Wish Upon A Star - Season 1

Episode 1

She gazed at the quiet, well-built man before her and smiled. She liked what she saw. Handsome, with calm eyes and a weather-beaten look. Dressed in rather simple but not shabby clothes. A plain white vest and black pants give him the look of an average Joe about town. But then, that's what this whole show was about. Pairing up the sensational with the ordinary- well, in terms of celebrity, at least.

Wish Upon A Star was the latest show to make waves in the streaming wars. Its premise was simple but exciting – line up 10 unlucky-in-love celebrities and 10 absolutely ordinary citizens and pair up a celebrity with one of the regular folks! Of course, the catch was in how the pairing was done, in this case, via a vote by all the contestants involved. And there were a bunch of compatibility challenges to divvy up points between the various couples (and then to select a "winning couple") but Joe Walker didn't care much about that. All he cared about was the stunning, gorgeous fantasy novelist Ava Lynn standing before him, checking him out with her frank, hazel eyes.

"I can't believe I'm actually meeting you in-person!", he exclaimed, with a look of awe in his eyes. Joe was a truck-driver, living paycheck to paycheck and had entered his name in this show for a lark, hoping to stay on the show long enough to make a month's rent perhaps. Not in his wildest dreams had he imagined ending up with Ava. He hadn't read her books, but the show, Wilder Forest, that they'd filmed based on her work had kept him going through some pretty tough times.

"I'm quite real, I assure you", Ava said with an amused grin, gazing approvingly at the compass and abstract designs tattooed on his brawny, muscular arms and long, blond shoulder-length hair. "Is this what you were expecting?"

Joe took a moment to drink in the glorious sight of Ava dressed in a short, sea-blue sarong and a white sleeveless barely-there blouse, her pert head attractively framed by falling curls of long, auburn hair. She had an ample, full figure, with tight curves and long, graceful legs and a smile that promised tantalizing mysteries.

"Heck, no!", he said sincerely. "I never thought I could get here. But damn, this is awesome! You're my favourite writer!"

"You've read all my books?"

"None of them, actually. But I'm a big fan of Wilder Forest! And-now that I've met you-a bigger fan of you!"

She laughed at that. "You don't look like an Average Joe yourself", she told him, taking his arm and leading him out on to the terrace. "More like some sort of blonde Hercules!"

"That's my name right there, though! Average Joe-Joe Walker!"

"Do you work out every day? How'd you land those big pythons?"

He laughed ruefully. "I'm just an ordinary guy, Ava-may I call you Ava?"

She nodded graciously as he continued, "We don't get no time for going to the gym or stuff like that. Heck, I only got to come on this show 'cause of a lull in the business, you know?"

"Mmm, you know, you're exactly the type of person I'm planning to base my next book series on. Dating you might bring me some benefits, huh?"

Then, looking at the expression on his face, she added hurriedly, "I'm just kidding. I'm really glad we matched up. I mean-you're hot! Way hotter than the other folks in there and you have kind eyes and a nice smile! I'm really glad to get to know you!"

They sat down at the tea-table on the terrace overlooking the panoramic Cobana beach. Today's episode was merely a meet-and-greet. But Ava, looking at the fit and strong Joe Walker felt ready to skip straight past all that to the part that involved getting down and dirty. As they talked, she realised that this wasn't just lust that she was feeling: there seemed to be a genuine connection between the unlikely pair. They did have a few things in common: they both shared a love for Pink Floyd, the Twilight movies and risqué literature.

"It's not the sort of thing I write, of course", Ava told Joe lightly sipping from her steaming cup of matcha. "But Lord knows I love to devour that stuff!"

Joe smiled guiltily. "Yeah, I pick up whatever I can get from the public library too. They tend to be short books, usually. Not 800 pages or so."

"Well, I don't like it short, you know", she said teasingly.

Joe flushed, embarrassed. For such a big, robust man, Ava thought, he seemed rather innocent and a little shy. She liked that. She liked her men to be quiet, compassionate and tender. She herself was a bit of a high-spirited girl and felt that a calm partner would steady her in life.

"Haha, that won't be a problem I assure you", he said haltingly.

She smiled at the innocent, naïve way in which he said that. "I'm sure it won't", she said leaning over and patting his hand gently, resisting the urge to grab his arm, pull it around her waist and kiss him full on the mouth. Not that the show producers would care: they lapped up that sort of thing eagerly. But she sensed that Joe probably tended to lean on the side of taking things slow first. That was something she would have to have a word with him about.

Joe glanced up at one of the producers gesturing to them. "I think time's up. We've gotta go back to our groups and do that date review thing..."

"We could meet up after that", Ava said suggestively. "I know what my decision is about this blind date..."

He looked at her with longing in his eyes. After the whole date was dissected and reviewed for the benefit of the cameras, they each had to give their decision about taking this connection forward and spending the night together.

"I think you already know mine too", he whispered, gazing deep into her eyes.

She smiled and replied passionately, "See you after that cliff-hanger...."