The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

put on a ton. Thanks, babe.” He leaned down for a brief kiss to
Anh’s cheek, which almost devolved into a make-out session.
Olive tried not to sigh. “Guys, what do I do with this?”
“Just find someone else. Where did Malcolm go?”
Jeremy snorted. “Over there, with Jude.”
“Jude?” Anh frowned.
“Yeah, that neuro fifth-year.”
“The MD-Ph.D.? Are they dating or—”
“Guys.” It took Olive all she had not to yell. “I have no
mobility. Please, fix this sunscreen mess you created.”
“God, Ol.” Anh rolled her eyes. “You’re so dramatic
sometimes. Hang on—” She waved at someone behind Olive,
and when she spoke, her voice was much louder. “Hey, Dr.
Carlsen! Have you put on sunscreen yet?”
In the span of a microsecond Olive’s entire brain burst into
flames—and then crumbled into a pile of ashes. Just like that,
one hundred billion neurons, one thousand billion glial cells,
and who knew how many milliliters of cerebrospinal fluid, just
ceased to exist. The rest of her body was not doing very well,
either, since Olive could feel all her organs shut down in real
time. From the very beginning of her acquaintance with Adam
there had been about ten instances of Olive wishing to drop
dead on the spot, for the earth to open and swallow her whole,
for a cataclysm to hit and spare her from the embarrassment of
their interactions. This time, though, it felt as though the end
of the world might happen for real.
Don’t turn around, what’s left of her central nervous
system told her. Pretend you didn’t hear Anh. Will this into
nonexistence. But it was impossible. There was this triangle of
sorts, formed by Olive, and Anh in front of her, and Adam
probably—surely—standing behind her; it wasn’t as if Olive