Chapter Text
Adam's POV
"It'll be fun!" said Olive.
It won't, thought Adam.
"Come on, don't make that face!"
"That's just my face, Olive." He really wasn't trying to make a face; if anything, he was trying to hide his disgust.
"Just come over for one hour, they'll see us together, and then you can leave." Olive tried reasoning with him. "I promise, everyone will be drunk within the hour and you can slip out without anyone noticing."
He took a deep breath. He really didn't want to spend his Friday night hanging out with a bunch of drunk Ph.D. candidates.
"You can bring Dr. Rodrigues if that makes you feel more comfortable..." Olive suggested, trying to convince him.
"First of all, he would hate it if he found out you call him 'Dr. Rodrigues' instead of Holden," he said. “Second, bringing Holden into this is only going to make things worse.”
Olive raised an eyebrow, wondering what could possibly make Holden Rodrigues such a terrible party companion.
"Actually, he would make things considerably worse for me, which would make everything considerably worse for everyone else," Adam explained.
This made Olive laugh, which, in turn, made Adam give in.
"Fine, I'll come," he said before he could stop himself. "But just for one hour. And if anyone spills a drink anywhere near me, I'm out."
Olive grinned at him and clapped with excitement.
“I promise, it'll be fun,” she repeated. “Besides, I need Anh to see us together. If this doesn't convince her that we're together, nothing will.”
"She still won’t give Jeremy a chance?"
"No," Olive said, clearly frustrated, "but he'll be at the party, so I need you in your best fake boyfriend behaviour."
It was torture.
As it turns out, someone had the brilliant idea to make a jello shot competition. The rules were stupid and inconsistent, which meant that everyone just kept taking shots “just in case.”
Everyone was drunk, except for Adam, who had planned to drop by, stay for an hour, and go home. Tom was in town but out on a date, so Adam had been looking forward to a quiet evening and getting some work done. Alone. At home.
He had been there for an hour and 23 minutes, to be precise. So technically, he had already held up his end of the deal. He would be at home already if it wasn't for Olive. A very happy and very drunk Olive, who suggested they should sit together, with Adam's arm wrapped around her waist to look “couple-y.”
She was zero jello shots in when she made that suggestion, and Adam could see how uncomfortable it made her to even ask, but he agreed, acting like he didn’t mind. Except he minded, a lot. Olive sat stiffly next to him for a few minutes, but relaxed after the first jello shot.
"Anh’s lookin’." She giggled into his ear every time Anh even glanced in their direction. Considering Anh was sitting directly in front of them, this happened a lot.
Adam fought hard to sit still and just let her get close to his ear each time. However, in a moment of weakness, he made the bold decision to turn to face her when she did it. Her flushed, happy face was close to his, looking at him excitedly. He just observed her and gave her a half smile while tightening his arm around her for a second or two.
"You're being too obvious, smartass." He whispered back, but she just rolled her eyes and focused on the game.
At some point, Olive's arms snaked around his neck and she planted a very exaggerated kiss on his cheek. Adam's head almost exploded. As soon as he stopped smelling colors, he looked ahead. He saw Jeremy approaching Anh with two beers. He offered one to Anh, who politely declined.
Unfortunately for Adam, Olive's arms didn't stay there for too long. He could tell she was too drunk to sit straight, let alone hold her arms up in position for that long. But her head stayed resting on the side of his chest.
Despite all the commotion going on around them, he felt at peace. Olive was happy, giddy, and warm by his side. He could stay like this forever...
Until some idiot rolled in with a karaoke machine.
For fuck's sake.
Suddenly, everybody was cheering, including Olive, who peeled herself from him and started yelling to secure her turn.
Adam had to put up with three karaoke performances before it was Olive's turn. He didn't mind too much, considering Olive clapped and laughed next to him and turned to see his reaction throughout the songs. Maybe she was right, maybe this was fun.
