Name: Benched by You (Ridgewater U #1)
Rating: 4.33 (8 reviews)

640 reviews665 followers

December 25, 2025

Trigger Warnings:Death of parent from cancer, eating disorder (anorexia and bulimia), bullying, comments about body weight, sexual assault (OW kisses MMC while he is drunk) and for side character, family with cancer (acute myeloid leukemia), domestic abuse side character, physical abuse side character, stalking side character, slut-shaming side character, sexual harassment, parent got into car accident cuz of drunk driver

I read this on Wattpad and FELL IN LOVE WITH THE STORY. You have no idea how cute this is, you NEED to read it. The MMC, Zach, is a golden retriever. The FMC, Caroline, is so sweet. This has grovelling, and it is so satisfying. I am so excited for the next story, focusing on Zach’s sister Sam, and his best friend Elijah. Lemme just say, Elijah needs to grovel

“But I can't just stand here and watch you walk away again. I'm not built to stay away from you, Caroline." His eyes search mine, raw and unguarded. "I never was.”

Caroline feels betrayed by her best friend Zach after she overhears him. So she ghosts him for three years until she can no longer avoid him. Zach is determined to find out what went wrong, but Caroline wants nothing to do with him.

Now for spoilers

Zach and Caroline have been best friends since they were kids. He calls her “Sugarplum” since she loves The Nutcracker. Zach is the captain of their high school hockey team. Caroline has had a crush on him her whole life. There are rumours that Zach hooks up with girls. Caroline thinks that he will realize his love for her one day. I thought Caroline was delusional, but nah. Zach was gone from her from the beginning. While playing hockey, he winks at Caroline while Zach’s sister, Sam, teases Caroline. After the game, the first thing Zach does is look for Caroline. Cici, a cheerleader, makes fun of Caroline’s weight. A bunch of girls bullied Caroline for being friends with Zach. Caroline ignores them, and Zach’s teammate, Tyler, joins in. When everyone invites Zach to a party, he says he is leaving with his girl. He chose Caroline over everyone. Zach used to get into fights for Caroline. Now, he makes his teammates do crazy drills when they hurt her. Cici says that she and Zach made out in a hot tub, and Caroline is hurt. Zach asks to talk, but she avoids him. Caroline and Zach snuck into each other’s rooms, so their parents built a bridge across their houses. Zach surprises Caroline with ice cream from their traditional ice cream spot. He cheers her up, undresses, and cuddles her in bed. He says Cici kissed him while he was drunk, and he pushed her off. He says that Caroline is beautiful, not to let everyone’s words get to her.

Caroline and Zach planned to go to Ridgewater U together. Caroline applied to NYU too, and Zach feels hurt, but Caroline says they will still go to the same university. Jacob, Zach’s teammate, tries to ask Caroline to prom. But Zach says he is going with Caroline. So Caroline is excited, she has a Sugarplum dress ready. Zach agreed to dress up like the Nutcracker. Zach surprises her with a Sugarplum Fairy necklace. Inside was a picture of himself and Caroline. Caroline hugs him, and they are so close to kissing, so Zach leaves. He plans to ask her to be his girlfriend at prom. When Caroline is getting ready, she goes to Zach’s room to give him his boutonnière. But she overhears Zach, who is gaming with Jacob. He says that he is only going to prom with Caroline cuz of his parents, saying he isn’t into fat chicks.

“I don't see her that way. I never will. She's not... girlfriend material. You know me. You know the girls I go for. I don't date fat chicks.”

