An old friend ?

" When I told you to take me anywhere I didn’t mean somewhere you could murder me," Hailie said light-heartedly.

Josh chuckled and shrugged.

Hailie looked at him while he drove. He drove different from everyone she knew. He didn’t drive carelessly, but with an air of confidence, knowing there won't be any danger. She liked it. Her dad drove too slow. Walter drove like an old man with those 'baby on board ' signs, and Bryan, well she really didn’t know how he drove. She was too busy thinking about everything and anything to pay attention to how he drove.

" I wish I could read your mind," Josh said, bringing her back to reality.

" Why?" Was all Hailie said.

" So I could get to know you," he paused." better. Get to know you better."

They both went quiet, thinking about what he said.

" I mean, You always seem to be in your own head. You don’t talk too much. So it's kinda hard to get to know you." He continued, feeling the need to explain himself. He looked like he was on edge.

" Believe me, you don’t want to know what's on my mind," Hailie answered. She didn’t mean for that to come out that sad, but it was true. Her mind was a city. Not a small, calm, lovely city. But a big crowded one. With car traffics and accidents. With sirens and kids screaming. With unclear conversations turning to unbearable noises. With fights and people shouting at each other. With a hundred singers having concerts at the same time, music playing all the time.

She figured she completely killed their mood so she tried to make a conversation.

" Why are you nervous?" yeah because that's gonna bring back the mood. Clever Hailie, seriously.

" what?" Josh said dumbfoundedly.

Great Hailie, you made it awkward. Now just go with it I guess.

" you seem rushed, like I dunno, like I'm a teacher and I'm questioning you." She said hoping she didn’t ruin everything.

" Well-uh, we never have been good friends or even friends, so I'm kinda trying to keep whatever this is."

"You are my friend."

" Really?" He looked like a 5-year-old on Christmas morning.

Hailie smiled. He really looked cute when he was happy. She didn’t know why, but she kinda wanted to make sure he would stay this happy. And she hated it.

" Yeah really. I mean it could be kinda weird to go somewhere I didn’t know with a stranger right? They could actually murder me." Hailie said playfully.

" Yeah, that would be ugly. And your dad would be seriously mad."

Hailie frowned.

" Oh, I kinda forgot you knew about that."

Then she remembered she had muted her phone due to the text thunderstorm Sadie caused. So she actually can be already in trouble for not answering her phone or something.

She took out her phone and ignored all hundred text messages she had from Sadie and Walter( Sadie thought she would answer because it's him and not her, but that trick expired in their last fight.). She had 15 missed calls from her dad and 5 text messages. She quickly read them and sent a text back to let him know she was alright. She noticed one thing in common in her dad and Sadie's messages.

" Hey, there's no signal in your, um, headquarters?" She asked as a matter of factly.

Josh nodded his head." Yeah, I thought Bryan told you about that."

" No, he didn’t."

Josh raised his brows.

" I mean he is more of a visual teacher kind of person." She quickly added.

" Well, you better be careful with what you ask him then," Josh said as a joke.

There was, again, this awkward silence between them, making the two uncomfortable.

"The tech guys made something to block out unnecessary signals, it's easier to stay hidden if there are no signals to track."

" Tech guys?"

"Did Bryan tell you anything at all about us?" Josh asked.

" No, he was going to, but something came up."

" Or he just made you think like that so he wouldn’t tell you," Josh said coldly.

That couldn’t be true. Hailie was there when he told Sam he didn’t want to be interrupted. Besides, the panic on Sam's little face was too pure to doubt it.

" Bryan is not like that." Hailie felt the need to defend his - fake- boyfriend.

"Oh yeah, because you, out of all people, know how Bryan is." He said sarcastically.

Hailie frowned. "Well he is my boyfriend, so yeah I, out of all people, know how he is."

Josh scoffed and turned toward her. "You're so deep in it, aren’t you?"

Hailie turned toward him and looked into his eyes.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"He already talked you in this crazy game with him using your emotions." He replied harshly.

" He is not using my emotions and there is no game between us." She said almost too quickly.

" Do you believe in what you say? Or are just saying it because he told you he wasn’t playing any games? He is the leader of a group of criminals Hailie, he is fucking the government up from inside. He has been in this since the beginning, he was in every single one of our missions, in the action, and yet no one out of us knows what he looks like or what is he after," He took a deep breath and continued." Not even us Hailie. We don’t know what he's after, or why are we risking our lives. He never tells us. Only a few people know what is really going on. They are the important ones, their lives matter to him. The rest of us are just his puppets, he doesn’t care if we die, if we're hurt. The only thing that matters is the mission."

Hailie felt attacked. Like she was getting beaten up and didn't know where the punches were coming from. Was she stupid for trusting this guy? She was so dumb thinking something like this could've happened to her. But she couldn’t give up this easily, could she?

" Why are you telling me all of this? Are you trying to break us apart? Because I've seen Bryan with other people and me, he is nothing other than a total caring gentleman." Either it was the whole fake girlfriend mess or just her, she felt angry. Josh had no right to talk about Bryan like this.

" What? No! I'm not trying anything. I'm just worried."

" Worried?"

"Bryan doesn’t get close with people randomly. He chooses them. He benefits from them."

That Hailie already knew.

"What benefit do I have for him?"

Josh didn’t answer. He fixed his eyes back on the road. Ignoring her crooked eyebrow.

Hailie didn’t understand what he was after. She thought he only wanted to be her friend. Maybe he knew something about Bryan. But they didn’t seem close, hell they acted like enemies around each other. Even Thomas didn’t like Josh. But he seemed close with Bryan. This was all so confusing. If only she could get the whole story and not just tiny bits here and there.

"Don't read my mind," Josh said, still looking at the pitch-black road.

"What?"

"I know you have powers and I know what they are. So, don’t read my mind."

To say Hailie was shocked was understandable. She didn’t think anyone knew about her ability. Well except for Bryan.

"How did you-?"

"I would answer that but you would miss our destination. And you've been nagging about it, so come on. Let's go already."

Hailie didn’t even understand when they stopped. She looked around and saw they were at an amusement park. The one she used to come with her mom.

" I used to come here with my dad when I was a kid. It always made me happy. So I thought this could be a good place to bring you. If you don’t like it we could-"

Hailie cut off his rambling. " I love it, Josh. I used to come here with my mom as well."

Josh exhaled deeply and smiled. He looked relieved.

" Let's go have a blast then."