Dear Miss Ana Maria Fuentes,


Congratulations! You've been chosen to participate in the first season of this year's Finally Found! Critics have already spoken and there is a prediction that it will be the new top reality dating show in history. Really, the criteria is simple. With the help of the recommendations made by yourself and by your friends (see signatures sent in with this letter), we've decided that it finally is the time for you to finally find your match. With your earlier consent, we've been able to look into your background of dates, and we realize that it's finally time to stop looking in the wrong places! Not to mention that on the TV show, you'll be able to find The One.


The Show begins filming on July 10 in the beautiful city of Rome, Italy (fees are all taken care of), approximately two weeks from today, and if you could please call us at 1-800-fin-ally, to confirm your actions, and we'll be giving you a bit more of the scoop then.


Thank you, and once again, Congratulations!


Robert Grey, host of Finally Found!


What the hell was it that I was staring at? Reality show? My own recommendation and of my friends? What was going on?

Dios, mio. . .

Furious, I turned around quickly to my two friends Jenna and Sara, who were just conveniently sitting on my couch… in perfect range of throwing things at them.

"What did you guys do?!" I exclaimed, throwing the letter I was just reading at their confused faces.

Once they read the letter the lost expression on their faces turned to those of guilt, and well, fear. Yeah, let's just say that I'm not exactly the damsel-in-distress ever, and people usually don't like to get me angry.

No, I don't go fully Hulk on them and attack, but things could end up looking ugly. But, still, kudos to the hulk because Eric Bana still looked pretty hot switching between his human side and scary bulky and green side.

"Um, yeah.. About that," Jenna stammered, looking at Sara for some back up.

I began to run my fingers through my black hair, and began to mutter under my breath in Spanish. "When you two told me that you were in the process of doing something about my lack of love life, I didn't know you were trying to sign me on to some kind of freak TV show!"

I was so angry, that I just began to fidget around with the papers enclosed into the envelope and came across the sheet with the signatures.

There, indeed was Jenna's signature.. And Sara's…but, there wasn't mine.

Okay, fine. It was there, but that so wasn't my signature.

Oh, God! I was friends with a bunch of bloody con artists...

"I can't believe you forged my signature!" I exclaimed loudly, as I couldn't believe my eyes. Crumpling up the piece of paper, I sat down on the chair opposite them to calm down a little.

"Well, what else did you expect us to do? We knew you'd refuse. This is for your sake, Marie... we thought of you 110 when we signed you up because seriously, you haven't been on a date since what's-his-face dumped you. You're 26 years old and haven't gone out with a guy in four years. I remember when you told us in high school that you wanted to get married when you're 24. Well, what else did you expect us to do?" Sara cried, throwing her arms out dramatically.

I winced at her mention of Mr. What's-his-face, also known as Trevor Jaffe, Heartbreaker asshole Extraordinaire. Yet, I still couldn't get the guts to hate him..

"Um, you could've just found a nice guy for me without signing me onto a reality show making me look desperate!"

"When was the last time you got laid, Marie?" Jenna demanded, raising her eyebrow, and crossed her arms across her very large chest.

I swear, I think she does that on purpose just to rub it in my face that her chest is nearly twice the size as mine.

"None of your business!" I shrieked in horror, and I knew my face was lighting up a bright pink.

"Exactly my point," Jenna concluded, and Sara nodded in confirmation.

"I'm not going to do it," I spat out, feeling determined as hell that I wasn't going to go through with needing a pathetic TV show to find love. "I can find a date perfectly fine without cameras taping it, thank you very much."

"But, Marie, don't you think it'll be kinda fun?" Sara mused, smiling a sweet smile. "I would do it if I wasn't so devoted Trent."

"Same here, except.. Well, Johnny would be absolutely devastated if I went on a dating show. If he saw the men all over me, there would be, like a massacre or something," Jenna giggled.

Sometimes, I wonder why the hell I'm friends with Jenna. I should've drawn the line at that one time she gave the worst advice and told me to get a freaking bikini wax. Yeah, let me tell you that it was definitely not quick and painless as she described to me.

Sara, on the other hand was different. Sweet Sara was what she had been called back in our High school phase. She always was concerned for others before herself but…

The downside was, well, let's say that she's easily manipulated..

If her act of condoning Jenna's little plan was a teensy piece of evidence.

"Well, if you break up with your boyfriends, be my guest, and sign up. But, por favor, I can easily find a good date…I just haven't tried…dios mio," I defended

"I thought you made a promise to yourself that you wouldn't speak any of this Spanglish, Marie," Jenna laughed, raising that arched eyebrow of hers again. "Are you nervous?"

"Jenna, maybe it was a mistake doing this for Marie," Sara tried, and Jenna clearly ignored her.

"Yeah, Sara's right…maybe it was a mistake. Okay, fine. I'll be honest. I'm pretty positive that this whole crazy idea was a complete and utter mistake. And, for God's sake, Jenna, NO, I am not nervous," I insisted, shooting a glare towards Jenna's direction. I swear, I have no idea how the two of us stay friends. We're like opposing sides in everything. I mean, we're like Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker…on completely different sides..

But, then, well… like Darth Vader and Luke, something always ends up binding us..

I just have to figure out what that 'something' is.

"Ana Maria Fuentes," Jenna commanded in this way firm voice. My eyes widened with surprise when she used my full name. No one uses my full name, except my mother. And I'm 110 sure that I didn't come out of Jenna's womb or share half her chromosomes…

Thank God.

"What'd you call me-?"