Caroline messages Zach saying she can’t make it. Then she avoids Zach for the rest of the year, while Zach is confused, trying to contact her. After graduating, Caroline leaves for NYU. 3 years later, Zach hears that Caroline’s mom got into a car accident cuz of a drunk driver. I loved how he was desperate to see Caroline. He hears Taylor Swift and thinks Caroline is home. He checks and Caroline hides from him. She transferred from NYU to Ridgewater U because of her mom. Sam begs to room together, promising not to tell Zach. Zach is the co-captain of the Ridgewater Warriors hockey team. His best friend is Elijah, the captain. Elijah and Zach were selected for the NHL Panthers team. Sam has been obsessed with Elijah since she was a kid. At 10, she had a fake wedding with Elijah, who was 12, so that her dad could walk her down the aisle, since he was sick with cancer. Their dad eventually died from it. Sam followed Elijah to warn other girls to stay away, saying she was Elijah’s fiancée. Elijah complains to Zach about Sam, but Zach encourages Sam. He even sends Sam thirst traps of Elijah, who sometimes flexes for the pictures. I know some people were put off by Sam’s behaviour, since it was harassment. And she did push it, but in the future, it seemed like Elijah kinda led her on. I do think Sam needed a backbone. Zach’s other teammates are the twins, Luke and Liam, Kentaro, Cody, Martin, Reese, Pete, Gage and more. The main friends are Luke, Liam, Kentaro, and Elijah. Caroline signs up for a showcase for the Nutcracker. She meets a guy named Adam, and some friends, Lucy, Tammie, and Katie.

When Caroline meets her friends at a bar, she realizes that Zach is there. Meanwhile, Zach is making out with a girl named Taylor. Turns out it is a fake relationship. They didn’t do anything more than kiss in public. Taylor’s ex, Kirk, is harassing her, so Zach is with her to scare him away. Taylor is with Zach, so he doesn’t have to deal with women. We hear rumours about Zach fucking around. Zach pushed Taylor off his lap the second he saw Caroline. Caroline has silver hair and has lost weight. She has an eating disorder, always obsessing over what she eats, and goes to the gym often. Zach asks Caroline if it's her, and Caroline acts like she doesn’t know him. I love that Zach doesn’t let this bother him and says he is her best friend. Caroline leaves, but Zach begs to talk. He asks why she disappeared for three years. Zach is confused since Caroline is looking at him with hatred. When Caroline is about to talk, Taylor interrupts them. Caroline’s Uber arrives, so she leaves. So Zach talks to Sam, who accidentally reveals that Caroline is her roommate. Caroline blocked Zach on everything, so his messages never reached her. Zach begs Sam to help him, threatening to take away Elijah’s thirst traps. So Sam texts Caroline “911,” which is their code for emergencies cuz Sam gets sick often. Caroline rushes to their dorm to find Zach there, who begs her to talk. Since he didn’t give up, Caroline breaks down and tells him what she heard. Zach doesn’t know what to say, and Caroline kicks him out. Zach sits outside for hours while Caroline cries.

“And the worst part—the absolute worst part—is that it came from you. My best friend of eighteen years. The one person I trusted more than anyone else in this goddamn world.”

Zach goes to Caroline’s dorm to explain himself. But Sam says that Caroline is focusing on an important audition. Sam says she will try to get Caroline to come to the Pond, the hockey frat house. When Caroline gets the role of Sugarplum Princess, and Adam is the Nutcracker, Sam asks Caroline to give Zach a chance to explain. That they have been friends for 18 years, and Caroline and Zach are now 21. She says that Zach was doing horribly when she disappeared, and even visited NYU. So Caroline goes to the Pond. When Caroline gets to Zach’s room, he is shirtless and happy to see Caroline. But Caroline sees Taylor and tries to walk away. Zach asks Taylor to leave and grabs Caroline. Zach says he isn’t in a relationship with Taylor. So Caroline assumes they just fuck. Zach calls Caroline out for still wearing the Sugarplum necklace. Zach says that he was in love with Caroline. He was scared to ruin their friendship. He didn’t want Jacob to ask her out, so he lied and regrets it. Caroline says she felt the same way. She literally sang “You Belong With Me,” as a confession. Then she says that he’s been with so many women, so he’s lying. Zach says that he is a virgin, that all the girls were just a cover since people thought he was gay (super immature). The girls get popular from the rumours, and he gets people off his back. He begs Caroline for another chance, and regrets hurting her. His full conversation with Jacob was much worse than what we heard, but Jacob knew that Zach liked Caroline and wouldn’t admit it.

“You didn't just hurt me, Zach. You wrecked me. You left scars I'm still trying to smooth out three years later. And the worst part? I let you. Because I loved you.”