Finally, it was Olive's turn. She tried to get up and failed. She was so drunk, it was both terrifying and cute. On her second attempt, she put her hand on Adam's thigh and pushed herself up. It wasn't intentional, of course, but it made Adam's heart skip a beat.
Before walking away, she turned to Adam and said:
"Can you record me?" Her tone was suddenly all business-like.
"Sorry?"
"I want you to record my performance, you can use my phone if you want," she offered.
No way, I want this in my phone.
"I got it." He took out his own phone and waved it in front of her. She smiled at him and Bambi-walked towards the karaoke machine.
Malcom, who somehow became the official karaoke host, introduced her as "Kalamata extraordinaire" and told everyone they should give her a warm welcome "or else."
The instrumental started. It was an upbeat song he didn't recognize, unlike everyone else, who instantly got excited and started cheering.
His phone was pointed towards Olive, who was smiling big and holding the microphone to her face. Adam didn't know what to expect. Olive was a bit chaotic, but she was also sweet and gentle. Her voice was probably angelic, like everything else about her.
And then, she started singing. And she was... bad. She was very bad.
Adam wasn't very knowledgeable about music, but even he could tell she was off-key. His fake girlfriend was a terrible singer, and judging by how off-beat she was, she probably was also a terrible dancer.
At least we have that in common, he thought.
Still, he couldn't look away. She looked so happy and confident, he just… couldn’t stop staring at her.
When the chorus started, everybody joined and sang with her. He was surprised by how well everyone knew the lyrics. It was something about 'California girls', which, Adam figured, was something all Stanford students sang, maybe? He wouldn't know, since he studied in Boston. Not that he knew any Boston songs...
Eventually, the song ended and Malcom, who had sung louder than Olive, even without a microphone, approached her with two jello shots. He tried handing one of them to Olive, but she misread the situation, grabbed both, and shot them at the same time.
That's not good, Adam thought.
He stopped the recording, stood up, and walked towards her, who jumped, wrapping her arms around his chest, laughing.
"Did you record-ed it?" she asked with bright eyes.
"Yes, Olive. I got it all recorded-ed," he joked back, but she didn't catch it.
The second she let go of him, she almost fell on her side, except Adam caught her just in time.
"Watch out, smartass."
"I might be slightly too drunk, Adam." She was still smiling with her mouth, but her eyes looked off. Like she was trying hard to take account of what was happening in her body.
"Come on, let's get some fresh air." He guided her towards the balcony and helped her step outside. He examined the space for a place where she could sit. He figured any and all balcony furniture was moved inside for the party guests. There was a ledge that looked safe enough for her to sit on, but was full of empty beer bottles and pizza boxes. He quickly cleared it up, but when he turned around, he saw Olive on the floor.
She had leaned against the wall and used it as support to sit down.
"What is that?" She almost screamed in horror. She tried to get up again, but failed miserably.
Adam immediately helped her stand up and saw what she meant. The floor was wet with something...
"Please tell me it's not beer."
He inspected the floor and found the source of the liquid.
"It's just water, Olive," he assured her. "Look, somebody forgot a bag of ice out here." Indeed, there was a mostly melted bag of ice against the wall. Exactly where Olive decided to sit down. "Don't worry."
"It looks like I peed my pants!"
"Don't worry, Olive, drunk people pee their pants all the time," he joked.
"It's not funny." She was upset and looked like she was about to cry.
"I'm just joking, it's all good." Except it wasn't great. The back of her pants and shirt were completely soaked through, and so were the elbows of her sleeves from when she tried to get up on her own.
Once she was sitting on the ledge he'd cleared for her, Adam realized she couldn't hold her body upright.
It's not good.
She drank too much, too fast. He needed to take her to bed, except... she was too drunk to change into dry clothes by herself. And most importantly, too drunk to consent to him helping her change.
While Adam often thought about taking her clothes off, he managed to shut that part of his brain completely off. The part of his brain that wanted to take care of Olive, on the other hand, was on overdrive.
What do I do?
Anh.
