The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

“Adam being gone. Hell, even I miss that little shit.” He
chuckled. “How are you holding up?”
“Oh.” She took her hands out of her pockets, crossed her
arms in front of her chest, and then changed her mind and
dropped them woodenly by her sides. Yep. Perfect. Acting
natural. “Fine. Good. Busy.”
Holden looked genuinely relieved. “Great. Have you guys
been talking on the phone?”
No. Of course not. Talking on the phone is the hardest,
most stressful thing in the world, and I can’t do it with the nice
lady who schedules my dental cleanings, let alone with Adam
Carlsen. “Ah, mostly texting, you know?”
“Yeah, I do know. However buttoned-up and sulky Adam is
with you, please know that he’s making an effort and he’s a
million times worse with everyone else. Me included.” He
sighed and shook his head, but there was a fondness behind it.
An easy affection that Olive couldn’t miss. My oldest friend,
he’d said about Adam, and clearly he hadn’t been lying. “He’s
actually gotten a lot better, since you guys started dating.”
Olive felt on the verge of a full-body cringe. Unsure of
what to say, she settled for a simple, painful, awkward:
“Really?”
Holden nodded. “Yep. I’m so glad he finally scrounged up
the courage to ask you out. He’d been going on and on about
this ‘amazing girl’ for years, but he was concerned about being
in the same department, and you know how he is . . .” He
shrugged and waved his hand. “I’m glad he finally managed to
pull his head out of his ass.”
Olive’s brain stuttered. Her neurons went sluggish and
cold, and it took her several seconds to process that Adam had
been wanting to ask her out for years. She couldn’t wrap her
head around it, because . . . it was not possible. It didn’t make
sense. Adam didn’t even remember Olive existed before she’d