The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
“Adam, I’m pretty sure that if we were to ask anyone todescribe you with one word, ‘brutal’ would come up one orten times.”She saw him stiffen before she was even done speaking,the line of his shoulders suddenly tense and rigid, his jaw tightand with a slight twitch to it. Her first instinct was toapologize, but she was not sure for what. There was nothingnew to what she’d just told him—they’d discussed his blunt,uncompromising mentoring style before, and he’d alwaystaken it in stride. Owned it, even. And yet his fists wereclenched on the table, and his eyes were darker than usual.“I . . . Adam, did I—” she stammered, but he interruptedher before she could continue.“Everyone has issues with their advisers,” he said, andthere was a finality to his tone that warned her not to finish hersentence. Not to ask What happened? Where did you just go?So she swallowed and nodded. “Dr. Aslan is . . .” Shehesitated. His knuckles were not quite as white anymore, andthe tension in his muscles was slowly dissolving. It waspossible that she’d imagined it. Yes, she must have. “She’sgreat. But sometimes I feel like she doesn’t really understandthat I need more . . .” Guidance. Support. Some practicaladvice, instead of blind encouragement. “I’m not even surewhat I need, myself. I think that might be part of the problem—I’m not very good at communicating it.”He nodded and appeared to choose his words carefully.“It’s hard, mentoring. No one teaches you how to do it. We’retrained to become scientists, but as professors, we’re also incharge of making sure that students learn to produce rigorousscience. I hold my grads accountable, and I set high standardsfor them. They’re scared of me, and that’s fine. The stakes arehigh, and if being scared means that they’re taking theirtraining seriously, then I’m okay with it.”
She tilted her head. “What do you mean?”“My job is to make sure that my adult graduate studentsdon’t become mediocre scientists. That means I’m the onewho’s tasked with demanding that they rerun their experimentsor adjust their hypotheses. It comes with the territory.”Olive had never been a people pleaser, but Adam’s attitudetoward others’ perception of him was so cavalier, it wasalmost fascinating. “Do you really not care?” she asked,curious. “That your grads might dislike you as a person?”“Nah. I don’t like them very much, either.” She thought ofJess and Alex and the other half a dozen grads and postdocsmentored by Adam whom she didn’t know very well. Thethought of him finding them as annoying as they found himdespotic made her chuckle. “To be fair, I don’t like people ingeneral.”“Right.” Don’t ask, Olive. Do not ask. “Do you like me?”A millisecond of hesitation as he pressed his lips together.“Nope. You’re a smart-ass with abysmal taste in beverages.”He traced the corner of his iPad, a small smile playing on hislips. “Send me your slides.”“My slides?”“For your talk. I’ll take a look at them.”Olive tried not to gape at him. “Oh—you . . . I’m not yourgrad. You don’t have to.”“I know.”“You really don’t have to—”“I want to,” he said, voice pitched low and even as helooked into her eyes, and Olive had to avert her gaze becausesomething felt too tight in her chest.“Okay.” She finally managed to snap out the loose threadon her sleeve. “How likely is it that your feedback will cause
- Page 181 and 182: you need to get over it. For scienc
- Page 183: Chapter TenHYPOTHESIS: If I fall in
- Page 188 and 189: the whole idea was idiotic and a ca
- Page 190 and 191: added begrudgingly, “he’s not n
- Page 192 and 193: noticeably different from the Adam
- Page 194 and 195: “Ol.”“How would that conversa
- Page 196 and 197: The lie rolled off her tongue like
- Page 198 and 199: It was all Olive could do not to le
- Page 200 and 201: Olive looked at Adam, expecting him
- Page 202 and 203: “Not sure. Not sure Holden knows,
- Page 204 and 205: She paused right in front of his ch
- Page 206 and 207: “We could, like, sleep in on Sund
- Page 208 and 209: Olive: Well, TSA is notoriously inc
- Page 210 and 211: “Adam being gone. Hell, even I mi
- Page 212 and 213: “But I could tell you so many jui
- Page 214 and 215: stricken and frantic. “I can’t.
- Page 216 and 217: crap her pants. “Right.” Olive
- Page 218 and 219: “Well.” He fidgeted with the ca
- Page 220 and 221: “You’re not mad, right?”“I
- Page 222 and 223: Possibilities. That’s what Adam
- Page 224 and 225: them. I do hate that I love them, t
- Page 226 and 227: Could room.With him.Olive knew full
- Page 228 and 229: She huffed, crossing her arms over
- Page 230 and 231: “No.” She winced.“Is it the p
- Page 234 and 235: me to cry under the shower?”“Th
- Page 236 and 237: to my professional career, general
- Page 238 and 239: “Hey.” Olive forced her face in
- Page 240 and 241: “What is it?”“Calories. To fu
- Page 242 and 243: She rolled her eyes. “For Dr. Asl
- Page 244 and 245: It didn’t go perfectly, either. S
- Page 246 and 247: friends, but maybe she could buy hi
- Page 248 and 249: “A pretty girl like you should kn
- Page 250 and 251: to spending more time with you next
- Page 252 and 253: “Nothing.” Her voice shook. It
- Page 254 and 255: “It’s not what they say. It’s
- Page 256 and 257: “And I keynote-spoke.” He grabb
- Page 258 and 259: “Um . . . I’m wearing heels, he
- Page 260 and 261: She moved closer to him and grasped
- Page 262 and 263: “It’s appalling.”“—or the
- Page 264 and 265: like having a thousand little splin
- Page 266 and 267: well on her way to wasted by that p
- Page 268 and 269: “An obscenity, isn’t it? It’s
- Page 270 and 271: “For a moment there, during the t
- Page 272 and 273: “The opposite of discipline and h
- Page 274 and 275: Adam shook his head. “He wanted a
- Page 276 and 277: all of it, maybe it was always goin
- Page 278 and 279: “Olive.” He sighed heavily, clo
- Page 280: It was a little embarrassing, the a
She tilted her head. “What do you mean?”
“My job is to make sure that my adult graduate students
don’t become mediocre scientists. That means I’m the one
who’s tasked with demanding that they rerun their experiments
or adjust their hypotheses. It comes with the territory.”
Olive had never been a people pleaser, but Adam’s attitude
toward others’ perception of him was so cavalier, it was
almost fascinating. “Do you really not care?” she asked,
curious. “That your grads might dislike you as a person?”
“Nah. I don’t like them very much, either.” She thought of
Jess and Alex and the other half a dozen grads and postdocs
mentored by Adam whom she didn’t know very well. The
thought of him finding them as annoying as they found him
despotic made her chuckle. “To be fair, I don’t like people in
general.”
“Right.” Don’t ask, Olive. Do not ask. “Do you like me?”
A millisecond of hesitation as he pressed his lips together.
“Nope. You’re a smart-ass with abysmal taste in beverages.”
He traced the corner of his iPad, a small smile playing on his
lips. “Send me your slides.”
“My slides?”
“For your talk. I’ll take a look at them.”
Olive tried not to gape at him. “Oh—you . . . I’m not your
grad. You don’t have to.”
“I know.”
“You really don’t have to—”
“I want to,” he said, voice pitched low and even as he
looked into her eyes, and Olive had to avert her gaze because
something felt too tight in her chest.
“Okay.” She finally managed to snap out the loose thread
on her sleeve. “How likely is it that your feedback will cause
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