t care how she treated anyone and when things didn’t go her way, she had a terrible fit. Nelson could remember the day when they were shopping and the store told them their credit card decline their charges. They had went over the limit again on two of their credit cards and Nelson had mentioned to Sarah that she get a job instead of lying around the house. She had gone unglued at the seams was the best way to say that Sarah had a fit to top all the other fits she had while they had been married.  She had even gone as far as to throw a lamp at his head.   He was getting tired of walking on eggshell around her lazy butt and the next time Sarah said she was going home to her father, he was going to tell her to go right ahead. Nelson knew that she would never do that because he agreed with Nelson that Sarah needed a job.

Sue seemed to have a lot of patience and cared for people that she came in contact with.  She was always blessing someone and he appreciates the way he was helping her.  Dream World had found out that he had been married to Sarah and Nelson said that they were separated from each other. Sarah liked the idea that she was fooling the audience of the show and expressed her approval of the idea by moving back with her parents until they won the money. She came up with an idea to even get Sue to agree to give them her part of the money.  He explained that he had gotten mad at Sue and moved out to find himself in a relationship with Sarah.  They got married and she became a spoiled housewife that didn’t do anything except shop until she dropped.   Sarah had become a big pain in the rump, enough that he couldn’t even tell her that he loved her. Sue had listened to his side of the story and had been there for him as he was going through a messy divorce. Sarah wanted everything and she wanted him to pay her a monthly amount because he had gotten her used to a certain lifestyle. In actually, Nelson was telling everyone that Sarah wanted him to set her and her newest lover up in an apartment by paying the rent for them. 

They would just have to play the pity card for a while before the “Dream World” would choose them as the pair for the week. He would get a cash prize plus a paid vacation for the couple. They were bound to win as the cutest couple with the past of hardship involved. The reality show had the audience pick between two other couples after they saw a short video and answered some questions on their relationship. The money was going to pay off some of the past due debts that Sarah had gathered for Nelson.  He was getting very nervous about being on camera to film his romance with Sue and somehow, he knew they were going to be disqualified.  Most of the past that he was going to say they had was true because they dated off and on during college. They had kissed several times, but for some reason never got any more passionate than that. His feelings for Sue were new and scary to him because he felt like being there as a protector, friend, and he wanted to get more involved with Sue. More involved and more passionate with her, he wasn’t too sure how he felt toward Sarah, his wife anymore with the new feeling for Sue starting to rise upward in his soul. These feeling were starting to scare him, but he liked the feelings that he was having.

With the filming and the interviews completed, Nelson sat back at thought how happy he had been this week with Sarah at her dads spending his money instead of his. He had taken Sue out for a pizza and a movie on their date night and she hadn’t complained once about how cheap their date had been. He had strong feeling for her and he made no secret of the fact that his feeling was replacing the ones he thought had for Sarah. She called to ask how things were coming and she told him how he was going to spend the money he won. She also told him that she didn’t think Sue deserved any of the money that he won.

As the week went on, Nelson even started to pray that he would lose the contest being on the reality show and winning the money that Sue would demand in the divorce.  They had discussed it over the phone and she had yelled, so loud that her parents came in to ask her what was wrong.  Sarah said she would make sure he paid through the nose and still more after that.  Her dad started to laugh at the thought of his spoiled daughter returning to leave under his roof and he promised God Almighty that he would make sure she knew how good she had it. She would start with having chorus of helping on the farm and he knew it was going to be a fight to get her back to where he wanted her to. Remembering the calls he got from Nelson about how much she was spending and how she was acting. He thought his loving daughter had gone crazy and was acting out being rebellious after she left the secure of his home. 

They came in second behind a couple that was using the money for their wedding. All they got was a trophy that they boxed up and sent off to Sarah who was miserable on her dad’s farm. He told her that she wasn’t going to live the spoiled life anymore. Nelson loved his freedom from her and their divorce went off with a hitch.  He was also for happy to be considered a couple with Sue since she was more the type to go with the flow of life instead of trying to be number one in everything.