Page 169 - The Love Hypothesis

need to stop our arrangement early, because I can’t tell him that I like him.

Because I—”
“Dude.” A hand clapped on Adam’s shoulder. “Since when are you not
in your offi— Oh. I see.” Dr. Rodrigues’s gaze slid from Adam to Olive and

settled on her. For a second, he just stood by the table and took her in,
surprised to find her there. Then his mouth widened into a slow grin. “Hey,

Olive.”
During Olive’s first year of grad school, Dr. Rodrigues had been on her

preassigned graduate advisory committee—an admittedly odd choice, given
his relative lack of relevance to her research. And yet, Olive had mostly

pleasant memories of her interactions with him. When she’d stammered her
way through her committee meetings, he’d always been the first to smile at
her, and once he’d even complimented her Star Wars T-shirt—and then

proceeded to hum the Darth Vader theme under his breath every time Dr.
Moss would start one of her rants against Olive’s methods.

“Hey, Dr. Rodrigues.” She was positive that her smile was not nearly as
convincing as it should have been. “How are you?”

He waved a hand. “Pssh. Please, call me Holden. You’re not my student
anymore.” He patted Adam on the back with relish. “And you have the very

dubious pleasure of dating my oldest, most socially impaired friend.”
It was all Olive could do not to let her jaw drop. They were friends?
Charming, devil-may-care Holden Rodrigues and surly, taciturn Adam

Carlsen were old friends? Was this something she was supposed to know?
Adam’s girlfriend would have known, right?

Dr. Rodrigues—Holden? God, Holden. She was never going to get used
to the fact that professors were real people and had first names—turned to

Adam, who appeared untroubled by having been decreed socially impaired.
He asked, “You’re leaving for Boston tonight, right?” and his speech

pattern changed a little—pitched lower and faster, more casual.
Comfortable. They really were old friends.
“Yeah. Can you still give Tom and me a ride to the airport?”

“Depends.”
“On what?”