"You heard me. You're so afraid of getting hurt again that you don't even want to try. It's been four years, Marie…four years since Trevor dumped you. And, the guy was a complete jack ass… and even you know it. He cheated on you, Marie. Get that through that head of yours. He slept with another woman and even had the nerve to admit it like it was some kind of trophy," she yelled, frustrated, while Sara tried to come between the two of us.

Just hearing what really happened all those years ago from Jenna's mouth brought angry tears in my eyes. I couldn't stand to be there reliving the pain when I walked in on Trevor and this skank Shelly getting a little too close for comfort.

Okay, rephrase that…they seemed pretty comfortable to me… it's the just the little detail that I could even hear my heart crack into two pieces when I walked in on them.

"You know what? I-I need some space. Can you….just…leave?" I whispered, trying to sound as unaffected as possible.

Which, obviously, I wasn't too good at.

"O-Okay," Sara softly said, looking worried.

Jenna, however, put a hand on my shoulder and gave a tiny smile. "Think about it, 'kay? You'll never know.. Maybe you'll be thanking us someday."

And, after that, they both left… leaving me alone to sulk in my own, depressed thoughts.

I kept on thinking about Trevor. About everything we had gone through together. We had dated for three years, and on one fatal day, I found out that he had been cheating on me the whole time. And, get this… the other girl, Shelly, knew he was dating me and she didn't care. And, well, in the end, he chose her over me, which so pushes her up to skank status.

Even after four years after that day, when Trevor shot me down so badly, I couldn't manage to forget the good times we had together…I still couldn't hate him..

Then, I don't know why I did it, but I grabbed my winter overcoat and headed out for a little walk by myself.

When I got outside, I saw my cool breath come out in a white puff, and cold little snowflakes fluttered and twinkled gracefully in the air, landing all around me. I didn't exactly know where I was walking to, but I just decided to go along with it.

After a while of mindless wandering of the city, I found myself standing in front a place that I dreaded. . .

The small, yet very suave café, where I had first met Trevor. I had been working part time there during my first year of college, and he had come in for a hot cup of cappuccino. Incredibly sad and pathetic that I remember all of that.

He had once told me that that the café should be the most "special and sacred place in the world," because he had met me. It still seemed like a lie that the same Trevor would do such a heartless thing to me.

Before I knew it, I had drifted off into a dream-like trance state, imagining the two of us sitting at a table, holding hands. The sounds of us laughing were evident, and I felt lucky in love for once…

Slowly, that image faded away, making my dream self gradually disappear…

But, for some reason, the dream Trevor wasn't going away. I squinted my eyes tightly trying to stimulate his image to fade away, but that method didn't end up working.

I shook my head rapidly, hard enough to make my long black hair whip me in the face, but his figure just wouldn't fade.

WHY WOULDN'T IT DISAPPEAR?

Oh, maybe because it was real. I mean, he definitely did look real enough. And, he was sitting alone. No Shelly in sight.. Or a sign of her.

Maybe I was possessed or something, but once I figured that little fact into my head, I assumed that maybe.. Just maybe, he wanted me back. He was sitting in our so-called "special, sacred place" alone and I just assumed, wishful thinking in hand.

So, I entered the little café and headed towards where Trevor was sitting, looking as handsome as I had ever imagined him all these four years.

As I walked towards him, probably snow dripping off of me, I studied how much he had changed. His blond hair was now short and clean, compared to how longish and a bit on the shaggy side it used to be. I gulped as I noticed how much bluer his eyes seemed to have grown, making it impossible to look away. I saw him smile and I felt a wave of excitement flow through me, and for once in four years, I felt like things were finally turning themselves back to the good, normal life.

It was like one of those soap operas, or a romantic movie.. You know, how the heroine and hero finally reunite as lovers after various obstacles. I could even hear that cheesy romantic music in my head until it was violently cut off.

Someone, to be more specific, a woman, walked past me from behind, her heels clicking loudly, and jumped onto Trevor's lap.

Yeah, literally jumped onto his lap like a cat pouncing.

Literally break the record player in my head, why don't you?

And, not only did that imaginary music player break, but I could hear my heart doing the same thing. Again.

Because the girl who had pounced her way onto Trevor's lap was the one and only, and Notorious Shelly.

After all the years, the two had stayed together, looking as happy as they could. And, I don't even think Trevor saw me walking towards him at all, because they began to swap spit right in front of the whole restaurant.

My face began to turn red, and my throat felt all choked up, as I turned around and headed for the door that I had pathetically come in from.

It was then that I heard someone yell, "Marie? Is that you?"

Right away, I recognized the voice as Trevor's, and without turning back, I just walked out.

Well, I unfortunately didn't walk out before I heard Shelly laugh, "Oh, my gosh. Don't tell me she still has it for you. I bet she hasn't dated since. How sad."

My heart ripped again as I heard the faint laughter of Trevor after Shelly's little observations as I ran out of the café. Once I had gotten my burning face back into the presence of the cool, soothing snow, I realized four things:

1) Special and Sacred my ass. If he was taking that skank there, it wasn't capable of those words.

2) I was pathetic for thinking that Trevor still had some kind of feelings for me.

3) Trevor really was the ass like Jenna had conveniently pointed out.

4) I was going to show that Shelly skank that I wasn't afraid to date anymore. Right when I would get home, I was going to look at that letter from the TV. show, and dial that number of that Robert Grey guy.


END OF CHAPTER ONE

This is my first time in a WHILE since I've posted/worked on a story so please review:)

It'd make my day... Really

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