Archive of Our Own

“It’s just, you’re so amazing. And special. And honestly, my favorite person in the whole world. But sometimes I get worried that no one but Malcolm and me will ever get to experience how incredible you are. Well, until now. Now I’m not worried anymore, because I’ve seen you and Adam together, at the picnic. And in the parking lot. And that picture you sent me! You’re both crazy in love, and over the moon about it. It’s cute!” Anh says.

“Except that first night,” she added pensively, “I maintain that was pretty awkward.“

Olive stiffened. “Anh, we’re casual. We’re just dating.”

“Olive, I love you, but if you can’t see how in love, you two are, then maybe you should take a look at that lock screen of yours, one more time.”

Anh leaves and now Olive is alone in her lab. Olive sits on her stool heavily and one word is running through her mind, over, and over.

Shit.

Olive will not deny that her feelings for Adam are stronger than she thought she could ever feel for anyone. There’s this invisible pull between the two of them that Olive wishes she could study under a microscope and run tests on.

The thought of September Twenty-Ninth coming and going makes Olive sick to her stomach. Olive clicks the power button on her phone and stares at her lock screen. There are a million excuses Adam could have, about kissing her forehead, but Olive’s traitorous mind tells her he could have done it because he wanted to.

If Adam is the Bathroom guy like Olive thinks he is, then the pull that she feels is understandable. The second Bathroom guy left, Olive had wanted to blindly follow him and just talk. He’d changed her life and if that guy really is Adam, then. . .

She needs just a little more evidence. She had a hypothesis, and she’s gathered some evidence, but it isn’t enough, and she can’t gather any more on her own. It’s time to pull in the big guns. She’d brought this all on herself and it’s time to prove some shit.

The first question is, what besides Adam’s possibility of being the Bathroom Guy, pulled her to him?

That’s an easy enough question she thinks. Adam was different and she couldn’t stop finding out more about him until it was too late, and she’d tripped and fallen.

Olive stands quickly and sends a quick text to Malcolm asking if he’s free that night. She pushes through her lab doors and speed walks to Anh’s lab, where Olive knows she’s working at the moment.

Her phone pings right before she enters Anh’s lab, and she glances at it to make sure Malcolm’s answer was affirmative. It is.

Olive pushes the door open and notices two others - besides Anh - in the lab. She ignores them and walks over to Anh, who is engrossed in her work.

Olive waits for Anh to look up before she moves into her line of sight.

“Oh, did I leave something in your lab?”

“No, I was just wondering if you were free tonight?” Olive asks.

Anh takes a moment to think and then nods her head.

“I’m free after nine. Why?”

Olive takes a second to collect her thoughts.

“If you’re positive that Adam is in love with me, then you should be able to capture the moment with a picture. Tonight, I’m going to invite Adam out for drinks, and I want you and Malcolm to try and prove it to me.”

Anh smiles and nods her head enthusiastically.

“It’s cool if I invite Jeremy, right?” Anh asks, almost jumping for joy at this point.

“Yeah of course, maybe I’ll convince Holden to join us, and we can make it a triple date,” Olive says, a plan forming in her head.

“Look at you, being a good roommate, getting Malcolm some dick,” Anh winks and Olive laughs.

With Anh and Malcolm as her best friends, she got used to crude jokes and double meanings. She’s not proud to say she’s become the same way, but it makes their infrequent nights out, very memorable.

“I’ll text you the details, I need to get going, or else I’ll be late for my coffee date with Adam.”

Olive turns away and starts leaving, happy with her decision to clear things up.

“It’s no wonder he’s in love with you when you have an ass like that,” Anh calls from behind her.

Olive hears the other graduates in the lab choke and Olive has a hard time suppressing her own snort. Anh just has this way of making Olive love her more and more.

Olive prays she never needs to be deported, but marrying Anh doesn’t seem like a bad solution to that dilemma at the moment.

Olive shuts the lab door and pulls Malcolm’s number up and presses call. It rings for all of a second before he answers.

“Olive, are you being possessed, or are you planning a night out?”

“Anh said some things, well actually a lot of things and to sum it all up, I’m like, for real, for real, in love with Adam, and it kind of sucks because I pulled this huge fake dating stunt on him, and he definitely doesn’t like me back. But Anh tried to convince me otherwise and she mentioned that one picture – you know the one – and so I came up with the idea to invite everyone out for drinks and I basically told Anh to prove that Adam likes me back by taking a picture that would prove it.”

“Uh.”

Olive chuckles nervously as she exits the biology building. She’s definitely going to be late for her Fake Dating Wednesday.

“Was that too much to drop on you at once?”

“Well, you did just admit you love Dr. Ass Carlson, the nightmare of the biology department, the MacArthur Fellow.  That’s quite the pill to swallow.”

“Yeah, well imagine trying to swallow that pill when you’re in my situation!”

“So, I’m definitely in, but even if we do get a picture that convinces you he likes you back, are you going to tell him?”

Olive sighs. That’s a question she’d avoided answering for herself.

“I don’t know. I mean, I almost want to wait until September twenty-ninth because I’m selfish and want to spend as much time with him as I possibly can, but I feel like waiting that long, dooms my chances. Something will come up or go wrong, and it all just seems impossible.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I’m almost positive that man wants to pick you up and throw you down on the closest flat surface.”

Olive would usually laugh and deny him, but even before she loved Adam, she would have actually thought about having sex with the guy. He’s gorgeous and he has dimples. She wouldn’t mind knowing Adam wants sex with her, but she wants him to love her.

“That’s great, but I don’t just want sex with him. I want all of it. I want him to look at me with lust and love in his eyes.”