Yes, Anh would help. He would have to do a bit of lying, but he should get her to help without her getting suspicious of their fake relationship. It’ll be fine.
The balcony window pointed directly to the living room, where everyone was. He knocked twice and was able to get Jeremy's attention, who looked at him with confusion. Somehow, he managed to convey he needed Anh's help. She was also drunk, but the second she realized Olive might need her, she sprung into action as if she hadn't had a single drop of alcohol.
Within seconds, she was out on the balcony, kneeling next to Olive.
"Is she okay?" she asked without looking at him.
"She's fine, she’s just very drunk," he said reassuringly. "I just got a call from Tom Benton, he's staying at my house," he clarified. "Apparently there's some sort of gas leak and I should go and take care of it." He lied, but he sounded convincing.
Olive, who hadn’t said anything in a while, looked up in horror. "Please be careful, Adam." That did something to Adam's chest, but there wasn't time to decipher what it was right now.
He turned to Anh. "She sat on the melted bag of ice over there." He pointed at it and Anh followed his finger. "Would you mind helping her change into dry clothes? I can bring her inside before I go..."
"Sure," she said immediately and turned to her friend. "Let's go, you party animal." Olive smiled at her friend and nodded.
Adam stepped in and tried to bridal carry Olive, but the second he did, Olive's head swung back and dangled limply. He exchanged a worried look with Anh, who was clearly also worried about her friend's spine. Adam opted instead for a less romantic, more utilitarian way to carry her and draped her over his right shoulder, holding on to the back of her legs.
Anh quickly guided them through the apartment, almost physically pushing drunk people away and opening the door to what could only be Olive's room.
It was small, a little cluttered, and it smelled just like her. The smell hit him and he instantly felt drunk himself.
Adam barely had time to process the room before Anh took a towel from somewhere and draped it on the foot of Olive's bed. Adam understood that he should place Olive there so her bed would stay dry.
He did, and luckily, Olive looked a bit more stable. She was actually sitting up on her own, kind of.
"Alright, Ol, let's get you into some dry clothes, okay?" Anh said to her with a warm tone.
Olive immediately tensed and said, "Adam can't see me naked."
Oh, no.
Anh snorted and said, "I'm pretty sure he can, Ol..."
Olive, don't.
Olive looked at her friend with a worried expression and said, almost in a whisper, "He's never seen me naked before."
Every muscle in Adam's body tensed. Fuck. Anh will know. Anh will know and this whole fake dating plan will be ruined. Fuck.
Anh was directly in front of him, facing Olive. He couldn't see her face, but he saw her shoulders drop and she simply said:
"Oh." One second. Two seconds. "Don't worry, Dr. Carsl- Adam has to go home now. I'll help you myself."
Olive's expression softened.
Adam, think.
Do something, fix this.
Say something, ANYTHING.
"Where are your pajamas, Ol?"
"Laundry, I think?" she said, almost like she had forgotten about her confession.
Anh stood up and barely looked at Adam as she said, "I'll be right back."
The second Anh was gone, he ran and kneeled in front of Olive, grabbed her face with both his hands, and said:
"Listen to me, Olive, don't say anything else." She looked at him with a confused look on her face. "Olive, you just told Anh we've never had sex before. I think we can still convince her it was just a joke, but you have to keep it together. Can you do that for me, please?" he pleaded.
Olive's eyes got huge.
"Oh no," she muttered. "This is bad."
"I'll fix it, don't worry."
Maybe Anh is too drunk to remember? Probably not. Olive, on the other hand... "I'll just tell Anh it was one of our inside jokes, okay?"
That'll work, right? It has to.
Unfortunately, to really sell it, he had to leave. He was supposed to be dealing with a gas leak, after all. But what if Olive said anything after he left? Fuck.
He got up and walked out of the room. Anh was already a few steps from the door, holding some bunched-up clothes in her hand.
"Ah, there you are," Adam tried to sound casual. "Thank you for helping out. I really should get going..." He tried to read her expression, but got nothing.
