Page 99 - The Love Hypothesis

“I think so. I’m not exactly a convincing liar, and sometimes I worry that

Anh might get suspicious. But I walked in on her and Jeremy making out in
the grad lounge the other day.”
They fell quiet and listened to the last few minutes of the talk in silence.

In front of them, Olive could see at least two professors taking a nap, and
several surreptitiously working on their laptops. Next to Adam, Dr.

Rodrigues had been playing Candy Crush on his phone for the past half an
hour. Some people had left, and Anh had found a seat about ten minutes

ago. So had several of the students who had been next to Olive, which
meant that she could have technically stood up and left Adam alone.

Technically. Technically, there was an open chair somewhere in the third-to-
last row. Technically.
Instead she brought her lips to Adam’s ear once more and whispered,

“It’s working out well for me, I have to say. This whole fake-dating thing.”
More than well. Better than she ever thought it would.

Adam blinked once and then nodded. Maybe his arm tensed a little
around her. Maybe it didn’t, and Olive’s mind was playing tricks on her. It

was starting to get late, after all. Her last coffee had been too long ago, and
she wasn’t fully awake, her thoughts fuzzy and relaxed.

“What about you?”
“Mmm?” Adam wasn’t looking at her.
“Is it working for you?” It came out a little needy. Olive told herself that

it was only because of how low she had to pitch her voice. “Or do you
maybe want to fake–break up early?”

He didn’t reply for a second. Then, just as Dr. Moss took the mic to
thank Tom and ask the audience for questions, she heard him say, “No. I

don’t want to fake–break up.”
He really did smell good. And he was funny in a weird, deadpan way,

and yes, a known ass, but friendly enough to her that she could sort of
ignore that about him. Plus, he was spending a small fortune on sugar for
her. Truly, she had nothing to complain about.

Olive settled herself more comfortably and turned her attention back to
the podium.