[fanfiction] - Adam Carlson's POV of the Love Hypothesis

shifting

"Dear Sweet Lord, that is EXACTLY what i needed RIGHT NOW!"

Holden is about as busy as someone can be, stuffing his face with fried okra, and still - miraculously - manages to throw shades on my Green Salad bowl. Somehow, in the world only Holden lives in, ordering anything not-deepfried at Poppa Paul is a hate crime. 

He told me before, so the bantering pursues as followed: 

"This is a hate crime." He proclaims while chomping on his food. 

"As we've already established multiple times, we both have very different opinions about when to use this term."  I follow passionless. 

"You know, you can-"

"order it with a side of hot wings. yeah." We're definitely at the 'finish each others sentences'-stage of our friendship. But I am about to rock his world. 

And follow up with something, he will never see coming. 

I hesitate only for a brief second, looking up from my pristinely healthy lunch and do eye-contact. 

"I'll have to cancel lunch at Miss Chengs tomorrow." 

He nods silently, his hamster cheeks full of okra. 

 And I have to admit, I am kind of ... giddy. Almost vibrant, because I am about to tell him, that this time, cancelling our lunch date has nothing to do with a work deadline, with some call for paper or anything else work related. No, this time... 

"Guess, I'll see you for fake-dating Wednesday, then?"

I may have lingered too long remembering this particular good-bye from Olive, because Holdens chewing-while-talking questionning plops into my consciousness like a bubble burster. 

"Because of Hammersteins jubilee pub?"

This gives me pause. I have to admit: I completely forgot about that. And that's a first for me. 

I shake my head with vigor, before descending my fork into crunchy iceberg lettuce, kind of self-aware that I'm stalling. 

And that's just plain dumb. I already convinced myself, that it was best to lie by omission to Holden. That this was way better than spilling the whole truth to him, which, I am certain, will turn him into an Olive-opponent. I can practically see him in my mind, all flustered and bothered, while explaining to me that I am used in the most teenage-jealousy-drama happening outside of High School itself. He will rise to the higher realms of 'saving my poor ass from my own bad decisions'. Such as mimikri-ing as a date for the only girl I am pining over since... ever. 

Still. It will not flow easily from my lips, what I am about to tell him. Actually, it takes quite some force to work it out of my mouth. 

"I'll have a date. Nothing crazy, really. It's just coffee. At starbucks."

And that would be ominous enough, because, frankly, Holden knows me well enough, that starbucks is one of the last places, I'd voluntarily visit. But then I top it off by adding. 

"with her."

That gives Holden and any okra-shomping definite pause. 

Several seconds tick by. Unspoken wonder on his facial features, even the stuffed hamster cheeks look... strickenly aghast. 

It would be hilariously funny if not an inner boy scout keeps reminding me, that friendship is honesty. 

And I maybe not be fake-dating Olive in terms of faking feelings. 

But I am definitely faking the whole ordeal of this to Holden. 

Surprisingly, when Holden recovers, he does not - how I anticipated - smother me with a bazillion questions. 

No, in fact, the hestitant yet slightly smug smile in the rght corner of his mouth is almost all reaction I get. 

"So..." he mumbles without looking up from his plate. 

"Starbucks. Of all places."

I nod wordlessly. Pretty sure the location of said date is the last of all concerns. But I am proven wrong once again, because there is a very smug gleefulness in Holden's tone when he asks: 

"Please tell me, what you'll order."