“Well, Anh would know more about the looks of love. I’ve never had that kind of love directed at me so I’m of no help there.”

And, that makes Olive laugh. A small, sad, pitiful laugh.

“Yeah, me either. Maybe that’s why it seems so impossible.”

“We’re perfect for each other, eh? Olive, if the U.S ever wants to deport you, I’ll marry you. I’d kick Anh’s ass answering the government's questions. I’ve watched The Proposal at least six times.”  

“Well, maybe we can get you that look of love because I’m planning on inviting Holden for drinks.”

“Damn, did I mention I love you?”

Olive laughs and glances inside the Starbucks window. There he is, sitting at a small table, waiting for her.

“No. I’ll send you more details if Adam actually agrees to come for drinks. Bye.”

“Bye.”

Olive ends the call and opens the door. Adam notices her immediately and stands to greet her.

“Who were you on the phone with?” Adam asks.

“Malcolm,” Olive says, noticing a pink tint to his cheeks.

“Oh, right, your roommate. What’s the agenda today?” Adam asks, placing his hand on her lower back to guide her to the ordering line.

“Yeah, actually um,” Olive pauses. How does she break the rule of not meeting up anywhere? Why didn’t she think of this before!

“Did Anh ask you for more pictures or something?”

Olive laughs and Adam smiles at her. A real smile. Not one of his little lip turners. A smile that stretches your mouth so wide, you need to show teeth. He could model. If his smile has half of the effect on other girls as it has on Olive, girls will melt at the sight of him.

“No, but um-,”

Anh.

“Anh mentioned we all get drinks tonight and well, I might have mentioned your Wednesday schedule before when I explained why we went out on ‘dates in the morning on Wednesdays, and she likes to steal my phone to check my schedule all the time so she knew we would both most likely be free and yeah,” Olive looks at the drink menu to distract herself from that mind-boggling ramble.

“I’ll be in my lab for most of the evening, but I could probably get away around nine-thirty? And I have a flight at four a.m., so I’d only stay for an hour or two,” Adam says. He pulls out his phone and checks his calendar and Olive once again feels daunted by the sheer number of colored boxes.

“Shit, you’re going to Boston, tonight?”

“Yeah, but don’t worry about it. I’ll sleep on the plane and still have zero troubles with everything else.”

Olive nods her head slowly. Does that mean he’s willing to shift his schedule to spend time with her? Maybe I’m looking into this too much and I’m going to get my heart stamped on.

“So, nine-thirty?” Olive asks, ignoring her pounding chest.

“Yeah, nine-thirty.”

“We should invite Holden too! He’ll be someone you’re comfortable with and that way all the attention won’t always be on us. Or maybe he’ll make it worse?”

“You know-,”

“What can I get for you guys today?” A barista asks.

“I’ll have a caramel macchiato and he’ll have a black coffee.”

“You need any food?” Adam asks, grabbing his card. Once again not minding that she ordered for him. Probably because she got him what he likes.

Olive looks at the wide variety of food and practically drools at the sight of a chocolate-covered croissant with strawberries on top.

“Will you add that croissant?” Adam asks, pointing to the exact confection she was staring at.

“Yup, that will be fifteen twenty-six.”

Adam pays and Olive moves so the people behind them can order.

“So, you on for tonight?” Olive asks, bringing the conversation back.

“I’ll ask Holden if he’s free.”

“And if he isn’t?” Olive asks tentatively.

“I’ll most likely come anyways. But the chances of Holden saying no, especially if you’re going, is extremely low.” Adam chuckles and Olive is a fountain of emotions. She loves making him smile or laugh. She loves the warmth that spreads through her when she sees him. She loves him.

The thought of helping Malcolm out by inviting Holden lightens her heart because she knows Malcolm’s opinion of Adam is extremely low, but when Adam first mentioned Holden being his best friend, it seemed a bit like destiny, and Olive doesn’t believe in that crap most of the time, but in that situation, she does.

“Caramel macchiato, black coffee, and a strawberry chocolate croissant.”

They grab their drinks, and Olive’s croissant before returning to the table Adam was sitting at.

“How’s the research with Tom going?” Olive asks.

“It’s going well. I’m half convinced he offered to come here first so he can meet up with all of the California girls as a vacation.”

Olive smiles and asks, “Is that why you came to Stanford Adam? For the California Girls?”

Adam hesitates and Olive was joking but, is he for real?

“It was far away from my parents and I’m not the biggest fan of the cold, so it seemed like a win-win,” Adam says, shrugging his shoulders like he’s sliding off invisible weights.

Okay, not the girls. Why would she even think that? Everything revolves around science for Adam as far as she can tell.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to get your parents involved.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“How’s the science life now that you know you’ll be in Boston next year?” Adam asks, effectively changing the subject.

“It’s weird having time to eat and do laundry,” Olive says sarcastically, but at the same time completely serious.

Adam laughs and it makes Olive smile. His smile is like the sun to her.

Before they had started fake dating, she’d never seen Adam laugh or smile, or even speak kindly! And now she gets to see it at least once a week and it’s better than the delicious macchiato she’s drinking.

“Text me the details? I need to go and get some work done, so I don’t get stuck in Boston for longer than necessary.”

Olive nods her head and smiles at him. The more work he gets done now, the less time he’ll need to spend in Boston.

“You really don’t mind extending fake dating Wednesday, right?” Olive asks. She bites her lip. She does not like lying to him. The amount of lying Olive has done makes her uncomfortable.

“No Olive, it’s fine. Whatever convinces Anh, right?”

“Right.” Olive smiles at him, but she’s afraid it comes out as more of a grimace.

Adam nods at her and then immediately scowls when someone stands from the table next to them and cuts him off. He keeps his mouth shut but Olive can see him work his jaw, obviously holding something back.

