Crazy = Genius

Chapter 52: 21 Questions

'I'm becoming what I've hated but your talk is so inviting'

"What is this, Vendetta? 21 Questions?" She laughed, her eyes focused on playing with the baby who was attention-hungry.

"No, I mean, yes, kinda." He stuttered out, not sure if his questioning had annoyed her or if she was testing him.

"Reminiscing about our sessions in prison, are we?" She smirked, bringing up their first session when he had only agreed to meet on the terms that he too got to ask her questions.

"No, I just want to know more about you. I feel like I only know what's on the surface." He shrugged honestly. Her face faltered at his words. He was actually doing something normal.

"Okay, as out of character as that is for you, I'll go with it." She released the tension from her shoulders and turned in her seat to face him, shifting Rochelle around to stare at him as some kind of child intimidation method and a reminder to keep the conversation PG.

"Ask me something!" He repeated with excitement, his enthusiasm taking her by further surprise.

"What is your favourite ice cream flavour?" She asked casually, not sure of what questions to toss at him.

"Butter Pecan but if it's gelato then Bacio. My mother insisted we eat gelato in our household because that's what proper Italians would do." He explained with a chuckle. "Then I had regular American ice cream and wondered why my mother had kept me from trying it for so long."

"I like chocolate. I remember my dad came home one day from the grocery store and he was so excited because he found dairy-free ice cream. It was coconut-based and it came in only two flavours, coconut or dark chocolate. I must have eaten a pint a week of that stuff. I only ever ate different flavours until I was in university and then cookie dough became my favourite." She answered her own question.

"I remember you saying that in Tollsada." Terrence smiled, recalling all of the questions he had asked her months before. It seemed likes ages ago at that moment. 

"I'm surprised you remember that. It wasn't exactly an important fact to know about me." Lilianna shrugged. 

"Everything about you is worth knowing, kitten," Terrence muttered, their eyes locking in a heated stare before Lilianna turned away from him and looked back at a very calm Rochelle. She seemed just as invested in their conversation as the two adults were. 

"What was your least favourite school subject?" He asked, knowing she was good at every class either way.

She groaned, her head tilting back as she recalled her accelerated classroom experiences. "Gym class."

"Why?" He held back his grin as he knew her reason was probably ridiculously stupid.

"I'm a nerd, Terrence. Our cliche is that we hate sports." She laughed. "It's not like we ever took a class to go figure skating anyway, that was the one thing I was good at. No, my teacher just wanted me to play soccer as my life depended on it. Jokes on her, I got into Stanford without a single PE credit. Who needs brawns when you have brains!" 

"I loved gym class! Absolutely hated math class though and for the same reason anyone would hate math, I wasn't good at it." He answered simply making her scrunch her nose in response.

"Of course, you just had to be a normal student!"

"I wasn't good at most of the stuff in school except English and PE. Everything else I just failed miserably." He nodded.

"What's your favourite movie, you know mine." She asked, her mind pulling up the memory of him rapid-firing questions at her in their past sessions.