Deckard hung upside down, watching the bright television screen above his head. Each partner stood on each side of the TV, facing each other. “Alright, welcome to all the new contestants on the show,” the host said. “We are starting off with a partner challenge for this episode. Each partner has to text the correct answer to one of our host’s statements to their partner before that partner rings in. The team that rings in at the wrong answer, or at the end of the time limit with no answer, will lose.” The host turned to the two teams on either side of him. “Your team will be A.J. and Y.J., boyfriend and girlfriend for the past year, and your opponents will be Weyland and Mackenzie, two outgoing friends who met at a bar. A.J. and Y.J., what type of relationship do you and your partner hope to maintain on this show? Your answer is less than thirty seconds.” “We hope to maintain a happy, healthy relationship,” A.J. responded. “Nothing serious, but we want to push each other to do better and be the best,” Y.J. added. “Weyland, and Mackenzie, you guys are the only team who had a positive answer.” The host turned back to A.J. and Y.J. “Why do you think it is not good to be too serious in a relationship, Y.J.?” A.J.’s jaw dropped. Y.J. was silent for a moment. “I… I sat down and thought about why I said that,” Y.J. finally said. “I said that because I’ve been, um, hurt in a relationship before, and then I said that because it’s common sense…” She trailed off, glancing up at a creaking in the tiny booth where the contestants sat, one on each side of the host.
“You little hussy,” Dante muttered, glancing down at his girlfriend.
“What did you call me?” Y.J. hissed at Dante. He ignored her. “I’m not like you…” “You are like me,” Dante responded. “I loved you more than life. It was the only thing I cared about. I never wanted to let you go, even when you were dating other guys. I would get jealous, and get pissed off, and then get a drink so I could pretend it was worth it so I could tell my other girlfriend that it was all worth it. I loved you so much, but it seemed like you could never love me for me. You always loved me for someone else. I waited for six years for you to get over him. I had a conversation with you three months ago, telling you how much I love you, and you said you loved me too. But then… Life happened, and I met a girl, telling myself I didn’t love you, even though it felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest when I saw her date. Then I met someone else, and I let you go, and now that I see you here with another guy, I’m starting to think something’s going on.
“Look, I’m not trying to make this about me. I just… it’s not like I would ever wish you to be in a situation like this,” he said, arms clasped tight around her.
“It’s not like you’d ever care,” she said.
“That’s not true at all. I care, a lot, and I’m sorry that I can’t be there for you right now. I’m not going anywhere,” he said, pecking her on the cheek.
“I wonder if he even cares about her,” Dante muttered. “Goes to show what kind of person he can be, using her to get himself on TV.”
“Don’t you dare talk about him!” Y.J. hissed at him, eyes burning with anger. “He’s been nothing but a gentleman to me. You… could have been a gentleman, too, you know…” “You’re right,” he said. “I shouldn’t be talking. I don’t deserve to talk now.”
“I wanted to see you again, so much,” Y.J. said. “You were my first boyfriend, and I really loved you, but you were never there. You promised you’d change, that you’d make time for me, but then you couldn’t even do that. You couldn’t make time for me, when your whole life was the same thing. Would you just, for your life, make some time for me?”
“You don’t deserve that. It’s not my responsibility to make time for you. You chose to date me. You chose to break up with me,” Dante said. “Well… okay, fine, I take that back,” he said. “But it’s your life. You choose who you date, and you choose how to end things with them. You can choose to believe what you want, but I’m sorry if it’s not enough to make you happy. I’ll be here, for you, if you want me. But if not, it’s not my fault that you didn’t care about me.”
She didn’t say anything. Her eyes watered up, and Dante pulled her in close, again hugging her tight. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’ll miss you so much. I’m sorry I’ve hurt you.” “You’ve hurt me more than you ever think,” Y.J. muttered. “But I’ll get over it.” The screen switched to show different shots of the two halves, while the host interviewed the contestants. Taylor and Kelsey were together, and they were sitting close to each other, talking to each other softly as the host asked them questions. They had been dating for a year, but had wanted to make the show a reality for a long time. “Why did you guys want to go on this show?” the host asked.
“Taylor,” Kelsey responded as she leaned back, looking up at the camera. “We were… I met Taylor online. We got connected through a dating app I was on. I usually don’t go through dating apps, but I saw one she was using, and I wanted to give it another shot after finding out no one ever put me first before. I deleted it right away, but I saw that our interests were similar, so I asked for her contact info anyway. I’d already deleted it, but she was very kind, and she was very kind to me. We talked a lot on Skype, and there was no reason for her to make up something like that.
“I brushed off the app idea, but then she came to my house. She was very unassuming, and we’d even planned on meeting, so I just didn’t understand why she’d show up. She later confessed that she had seen my posts about the app, and she’d never even deleted it! I accepted it, and it was just meant to be.”
“What do you like about each other? Are there any inside jokes?”
“We don’t really have any inside jokes,” Taylor said. “We don’t really do anything different than normal people do. We do have a lot of things in common, though…” “Yeah, we both love Star Trek,” Kelsey said. “We went to see Star Trek (2009).”
“I loved that movie!” the host said.
“Me too,” Kelsey said.
“Okay, you guys love Star Trek,” the host said. “Who loves Star Wars?” Parker glanced up from the seat, raising his hand. “I love Star Wars,” he said. Taylor looked at him.