Puckered Hearts

Chapter 23

•ADRIAN•

I could see their lips moving, yet the words barely registered in my head. The lecture had started almost an hour ago, yet, I couldn't seem to focus on anything that was happening in front of me.

I kept readjusting in my seat, I ended up annoying the student sitting next to me. I just couldn't find the concentration to listen to what the guest professor was saying.

Professor McKinley was the guest for our special lecture today. The dude was like a famous writer and professor from Harvard, that had been invited to give us a special lecture today for the students doing English courses.

I happened to be one of the unfortunate bunch to sit through the whole thing for three hours straight.

Yet, for the past hour and a half, nothing has ever gone through my head. All I could think about was what happened last night.

I get that she was drunk last night but what the fuck had possessed her to kiss me on the face?

Did she really not recognize me or was she pretending not to?

One has to be a reasonable explanation. I'm agonizing over here like hell because I've been trying to wrap my head around the situation since last night.

Five people had easily recognized me from the party and I didn't even have to show my face for them to confirm it was me. Besides, I didn't think I was that covered up with the neck gaiter and all.

It was just part of the outfit but anyone could still tell it was me underneath all that shit. So, how the fuck did she not recognize me at all?

Was the alcohol that bad that it messed up her brain? Because I know for a fact that drunk or not, Kaia Lilian wouldn't pull off something like that.

The girl hates me already, so why would she kiss me? Was that normal? Does she usually go around kissing strangers after they do something good for her, like taking care of her drunk ass after a party and bringing her back to her dorm room safely?

Fuck, this is messing up my head

I need to get a fucking grip. It was just a kiss, right? It wasn't even on the lips, so why the fuck am I overthinking about this shit?

Dammit!

I closed my eyes for a few brief seconds before opening them again and looking straight down at Professor McKinley standing on the stage below.

I blocked out the thoughts of Kaia and sat up straight, to force myself to concentrate on the lecture he was on about.

But everything suddenly stopped when a shadow passed by my peripheral vision. I looked to the side and saw her walking down the aisle, looking for a seat.

My heart skipped a beat like I just saw fucking ghost. I propped my arm on the armrest and slowly leaned back against my seat while watching her.

She shuffled through the third row below me and sat on an empty seat right between two others sitting in that row.

I leaned my face towards my closed fist and something stirred within me as I took in her appearance for the first time.

The fact that she looked like she rushed to get here, was amusing but, with her hair still wet and falling around her face in a hot curly mess, and the top two buttons of her shirt still opened

Fuck me.....

Every self-respect I had in my body immediately vanished. I usually do not fold this easily just by looking at a girl, let alone someone I hate, but something about the way she looked this morning, got me edging.

I grind my jaw before looking away, trying to stay focused on what Professor McKinley was saying, but my eyes kept wandering back to her.

I couldn't help myself. Especially when I suddenly remembered again that she had kissed me on the cheek last night.

It doesn't mean anything. I wouldn't put much meaning behind that kiss but I'm actually wondering if she had done it to mess with me or was it actually genuine after thanking me for bringing her back to the dorm.

Whichever reason, I'll figure it out later. What bothers me most, was the fact that she was talking to Callum fucking Morris the other day.

I wanna know how that had happened because whatever the fuck was going on there, does not sit right with me at all.

So she better have a good explanation for that one.