Olive downs the rest of her drink and then stands up. Part one of operation, I’m in love and I need to figure out if Adam is acting or not, is finished.

I have got to come up with a new name for this operation.

== - == - ==

“So, how do we win? And what are we betting?” Jeremy asks.

“Whoever gets the best picture that shows just how much Adam loves Olive, wins.”

“I’m judging the pictures, and the winner gets a shot of whatever alcohol they want, and I’ll pay for it.”

Malcolm cheers and Jeremy laughs happily. Olive smiles at them and Anh punches Jeremy’s shoulder. The atmosphere in the car is one of high spirits and it creates a great distraction from the impending doom Olive had felt all day.

“Should we let Dr. Rodriguez in on it?” Malcolm asks.

“It’s up to you guys, Holden would probably beat you guys, considering he knows Adam better than all of us.”

“But not in every way, right Olive?” Jeremy asks suggestively. She laughs at the memory of Holden stopping her outside of the Starbucks earlier that day. He’d told her all about how Adam was his date to their high school prom.

It’s no wonder Adam is so good at the whole fake dating thing; he’s done it before.

Malcolm pulls into a small bar called, The Ninety-Nine and parks in the back. Adam had texted her that he’d drive with Holden and be there a bit later than the rest of them. Apparently, a meeting went late and pushed back his whole schedule.

When Malcolm parks the car they all get out and head into the bar. There aren’t too many people around considering it’s a Wednesday night in a college town. Any night in a college town is a night to drink.

== - == - ==

For the past thirty minutes, Olive had been getting weird looks from everyone at the bar. The reason being? Olive’s friends had decided to sit in a booth and demanded Olive sit by herself on one side so nobody would be left at a disadvantage in their bet.

Olive had argued that her side profile wasn’t that bad, but apparently, ‘you can’t see love from the side,’ whatever that means.

The looks people had been throwing their way had been obvious and annoying, and Anh being Anh decided to tell everyone – very loudly- that Olive smelt divine but a bet needed to be won so they could stop staring.

It had made people raise their glasses because a bet is a bet. Everyone can understand the adrenaline and thrill that comes from a good bet, especially when they end up winning.

Jeremy had been telling a story about how he thought his flies had been mating and screwing up his experiment when Malcolm did it. He’d pulled out his phone and taken a picture. His phone made a noise and his face instantly turned red.

“Yeah, you guys might want to turn your ringers off,” Olive says with a laugh.

Malcolm turns his off and Olive watches Anh and Jeremy do the same. Olive instantly feels relief. That could have been a disaster.

Olive waits impatiently for Adam and Holden to walk over, without turning around in wait but after thirty-five seconds she gives in and turns around.

Adam and Holden are by the entrance, talking. More like arguing from the looks of it. Olive wonders what it could possibly be about.

Maybe it’s Tom? Holden had mentioned earlier how he didn’t like the guy.

That little fact made Olive weary. She is supposed to spend a year in his lab, under his direction, with his equipment and advice. Now she finds out that one of the most likable human beings, she has ever met, doesn’t like him.

Finally, Holden seems to beat Adam in their argument, and he grabs Adams's arm and practically drags him to their table.

“Dr. Rodriguez, Dr. Carlson. Thanks for coming,” Malcolm says, always a good host.

“Please, call me Holden. You can call this fella here a MacArthur Fellow, he only answers to that.” Holden teases, patting Adam’s arm, making the latter scowl, and Olive hide her smile behind her hand.

“Adam will do just as well,” Adam bites out glaring at his friend. Olive catches his eye, and his scowl straightens a bit, so Olive counts it as a victory.

“Well, Holden, Adam, we saved you seats next to Olive so you guys would be comfortable,” Malcolm says, again taking the lead.

Adam nods his head and awkwardly slides in next to her. She’s sure it’s difficult for him to fit under the table and an idea hits her.

“Holden, before you get in, why don’t we get out so Adam can be at the end and have a little more leg room.”

Holden nods his head and Adam sends her a grateful look which makes her heart burst with warmth.

“Aren’t you just the sweetest, Olive?” Holden says, getting in so he’s pressed against the wall.

Olive gets in after him and Adam follows. Holden is sitting across from Jeremy, Olive is across from Anh, and Malcolm is across from Adam.

The seating arrangement is unfortunate for both Jeremy and Malcolm. Jeremy will most likely have a tougher time with the competition, and Malcolm does not like Adam. Still.

“Sorry to make you wait, but all the professors had a meeting today and it was awful. The dean would not shut up, honestly, she could send us all that information in a paraphrased three-paragraph email, and then maybe everyone could get their shit done without needing a bottle of tequila!”

That’s all it takes. The word Tequila, and the next thing you know they’re ordering shots.

“I thought you texted me earlier that we weren’t going to get hammered?” Adam says, bending so he can speak in her ear. His breath is warm and cascades over her neck and makes Olive stiffen, trying to suppress a shiver of delight.

“Tell that to your best friend who brought up Tequila and then offered up your guys’ credit cards.”

Adam laughs low in his throat and the unholy image of swallowing the sound with her lips crosses her mind. Olive almost groans out loud, but luckily stops herself. She’d been having indecent thoughts of Adam all day. Her mind liked imagining a drunk Adam as a frisky drunk who liked getting her off in public places.

“When we walked in, he told me he could not possibly drive Tom and I to the airport sober and would need exactly two shots and two beers.”

Olive laughs quietly, enjoying the little bubble they created for themselves.

“Has he measured how much he can drink without getting drunk?”

“He and I ran an experiment when we first entered the graduate program. He can drink quite a bit and not be especially drunk, that is if he can take at least a two-hour nap.”

