Chapter Text
Adam had only been semi-present throughout dinner. How could he fully concentrate on anything when his thigh was pressed up against Olive’s in the booth and she kept looking up at him with those beautiful wide eyes that seemed to be full of hope?
And that was probably for the best. If it hadn’t been for that physical connection grounding him, he probably would have ended up kicking Holden under the table when he brought up the fact that Adam had essentially been pining for Olive for the last three years. Not that it wasn’t true, just no one else knew that.
Olive, however, hadn’t looked at all phased by the revelation. In fact, he couldn’t really place the emotion behind her response to it, which he hated because he was sure that he could read all of her expressions by now. The conversation has swiftly moved on thanks to Holden’s mile-a-minute babbling but Adam was now left with an insane urge to pull Olive away from their friends and clear up exactly what all of this was meaning.
Except he couldn’t.
Instead, he settled for watching Olive as she threw her head back in laughter at yet another one of Holden’s embarrassing childhood stories of Adam, and because he just couldn’t resist it, occasionally brushing the back of his hand against her leg under the table.
She didn’t stop him. Maybe this dinner hadn’t been the worst idea.
As the left the restaurant, Olive had grabbed them all fortune cookies, and Holden was complaining about his as they walked to the car park.
‘Adam’s giving you a ride home, right Ol?’ Malcolm asked as she retrieved her luggage from his car.
‘No need. It’s less than a ten minute walk.’ She smiled back. If she thought for a second that he was going to let her walk home alone at this time of night..
‘Actually, Adam will walk me home, right?’
I thought you’d never ask.
‘Of course.’ He took her bag from her and slipped the strap over his shoulder before dropping his lips to her ear and asking, ‘where do you live?’
She tipped her head in the direction. ‘Are you sure you want to carry my bag? It’s pretty easy to throw your back out once you reach a certain age.’
For the first time since before she left his hotel room, she was being a smart-ass and he loved it.
A few minutes passed in easy silence before she broke it.
‘Can we talk about Tom? We don’t have to, but if we can..’ It was clearly a conversation they both wanted to get out of the way.
‘We can. We should.’ He replied. ‘Harvard is going to fire him, of course. Other disciplinary measures are still being decided. The meetings ran really late last night, that’s why I didn’t get a chance to call you. And Harvard’s Title IX coordinator will contact you soon.’
‘What about your grant?’
What about my.. Oh, Olive. I don’t care as long as I have you.
‘I don’t know. I’ll figure something out, but I don’t particularly care right now.’
‘I’m so sorry Adam. I know he was your friend-‘
‘He wasn’t. I had no idea, Olive. I thought I knew him but.. I should have never trusted him with you.’
My Olive. My love. My most precious thing.
‘You weren’t the only one who remembered, by the way.’
‘Remembered..?’
‘When we met. The bathroom. The day I came to interview.’
Oh.
‘Did you really?’
‘Yep, it just took me a while to realise it was you. Why didn’t you say anything?’
Would it have made a difference?
‘Because you introduced yourself like we’d never met before, and I.. Well I’d been thinking about you for years.. Are you upset?’
‘I’m not. I’m feeling.. other things. Glad that you remembered me.’
‘You’re very memorable.’
.
They had come to a stop on the sidewalk.
‘This is my place, by the way.’
‘Right. Should I carry your bag upstairs?’ Anything to make this moment last longer, I don’t think I can walk away right now.
‘Maybe later. There is something I need to tell you. Before.’
‘Of course.’
‘The thing is, Adam, I was stupid. And wrong.’ She was nervous. Adam itched to touch her, comfort her.
As she continued to babble about statistical hypothesis testing, the concern in his chest was growing and growing as she seemed to be working herself up into more of a state and silent tears started rolling down her face. When she stepped closer and reached out to touch his shirt, as if it was grounding her to have some sort of contact with him, he was just about ready to breakdown with her.
‘There are two things I want to tell you. The first thing is that I lied to you. And not just a lie of omission.’
‘Olive-‘
‘It was a real lie. A bad one. A stupid one. I let you believe that I had feelings for someone else. I didn’t, Adam, I never did.’
His resolve broke, and he reached out to touch her face. She was still crying and he had no idea what was really going on.
‘Olive, it doesn’t matter. Whatever it is that you’re crying about, just tell me and I will fix it.’
I will do anything to never see you cry again. Just name it.
‘Adam, it’s not important. It’s the second thing that really matters.’
‘Sweetheart, what is the second thing?’
Even when she cried she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. He kept his hands on her face whilst she was clearly gathering herself to reveal what she was wanting to say, and in that moment his brain was only thinking one thing. Over and over.
I love you. I love you. I love-
‘Ik hou van jou, Adam.’
Oh.