Nick Lachey Is Engaged Again, but Are He and Jessica Simpson Meant to Be?

Maybe I'm still living in a blissful state of teenage delusion, but I haven't given up hope that one day, my favorite 'Newlyweds' stars, Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson, will reunite.

My mom was quick to point out that if she were Vanessa Minnillo, Nick's current fiancée, she wouldn't appreciate some gossipy writer wishing for her man to get back with his ex-wife. Really, Vanessa, it's not that I have a problem with you. I just think that as cliché as it might be to say this, Nick and Jessica belong together.

Nick and Jessica were a perfect example of Hollywood love at its finest. She was the naturally pretty, wholesome pop star, and he was the buff, handsome boy band frontman. They met at the Hollywood Christmas Parade in 1998, and despite their seven-year age difference, it was love at first sight.

They had undeniable chemistry from the start, whether they were singing duets or hosting variety shows together. Jessica was notorious for for being a virgin, a fact that was widely discussed up until the night of her picture-perfect marriage to Nick, a very patient, non-virgin gentleman. Jessica's father later mortified us all when he said she'd waited until marriage to have sex, and "now she [could] sing about it until she's blue in the face!"

'Newlyweds' documented the early days of Nick and Jessica's marriage, comically portraying a down-to-earth Midwestern boy and a slightly spoiled southern belle who didn't always see eye-to-eye. Nick often became frustrated with Jessica's childishness, and she was irked by his unwillingness to cater to her every whim. Still, the two made for great TV with their endearing, playful banter and good-natured, flirtatious teasing. Despite their day-to-day quibbles, this all-American couple showed all the signs of being madly in love with each other.

The show's popularity brought Jessica, but not Nick, to new career heights. As dutifully as he played the role of supportive husband, tensions inevitably arose between the two stars. By the time Jessica co-starred in 'The Dukes of Hazzard,' she was well on her way to bona fide movie star status. And Nick, bless his heart, didn't seem to be finding much career success of his own.

We'll never know for sure if Nick was bitter about his wife's achievements. Maybe Jessica's father did meddle too much in their marriage, or perhaps she was just too young to have gotten married in the first place. But in the fall of 2005, rumors were rampant that there was major trouble in the 'Newlyweds' paradise.

And almost five years ago to the date, on Thanksgiving Day of 2005, heartbreak swept the nation when the couple announced publicly that they were getting a divorce. We were all forced to accept the fact that this idealistic, picture-perfect couple was no longer everything we'd built them up to be.

Since then, Jessica's dated her fair share of high-profile guys, from Tony Romo to current beau Eric Johnson. And Nick, of course, has on-again, off-again dated former MTV VJ Vanessa Minnillo for four years now.

So why have neither Nick nor Jessica said "I do" once again?

Just maybe, somewhere deep in their hearts, they too have held tight to the hope of rekindling romance past. Nick and Jessica have both been honest about wanting kids. Wouldn't you think they'd want their respective lovers to put a ring on it and get those new families started?

I think Nick's taken four years to propose and Jessica's yet to settle down with her own Mr. Right, because these two can't quite let go of that first love they both shared with one another.

Nick and Vanessa, I wish you years of happiness, and Jess, I hope Eric turns out to be the one. I'm just saying that real love doesn't vanish into thin air. So, maybe it'll be 40 years from now, after you've both had many years of individual happiness, but your paths will cross again. Because for every Jessica, there's a Nick, and I know it seems far off, but I'm betting one day the originals fall right back in love again. It'll the greatest love story of all time, as predicted by Popeater, of course.