Zach kept crouching on his knees in front of Caroline. He never felt discouraged by her rejecting him, he actually grovelled. Caroline thinks he is saying this cuz she looks like his ideal woman now, but he tells her that’s not true. Caroline leaves, but she unblocks his number, so he spams her. Zach obsesses over Caroline leaving him on “Seen”. Kentaro is pissed cuz his dad is pushing him to move back to Japan. Since he is an Heir, his dad wants him to take over his company. His dad threatened to get rid of payments for his mother’s treatments and his sister’s tuition if he doesn’t return. Zach texts Caroline asking to go out. Since she doesn’t respond, he shows up with her favourite drink. Caroline says she doesn’t drink it anymore, and Zach feels terrible. She is on a diet and is constantly checking her weight. So Zach follows Caroline to her lecture and asks her friend Lucy to switch seats. When Zach asks to eat lunch, Caroline says she doesn’t want to ditch Lucy. So Zach invites Lucy, but Adam interrupts. Zach is so jealous of Adam. Zach kept quoting Taylor Swift, cuz of Caroline.

“That with me, it'd be burning red. But it's not. This time, it's golden. Like daylight. And if you'd just let me..." My chest heaves. "I'll spend every day proving that to you."
Caroline just blinks at me, once, twice — and then her brow creases, her voice deadpans. "Are you seriously quoting Tay Tay right now?"
"Hell yeah, I am. You always said Taylor gets you better than anyone else—so I figured, if I'm gonna fight for my best girl, might as well let the queen do some of the talking.”

Adam was a great friend, I loved his advice to Caroline, once he heard what happened. He told Caroline to make sure Zach grovels. Caroline visits Zach at hockey and sees him hugging Taylor while she cries. So Caroline leaves, but Zach sees her. Taylor was crying to Zach since Kirk cornered her and choked her. He tried to get her alone, but she escaped. She complained to the school, but they didn’t take it seriously. Taylor tells Zach to go after Caroline before she overthinks things. So Zach begs Kentaro to take Taylor with him. Since Taylor liked to fuck around, people didn’t take her seriously. When Zach gets to Caroline’s place, she is listening to her “Die Chad Die” playlist with vengeful songs from Taylor Swift. Zach explains Taylor’s situation. Zach says he was worried she would’ve misunderstood, but Caroline tells him to help Taylor. He begs Caroline to take her on a date if he woos her, she says fine. Kentaro is annoyed since Taylor is sleeping in his room. Once Zach tells everyone what happened, Kentaro leaves Taylor be. The team complains to the university. Taylor gets a restraining order so if Kirk does anything, he can get arrested. She also has security with her. Zach ends his deal with Taylor to focus on Caroline, Taylor is good with it. Zach visits Caroline at the studio and is jealous of Adam. Zach gives Caroline his jersey and begs her to come to his game. At the game, Caroline wears his jersey, while Sam wears Elijah’s jersey. The lights turn off and on the jumbotron, Zach appears. He confesses he is a virgin and is in love with Caroline. Then he sings “You Belong With Me,” on the bleachers while changing the lyrics. Zach asks Caroline to be his girlfriend, and everyone is cheering for them to kiss. So Caroline kisses his cheek and he is so happy.

“You've always been the standard, Caroline. The only one that ever mattered. You don't just tick every box on a checklist—you are the whole damn list.”

Sam has a bruise on her back and when Caroline questions it, Sam is nonchalant. When Sam gets sick, Zach visits to take care of her. I loved how good of a brother he was, he calls Sam “Angel”. Zach and Caroline stay up talking and since he is soaked, Caroline gave him an old jersey. Zach takes the jersey cuz he doesn’t want Caroline to wear it. Then Zach invites Caroline to a party. It was so cute how Zach told Sam to look out for Caroline if girls hurt her.

Sam's the only one they're actually scared of. I told her, "Use violence if necessary." She just cracked her knuckles and said, "Gladly.”

