The Couple Experiment

The Decision

Jared and Ramsey eventually arrived on a hilltop overlooking the city. They both exited the car. They started walking as she took in the view from up top. "Tell me about your family." Jared requested. "Oh, my parents live in Toronto. I don't have any siblings. I'm not close with any other family members besides my parents." He nodded, "How was your childhood?" "Great, actually. It was always my parents and I exploring the city and traveling to different places on the weekends and during summer. We always had fun. I was a happy kid."

Ramsey decided it was now her turn to ask the questions. "What about your family?" He sighed, "Yeah, it was just my mom, my brother and me. We were poor.." he shook his head, "but we didn't know it. We went through some stuff, but we had fun anyway." She smiled softly. "I think I read an article about you once that said you moved around a lot as a kid." "It was crazy at times." "It sounds neat to me being someone who grew up in one place, going to the same school with the same people." "Sometimes I wish that we would have stayed in one spot."

They had stopped walking and were just looking down at the scene below. "We always want what we don't have, I guess." She noticed him staring at her, seeming to be deep in thought. "What?" She asked. "Wanna do something crazy?" "Like what?" "Let's go get lunch. There's bound to be photographers around. It'll be like dipping your toes in the water. If you end up not accepting the offer, us being seen together can just be written off as a one time thing." She thought about it for a minute. "Let's do it."

Jared took her to a spot in the city where he was positive there would be paparazzi waiting to take pictures of someone. He put his hand on the door handle to get out of the car, but Ramsey stopped him. "This isn't very slow is it?" She was getting nervous now. "Like I said, this could just be a one time thing. If we go through with the couple thing, next time we go out we'll be with friends. It'll be fine." She nodded and they both got out.

"Just act like they're not even there." He whispered for only her to hear. They took several steps down the street. "There's a limitless vegan place a few blocks down, that's where we're headed." A minute later, almost out of nowhere, about 10 people with cameras showed up right in front of them. They snapped photos and some of them shouted Jared's name. She could hear a couple of people ask, "Who is she, Jared?" Ramsey had to admit to herself that it was hard as hell to pretend that these people weren't there. She was overwhelmed by the cameras in her face and voice yelling over her.

They eventually made it to the restaurant. Jared opened the door for her. She was met with a relief of silence and felt like she could breathe again. They sat at a table and she asked, "Is it always like that?" He was clearly unbothered by the whole thing. "No, not always." He looked down at the menu. "Do you eat meat?" He asked her. "Uh-yeah." "Well if we are going to pretend that we're together and live together, I want you to stop. If we spend a lot of time with each other, might as well eat similarly, you know what I mean?" "Yeah, I guess so."

By now they had received their food. "This is actually pretty good." Ramsey said of her veggie lasagna. "I told you it would be." Jared replied. "Jared, I want to stay here and do the movie. Let's do this couple...experiment thing." She said randomly, catching him off guard. "You're serious?! Great! Shit, I'll-uh get you a ring and we can go to the deportation office tomorrow." "Sounds like a plan." She smiled. "I know this is scary, but I'll take care of you." He reassured her.

"You don't still have that asshole boyfriend, do you? Cause if you do, you should tell him what's going on." She sighed, "Yeah that got kind of fucked up when he refused to marry me so I could stay in the country." Jared nodded, "I can see that." They finished their meal and paid. As they left the restaurant there were still a few straggling photographers outside. "Wow." Ramsey said quietly. Jared spoke to them, "Hey guys, I'm sure you got your pictures. We're just gonna go back to the car now. You can leave us alone." His tone was still polite.

They walked away from the paparazzi and Jared told her that even though they were no longer being followed, they were most likely being filmed as they walked away. "It's so weird that they care that much." "Yeah. There's gonna be at least half a dozen gossip articles about us with pictures by tonight." "That's good I guess. We're on the right track, right?" She looked at him inquisitively as they approached the car. "Right."