"I didn't take you for someone who was afraid of heights." Aaron laughed as I tried to remain composed. He wanted us to go on one of those rides that shoots you up forty feet, stops for a few seconds, then drops you at fifty miles per hour. There was no way my heart could handle that.

"I'm not," I said, but my voice was shaking.

"You can hold my hand if you're scared," Aaron said, turning to me, his gray eyes sending shockwaves across my body. I smiled, unable to stop myself. He could be too cute sometimes.

"I'm not scared." I crossed my arms, trying not to giggle as he copied my stance. The line moved and soon enough, we were on it and I was screaming and grabbing Aaron's hand for dear life while he laughed the entire time.

The ride stopped in midair and froze as horror filled my features. I don't want to fall, keep me here.

I looked down at the city surrounding me and the rest of the amusement park, everyone looked so tiny, like ants. My heart was racing rapidly as I looked up to be met with the clouds and the large tree. It kept going up and I couldn't bear to look at my toes. I was so afraid.

"It's okay, they built this machine for fun, it's not intended to kill you." Aaron reassured from beside me, but it did nothing to calm me down. As soon as the drop began, I was screaming and grasping onto my seat for dear life. I was so afraid as it kept dropping and I shut my eyes.

And then, it was all over.

"It wasn't that bad." I said shakily. The ride ended and my adrenaline was still running high. Aaron was laughing as he helped unbuckle me from the seat. As soon as my feet hit the ground, my knees buckled and I almost fell. I was still shaking as Aaron wrapped his arms around my waist and grabbed me before I could hit the ground.

"Wasn't it?" He smirked, still holding me as my entire body filled with a sense of comfort. "Is that the craziest thing you've ever done?"

"No, meeting you was the craziest thing." I shot back, smirking as I removed his hands from my waist and almost fell again. I saw him instantly try to reach to help me again, but put his hands back to his sides as I finally stood up. "Was this the craziest thing you've ever done?"

We walked side by side as we went to an ice-cream cart. I got a cone and Aaron got an ice-cream sandwich, I wondered which one was messier.

We had been there for about six hours and still hadn't gone on every ride or explored every place at the park. The sun was going to set in a couple of hours and this incredible day would have to end. Oddly enough, I didn't want it to end. I was having too much fun without all the conspiracies and the murders and the sadness of our town. This was a much needed break and I was so happy to be able to spend the day with Aaron.

"When I was twelve, a friend of mine dared me to mess with a mad scientist and so I did and he got so pissed. He almost hit me with his briefcase and I skated away so scared and paranoid by anyone in a lab coat for years. I wouldn't even go to the doctor." I was rather unimpressed; Aaron seemed like an adventurous guy so it was hard to believe that the craziest thing he had ever done was mess with an old guy.

"Some friend." I muttered, unsure of what to say. My heart was still racing and the new sugar in my system wasn't exactly helping my case.

"You might know him actually." Aaron said, he glanced at me, then away quickly. He reached for my hand and led me to a fancy wooden bench besides a tree covered in lights.

"Yeah? Was your friend Stacy, because that's the only person in town that I would've been friends with at twelve." I said, sitting on the bench beside him. I turned to face him as the ice-cream dripped onto my hand. He pulled out a napkin from his pocket and took my cone from my hand. He took a bite out of it before handing it back to me with a smirk on his face. My hands were sticky and he had finished his ice-cream sandwich already.

"You should wash your hands," Aaron said, using his thumb to wipe ice-cream off my lip. "And your mouth." I felt tingles beside my mouth as he stood up. I was full anyway so I tossed the cone and headed toward the nearest bathroom. I washed my hands and mouth, adjusting my shirt. I hadn't realized how wild my hair had gotten; evidently spending the day walking in semi-windy weather and going on amusement park rides would do that.

I walked out and took the few steps toward the bench where Aaron sat, staring at the ground with his elbows resting on his knees. He looked stressed as I sat beside him and he turned to face me.

"Vy," he said, his eyes warm as he stared into mine, "I really, really like you. As more than a friend. Which is why I have a few things I need to admit to you." Aaron suddenly said.