“And since you both plan on leaving at eleven,” Olive checks her phone for the time, “or in forty-six minutes, you’ll have two maybe two and a half hours, if you push it, to lose some of the drunkenness.”

“With that extra half hour, he could probably pull off another beer,” Adam muses. Olive watches his pupils contract as he thinks and suddenly, she realizes how close they really are. Their torsos are both angled toward each other, he’s bent down so their faces are more level, and she can see a bit of stubble on the bottom of his jawline; that is begging for Olive to lick.

“How much can you drink?” Olive asks, pulling her eyes away from his stubble.

“I’m not driving tonight, so I can technically drink as much as I want, however, considering I do need to get a large quantity of work done over the next six days, I probably shouldn’t drink more than three shots and two beers.”

“What kind of drunk are you?” Olive asks, not being able to take not knowing the answer. Her fingers are crossed for frisky.

“Holden’s told me that I’m different every single time I get drunk, but what about you?”

So frisky Adam is a possibility? Damn, should I be trusted with that kind of knowledge?

“If you think I’m a smart ass sober, you’ll think I’m a smart ass when drunk.”

“Are you two done flirting?” Anh asks, popping the bubble they had created.

Olive jolts away from Adam and turns to Anh who has a smirk on her face and her phone in her hand facing the table. Olive isn’t fooled. She just knows she’s been taking pictures of them.

“Sorry, what were you guys talking about?” Olive asks, noticing Adam’s scowl. He obviously didn’t like their bubble being popped.

Olive lets her leg fall to the right until it makes contact with Adam’s thigh and then leaves it there.

Maybe if I give him enough reasons too, he’ll start liking me back, and then ask me out for real and I won’t have to do the whole confession thing.

“We were talking about how broke we all were in College and Holden brought up getting caught mooching off of Adam’s Netflix.”

Olive laughs when Anh gives her the look.

“Wait what just happened?” Holden asks, looking between Olive and Anh.

“There’s a running joke that if Olive ever gets caught mooching off Malcolm’s Netflix, or doing something illegal, Anh will marry her, so she doesn’t get deported.”

Holden laughs like it’s the joke of the century, and there’s something about his laugh that makes everyone else join in.

“Isn’t that my job now?” Adam interrupts. He puts his arm around Olive’s shoulder and when did he get so bold?

He’s acting, he’s acting, he’s acting.

It’s her new mantra. The one that will be on repeat every time she spends time with him. False negatives are the worst in science, but false positives can be just as bad.

Olive cannot let herself begin to hope. Adam is above everything including her. He’s smart, and so is she, but Adam is smart. She’s pretty, but Adam is edible. She’s happy, but he is content. He is stable, and she’d blow away in the wind. She’s fit, but Adam is. . .

She can literally feel the muscles wrapped around his arm as it rests against her shoulders.

“I’m sorry, Dr. Carlson, but that position is filled and won’t need to be filled, ever,” Anh says. Her voice joking but it holds an undertone that Olive has never heard before.

“So, are you just never going to get married?” Adam asks challengingly.

“Do you plan on never getting married?” Anh retorts.

“That was the plan,” Adam says.

Olive’s mind fizzles.

Like sparkling water.

She doesn’t like it.

Marriage is a thought that had never even graced her thoughts, but the thought of loving someone and never having that commitment, sounds, feels, gosh, even tastes, awful.

When you love someone, you want to marry them, right? So, if Adam didn’t want to get married, then he didn’t love her. Simple as that.

Olive bites the inside of her lip hoping her misty eyes will clear before anyone notices. Olive isn’t the only one in a predicament though.

Jeremy looks terrified as he watches his girlfriend face off against Adam. Holden looks like he wants to pop a bag of popcorn and start recording. Anh looks determined to never blink. Malcolm looks lost on what he should do. And Adam.

Adam’s jaw is clenched like he wished they were talking about anything else. His eyes are narrowed, as if personally offended, and his hand is clenching the edge of the table like he wants to break it in half.

“There better be a but at the end of that sentence,” Anh says.

“Did I not make myself clear? It wasn’t in my plans. I shouldn’t have to repeat myself.”

“Adam,” Holden pinches the arm that is around Olive’s shoulders, making him jerk his arm and accidentally hit Olive in the face.

It didn’t hurt. There was no real force behind it, but Adam acts like he shot her.

“Shit, are you okay? Holden why the hell would you pinch me?”

Adam retracts his arm as fast as lightning and soon has her facing him. One of his hands is tilting her head to the side and the other is on her leg, pressing down in a way that makes it impossible to move her lower body.

“Adam, I’m fine, it didn’t hurt, besides it was just a reflex, there were no ill intentions behind it.”

Adam ignores her, which would normally make Olive angry but, there it is.

It’s the looks she’d been hoping for and yet dreading all day. The look she’d describe as love if it weren’t for that gleam of hesitancy and regret. Whenever he looked at her, he had those two things stopping Olive from feeling hope.

There is something that Olive doesn’t have that stops him from wanting her. From loving her, and she can see it now.

After one last twist, Adam lets her neck relax and she has the perfect angle to just watch him. Watch as his eyes take her face in. She watches his brow slowly un-pinch as his worry eases. She watches his eyes lose the worried glint and turn into relief and adoration with a hint of – there it is - regret.

She loves him and he looks like he cares to some degree. He looks like he cares for her more than anything Olive has ever cared for, but Olive is scared. He’ll break her if this arrangement ends. She’ll break if that regret, that hesitancy has a foundation and separates them. September twenty-ninth is coming faster than Olive wants. It’s looming over her.

Anyone could look at her and know that she is seriously, irrevocably, undeniably in love with him.

