'Idol' Gossip: Are Scotty and Lauren Dating?

Update: Lauren Alaina announced the following via her Twitter account:

@LAlainaAI10 Just so everyone knows ! Scotty and I are NOT dating! Ive had a lot of people asking! He is like my best friend(: love y'all

Original Story:

For the final few weeks of "American Idol," the question everyone was asking (besides "Who's going to win?") was whether or not Casey Abrams and Haley Reinhart were dating. The two singers denied it and said that they were "special musical friends," whatever that means.

Well, either "American Idol" contestants keep finding love connections amid the competition or "American Idol" fans have overactive imaginations, because now the rumor is that the two finalists, country singers Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina, are dating as well.

This theory is based on more than just the fact that they're about the same age (Scotty is 17 and Lauren is 16, they're the two youngest to compete in the finale ever) and they happen to like the same music.

When Scotty was announced as the winner of season 10 of "American Idol," he turned to Lauren and hugged her, and then it looked as though the two shared a kiss...and not a peck on the cheek, either. A full-on, mouth-to-mouth smooch on stage in front of 20 million viewers.

The cameras conveniently cut away at that point to show the contestants' families reacting in the crowd, and by the time they came back, the embrace had ended. Some point to the fact that Scotty mumbled "I love you, baby," to Lauren later while he was singing his victory lap, but he said "I love you" to James Durbin, too.

Was it just the emotional outpouring of a very happy contestant, or is there something going on there? When asked about it in the press conference following the finale, Scotty had this to say: "We're really close friends. ... I don't know about the dating part. She's such a sweetheart. We've grown so close. It's a special relationship we have."

Did you see the kiss? What do you think: are they dating or not?