Page 57 - The Love Hypothesis

“However, there are some issues to consider. I won’t be able to

collaborate with you in any formal capacity. And I’m part of the program’s
awards committee, which means that I’ll have to excuse myself if you are
nominated for fellowships or similar opportunities.”

She nodded. “Fair enough.”
“And I absolutely cannot be part of your thesis committee.”

Olive huffed out a laugh. “That won’t be a problem. I wasn’t going to
ask you to be on my committee.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Why not? You study pancreatic cancer, right?”
“Yep. Early detection.”

“Then your work would benefit from the perspective of a computational
modeler.”
“Yeah, but there are other computational modelers in the department.

And I’d like to eventually graduate, ideally without sobbing in a bathroom
stall after each committee meeting.”

He glared at her.
Olive shrugged. “No offense. I’m a simple girl, with simple needs.”

To that, he lowered his gaze to his desk, but not before Olive could see
the corner of his mouth twitch. When he looked up again, his expression

was serious. “So, have you decided?”
She pressed her lips together as he watched her calmly. She took a deep
breath before saying, “Yes. Yes, I . . . I want to do it. It’s a good idea,

actually.”
For so many reasons. It would get Anh and Jeremy off her back, but

also . . . also everyone else. It was as if since the rumor had begun to
spread, people had been too intimidated by Olive to give her the usual shit.

The other TAs had quit trying to switch her nice 2:00 p.m. sections with
their horrifying 8:00 a.m. ones, her lab mates had stopped cutting in front of

her in the line for the microscope, and two different faculty members Olive
had been trying to get ahold of for weeks had finally deigned to answer her
emails. It felt a little unfair to exploit this huge misunderstanding, but

academia was a lawless land and Olive’s life in it had been nothing but
miserable for the past two years. She had learned to grab whatever she