And either Adam can’t see it, or he knows but doesn’t reciprocate.

He has to.

Adam exhales slowly and then inhales. Olive watches his chest fall and then rise. She strains her ears to hear the pumping of his heart, hoping against all things that it’s pounding as quickly as hers is.

He leans in and kisses her forehead.

It’s brief, all too brief, but Olive feels it, hope. There is one thing stronger than fear, and its hope.

She’ll tell him everything when he comes back from Boston. She must. Because while hope is strong, it is fleeting.

“All right let’s get some drinks in us. Some of us are just too single to watch that any longer.”

Holden holds up his shot and then downs it in a flash.

Olive does as told. She’s too single to look at Adam anymore. So single she had to fake date.

After that, the conversation is pleasant. The drinks are flowing and when Holden stops drinking, so he can drive, Adam seems to drink enough for the both of them.

Olive isn’t sure why, but he’s begging for an awful hangover. She should probably stop him, but she can admit to herself – somewhat guiltily – that watching Adam down shots, is hot.

Luckily, Holden stops him after his sixth shot. In between those shots, he downs three beers. Olive would have passed out by now if it were her, but Adam is silent and sober-looking.

“Reckon we should leave so Adam doesn’t miss his flight,” Holden says.

The group makes minor protests but concedes when they see the time. Eleven twenty-seven.

Olive nudges Adam on the shoulder, hoping he’ll get the hint that he needs to get out of the booth. He takes the hint and Olive follows so Holden can get out as well.

As soon as she’s out of the booth Adam wraps his arms around her and pulls her to him, holding her tightly.

Olive wraps her arms around him, taking the hug as the gift it is. He smells like hand sanitizer, aftershave, and tequila. An odd mixture but one Olive is very appreciative of. She’d never been able to place the scents before then, considering any contact between them is usually so short.

“Ah, tonight, Adam is an affectionate drunk. I’ve never seen this kind of Drunk Adam,” Holden says, standing in front of them.

“What kind of drunk is Adam usually?” Malcolm asks, getting out of the booth to stand next to Holden. Olive smiles inwardly. She likes affectionate Adam.

“It changes every time he gets drunk. I’ve never seen him as the same kind of drunk twice in a row.”

“Is there one type he is more than the others?” Anh asks, sliding out of the booth to join then, Jeremy of course following.

“I’d reckon it’s the smoldering Adam.”

“The smoldering Adam?”

“Yeah, girls have this thing where being a bit rude and I don’t know how to describe a smolder, but Adam has got it and the girls love it. “

“I hate getting drunk,” Adam mumbles in Olive’s ear.

“Does he become a player?” Malcolm asks, giving Olive a look. Olive rolls her eyes. She never knows whether to feel loved or annoyed when Malcolm gets protective.

“No, he’s his usual grouchy self and the girls leave him alone after Adam’s told them he’s not interested, for the third time. Ah, if Adam was gay,” Holden muses. Adam snorts, and Olive smiles.

“You wouldn’t have a chance,” Adam says, his hands sliding lower until they’re just above her ass.

It’s Olive’s turn to snort and Holden laughs abruptly like he wasn’t expecting him to retort.

“You’re right. Even if you were gay, one look at Olive and you’d be heterosexual again,” Holden sighs, “Well, thanks for the invite. I had a lovely time talking with you guys. If you ever need some blackmail on Adam, just let me know. I love telling stories from when we were kids.”

Olive takes the hint and pulls away from Adam. Her arms drop back to her sides, and she takes a small step back so they can leave.

“I might have to take you up on that,” Malcolm says flirtatiously.

“It’s a date.”

Olive watches them share a burning look and she doesn’t have a doubt that they’ll be together within two weeks.

“Say goodbye to Olive, I’ll go start the car,” Holden says. He squeezes Olive’s upper arm when he passes her and claps Adam on the back.

Olive’s friends get back in the booth but Malcolm switches sides so they can be even.

“I guess I’ll see you in six days?” Olive asks, trying to ignore the dull ache that resides in her chest at the thought of Adam being so far away.

“Maybe I can hurry, and I’ll be back sooner,” Adam says, wrapping his arms around Olive once more.

Yeah, she loves affectionate Adam.

She watches him glance at the table filled with her friends before he’s looking down at her again. She watches him bend down and waits to feel his lips on her forehead again.

“For Anh,” he whispers, lips slowly descending past her forehead. Olive tips her head back and stretches her neck so she can meet his lips.

There are no fireworks, no butterflies, no cliché rom-com explanation. Instead, there is an irritating heat that starts between her thighs and shoots in every direction, spreading, burning, and she’s sure Adam can feel it.

Their lips become more familiar and find a rhythm that isn’t fast-paced like Olive wishes they could be, but it’s deep and repetitive, like every time either one of them thinks to pull away, the other’s lips pull them back.

After what can barely be fifteen seconds, Olive presses her lips against his harder, applies more pressure, and then pulls away from him, her breathing heavy, her chest brushing against his with every inhale.

Adam seems to break from whatever trance they were under and looks over Olive’s head, to their table.  He nods his head and then he turns his back and leaves.

Olive watches him until he disappears from her sight and then turns and sits at their table. Her friends are all looking at her with different expressions. Anh looks giddy, Jeremy looks grossed out, and Malcolm looks like he’s thinking. Thinking way too hard for a tipsy person.

“I have so many pictures that there is no way I’m losing!” Anh says confidently, placing her phone down on the table so everyone can see.

The bet. Right.

Olive watches as Anh scrolls through her photo gallery and she has to admit that some of the pictures are awfully lovey-dovey.