Okay, here goes nothing.
"You know, what Olive just said..."
"Don't worry, I'll play along," Anh said simply.
"It's just- What?"
"It's fine, I know Olive better than anyone. I should've known..." she said with a reassuring smile.
What?
"I'm not sure what you mean..." said Adam honestly.
"Well, she told me you two had... you know." She tried making a gesture with her hands that looked nothing like any known hand gesture used to represent sex. "But I could kind of tell she was lying."
Shit.
But Anh continued, unaware of what was going on inside Adam’s head.
"Listen, Olive has always been very shy about sex." She panicked a bit when she realized she'd used that word in front of Adam Carlsen, but she continued. "I know you two have only been seeing each other for a few weeks, I'm not surprised she wanted to wait until she felt... comfortable."
Oh.
This is... new information.
"For some reason she didn't want me to know, but she's probably too drunk to remember, anyways. We can pretend she didn't say anything… if that's okay with you, of course." She offered.
"Sure, that's... that sounds good." He nodded and relaxed, finally. He just stood there, in silence, waiting for Anh to say something else. Maybe she said something else he didn’t know about Olive. They were quiet for a moment.
Anh raised an eyebrow but finally spoke. "I guess you don't really have a gas leak emergency, do you?"
"Oh, well... I guess not." He confessed. There was no point in lying, really.
"I'll help her change, then you can come in to say goodbye," she said before walking towards the door. But just as she held the doorknob, she half turned towards him, sighed, and said, "Thank you for... respecting her boundaries. Even in a situation like this."
Adam and Anh simply nodded at each other, like reluctant accomplices who had very little in common but were there for the same reason: Olive.
Adam waited outside the closed door and leaned his back against the wall, trying to make sense of that interaction.
Olive had told him she didn't date when they first discussed their fake dating arrangement.
But what did Anh mean? Why is Olive shy about sex? Was she religious? Unlikely. Not that she had to be religious to want to wait.
But what did this mean for us?
Idiot, there's no 'us'.
Maybe he could figure out what she needed in order to trust another person, and he could become exactly that for her. Maybe then, she’ll want him.
Adam lost track of time, because suddenly the door opened and Anh stepped out.
"All yours," she said and recoiled at her own words. "I'll get a bucket in case she's sick," she added quickly. "I'll be back in a minute." She said that last part almost like a warning. A "don't try anything, because she's drunk but I'm crazy" kind of warning. Adam took no offense to that; on the contrary, he was grateful for Anh.
Olive was wearing a T-shirt and boxer shorts, sitting on her bed, halfway under the covers, using all of her functioning brain cells to plug her phone into her charger. She had her glasses on, which made Adam wonder how Anh managed to get Olive to take her contacts off without poking her eyes out.
"Let me," he offered as he took her phone and plugged it for her, leaving it on the bedside table.
"You're back," Olive smiled warmly at him. "I was worried..."
"It's okay, I told Anh it was an inside jo-,” He began lying.
"I was worried you'd blow up because of the leak." Her eyes were glassy. She's so adorable. Of course, she had already forgotten about the conversation with Anh. Yet, she remembered this.
"It's all under control. It was a false alarm," he reassured her.
"No leak?"
"No leak."
She smiled big and sunk deeper into her bed, fully lying down. Adam instinctively kneeled next to her, pulled the blanket over her, and tucked her in.
"How are you feeling, Olive?"
"I'm okay, I think. There's two of you, though." She giggled, even though Adam was just staring at her.
I want to know you, Olive. I want to know everything about you, and know how to make you fall in love with me. It's selfish, but it's true.
In that moment, Anh came in holding a bucket. Adam took it without really looking at her, which was probably rude, but his focus was on Olive.
Inside the bucket, there was a bottle of water and some ibuprofen tablets. He placed the bucket by the bed and the rest of the stuff next to her phone.
