Chapter Text
🥼👿 ADAM 👿🥼
His phone vibrated. Again.
He didn't even need to check the notification to know who was trying to reach him.
He also knew who was definitely not trying to get in touch with him any longer. Olive had given up on him.
No. That was unfair. Adam had forced her to give up on him.
He'd ghosted her. He'd kicked her best friend off his team. He'd made Malcolm drop out.
She hated him. Rightfully so.
What she didn't know was how much Adam hated himself.
He never wanted to hurt her. Ever.
She deserved a fair shot at Harvard. She deserved to work in one of the best labs in the country without any distractions. And Adam... Adam was just that. A distraction.
She would never unleash her full potential with him in the picture. Living in his shadow. Not that Adam believed that. He believed in her. She was brilliant. She'd fully deserved her SBD panel. No matter how many people thought otherwise. But he also knew Olive. He knew her self-doubts. Her insecurities.
Her moving to Harvard, away from Adam, was a good thing... for her.
No matter how much it hurt him.
No matter how much she hated him for ending things right now. She would understand his reasoning some day.
He hoped.
His phone vibrated once more.
"For fuck's sake Holden!" Adam said to no-one.
He was alone in his office. Staring at his olive green walls and wallowing in self pity.
The last thing he needed was messages from his gossip hungry best friend.
He reached for his phone just to block Holden's number.
He was evidently an expert in ghosting people he cared about. Why not add his lifelong best friend to that list? Losing Holden couldn't make his life any worse than it already was, he thought grimly knowing damn well that he was lying to himself.
He missed Holden. He needed Holden.
He was losing his goddamn mind and didn't know what to do anymore.
Adam was lonely. For the first time in his life he was ready to admit it.
All because Olive had shown him how it felt to be loved. And Adam pushed it all away, leaving himself with a massive void nothing could fill again.
🥼😇 HOLDEN 😇🥼
He was going to murder Adam Carlsen.
He was going to weep at Adam Carlsen's grave feeling guilty for murdering Adam Carlsen.
But that was a problem he would deal with after murdering Adam Carlsen.
Right now, he just needed to get hold of Adam-I-have-the-best-tea-but-won't-tell-my-best-friend-about-it-Carlsen. Holden really needed to find a better name for Adam, but he was too busy spiralling to care about made up middle names.
He needed answers.
He glanced at his phone and went through his messages again.
HOLDEN: What is that I'm hearing about you having a girlfriend?
HOLDEN: Adam?
HOLDEN: Adam????
HOLDEN: ADAM CARLSEN, STOP IGNORING ME
HOLDEN: I Should not have bailed on SBD. It's the first one I missed and of course something interesting happened.
HOLDEN: Why does Jack know more about your love life than I do? Why do MIT people know more than I do?
HOLDEN: Who is your best friend?
HOLDEN: ADAM?
HOLDEN: WHO
HOLDEN: IS
HOLDEN: YOUR
HOLDEN: BEST
HOLDEN: FRIEND????
HOLDEN: I have not supported you through your two YEARS long Bon Jovi phase just to be treated like this now.
HOLDEN: George said you're dating Olive. Is it the Olive?
HOLDEN: Are you dating Olive-expired-contacts-Smith?
HOLDEN: And I know nothing about it????
HOLDEN: And why does George know about Olive? She's not even a biologist!
HOLDEN: She's doesn't even go here!
HOLDEN: That was a movie quote. You wouldn't get it.
HOLDEN: I think people can die from FOMO.
HOLDEN: You are LITERALLY killing me Adam
HOLDEN: I am losing my mind here
HOLDEN: ADAAAAAM
HOLDEN: I swear I will tell Olive all about your bed wetting history if you don't respond in the next five minutes.
HOLDEN: ADAM.
HOLDEN: Okay, just joking. Just reply and I won't tell her a thing.
HOLDEN: Please? 🥹🙏
That giant asshole did not respond to a single message. It was Adam's fault for making Holden's messages look deranged. Holden refused to take any responsibility for the spam. And he didn't even care that Adam would likely disagree. Adam had no say on the matter. He'd lost the privilege when he refused to spill the tea. As Holden's best friend it was Adam's duty to contact Holden the second something happened. And a new relationship was definitely a something.
Holden had spent decades trying to teach Adam about the concept of sharing the important gossip with each other. He lead by example too, telling Adam about everything. No matter how uninterested Adam seemed.
Adam knew better than to keep his relationship Away from his best friend.
Holden was dying to go back to Stanford, since evidently it was the only way to see his best friend all smitten and, without a doubt, whipped.
Oh, Holden was in for a treat, he thought as he packed his bag.
His time as a guest-lecturer at Oxford was finally over. It was time to go home.
It was time to finally get all the juicy gossip Adam had been keeping from him.
It was time to make Adam regret his decision to ghost his best friend.
It was time for Holden to finally meet Olive.
And more importantly, it was finally time for Holden to meet Olive's roommate. The same roommate Adam had made Holden stay away from, just because he didn't want Holden to accidentally tell Malcolm or Olive about Adam's pathetic crush.
Holden was still salty about it. Adam's trust issues were deeply troubling. Especially when they affected Holden's love life.
As if Holden could ever break Adam's trust in such ridiculous manner.
He loved gossip, but he would never spread any. Ever.
Not at all.
He was the best secret keeper in the world.
He landed on a sunny Tuesday morning. He was exhausted, but he needed to see Adam.
Now that he was finally on the same continent, in the same state, in the same city, he needed to find out all there was to find out about Adam's love life.
And if the asshat himself didn't want to provide the information, Holden had no choice but to go to the department himself.
He was fuelled by determination and sunshine. He was officially done with the unpredictable British weather.
He packed his suitcase into the trunk of his Uber's car and sat in the back seat all giddy with excitement.
He would have asked Adam to picked him up... but Adam was yet to respond to his messages. Asshole.
The whole drive to the campus was spent on daydreaming about all the ways he was going to embarrass Adam in front of Olive to get a payback for being ghosted.
He was surprised when the car stopped in front of the biology building. It took less time that Holden had anticipated. He thanked the driver, grabbed his suitcase and ran inside as quickly as the heavy luggage allowed.
He checked Adam's calendar. His supposed best friend was in his office. Perfect.
Holden headed straight for the elevators and waited. He hated waiting. He was terrible at it on a good day. But today? Today every second spent in front of the metal doors was excruciating.
He sighed in relief when the elevator door finally opened.
He gasped when he realised who was in it.
Olive Smith appeared in front of Holden's eyes, blessing him with her adorable smile. Her friend, whose name he was yet to learn was with her too.
"Hi Dr Rodrigues" both girls said in unison.
"Hello" he replied with a massive grin. "It's so good to see you! It's nice to be back!"
"You were abroad, right? The UK, was it?" Olive asked kindly.
God, Adam, you could learn a thing or two from your polite girlfriend, Holden thought.
"Yes, Oxford" he confirmed.
"Lucky you!" Olive's friend said wistfully.
"It was great... but I kind of wish I had not gone. I missed out on all the gossip. Adam is the worst when it comes to that. I'm sure you've noticed by now. I need to know about you two lovebirds! As Adam's best friend I can give you all the tea, too!"
He was oblivious to Olive's tense expression. When he finally noticed her pale face, it was already too late. The damage had been done.
"Are you serious?" Olive's friend asked angrilly. "Is every professor in this god forsaken department an absolute dick? I want a refund. I need to see the dean" she grabbed Olive's wrist and tried to pull her aside. "My god, what a bunch of assholes."