The Love Hypothesis

Almost three years later, Olive is working late in the lab one night when she thinks she sees Anh Pham, her best friend, coming. In a moment of desperation to make Anh think Olive finally got a date, Olive kisses the first guy she sees, Dr. Adam Carlsen, who is known for being “a notoriously moody, obnoxious, terrifying dick” (11). In the few seconds before Olive realizes what she’s done, the kiss is quite nice, but she pulls away, mortified.

Adam demands an explanation. Olive fumbles around telling him about how Olive’s ex-boyfriend, Jeremy, and Anh hit it off at a party, but Anh won’t date him because it feels like betraying Olive. To take the pressure off Anh, Olive told her she has a boyfriend and that she’d be on a date tonight. When Olive saw Anh at the lab, she panicked and kissed Adam.

Olive apologizes profusely for her behavior, saying it was wrong to throw herself at him without consent, and runs away, not turning around when Adam calls after her. She goes back to her apartment and huddles on her bed, thinking about how terribly she messed up. All the while, she never realizes that “Dr. Adam Carlsen—known ass—had called her by her name” (17).

A few days after the kissing incident, Olive hopes Adam forgot all about what happened and that she’ll never run into him on campus again. She focuses on her research on non-invasive early detection for pancreatic cancer and is overjoyed when Dr. Tom Benton from Harvard emails her back about potentially using the lab there to complete her research. He’ll visit Stanford in two weeks, and she can pitch her research to him then.

On a break, Anh corners Olive in the coffee room. Anh saw Olive kissing Adam the other night and demands to know if Olive is dating him. Olive wants to say no, but the thought of Anh getting together with Jeremy and being happy stops her. Anh is the closest thing Olive has to family and lying about dating Adam is “the least Olive could do to ensure her friend’s happiness” (26).

Before Olive can answer, Adam arrives. He rests his hand on Olive’s back and asks if she’s okay in an intimate way that makes it sound like they’re a couple. A flustered Anh leaves, and Olive thanks Adam, who continues to be nice to her. He doesn’t understand why Olive lied to Anh but offers to keep up the deception by walking Olive to her car. Olive doesn’t have a car and declines, wanting to get away from the confusing emotions he makes her feel.

Later, Olive goes to a teaching assistant presentation, where people stare at her and treat her differently. Professors ask if she needs anything, and students who’ve never acknowledged her before want to chat. In the bathroom, she runs into Malcolm, her roommate, who can’t believe Olive didn’t tell him she was dating Adam, and suddenly, all the strange attention makes sense.

Olive goes to Adam’s lab to tell him what’s going on. While she freaks out, he remains completely relaxed. Olive wants to set the record straight until Adam points out that Anh might break things off with Jeremy if she realizes Olive isn’t really dating Adam. Adam suggests they let the school think they are dating, and Olive can’t find a reason not to.

Olive asks what Adam gets out of the arrangement. He says that Sanford considers him to be a flight risk—meaning the university is concerned he has plans to leave. Since he is unmarried and renting, he has no ties to the area, and as a result, they’ve frozen a third of his research funds so he can’t use them. With no other way to show he’s serious about staying, being in a relationship “would really help” (46). They agree to fake-date for both their benefits.

A few days later, Olive goes to Adam’s office to discuss the terms of their fake relationship. They agree that they will only be seen on campus together, they won’t date other people, they’ll end things on September 29 (the day after the budget committee’s last meeting), and they won’t have sex. The entire situation feels messy and complicated, and Olive consoles herself with the knowledge that “Anh was going to have her beautiful love story, and Olive wouldn’t have to wait for ages to use the electron microscope” (60).

In their apartment one night, Malcolm is making dinner and refuses to talk to Olive. He hates Adam because he made Malcolm throw out half his thesis data and practically start over. Olive explains the entire fake-dating situation, which finally calms Malcolm down. She also tells him about Tom Benton taking an interest in her research. Malcolm is overjoyed and proud of her and ends the discussion by saying “your mom would be so proud, too” (66).