Mezzanine

| 8 |

Carter looked at Lola, his eyes narrowing before shifting to meet my gaze. I maintained contact for five seconds before glancing down at my hands.

I picked the crust off the grilled cheese I'd barely touched, shredding the greasy bread into a pile of crumbs on my plate. Ever since I started talking about what was going on, just looking at food made me feel like I was going to be sick.

He'd been stone-faced since I'd told him the truth—that Lola and I could read minds. I hadn't even told him about what happened last night at the factory, but already, I wished I could retreat into a hole and hide.

I watched him out of the corners of my eyes. He frowned, a vein standing out on his neck as he clenched his jaw. I'd never seen him so tense—so unreadable. It was like he couldn't make sense of his own emotions.

Was it fear? Did he think Lola and I were freaks? Monsters?

Was it betrayal at the fact that I'd kept this secret from him for so long?

What if he hated me? Would he even want to be friends with me anymore? If he didn't, could I blame him? How could anyone feel comfortable around someone...like me?

"Just one more time," he said.

I chewed on my nails until they hurt as he continued the test he'd been conducting for the past three minutes.

"Seriously?" Lola ground out between her teeth. "Have we not proved it to you yet?"

I winced at the harshness in her tone. I would have been softer with him if she wasn't here, but I guess if she wasn't, I never would have told him at all. The fact that I still couldn't catch the emotions swirling around in his head made me feel like I was going to be sick. All I could hear were the single word thoughts he forced into his mind. He was so focused on them, they blocked out everything else.

"Last one," Carter said. "I swear." He closed his eyes, placing his fingers on his temples as he thought.

"Lingonberry," Lola said. "Now, can we please focus!"

For the first time since I'd told him the truth, a grin spread across Carter's face.

"Okay, that's wild!" he exclaimed. He drummed his hands on the galactic-black granite countertop. "I can't believe you got it every time!"

I pushed my hair out of my eyes, turning my gaze up to look at him. Was he actually...excited about this? He thought it was neat?

"You two could be superheroes or something, you know?" he said. "This is seriously the coolest thing ever."

Even though my stomach was still tying knots inside of me, a smile tugged at the corners of my lips. I hadn't realized how tense keeping this secret from him was making me. Despite everything else on my mind, having it out in the open was...a relief.

"So, how did you figure out you both could do this if neither of you can hear each other's thoughts?" Carter asked.

"That's what we were trying to get to before we ended up in this tailspin of guess what fruit I'm thinking of," Lola said.

"Carter, what's the last thing you remember from last night?" I cut in before he could come up with another obscure berry to make us guess. Even though I was dreading telling him, it would be better to just get it over with. Rip the bandage off.

He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the counter as he pressed his chin to his hands. He took his thick-rimmed glasses off, staring at the smudges on the lenses as he thought aloud. "I don't know. I remember getting to the party. You made me that rum and cola that tasted like rubbing alcohol." He chuckled as he looked at me, putting his glasses back on. "Anyway, when you went over to hit on Lola, I started talking to a couple of girls from class. They wanted me to play some drinking game with them. It was actually really fun. Don't remember any of the rules, though." He paused, tapping his chin. "I'm not sure, I guess things got a bit hazy after that."