Page 83 - The Love Hypothesis

Chapter Five

HYPOTHESIS: The more I need my brain to be on top of its game, the
higher the probability that it will freeze on me.

“Wait a minute.” Dr. Benton tilted his head. His smile was still in place, but
his gaze became a little sharper, his focus on Olive less superficial. “Do you
happen to be . . .”

Olive froze.
Her mind was never calm, or orderly—more like a garbled mess of

thoughts, really. And yet, standing there in front of Tom Benton, the inside
of her head went uncharacteristically quiet, and several considerations

stacked themselves neatly into place.
The first was that she was comically luckless. The chances that the

person she depended on to finish her beloved research project would be
acquainted—no, friends with the person she depended on to ensure her
beloved Anh’s romantic happiness were laughably low. And yet. Then

again, Olive’s special brand of luck was no news, so she moved on to the
next consideration.

She needed to admit who she was to Tom Benton. They were scheduled
to meet at 3:00 p.m., and pretending not to recognize him now would mean
the kiss of death to her plans to infiltrate herself into his lab. Academics had

huge egos, after all.
Last consideration: if she phrased this right, she could probably avoid

Dr. Benton hearing about the whole fake-dating mess. Adam hadn’t