Talk:Platinum Choices/@comment-37139825-20190614000410

I'm going to happily rant, so don't mind me :D

This chapter truly cemented my love for Raleigh. He is infuriatingly cocky and it's both hilarious and attractive to me. The whole scene where she asked if he was flirting and he asked if she wanted him to be flirting--like, flirting by dodging the label of flirting, that had me laughing. And I was surprised that we got to kiss him already, but I think it fits with the whole "what the hell is going on" style of thinking that the mc seems to have. At least for me, when it comes to Raleigh my mc is really impulsive, and I think it could become a very interesting dynamic/romance. My absolute favorite part was when he said he knew the mc was already in love with him and she was like NO and he just smirked and walked off. Again, infuriatingly cocky and it's great.

The scene of him being a judge was interesting. His criticism of Jaylen felt like it could have been real, especially since his criticism of the mc was more so a personal dig that seemed as if it were meant to rile her up on purpose. He was smiling and nodding while she performed, but refrained from truly praising her and tried to start drama instead, and when the crowd booed and especially when my mc bit back it seemed like those reactions were exactly what he wanted; he loves pushing buttons, going against the grain, living up to that Bad Boy persona and pretending he doesn't care about anything. Like how, when it was time to vote, he said he was being threatened with a lawsuit if he didn't vote for Abby and that because he "loves lawsuits" he's voting for mc. And then winked. I liked that my mc wondered if all that was a show and if he had been rooting for her the whole time... which I definitely feel is the case.

The conversation about him saying the crowd doesn't love him since they don't know him was pretty telling. He seems very jaded, especially since he said he practically grew up on stage; people are infatuated with him, they do whatever he wants/says and he enjoys that in a sense, but I chose for my mc to say that he needs someone to ground him and the fact that he seemed surprised was telling, too. He seemed to think that no one would want to do that because they all want to him to lift them up instead, so I guess he feels like no one cares about the real him, just his public persona. Him not publically praising/gushing over the mc like the other judges, and yet still supporting her by voting, even with an excuse, is interesting. (It makes me wonder if they might have maybe a public rivalry or something close to that, but become friendly/romantic in private, and then have to deal with getting together or staying away from each when that inevitably got out... but I doubt/don't know if they would go in that direction. It might stray too much from the plot and also focus too much on Raleigh.) In any case, I like the teasing between them and how mc can be real and blunt with him because I think he gets a kick out of not being sucked up to, and I like how he pushes her buttons and is basically Simon Cowell on stage and yet it's a little different when they're in private. (Plus, I really loved how they just randomly kissed and he accused her of being in love with him, lolol. I'm still laughing about that. Good stuff.)

(He's not wrong tho. I a pretty much in love by now. Curse him. :P)

I'm gushing over Raleigh at this point. I'm sorry. I just find him super intriguing and attractive and exasperating. He's fun and funny and complicated. He's already one of my favorite characters, I don't even care about all the cliche stuff anymore. I'm just enjoying this book so far. I was more hype for my mc performing and winning then I thought I'd be.

Still really loving the music, too.