“You might have more than me, but this one will take the shot,” Jeremy says, pushing Anh’s phone to the side and showing them a picture. It’s a picture from just then. Right after Adam finished kissing her. She wants that picture. 

“You guys are good, but I knew I’d won as soon as they walked into the bar,” Malcolm says. He puts his phone down right in front of Olive, and puts his finger on the screen, holding it there. The picture moves for a second and it’s of Holden pointing to them only to see Adam’s eyes already on them, or specifically, Olive.

It’s the only picture they’ve shown her with no hesitancy or regret or shame or some other emotion that makes Olive feel like the butt of a joke in Adam’s eyes.

“Stupid iPhone users and their stupid live pictures,” Jeremy mutters. Anh laughs and bumps his shoulder and starts messing around, but Olive ignores them.

“Kalamata, as your roommate, best friend, and potential husband, you have to talk to him when he gets back. I don’t know if it’s love, but there is something there, that I have never seen before.”

Olive nods her head before taking Malcolm’s phone and sending herself the picture. They’ll talk, not only so she can explain herself and hear what Adam has to say, but to cut it off before she’s in too deep and she finds out he doesn’t return her feelings.

== - == - ==

“He’s coming back you know. It’s not like he’s staying in Boston never to return,” Malcolm says, sitting next to her on the couch.

Olive puts her phone down guiltily. Adam had been gone for five days, and every spare second she had, she’d spent staring at the picture Malcolm had taken. There’s something warming about how Adam’s eyes seem to know where she is.

Five seconds in the bar and Adam had already found her. He didn’t tell Holden he saw them, he just looked at her. Appreciated her from afar.

And what did that mean? Maybe that look of hesitancy and regret is still there and she just can’t see it because of the distance in the picture, but she hopes, she prays it’s not.

“You actually love him.”

“You say that at least twice a day Malcolm,” Olive says, rolling her eyes.

“And every time I say it, you never confirm or deny my statement. You just move on, and I’m wondering what that means.”

“It means, that you bringing it up isn’t helping my situation any.”

“Olive, I just want you to be happy,” Malcolm says, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. Olive snuggles into his embrace and takes the comfort Malcolm’s embrace brings.

They sit like that for a while. After five minutes instead of silence, they talk about their various projects and the science behind it all. Malcolm even begrudgingly adds that the input Adam had given him when he destroyed his academic confidence is really helping his current thesis.

“Your phone is vibrating,” Malcolm says, during a lull in their conversation where Olive had closed her eyes.  

It’s only ten at night, but Olive is exhausted. She’d spent all day in her lab and had eaten a muffin she’d found at a random table in the biology building, and that’s it.

“Will you see who it is for me?” Olive asks, yawning as soon as she asks him.

Malcolm makes a humming noise and Olive can feel him lean forward as he reaches for her phone which rests on their small coffee table.

“It’s Dr. Carlson.”

Olive’s eyes blink open so fast that her eyes water from the shock the light cascading from their ceiling brings.

Olive grabs her phone from Malcolm’s hand and stares at the contact’s name, Adam Carlson, with a middle finger emoji at the end.

Olive clicks the button to answer it and holds her phone up to her ear, “Hello?”

“Olive, hey. Uh.”

His voice is deep and tired sounding and Olive wonders why he’s calling her when he should be sleeping.

“Adam? What are you doing up? It’s like one in the morning over there?”

Olive can picture him, sitting up in bed, lamp on, exhausted, and not being able to sleep. Papers with research and evidence scattered around him; his laptop open, waiting for him to start typing again.

“Yes, well, no, I’m at the San Francisco airport. It is one in the morning in Boston, but I finished my work early and hopped on the first plane I could get.”

He’s back? She has a chance to run into him now. The past five days had been torture, knowing Adam was thousands of miles away.

“Is Holden coming to get you?” She asks.

“He uh, actually doesn’t know I’m back yet, and when I went to call him to ask for him to pick me up, I wanted to call you, so I just clicked on your contact before I could really think about it.”

His statement makes her smile. A big toothy grin. He’d wanted to talk to her first. That had to mean something right?

“I was actually wondering if you could pick me up?”

Olive takes notice of the way his breath hitches at the end. Maybe he hadn’t meant to say it?

Olive pulls the phone away from her face, “Can I borrow your car?” She asks, turning to Malcolm.

“Yeah, what for?”

Olive rolls her eyes. His innocent look used to make Olive do and say some crazy things, but she knows better. He’d been listening in to their conversation.

“I’ll come and pick you up, text me the details of what terminal you’re in and I’ll be there soon,” Olive says into her phone.  

Olive listens to Adam breathe out a thank you before she’s hanging up and running around her apartment looking for shoes, keys, and a coffee to help her stay awake on the road.  

“You’re sure I can borrow your car?” Olive asks, directing her question to Malcolm who is still sitting on their couch.

“Would you still go if I said no?”

Olive stops pouring her coffee and looks at him. She thinks he asks it as a rhetorical question, thinking he knows her answer to be yes, but if he said no then. . .

“If you said no, and you had a good reason, I’d call him and tell him I can’t make it.”

Malcolm looks stunned.

“But you love him? I’ve been saying – well asking – the same question all week, even though I know the answer is yes, and yet you wouldn’t go if I said no?”

Olive nods her head. It’s simple. It’s Malcolm’s car, it’s his liability. It’s his decision.

“You wouldn’t do anything in the name of love?”

Olive shakes her head, “Not while I don’t know if he loves me back. In the name of my love, I wouldn’t do much. But if it were in the name of our love, Adam’s and I’s love, then and only then would I do anything.”

“Girl, if you come back, I will send the most strongly worded email, Adam Asshole Carlson has ever received.”

