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“You going back to play?”
Adam shook his head, “No, I’m going to hang out with Olive.”
Tom shrugged, “Suit yourself.” then went running back to the game calling out, “Loverboy’s out.” which was met with a chorus of laughs.
Olive knew she was turning bright red and noticed Adam had turned a little pink. She bit her lip, “You can go play. You don’t have to stay with me.”
He shook his head, “How would that look if as soon as my girlfriend got done applying sunscreen, I left her alone for the rest of the picnic?”
If possible, that made her turn even redder.
“Have you eaten?”
She shook her head, “No, we just got here. Although, I doubt there’s much food left at this point. We did run pretty late.”
He was smiling at her, “And the picnic goes for a few more hours. If they’ve already run out of food, they planned poorly.” Then to her surprise, he snagged her hand, “C’mon, let’s get you some food.” She hesitated, looking at where their hands were joined. He leaned down and whispered, “For the department chair.”
Of course.
Of course.
She’d momentarily forgotten that it was all a charade. For the briefest moment, it had all felt a little too real. She nodded and let him lead her over to the food. He dropped her hand once she was there, and said, “I’ll be right back.”
She began to fill a plate, and by the time she reached the end of the table, Adam had returned with a shirt on. She felt a combination of disappointment and relief that his chest was no longer on display, but even in a t-shirt, he was still ridiculously handsome. He had a blanket over one arm, and asked, “Where do you want to sit?”
She glanced around, “I was going to head back to my friends.”
“Lead the way.”
This is going to be so awkward. They reached her friends, and Adam set up the blanket so he could use a tree as back support. Olive sat halfway between him and her friends, but she wasn’t surprised when they all started coming up with reasons they needed to be elsewhere.
Anh and Jeremy disappeared first, claiming that they wanted to walk off all the food they’d just eaten. Malcolm made an effort to stick around, but then Neuro Jude demanded his attention and he took off. That left Olive alone with Adam.
“They’re very subtle.” Adam mused as he watched Malcolm run after Jude.
She rolled her eyes, “The subtlest.”
“Maybe this wasn’t a good idea.”
She shrugged, “Maybe. Then again, we are trying to convince a lot of people that there’s something non-platonic going on here.”
He yawned then he shook himself, “Sorry, it’s warm and I was up all night.”
“It’s okay. Why were you up?”
“Have a grant I’m working on. I probably won’t get much sleep this week. It’s due this weekend.” He hesitated, “D’you mind if I lay down?”
“Go for it.” She watched as he stretched out on the blanket. She smiled to herself as she realized that despite his size, he was very cat-like in his movements. It was adorable. Her stomach suddenly clenched, Why does he have to be so adorable and nice and…and… She may have accused him of being ‘unapproachable and antagonistic’, but as she looked at him it occurred to her that he’d mostly not been either of those things with her. He really was tired, though, because no sooner had he stretched out than his eyes started to close and soon his breathing grew deep and steady.
She was torn. Part of her wanted to get up and go literally anywhere else. But her friends were all busy, and she didn’t relish the idea of trying to make small talk with other people. The other part of her was thinking that laying down for a nap wasn’t the worst idea in the world. People already thought they were dating, they wouldn’t think anything of it if they witnessed Olive napping beside Adam. They didn’t have to touch, and it wasn’t sex. It was just a nap. Nothing unusual about that.
The nap won out. Maybe it was a bit forward of her. She curled up next to Adam, not close enough that they were touching, but close enough that it appeared they were together. It didn’t take her long to drift off. She was exhausted from all the extra work that she’d been putting into getting the report ready for Tom.
When she woke up, she had the startling realization that arms were around her, she was resting her head on Adam’s chest and her arm was stretched across his abdomen. She froze, unsure what to do or what had happened. “Has anyone ever told you that you move around a lot in your sleep?” came Adam’s sleepy voice.
She let her eyes travel up to meet his and to her relief, she saw his eyes were crinkled and he was smiling. She knew she was blushing again, “Sorry, a nap sounded really nice.” I should move, but I really don’t want to.
If Adam was bothered by the cuddling, he made no sign of it, instead, he told her, “No need to be sorry. Apparently, we’re both exhausted.”
She giggled drowsily, “I may fall back asleep.”
As her eyes closed again, she felt, more than heard, him chuckle as he replied, “Same.”
The next time she woke up, she was back in the car. She blinked, confused, and looked over at Anh, “What happened?”
Anh was giving her such a knowing grin, “Looks like Sleeping Beauty finally woke up.”
“Huh?”
Anh continued giving her that grin, “Oh my god, Ol, it was the cutest thing ever!”
“What was?” Olive was trying to figure out what had happened since she’d gone back to sleep.
“You guys fell asleep together. It was just the most pure, innocent, adorable thing ever!” Anh gushed.
Jeremy and Malcolm were nodding their heads, and Olive glanced around the car, “But how did I…?”
“Of course, Carlsen would make the rest of us boyfriends look clumsy and uncharming. I’ll admit, Olive, I didn’t get what you see in him. But then he carried you to the car and I think I get it now.” Jeremy added.
“He carried me to the car?”
Anh nodded enthusiastically, “You were really out of it. We tried to wake you up, but you just clung to him. God, you two are so cute is nauseating.” Then she laughed at Olive’s stricken look, “Sweetie, it’s fine. It’s good. He was so gentle with you. I agree with Jeremy, I didn’t get it, but now I kinda do. You two are so in love with each other, it’s adorable. I'm really happy for you.”
Olive’s head was swimming. Adam had let her nap with him, and then he’d carried her to the car. Something inside her went warm and gooey as she thought about it, and it wasn’t until they dropped Anh and Jeremy off that Malcolm pulled her back to reality. She moved to the front seat as their friends got out. Once the car doors closed, Malcolm pulled away and asked, “You still gonna tell me this is fake?”
She leaned her head against the window, “I don’t know.”
He reached over and squeezed her shoulder, “I didn’t ever think I’d say this about Carlsen, but Anh and Jeremy are right, he’s really good with you. I didn’t know he could be like that with anyone.”
She was quiet. The word ‘love’ was running through her head. She wasn’t in love with him, right? She really liked spending time with him. Even when he was in a mood, she really liked being with him. Sitting with him at the presentation had been pleasant. Okay, it had been more than pleasant. Leaving his lap had been the last thing she’d wanted to do. And she was realizing that the nap they’d shared had been the best sleep she’d had in forever.
“My kalamata?”
She shook herself and glanced at him, “Anh thinks we’re in love.”
He nodded, “If I didn’t know any better I’d say she’s right.” He glanced over at her as he came to a stop at the stoplight, “Would it really be such a bad thing? I know you said it’s all fake, but you guys are kind of perfect together.” The light changed and he started driving again.
“But you hate him.”
Malcolm shrugged, “Okay, so he’s not my favorite person. But, if he’s good to you, that bumps him up a bit from hate to dislike.”
Olive laughed, then sighed, “Doesn’t matter. It’ll all be over on September 29th.”