Puckered Hearts

Chapter 24

•KAIA•

"Amy-" I called right before entering the room and stopped midsentence when I saw who was standing in our living room.

Her brother

He lazily tilted his head in my direction, and I paused at the doorway and stared at him with confusion before my gaze shifted to Amy who was also standing in front of him.

"What?" Amy asked curiously.

I slowly closed the door and walked past them, dropping my messenger bag on the couch.

"Nothing," I answered with a clipped tone. "I forgot what I wanted to say."

Her eyes glanced back and forth between me and Adrian, and then she smiled and slowly nodded in realization.

"He'll be out in a minute," Amy said before walking towards her room.

I sat on the couch and silently stared at my hands in front of me, trying not to look at him since he was only standing a couple of feet away.

The room suddenly feels small with him being here, almost taking up the whole space with his built body and tall height.

I have no idea why he's even here but something has definitely changed in the air whenever we're in the same room.

It almost feels too uncomfortable.

"Okay, I found it," Amy announced while walking back into the room, and handing a small black bag to Adrian.

"Please don't ever come to me whenever you're in need. You're an athlete, get your own first aid supplies." She said to him.

Adrian straightened up in his stance and pat the bag on Amy's head, earning a scowl from her.

"Why would I do that? When my sister keeps one for free and will never use it." He retorted with a smirk.

"It's for emergencies." She replied after rolling her eyes.

Then, she looked at me and smiled.

"Hey, how'd you get back to the room last night? I looked everywhere for you at the party but you were gone."

The memory from last night immediately replayed in my head and I suddenly found myself smiling.

"A stranger helped me back to the dorm. Can you believe it?"

Amy gave me a look as if I just spoke an alien language. I almost laughed at her expression and then caught Adrian glancing at me with an uninterested look on his face.

What is he still doing here anyway?

"Did you know who it was? What did he even look like? His name, at least?" Amy started pressing.

I leaned back against the couch and sighed.

Something about last night was weird yet it was quite interesting. Most guys would've probably taken advantage of a drunk girl during that situation, but the guy from last night....

It was kinda nice of him to go out of his way to help me

It's a shame I didn't get to find out who he was. I owe him a favor for keeping me safe last night and for bringing me back to my dorm room when I was in no capable position of doing it myself.

It was really sweet of him to do something like that for a girl he probably didn't know.

Oh, and that reminds me.

"I don't know who he was, but he definitely knows you."

"Me?" Amy asked in disbelief.

"Yeah. He asked about you when we first met. He somehow knew we went to the party together and then saw you were gone and came straight to me to ask for you."

Amy suddenly smiled before shrugging her shoulders.

"Probably someone I had hooked up with before."

Adrian suddenly made a disgusted sound and we both glanced at him.

"Anyway, what was he wearing?" Amy asked while turning back to me with a dreamy look in her eyes.

"Black, obviously."

"Yeah, I know that. But like anything specific that might give us a clue on who he was."

The face was fuzzy in my head but I do remember a specific detail that adds up to his whole mystery vibe.

"A mask?"

"A mask?" Amy repeated in confusion.

"Yeah, like a black cloth covering his face. It was um...a neck gaiter."

She chuckled before coming to sit by my side.

"Wow. Mystery guy took the whole mystery vibe way too seriously." She said.

"It was part of the outfit, genius." Adrian cuts in. "The memo was clearly to be dark and mysterious."

Amy and I shared a glance before looking up at him.

"How would you know?" Amy asked suspiciously.

He did a little shrug before heading towards the door.

"Coz I know the guy."

His answer took me by surprise and I quickly jumped up from my seat.

"You know who he is?" I asked and he paused by the doorway after opening the door.

He slowly turned back around and his eyes narrowed.

"Yeah, who cares?"

"We do!" Amy exclaimed while also standing up. "The guy helped bring her back to the dorm while she was drunk. We wanna know to at least thank him for that."

He scoffed while looking away to the side.

"It doesn't matter." He responded to Amy before glaring his eyes at me. "Just worry about your boyfriend who'll throw a fit if he finds out another guy had taken care of you after a party last night."

I frowned after hearing his words and took a couple of steps towards him.

"I don't have a boyfriend," I stated firmly and he raised his brows at me while looking at me from top to bottom.

"Is Callum Morris an experiment then?"

I scoffed at him while folding my arms together.

"I don't see how that's any of your concern," I answered sharply.

"It's not." He quickly shot back before smirking. "But you'd be doing me a favor if you were actually considering it."

I clenched my jaw and watched him leave the room and close the door behind him. I turned to Amy and threw my hands up in frustration.

"What is wrong with your brother?"

"Everything." She quickly answered with amusement written all over her face.

I dropped down on the couch and released a sigh.

"This is the first time I've heard about you and Callum Morris but you never mentioned anything about that to me." She said while joining me back on the couch.

I looked at her and smiled.

"It's nothing. We met at a bowling alley and he was interested in me."

I twisted the lie around a little bit so she wouldn't know about my plans. She'll only tell me it was stupid and not worth it, if I ever tell her the truth.

It was best to keep both siblings out of the loop so that things would run smoothly without causing any complications between us all.

Adrian might be onto me now but he'll never figure out the motive behind it all.

Not if he hears it from me first.

But only until everything is over and he's ready to apologize and willing to start over.