Malcolm glares at her like it’s her decision whether Adam loves her back or not.

“And what is that supposed to mean?” Olive asks.

“It means I’d bet my whole thesis on the fact that Adam Carlson, MacArthur Fellow, the biggest asshole in the state of California, that he loves you back. And if you don’t have sex with him tonight. I will assume it’s his fault and will do everything short of killing him.”

“You’re banking on the fact that I’m confessing my love for him tonight?”

“If you don’t confess tonight, I will do it for you and then lock you up in his office to have sex because I know that as soon as you tell him, he will bang you so hard. Which also means, please don’t have sex in my car. Wait until you can do it literally anywhere else.”

“I don’t think we’d have enough room in your car,” Olive says trying to imagine them having sex in Malcolm’s back seat.

“That’s too bad, car sex gets freaky.”

“We’ll just have to get creative if it comes to that,” Olive says with a suggestive wink. And she hopes it does. She really hopes he loves her and wants to have sex with her.

“Okay, we got off-topic, get in my car, pick up Adam, confess your love, go to his house or back here, have sex, date for real, cure pancreatic cancer, get married, and have science babies.”

“That hella took a jump in time,” Olive says, eyes widening. Kids. Good thing she’s on birth control.

“Alright, good luck, let me know if I need to kick his ass.”

Olive nods and then leaves, not wanting to keep Adam waiting too long.

The drive to the airport is only thirty minutes and every single second that Olive spent on the way there, was spent trying to come up with a good way to tell him.

She pulls as close to terminal two as she can, but the airport is busy like always. She sends Adam a text of where she is and what Malcolm’s car looks like and then starts playing with the sound system. For some reason jazz music is the most calming thing she could think of so, Louis Armstrong is playing.

The back door of Malcolm’s car opens and that’s when she sees him. Adam’s dark hair is tousled, and he has a few days’ worths of stubble on him. Sexy.

He shuts the back door and just as quickly opens the passenger door and climbs in.

Olive opens her mouth to say hi but stops when he lifts his hand in a stop gesture.

“You can go ahead and start driving, but I’ve been desperate to talk to you ever since I left last Wednesday.”

Olive’s mind short circuits but by some miracle, she puts her blinker on and merges into traffic, following his directions.

“Thank you, I um-,“ he pauses, seeming unsure of how to continue. Olive can see him fidgeting with his iPhone in his lap.

“Well, you see, I haven’t been very honest with you,” Adam starts.

And honestly Adam. This seems like a very important conversation, and she’s distracted by the heavy traffic and trying to get on the right exit.  Adam has the worst timing. Literally for everything.

“I met you three years ago. You probably don’t remember, because it was only for a few minutes and you were partially blinded by an expired contact, but I didn’t.

“Forget you I mean. Damn, this is more difficult than it should be,” Adam mutters, and Olive is half anxiety-filled because of the heavy traffic and halfway relieved because Adam is the Bathroom Guy and he remembered her.

“Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you introduce yourself when I accepted to become a part of the graduate program?” She asks, finally able to focus fully on the conversation now that she’s on the highway.

“Your eyes ran right over me, and you didn’t seem to recognize me, so I figured you had forgotten,” he says.

“Adam, how can I forget the person who convinced me to make the best decision of my life? I was partially blinded by my contact so all I knew about the Bathroom Guy – as I called you – was that he was tall and was a part of the science department.”

Olive exhales slowly. He was the Bathroom Guy. And he remembered her. That’s a good thing, right?

“Thank you,” Olive says softly, breaking the sudden silence.

“For what?”

“For convincing me to join Stanford’s graduate program,” she says sincerely.

“You’re welcome.”

They drive in silence until they’re only a few blocks from Adam’s house and Olive decides it’s now or never.

Feeling brave Olive takes one hand off the steering wheel and reaches over to squeeze his hand. Adam squeezes it and doesn’t let go, giving Olive the last bit of courage, she needs.

“I want to say thank you again. I haven’t seen Anh so happy in forever and she wouldn’t be as happy as she is if you didn’t help me with this whole charade.”

Adam’s grip on her hand tightens.

“My life has gotten a lot more confusing since we started this whole fake dating thing and I don’t like it,” Olive lets out a shuddering breath. She doesn’t even have to look at him while she confesses, and she still can’t get the words out.

“I was never into dating or relationships and definitely not sex. I literally had sex because I wanted to see what all the fuss was about and I didn’t care for it, so I put it on the back burner and haven’t thought about having it since then.

“And dating while being a graduate seems impossible and a waste of valuable time, so it never was something I wanted and-,”

‘You can stop,” Adam says softly, cutting off her ramble.

“If you feel uncomfortable and you can’t make it to our deadline, I’ll understand.”

What?

What the hell?

“You won’t have to worry about telling Holden, I’ll just tell him I screwed up and we can move on with our lives.”

Olive chances a look to the side and Adam’s jaw is clenched, he’s frowning, and he looks upset. He lets go of her hand.

She can’t do this.

At least not while she’s driving.

“You are going to stop thinking about whatever the hell you’re thinking about and you’re going to listen to me. I’m going to drive you to your house, and we are going to finish talking.”

Olive reaches for his hand and when she finds it, she squeezes it and doesn’t stop. She won’t let him let go. Not until she’s said everything she needs to.

So, she speeds and pulls into his driveway in record time.

She turns the key to the engine until the car is off and the lights come on, revealing just how exhausted and sad Adam looks. Handsome, but sad.

“Okay, I obviously did an awful job of saying what I was trying to say so. . .” Olive takes a deep breath and turns her body until she’s completely turned and is face to face with him.

Okay, stop being pathetic Olive. Three, two, one.

