The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

Adam had with Holden was something else, and . . . and Olive
had no idea what to do with this piece of information.
Maybe she should tell Malcolm. He’d either have a field
day or go completely berserk.
“Well,” Holden said, standing up. “This was fantastic. I’ll
go get coffee, but we should hang out soon, the three of us. I
can’t remember the last time I had the pleasure of
embarrassing Adam in front of a girlfriend. For now, though,
he’s all yours.” He followed the word “yours” with a smirk
that had Olive blushing.
Adam rolled his eyes when Holden left for the coffee
counter. Fascinated, Olive followed him with her gaze for
several moments. “Um, that was . . . ?”
“Holden for you.” Adam seemed barely annoyed.
She nodded, still a little dazed. “I can’t believe I’m not
your first.”
“My first?”
“Your first fake date.”
“Right. I guess prom qualifies.” He seemed to mull it over.
“Holden has had some . . . bad luck with relationships.
Undeserved bad luck.”
It warmed her chest, the protective concern in his tone.
Made her wonder if he was even aware of it.
“Did he and Tom ever . . . ?”
He shook his head. “Holden would be outraged if he knew
you asked.”
“Why doesn’t he want to drive Tom to the airport, then?”
Adam shrugged. “Holden has always had a very deep, very
irrational dislike of Tom, ever since grad school.”
“Oh. Why?”