Page 209 - The Love Hypothesis

whenever Olive happened to look in their direction. Tom alternated between

staring intensely at her and checking his phone with a bored expression—
fair, since he’d already read her report. The session was running late, and
the moderator ended up giving her time for only one question—an easy one.

At the end, two of the other panelists—well-known cancer researchers
whom Olive had to restrain herself not to fangirl over—shook her hand and

asked her several questions about her work. She was simultaneously
flustered and overjoyed.

“You were so amazing,” Anh told her when it was over, pushing up to
hug her. “Also, you look hot and professional, and while you were talking, I

had a vision of your future in academia.”
Olive wrapped her arms around Anh. “What vision?”
“You were a high-powered researcher, surrounded by students who hung

on your every word. And you were answering a multiparagraph email with
an uncapitalized no.”

“Nice. Was I happy?”
“Of course not.” Anh snorted. “It’s academia.”

“Ladies, the department social starts in half an hour.” Malcolm leaned in
to kiss Olive on the cheek and squeeze her waist. When she was wearing

heels, he was just a tiny bit shorter than her. She definitely wanted a picture
of the two of them side by side. “We should go celebrate the single time
Olive managed to pronounce ‘channelrhodopsin’ right with some free

booze.”
“You dick.”

He pulled her in for a tight hug and whispered in her ear, “You did
amazing, Kalamata.” And then, louder: “Let’s go get wasted!”

“Why don’t you guys go ahead? I’ll get my USB and put my stuff back
in the hotel.”

Olive made her way through the now-empty room to the podium, feeling
like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She was relaxed and
relieved. Professionally, things were starting to look up: as it turned out,

with adequate preparation she could actually string together several
coherent sentences in front of other scientists. She also had the means to