The Love Hypothesis

After a frustrating morning at the lab, Olive arrives to her first fake coffee date with Adam. Adam wears a form-fitting black shirt, which brings out how his sculpted body, curly hair, and facial features fit together. Olive realizes for the first time that he is “really, really, really handsome” (69).

While they wait in line, Olive tries to engage Adam in small talk about his favorite color. Adam doesn’t understand the point of a favorite color but finally settles on black. When they order, Adam goes to pay, but Olive stops him because she doesn’t want to be in the kind of relationship where a guy pays for her stuff. Adam argues he’s paying because of her low student income. Olive doesn’t have a counter argument and adds a few sugar-filled items to her order to frustrate Adam.

The rest of their fake date is filled with learning facts about each other. Olive grew up in Toronto and has no plans to go back; Adam was born in the Netherlands because his mom was a US ambassador to the country. Shortly after, they part ways.

Olive gets an email from Tom Benton, asking to meet the following Wednesday, and as a result, she’s late to her second fake date with Adam because she stayed up late practicing her research pitch.