I watched him carefully, my heart fluttering at his words. "What's going on?"

"Please hear me out and don't get mad okay, at least not until I'm done." He held his hands up as though he were surrendering and I wanted to hug him. I was drawn to him and everything about him and I just couldn't understand why.

"No promises," I smirked as his eyes widened in shock, "but I'll try." He seemed uncomfortable in his spot as he watched me. I wondered if the reason he had told me to wash my hands was so I wouldn't get ice-cream on his face when I slapped him. If I slapped him.

"I know it was Joseph." He said and I felt my heart sink at the sound of his name. I was hurt and speechless, "I saw it... in your mind when we were kissing, I felt it; I didn't want to make you feel that way. I just... I didn't know. I didn't try to dig up that memory, you sort of thought about it while we were kissing and I got so angry." Aaron said, avoiding my eyes as he stared at my hands.

I didn't know how to respond or what to say, "s...so you knew?"

He nodded, "when you asked me where I was last night, I had gone to his apartment to... uh... talk with him." He said. If there was one certain thing that I knew about Aaron, it was that he was a horrible liar. He would always be brutally honest rather than beat around the bush and lie to save feelings from being hurt. It was a blessing and a curse all at once.

"You punched him?" I whispered, reaching for Aaron's hand. I was bursting at the seams with joy that somebody cared enough to be this caring and protective of me as to put themselves in danger; but at the same time I was bothered that he had figured out something so deeply personal to me which I hadn't intentionally shared with anybody.

Aaron looked at our hands, nodding. He looked up to meet my eyes, "I know this must have violated your trust, but believe me I didn't attempt to or want to Vy, really, I just couldn't handle knowing you felt that way because of some asshole who didn't deserve you." He muttered softly, the sun was setting behind him as the people at the park surrounding us screamed on their rides. The lights on the tree above us turned on and so did many of the other lights at the park.

I knew he couldn't prevent himself from hearing something I'd thought of, especially not with my eyes closed.

"I just... I'm so sorry Vy." He said as I lifted his chin to where our eyes could meet. My heart was racing rapidly as I leaned forward and pressed my lips onto his. He was frozen for a few seconds before he returned the kiss and it felt like sparks were flying all around and inside me. The feelings between us felt electric as we continued to kiss and I smiled against his lips.

"Thank you," I whispered, my eyes softening as he pulled me into another kiss. We sat there for a couple minutes, unable to keep our hands to ourselves until a member of the park walked up to us, clearing her throat.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but would you two mind moving to a more discrete part of the park? There are children watching and we'd like to keep this place PG. I apologize for the inconvenience." She said, walking away as Aaron glanced at me and smirked. I felt my heart turn into a puddle at his glance. It was so warm, so soft, so kind; the epitome of Aaron.

Aaron stood up and reached for my hand, helping me up as we walked through the bright trails of the park and waited in line for a roller coaster.

"So, tell me more about the crazy scientist that you messed with."

"Vy, I'm pretty sure the dude was your dad. The guy that visited a few weeks ago looked a lot like him and I was kind of scared when he was in there. I thought he recognized me."

"Wait, Aaron, did you... did you eat anything from his experiment?" My mind began to churn as it wandered endlessly. Dr. Robert Dooley had forced me to eat his serum because a boy had spilled it on his ice-cream; was the boy Aaron? Is that why we were so connected? Because both our DNA was mutated by the weird serum my dad had made?

"Actually, yeah, it got all over my food. I don't know what I was eating, but he was screaming at me the entire time." Aaron mentioned as the line continued to move.

"Wait Aaron." I said, grabbing his arm and stopping us as he turned to look at me, "I know how we got our powers."

As soon as I spoke, my phone began ringing with a name I thought I'd never see pop up on my screen again.

Stacy.

♥️

In case you're interested in getting the totally edited/revised/changed paperback version of this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Read-Minds-ebook/dp/B08RYV11F2/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=veronica+Soliman&qid=1609863783&sr=8-3

(Link will be available in the coming weeks)

(Link will be available in the coming weeks)