Reviewer: It Was Me Signed [Report This]
Date: June 07 2025 8:57 AM Title: Chapter 26 - Fear leads to Anger, Anger leads to Distraction

Well that certainly could have gone worse!

Yeah, Angie's initial reaction was ... less than ideal, but I think the fact that she was more hurt than angry is actually a really good sign. She was embarrassed, yes, but she was embarrassed because it was Ben specifically; she cares what he thinks rather than just feeling angry that someone "tricked' her into revealing intimate details about her life. I have a feeling that, once she processes Ben's words and gains a better understanding of his perspective (probably from the rest of the debate team), that hurt will diminish significantly and she'll hear him out for real.

But man, Ben really didn't help himself a lot here. His nerves made him throw most of that great advice he received out the window, and he even did what Maggie told him not to do and started making it about him! Granted, I think it's really hard to not try and justify your actions, so it makes perfect sense that this was his fallback, but it was kind of painful to watch at the same time!

More importantly, the fact that just one look at giant Angie was enough to make him lose his nerve and forget how to approach things says a lot about how he feels about her, I think. We've seen a lot emotional development between Morgan and Ben over the last several chapters, but his reaction to just seeing Angie with her hair down and in that blue sundress made up a lot of lost ground, so to speak. As much as I'd enjoy seeing Ben and Morgan end up together, I think I ultimately want to see him go with Angie. I don't know if it's that friends to lovers' dynamic or just the way you write these two, but their chemistry just jumps off the page, and we haven't even seen them have a fully honest conversation yet!

But yeah, I can't blame Angie for handling that the way she did. I really wanted her to hear him out and have this scene be longer, but, with their history together and the way their previous session went down, it's easy to see why she would be slow to trust him, even though I think she really wants to. Of course she thinks that his advice in the first session and the way he's been acting around her lately is some sort of elaborate joke! But again, I think she'll start to realize fairly quickly that this initial conclusion doesn't make a lot of sense and give him a shot to better explain himself, even if she'll still be skeptical as she listens.

I thought Sabrina Winters would end up in Ben's chair at some point, but I really didn't think it would be this soon! I'm so intrigued by this and have no idea what to expect. Is she going to be the stuck-up jerk we're expecting her to be after that confrontation with Angie? Or does she have a hidden softer side that will come up and surprise Ben yet again? I could even see things getting a bit hostile or humiliating for Ben. Actually, I could see almost anything happening!

One thing I'm really confident about is that Kimberly accidentally screwed Ben over by leaving his full-sized phone in the room with him. He's not going to be able to use it (at least not properly), but a certain giant girl (who seems like the nosey variety) sure can! This is a big mistake by Kimberly, and I hope she's ready to admit as much if/when Ben has to suffer the consequences for it!

But even more interesting is this mysterious recommendation Sabrina received about the new tiny technician. Who would recommend him? Well, he's only had two clients so far. I would think Morgan would be careful about making recommendations and would definitely let Ben know before making them. But I also can't see Angie even telling Sabrina that she went to Tiny Treatments, let alone recommending a technician for her! Of course, we really don't know a ton about how either of those two really interact with Sabrina other than that fight she had with Angie a couple chapters ago, so it's possible that maybe one of them is closer to her than we currently realize?

Or could it be that Savannah recommended him to Sabrina as a joke (or maybe even as a debate spy)? I could see her doing that and laughing about it.

So the initial confrontation between Ben and Angie was pretty short, but I think that is a pretty organic way for things to have played out. Unless Angie had figured out that it was Ben under that mask before he told her (it sounds like she at least suspected that it might be someone she knew), this was always going to end with her storming out and needing time to come to terms with things. I thought this was handled really well, and I really enjoyed the chapter as a whole!

And hey, at least she didn't flatten him under her palm!

Author's Response:

He got a ton of advice for sure, but it's difficult to put all of that into practice when it's actually happening, I figured that'd be more realistic than all of it going exactly like planned.

You'd think that this confrontation would be longer, but I kept it short exactly because she got angry and wouldn't hear him out (yet), and so I could make room for Sabrina right after. You already predicted that she'd be a client eventually, and that's something I had set up to happen a while ago. 

Kimberly definitely did not think that through very well, but she's a busy receptionist! 

As for Ben and Angie, this isn't the end of it. There's still more to play around with for their relationship, but for now, we're making some time for Sabrina. :)