Hee, well, okay, what do YOU think of it, anon? I honestly just giggle when I see it, it’s just so surprising and fun with all these layers. Like, on the one hand, they’re these super inexperienced Christian kids, right, doing their little Christian project, closeted, nothing can be put out in the open, but you also have Sterling explicitly so horny for April and it is PALPABLE.
And like, the aim to please, she’s saying it half-joking but it’s literally what she is, this good kid people-pleaser of the highest order but it’s also this proud little acknowledgement of her efforts to win over April since the debate tournament, wear her down with sheer friendliness, and like, yay, progress! Progress because she wants to DATE her.
But god.
I don’t think any of us, Sterling included, expected that drawn out “Noooted”, it’s just April being her bossy, overbearing self, but it’s so unintentionally aligned with the way Sterling has been approaching this convo. I think she’s caught off guard by how much it played into her little fantasies, lol, because MAKE NO MISTAKE. This kid has been fantasizing about April and is not at all opposed to her bossy, overbearing side and it was just this odd little intersection of the two and she sharply looks over and swallows as she realizes that no, April didn’t really mean anything by it beyond their usual dynamic.
In a season filled with a lot of favorite moments for just this ship, this remains in my top few just for its sheer rewatchability value. The first time we’re here, it’s all nerves and anticipation and even worry for Sterling, rooting for her but afraid of how quickly she’s running into this. And there was some relief that there’s obviously some thawing on April’s part and even a BIT of optimism, but god, on rewatching, and knowing Aprli’s this super intense lesbian and that underneath this tentative little interaction they’re both canonically starting to see the other in a new light and developing raging crushes on each other, it’s just SO much fun