Forever And Never

I don't know exactly where Ramsey located the new car, the brand new shiny car, but I couldn't help but gleam with happiness when he announced that it was mine once I started being more involved in the world. "I can't believe this is mine now..." I murmured, grinning as we drove back to the apartment and ran my fingers across the leather exterior as Ramsey laughed as he drove. All around us, crammed into the car were boxes and bags and other random objects that I was 'moving into Ramsey's apartment.' He'd convinced me to stage myself moving into his apartment, as if we were together and were moving our relationship to the next level or something. I'd been annoyed at first and had planned on acting as ridiculous as possible, but with the brand new car in my life I was in no mood to be obnoxious and had instead promised Ramsey I'd do whatever he wanted to convince neighbors that we were ordinary humans.
"Well, it's sort of an early birthday present..." He replied, causing me to turn and give him a questioning look. I'd never told him that my birthday was coming up soon, only two days away to be exact, so how did he know? Ramsey must have seen my surprise because he laughed and explained, "It's in your Branch Wood file. They have everything about you that the institute needs to know, including your human birthday."
"Oh," I answered stupidly, "Well that makes sense." He laughed at me, and I looked down at the stack of papers in my lap that Ramsey had got from the check in desk. They were papers for my training to officially end, that would decide whether or not I could go into the human world as soon as I wanted to. The two of us would fill them out, and after they were reviewed along with the rest of my file, I would see if my training was finally finished with.
We parked in front of the apartment, and Ramsey took off his seat belt and got out of the car, and I followed his lead, leaving the papers in the car and getting out and meeting him at the back near the trunk. I watched as he put the key in the little lock, and the trunk popped open revealing several boxes and bags.
I laughed and said "I don't think any ones watching, Ramsey. I don't think they care if I pretend to move in." He sifted through the boxes a little then looked back at me and said, "They care, trust me. I've lived here over a year and I've listened to a lifetime of gossip go between all the people who live here. A lot of them are bored housewives I guess, and they'll jump all over any new rumors."
I raised an eyebrow at him and said, "If you say so Ramsey." He grinned at me as he picked up a box from the trunk and walked over to hand it to me. "You'll see. Listen in every once in a while, and you'll hear them." He dropped the box into my waiting hands, and I expected it to b heavier than it actually was. I peered into the crack at the top and found that it was empty. Well, we are only pretending.
We carried up boxes and bags from the car and to the apartment, back and forth, up and down the stairs. As I walked I listened to the conversations all around us, carefully tuning my hearing so I could understand mostly what people were saying. There was an argument somewhere, it sounded like a mother and daughter fighting over something involving a boy; there were people discussing some topic from the news or a story they'd heard; I even caught a few words of someone reading a poem aloud. I listened and listened as I stacked the empty boxes in the living room and the bags on the couch, and finally as I was walking down the stairs to the parking lot to collect another box, I heard it.
"Oh, do we have new neighbors?" a woman voiced suddenly, her voice almost shrill with surprise and excitement. I heard something being set down on a table, though it was almost inaudible, and after a few seconds another woman answered, "No, it's just that one man whose been living there for a few months now. Remember he moved in right after that boy transferred schools?"
I stood still on the staircase, hidden from the view of the women as I listened to them gossip about us. I gasped at the realization that the boy who had 'transferred school' was August, and that it must have been the lie that Branch Wood told to cover up from his sudden disappearance.
"I wonder what he's doing then?" the first woman pondered, and I couldn't help but smile at Ramsey as he leaned up against the trunk of the car watching my decent. I stepped down onto the small sidewalk surrounding the building, then on the black gravel of the parking lot, grinning back at him as we both heard the women give a sudden, understanding 'Oh.'
"Do you hear them?" I laughed as he looked up towards the direction of their voices — on the second story in one the building somewhere to the left of the where we stood — then nodded in agreement before turning to look back at me.
"She must be moving in with him... I wonder who it is?" The second woman asked, and her voice faded in and out as she walked away from the window, then back a few seconds later. There was a small silence between the two only for a seconds before the first voice replied, "She's awfully pretty... Is that his daughter maybe?"
Ramsey laughed at the daughter comment, and I looked up towards where the two must have been then turned back to him and happily proclaimed, "They think your my Dad, there's no need to act like a couple or anything." I folded my armed victoriously grinning as he raised his eyebrows at me, only jump at the second woman's voice rationing, "No, she looks only a few years younger than him, they must be a couple!" A few seconds later the first voice agreed saying, "Yea, I guess your right."
Ramsey smiled at me and opened his arms, and I grumbled annoyed words as I stepped forward and reluctantly put my arms around his stomach, listening to his laugh close to my ear and feeling it as his chest shook lightly. The two voiced awed and one commented, "They must be engaged."
"Oh jeez," I mumbled into his shirt, making him laugh as he released his arms and I pulled back enough to look at him. "We'll have to sent them an invite to your fake wedding," he teased, making me roll my eyes and pull away to grab the last boxes from the car so we could go upstairs and not have to act like we were in love.
"Just act for the people, then you can be as distant as you want" He said as he put his hands in the pocket of his jeans and watched as I picked up one of the empty boxes on the pavement next to him.
"Yes, dear," I gritted through my teeth, standing with the box in my arms and listening to the women chat on and on about how adorable we were. "Just wait till I tell Deborah and Sarah about our new neighbor," The second voice announced excitedly before adding, "Deborah is going to be so upset that he's taken."
"Guess somebody had a crush on you Ramsey," I laughed before turning towards the stairs to take the box up to the apartment. I heard him reply, "I've known about it for a while" with a laugh as he grabbed a box and followed me up. "At least she's telling people though, and spreading the lie so everyone will believe it."
I nodded at his observation as we set the boxes down and returned to the stairs to retrieve the last of what we'd used to confirm the lie. "It's better from them to think that were a couple and that your moving in," Ramsey continued, putting an arm around me as we reached the sidewalk. "If we don't give them a reason to suspect anything, then they won't."
After the last few boxes were carried up, Ramsey grabbed the papers from the passenger seat and locked the car doors, then tossed me the keys as he walked to the back where I stood waiting so we could walk up together. I held them in my hands and grinned down at them as he stood in front of me. "Thanks again for the car," I smiled, turning to walk up the stairs as he walked beside me.
"No problem, once we file those papers and your not in training anymore, I know you'll want to start going places." He laughed softly, and I couldn't help but think about going back to high school. I'd have to ask him soon, since I'd been keeping to mostly to myself that I wanted to go. I didn't know at all how he would react, but I knew it had to be done if I wanted to return to my old school once more.