The Couple Experiment

180

The newly married couple arrived in Hawaii. Jared spared no expense with this trip. His bride deserved the best, especially after what they had been through. Having her ex boyfriend die in their driveway and their agent and Liam's mother trying to blackmail them for money had really taken a toll on the couple. Ramsey noticed Jared hadn't worn the wears of the trauma as apparent as she did. She knew he was a strong individual, but she realized she still had a lot to learn about him and the things he'd gone through prior to meeting her.

They had a private little house away from the lobby of the hotel. It was right on the beach, and the sky's colors indicated that the sun was about to go down. "Babe, let's go watch the sunset." Ramsey said eagerly as she looked out of the large sliding doors. "Or.." she heard Jared's footsteps coming from behind her, "we could watch it from bed." He teased as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her neck. She moaned quietly and bit her lip. She turned around to face him. "You've talked me into it."

Ramsey could feel her orgasm building up. Jared was being slower than usual but still pounding into her hard as she lay underneath him. He was very attentive to her every move and sound and didn't take his eyes off of her. The lovemaking mixed with the magenta and orange ombré of the sunset behind him was too beautiful for her to process. The bright, warm colors illuminated their bare skin and Ramsey tingled all over. Jared cupped her cheek, making her look him in the eyes. Anything she ever needed, any validation she required could be found in his baby blues. She gripped his face as well, and kissed him. She wrapped her legs around him tighter, just wanting to be as close to him as possible.

Afterwards, they lay naked in bed, kissing and just gazing at one another. She lovingly caressed his cheek with the back of her fingers. "I'm so in love with you, but there's still so much I don't know about you." Ramsey admitted and Jared chuckled. "I think you know me pretty well." "But your past, I mean. Your childhood, old relationships, memories. You don't really share anything like that with me." He sighed, "Have you considered that maybe a lot of those things aren't worth mentioning?" He sat up, resting against the headboard.

"I understand you had hard times, but I'd like to know exactly what makes you you." "Why?" Ramsey frowned, "Because I'm your wife. All I know about is your music, your acting career, and rock climbing. I know nothing else about you." He turned towards her, supporting himself on his elbow. "You know that I love you. What you know about me has come from what I've decided to tell you. What you and I have, I haven't had with anyone else. You're special to me." He kissed her and got out of the bed. "Let's shower and then we'll go to dinner."

"I just want you to be comfortable talking to me about anything." Ramsey said as she put her arms around him as they stood in the shower. The water cascaded over them as steam rose up. "I'm getting there. We're going to be spending a lot of time together promoting the movie. Who knows what'll come out of my mouth." He grinned and kissed her, pressing his body to hers.

The couple finished up their shower and got dressed for dinner. They arrived at the restaurant and were met with a small mob of photographers. Ramsey was blinded by flashes when Jared opened up her car door. He grabbed her hand and lead her through the mass of people. "So this whole thing is a sham?" "What's up with that guys?" "When's the movie coming out?" "Are you legally married or not?" The questions were nonstop until they made it inside the building. "How did they find us?" Ramsey scoffed in annoyance. "I don't know, but we can't leave in the same car. They'll try to follow us for sure." Jared dialed a number and put his phone to his ear.

"Is your assistant here too?" Ramsey asked when he hung up the phone. "Yes." "Why? It's our honeymoon, Jared." "To keep us from having to deal with stuff like this." "We're dealing with it anyway! Couldn't it just have been about the two of us?" "It is!" He raised his voice, then stopped to soften his demeanor. He put his hands on the back of her elbows. "It's important to have people protect us and keep things under control."

"I just don't know why we can't handle things ourselves at least while we're here." Jared looker into her eyes, his expression hardly readable. ""Don't be stupid, Ramsey. This is what you signed up for, this attention. You obviously don't understand what being a celebrity means. As long as we're together, you won't be able to do normal things without being photographed most of the time." She felt a lump in her throat, and swallowed. "'As long as we're together'?" She scoffed.

"I didn't mean anything by that, I'm sorry." Jared apologized sincerely, but Ramsey wasn't completely sold. She sighed, "Forget dinner. I just wanna go to home." She turned and walked out of the restaurant and to the car, shoving past loud photographers. Jared followed her, but she moved quickly as if she didn't care whether he was in the car when she left or not. He made it to the car in time and the ride back to the hotel was quiet and hostile. She drove with tunnel vision and didn't acknowledge his being in the vehicle once.

"You're just done talking to me?" He asked as he shut the door behind him when they returned to their private house. Ramsey didn't respond and took her earrings out and set them on the nightstand. "Ramsey, we're married now. Let's talk it out." The room was silent for about a minute. "I don't know if I made the right decision." She blurted out. "What decision?" "I asked for this attention." She repeated him from earlier. "What if I made the wrong choice? I married someone for the wrong reasons."

"What's wrong about it?" Jared grew concerned as the conversation played out. "We got married so I could stay in the country, not because we were in love. And now I have to live a life under a microscope." "You're wrong. Yes, we got engaged so you could stay in the country, but we were in love when got married. We love each other." "Do we?" He felt anger boil up in his bones. "Yes. It pisses me off that you're questioning it right now." "What if I'm not meant for this life?" "You are. I feel it in my soul that you and I are meant to be. You're just freaking out. Let's go to bed. Sleep on it, babe." "I can't sleep." She put her hands on her forehead.

"I love you, Jared, but how do I know it's real? The entirety of our relationship is based on a lie." She began to cry. "This is ridiculous. We have not put in this much effort for you to be second guessing us now." "It shouldn't be work, it should come naturally. Nothing about us had been natural." She sat on the bed. He laughed humorlessly, "If that's what you think. I can't deal with this anymore tonight. I can't believe you've done a 180 in such an instant." He went to the sliding doors and opened one. "What happened to 'no more back and forth'? You're a little late on making a decision about me." He walked out to the beach, leaving his bride in tears.