“Ik hou van jou.”

Olive bites her lip and watches Adam’s eyes reflect, first, confusion, then understanding, and finally disbelief.

“Would you mind repeating that in English?” He asks, his voice low and breathless.

“Adam, I love you. I’ve never felt this way about anyone and it’s confusing especially because we are in a fake relationship, and you don’t feel the same way. It’s left me-,”

“Olive, did you just say that I don’t love you?” Adam interrupts loudly.

“Do you have to keep interrupting me? I am baring my heart out to you right now and,” Olive feels a tear drop from her eyes, and she sniffles, trying to hold the rest of them back.

He interrupts her again. But in the best way, because Adam has leaned over the middle console, caressed her cheek and closed the space between their lips, and kisses her.

Her heart is in her throat as her lips glide along with his, matching him press for press, suckle for suckle, bite for bite.

He pulls away from her, but Olive doesn’t let him get very far. She catches his lips again and doesn’t let them part for an immeasurable amount of time.

When he pulls away the second time, she lets him. Only because she needs to catch her breath though.

“I’ve loved you for longer than I want to admit,” Adam says breathlessly, still caressing her face, his eyes never straying from hers. His eyes, full of love and adoration only. No hesitancy, no regret, and she let herself enjoy his gaze.

“When did you know you loved me?” Olive asks seductively, letting herself nip at his lip because she can do that now. He loves her, so she can now do everything her imagination comes up with.

“When you asked me if I was upset because of my haircut,” Adam says with a small chuckle.  

Their second fake dating Wednesday?

“As soon as I left my bathroom all those years ago, I knew I’d never forget you, but after three weeks of you never leaving my mind, I knew it was something more. An attraction that ran deeper than other attractions I’d felt before,” Adam says. He pecks her lips.

The relief of confessing is enough to make her smile for the rest of the night, but having him say he loves her back, remembers her, and is attracted to her, does other things to her body.

“Adam?”

“Yes?”

“When you say you’re attracted to me,” she lets her sentence die.

Adam seems to contemplate his response for a second.

“I mean I want to excuse us to my office so I can bend you over my desk. I mean I want to give you love bites on your neck so others will know you’re mine, and I want to invite you into my house to show you, just how much I love you.”

“Why don’t you then?”

“Huh?”

“Invite me into your house?”

Adam’s breath hitches and she watches his face morph into a dimpled grin as her suggestion takes root in his head.

“Olive, before I lose my mind, I need to ask, will you be my girlfriend? For real this time?”

Olive beams at him.

“Yes.”

Adam kisses her again and this kiss seems to be a promise for more, and it ignites her.  She presses her lips against his harder, feels her chest flame, and feels her panties dampen. His large hands drift to her neck and then to her shoulders, and then her lower back, only to drift upwards until they’re right under her breasts. Resting on her ribcage, just like they had on The Night.

He pulls away once again and Olive almost growls.

“Let me grab my bag and I’ll show you inside.”

He smiles at her, a small tilt of his lips before he’s getting out and grabbing his bag from the back seat.

Olive takes the keys out of the ignition and gets out of the car, walking swiftly around to the other side.  

Adam grabs her hand when she comes to stand next to him.

“I love you, Olive.”

“I love you too, Adam.”

== - == - ==

Olive’s first step into consciousness is recognizing the warmth of her bed. The next thing is the stiffness of her limbs. She stretches, her arms pulled over her head, and her toes reaching for the edge of her bed. Which she should hit but doesn’t.

She then moves her feet to the side and comes into contact with something else.

Her brain takes a second to catch up, but eventually, she does, and Mmmmm. 

Olive flips to her other side and lets her eyes wander over Adam’s resting face. His eyes are closed, and his breathing is even. He’s probably feeling the effects of jetlag and is probably even more tired from the sex.

Yes, the mind-blowing sex. They’d talked through more things involving their sex lives and she even gave him a blowjob. He’d made a promise to go down on her as soon as he could, but he’d been ready to pass out when she’d made him finish.

“You’re a beautiful sight to behold.”

Olive blinks and notices Adam’s open eyes. His eyelashes are long and thick, and Adam is a wonderful sight in the morning.

“I was just thinking the same thing of you.”

Olive kisses him lightly because she can, and smiles when Adam follows her when she tries to pull away, extending their kiss.

“What time do you need to be in your lab?” Adam asks.

Olive thinks about it and realizes she should probably leave as soon as she can to check on her mice.

Or...

“I think I’ll text Anh to check on my mice for me, that way I don’t have to be in until eleven. What about you?”

Adam wraps an arm around her waist and pulls so she’s pressed against him.

“I was hoping to buy my girlfriend some coffee at ten and then get to work,” Adam says, smiling with his dimples.

Those delicious dimples. Olive leans forward and kisses both of them.

“Sounds good to me, when do I get to meet your girlfriend?” She asks playfully.

“Smart Ass,” Adam says softly. Endearingly.

“We have two hours before we need to leave,” Olive says, letting her sentence trail off suggestively.

“That’s enough time for me to go down on you, for us to shower, for me to make you breakfast, and enough time for us to make out in the Starbucks parking lot,” Adam says, nuzzling her neck.

Olive laughs, his stubble long enough to tickle her more than scratch her.

“You better get started then,” Olive laughs.

Adam wastes no time in pushing her until she lays on her back. He climbs on top of her and kisses her before trailing kisses down her jaw and neck. He spends extra time kissing and licking the hickey he’d vigorously given her last night.

He spends some time at her breasts, making her arch up and moan his name.

When he reaches her stomach, he stops and looks up at her. Olive is breathing heavily and so wet she needs him to take care of her. Now.

“Ik hou van jou, Olive.”