"You'll feel better in the morning," he lied. She was definitely going to feel worse, but she needed reassurance. "You drank too much, smartass." He probably shouldn't be calling Olive a 'smartass' in front of Anh, but to be quite frank, he barely remembered she was in the room.
"I drank the same as you," she complained, her eyes almost closed. He couldn't help but smile.
"I'm pretty sure you drank four times as much as me," he told her matter-of-factly, "not to mention you weigh half of what I do."
"See? It evens out," she replied with a smug tone.
"Oh wow. And you're supposed to be a scientist."
"What?!" She was trying to fight him on this?
He looked at her with a raised eyebrow, and he could see her think.
"Oh wait." She looked at nothing for a second, doing some slow, drunk math in her head. Then, she giggled and admitted, "I got that wrong."
"Stick to biology, okay?" he told her as she laughed at her mistake.
He wanted to kiss her, but he knew he shouldn't. However, he did reach out and put a piece of hair behind her ear. He let his hand rest on the side of her face and rubbed his thumb against her cheek. She just let him.
Stop, before you do something stupid.
He removed his hand and started: "I should get go—"
"Wait!" she half screamed with urgency. "I need you to send me the video of my performance. ASAP as possible, please."
He grinned. "Why is that?"
"I think I did very good, and I might want to submit it to a few places," she said in a very serious tone.
He thought for a second.
"Come to my office on Monday and I'll send it then, deal?" he said simply.
She looked like she wanted to complain. "Why Monday?"
"I want to be there when you watch it for the first time." He was already smiling just thinking about it.
She didn't register his intentions, so she simply said, "Mmkay," and smiled a sleepy smile at him.
Her eyes looked tired, which meant it was time to leave. He reached for her glasses with both hands and removed them carefully. She looked up at him with a confused look, but stayed silent as she scanned his face. Why was she looking at him like that?
If you don’t leave now, you’ll kiss her, idiot. Leave.
"I'll get going now." Unfortunately. "Good night, Olive."
She frowned, but was only pretending to be upset. "That's not my name." This made him smile.
"Good night, smartass." He got closer to her and whispered the last word. Olive's eyes were fully closed by now, but she was smiling.
"Das me," she said in a dorky voice.
Fuck it.
He leaned in and kissed her forehead. He stayed there for just a moment, eyes closed, breathing her in. He wanted to kiss her lips, to cuddle her in a bed that was too short for him. And he would, if she wasn't drunk. And if Anh wasn't—
Shit, Anh.
He looked up, in panic.
Anh was standing there, in complete silence. She looked... not shocked. Anyone would be shocked to see scary, antagonistic, and unapproachable Adam Carlsen acting this way.
But she was looking at him-no, she was looking at them, the same way scientists look at a new discovery. Taking it in and trying to fit this new piece of information into a much bigger, much more complex puzzle.
A second later, she smiled at Adam and nodded almost imperceptibly. He returned the nod without being sure of what it meant.
He then got up, walked past Anh, and said, "Thank you, good night," in his usual serious tone, left the room, and headed home.
Olive's POV
Water.
She needed water. She found a bottle on her bedside table and drank the whole thing. Once she wasn't thirsty anymore, she noticed how much her head hurt.
Fuck, please no.
Next, she noticed she was cold. She tried to cover herself with the blanket, but something stopped her.
It was Anh, who often stayed over after a late night, often slept on her bed, and often stole the blanket.
She pulled it hard, waking Anh up.
"Hey, morning," Anh yawned at her.
"What the fuck happened last night?" asked Olive, not remembering anything past the jello shot competition.
"Well, you got drunk too fast and were passed out about two hours in," laughed Anh, who clearly wasn't nursing the hangover Olive was.
"Where's Adam?" she asked, as if he would pop out from under the bed or something.
Except Anh didn't answer. She just looked at her with a genuine smile on her face. With a "I'm so happy for you and for me" smile.
What-
"I need to tell you something," she said excitedly.
Olive raised an eyebrow at her friend, mostly because talking took too much energy.
"I kissed Jeremy last night."