Page 66 - The Love Hypothesis

know nothing about him. Except that he’s willing to help me handle this

situation, and I jumped at the chance.”
Malcolm was making that face, the one he reserved for people who wore
sandals paired with white socks. He could be a little scary, she had to admit.

“This is . . . wow.” There was a vein pulsating on his forehead. “Ol, this
is breathtakingly stupid.”

“Maybe.” Yes. Yes, it was. “But it is what it is. And you have to support
me in my idiocy, because you and Anh are my best friends.”

“Isn’t Carlsen your best friend now?”
“Come on, Malcolm. He’s an ass. But he’s actually been pretty nice to

me, and—”
“I’m not even—” He grimaced. “I’m not going to address this.”
She sighed. “Okay. Don’t address this. You don’t have to. But can you

just not hate me? Please? I know he’s been a nightmare to half the grads in
the program, you included. But he’s helping me out. You and Anh are the

only ones I care about knowing the truth. But I can’t tell Anh—”
“—for obvious reasons.”

“—for obvious reasons,” she finished at the same time, and smiled. He
just shook his head disapprovingly, but his expression had softened.

“Ol. You’re amazing. And kind, way too kind. You should find someone
better than Carlsen. Someone to date for real.”
“Yeah, right.” She rolled her eyes. “Because it went so well with Jeremy.

Who, by the way, I only agreed to date following your advice! ‘Give the
boy a chance,’ you said. ‘What could possibly go wrong?’ you said.”

Malcolm glared, and she laughed.
“Listen, I’m clearly bad at real dating. Maybe fake dating will be

different. Maybe I’ve found my niche.”
He sighed. “Does it have to be Carlsen? There are better faculty

members to fake-date.”
“Like who?”
“I don’t know. Dr. McCoy?”

“Didn’t her wife just give birth to triplets?”