This isn't awkward at all.

So... I have this habit. Something I'm not too proud to admit, but if someone can admit they have a problem with biting their nails, then I can admit to this addiction. I have this habit of chewing on the inside of my lips and cheeks. It's not necessarily like chewing gum, nothing too drastic that will cause bleeding. It's more like constant nipping at the very top layer of my skin. I'll nip small bits off and pretty soon, a good thin layer is missing from my skin. Sometimes a weird layer of skin will form underneath my tongue. Not on my tongue, but the area underneath it. I'll use my tongue to get into that crevice and scrap all that skin out. I've gotten so skilled at it that I know just the right about of skin to sever off so I don't bleed. Occasionally, I do go too far where it starts to hurt, but I never ever draw blood. I'm creating this wound, this cut, on the inside of my lip. Naturally, the next day, due to my awesome healing powers, it's somewhat patched over with a new thin layer of skin. And what do I do? Yup, you guessed it. Chew that off too.

I have no idea where this habit came from or why I do it. I guess it's just something to occupy my brain as I go through the day. It's probably some form of OCD manifesting itself in disguise of a habit, cause when I start to chew at my lip, I gotta make sure I get every little piece. For my lips and cheeks, I'll stop chewing when it feels all "smoothed" out. For my tongue, I don't stop until I scrape every little piece out. In order to do this, I find myself jamming my thumb into the side of my mouth to get a better angle to chew. It's quite unsightly. I know a few of you have seen me do this and have questioned what the hell was wrong with me. I often look like I'm spacing out when I do this. Now you know it's just my mind focusing too hard on trying to get that last bit of skin off. There's really nothing going on in there.

As I mentioned, I do this to occupy my mind, which means I'm almost always doing it during lectures. In my Intro to Architecture lecture, I was intensely engrossed in licking out that layer of skin underneath my tongue that I didn't even notice that this guy was staring at me from couple seats over. Here i am with my fingers all poking at my mouth trying to chew my skin, and this guy is staring at me. It left me feeling quite vulnerable, but instead of ignoring his gaze, I match it, locking eyes with him. And that's when we both knew that the game had started.

Our eyes were locked in a deadly battle, where the loser bore shame and the victor had really watery red eyes. I swear a minute had passed both of us refused to budge. Most epic staring contest ever.

I was victorious.