When Caroline was dancing with Adam, Zach grabs her. They kiss after dancing and officially become a couple. Zach brought Caroline food and takes care of her feet cuz she was tired from practice. Then Zach asks Caroline out on a date. But he says he is going to be busy for a couple of days. When it’s time for their date, Caroline is called by Lucy cuz there are sponsors who want to see their performance. Caroline wears her dress, and then we see Zach in a Nutcracker costume. He redid their prom with their friends and family’s help. We start to see Elijah and Sam’s story. Sam asks Elijah to dance and he says no. Another girl asks Elijah, and he says yes, which hurts Sam. So Adam asks Sam to dance and Elijah is staring at them jealously. This is what pissed me off. He claims that Sam is annoying, but then he gets jealous when she is with someone else. That’s why I couldn’t get mad at Sam, we don’t know the full story yet. Caroline and Zach lose their virginities to each other. They are sexually active, always doing PDA. Sam starts to leave early to study, and got sick. We see Taylor leave Kentaro’s room, bet there’s a romance there. Caroline wonders if Zach would’ve been with her if she looked like before, he says yes. We see Caroline start to eat more, without looking at calories, and Zach is proud of her. When Caroline and Zach are at his place, they overhear Elijah yelling at Sam. Turns out Sam went into his room to sleep and that is one boundary he asked her not to cross. I get it, but we see Sam was sweating and tired. Elijah was with a girl and thinks Sam did this on purpose. Zach and Caroline take Sam home, Sam has a bloody nose and collapses.

Zach and Caroline take her to the hospital, and she overworked herself with school. Sam, Zach, Caroline, and his mom visit their dad’s grave for his death anniversary. Caroline surprises Zach with ice cream. When Zach cries, he tells Caroline that he visited NYU. Sam was diagnosed with cancer at 8, acute myeloid leukemia, the same as their dad. She had a relapse when Caroline left. Zach was doing badly in classes, missing hockey practice, and missed Caroline. He flew to NYU and waited at the gate. Caroline asked why he didn’t tell her parents. He said they gave him her dorm room, but she never showed up. It was cuz Caroline was in the gym a lot, dealing with her eating disorder. They ask Sam to go to the hospital and get herself checked out. While Sam was recovering, she didn’t visit the Pond. Caroline surprises Zach by cooking for his team. Elijah seems to look for Sam, then he would act unaffected and walks away. But you know what was fucked? When everyone found out Sam was sick, Elijah says good.

"It's been kind of nice without her around. Wouldn't mind if she stayed sick a little longer—means I get to enjoy some peace for once.”

Zach punches Elijah, he has always supported Elijah being with Sam. But after this? Nope
He just looks at Elijah, eyes dark, jaw set. “I'm going to do what I should've done a long time ago—protect her. Keep her as far away from you as possible. Because she doesn't deserve this. She doesn't deserve you."

Zach called Elijah out for always looking for Sam. He knew Elijah was jealous of Adam when he danced with Sam, and Adam also tried to kiss Sam later. Usually, when a brother is protective of his sister getting with his friend, it’s predictable. But this? It adds a reason for why Zach won’t support Elijah with Sam anymore. Elijah went to Duluth and when he returns, he keeps staring at his phone or looking at Zach for answers, it’s clearly Sam related. Zach and Elijah haven’t been playing well or talking well. Sam tells Zach that she is cancer free, but it’s obvious she’s lying. Elijah has no idea that Sam makes him nasty smoothies that Zach gives him. Caroline and Zach’s families spend Thanksgiving together, they’re all happy for Zach and Caroline. Caroline’s dad interrogates Zach, it was cute. Sam is quiet, I just knew that her cancer was back. Sam cries since Elijah ignored her Thanksgiving text. Zach convinces her to get over him. When they are watching the game, Sam avoids looking at Elijah. Sam is out more, and they think it is for parties. Then, Caroline has her performance and the team surprises her with a big banner. When the twins call Sam over, Elijah looks at Sam. But Sam ignores him, and the twins ask Sam about a guy, and she says she might see him. It was so satisfying seeing this. When Zach and Caroline run into Cici and Tyler, who are having a baby. They try to bother Caroline, Zach tells them to back off and Caroline stands up for herself. Zach apologizes for not looking out for Caroline enough. They missed a text from Sam that said “911.” They find Sam on the ground collapsed cuz her cancer came back. Seeing the family cry while Sam suffered was so fucking sad. She vomits, and they do surgery, and then we cut to the epilogue. 3 years later, Caroline is watching Elijah and Zach play for the Stanley Cup, which they win. There is a chair that is empty, which is clearly for Sam. I refuse to believe she is dead. I look forward to reading her angsty romance with Elijah. Zach and Caroline have a boy named Sammy and another baby on the way. I loved this story, the grovelling was perfect. We see a clip of them proposing to each other and it was adorable.

Stay safe folks!

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Benched by You

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