How to Fail at Flirting Chapter 33 Summary and Analysis

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

Naya visits Joe in the hospital, where he is connected to monitors and tubes. Joe asks her to take his place on the president’s advisory committee. Naya hesitates because she is still dating Jake, the consultant hired by the university, and worries about a conflict of interest. Joe insists that Naya is the most ethical person he knows and that the president wants pre-tenure voices. Naya eventually agrees to avoid causing Joe extra stress.

A week later, Naya attends the committee meeting in the president’s suite. She texts with Jake, who tries to calm her nerves. The president, Flip, outlines the committee’s charge: to speak candidly with consultants about early findings. Naya plans to disclose her relationship with Jake after the meeting, but a latecomer arrives—Davis Garner, the man who abused her years ago. Davis makes a show of greeting everyone and whispers degrading comments to Naya, touching her shoulder. Naya freezes, unable to respond. When President Lewis leaves the room with Davis, Naya fails to speak up about either the conflict of interest or Davis’s behavior.

Key Events

Joe recruits Naya for the advisory committee from his hospital bed; Naya initially resists due to her relationship with Jake.
Naya agrees after Joe threatens to return to work prematurely.
At the committee meeting, Naya exchanges reassuring texts with Jake.
Davis Garner enters late, and Naya realizes her abuser is now on the committee.
Davis makes inappropriate remarks about Naya’s appearance and past, touching her shoulder.
President Lewis leaves with Davis before Naya can disclose her conflict of interest or object to Davis’s presence.

Character Development

Naya Turner: Her trauma response resurfaces as she physically freezes, loses her voice, and feels a primal urge to flee. The chapter highlights her struggle to reconcile her professional ambitions with the silencing power of past abuse. She also shows ethical concern about the conflict of interest with Jake, but her ability to advocate for herself collapses in Davis’s presence.
Joe: Though bedridden, Joe demonstrates trust in Naya’s judgment and pushes her to step into a leadership role, valuing her ethics and capability over seniority.
Davis Garner: He immediately reasserts control through public humiliation, physical boundary violations, and gaslighting (pretending Naya was his student). His charm with President Lewis reveals his skill at manipulating professional settings.
Jake: Supportive and playful via text, but his absence from the physical scene underscores Naya’s isolation when Davis appears.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Power and control: Davis’s late arrival, his whispered comment (“Did your legs look this good…”), and his heavy hand on Naya’s shoulder all reestablish a dynamic of dominance. The mahogany conference table becomes a stage for his performance.
Silencing and voicelessness: Naya’s “voice went into hiding” twice—first when she meets Davis, then when President Lewis leaves. The motif of the buzzing phone (Davis’s likely text) amplifies the threat she cannot verbalize.
Professional reputation vs personal trauma: Naya’s fear that Davis will undermine her hard-won reputation (“makes me sound like an eighth grader”) shows how abusers can weaponize workplace status.
Conflict of interest: The ethical dilemma of dating a consultant while serving on a committee that evaluates consultants mirrors the larger question of how personal and professional boundaries blur.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter 33 marks the direct reintroduction of the novel’s primary antagonist, Davis Garner, into Naya’s present-day life. It raises the stakes for both Naya’s career and her relationship with Jake, because she now must navigate a committee alongside her abuser while hiding her personal connection to Jake. The chapter sets up a prolonged, high-tension confrontation that will test Naya’s recovery and her ability to protect herself and her professional identity.

Study Questions

Why does Naya ultimately agree to take Joe’s place on the committee despite her conflict of interest?
Answer: Naya agrees because Joe threatens to return to work while still recovering, and she does not want to cause him additional stress. She also recognizes that Joe has supported her repeatedly, and she feels obligated to help.
How does Davis use language and body language to intimidate Naya during the meeting?
Answer: Davis arrives late, draws attention to himself, then publicly claims Naya “followed him around” as a student (a lie). He whispers a degrading comment about her legs, scans her body, and presses a heavy palm on her shoulder—all non-consensual actions that reassert the power imbalance from their past.
Why does Naya fail to disclose her relationship with Jake to President Lewis at the end of the chapter?
Answer: She is already shaken by Davis’s presence and unable to find her voice. When President Lewis excuses himself to leave with Davis, Naya’s trauma response keeps her silent. She later considers emailing him but delays, unsure how to explain the situation.