>>6032949You swallow your mouthful of Burrito and look at Hawthorne.
"Sir, have you ever.." You let the sentence drift off and shake your head. "Nevermind."
"Speak your mind, Rook." He says, his eyes focused on his phone screen.
"It's a stupid question."
He clicks his phone and lets it fall to the table, leaning back in his seat he interlocks his fingers.
"Well now you have me curious. Ask away, that's an order."
Shit.
"Have you ever... Hm. Do you know anyone who's ever done Zumba?"
"What?"
"It was a stupid question, sir. I-"
He holds up a hand.
"What the hell are you asking me about Zumba for?"
You feel your cheeks go a light pink.
"It's just the music in here. It reminded me of Zumba is all.."
"You're still on Zumba? I mean you eat like a garbage truck but you don't look too out of shape to me. Must work." He replies with a grin and a chuckle.
"Not me!" You quickly defend yourself. "It was Nia, I just like had a slip into a memory you know?"
"Ahh. Super-Ex." He says gently with a nod. "Suzanne was into that kind of thing too."
"Yeah?"
"Oh yeah, she loved to dance always had. I was out there working my beat and doing boxing on weekends. Said I made her feel lazy." He lets our a dry laugh laced with nostalgic longing. "She picked it up so we could 'stay fit together' which was a riot. She was a buck twenty soaking wet."
"Nia got into it just because of the trend you know? It was a big thing, everyone was doing it. Pretty sure my dad even got my mom some DVD's for her birthday."
Hawthorne hisses.
"Yeah it was taken.. poorly. She still ended up doing it for a while though. It was pretty fun."
"It was pretty fun?" Hawthorne asks, his eyes narrowing.
"I mean. From what I saw."
"Uh-huh. Everyone was doing it you said?"
"Just a figure of speech.." You mumble feeling the red travel to your ears.
You chance a glance up and regret it. Hawthorne's steely eyes bore holes into you and you swallow nervously. He maintains the pressure and leans ever so slightly closer, his eyebrow arching.
"It was only once! Nia asked me too, I did it one time, okay!?"
Your head dips and you sigh. A light tapping comforts you as he pats your back.
"It's okay, Rook. Every man in love has done something like that."
"Every man, you say?"
"Jazzercise." He replies simply. You bite your inner cheek, the image in your mind setting you into a a twitching fit. Eventually you can't help yourself.
"Did you have leg warmers? Or were you more a GoGo Boot guy, sir?"
He sets his silverware down and gives you a death glare. (Pic Rel)
"I'm gonna pretend you never said that. For your benefit."
"Yes, sir." You reply meekly still wearing the shadow of a grin.
