Navarrette basically tells us what Nikki was feeling during the car scene
Inde Navarrette said that she played Nikki as already having a crush on Bear before the wish: “I think that Nikki did have a crush on him” and “I think that she did have some feelings for him.”
I think that makes the car scene much clearer. Nikki becomes unusually vulnerable when she tells Bear that he’s the only person she can really talk to, looking down and avoiding his eyes before finally looking at him as if she’s waiting for a response. She also seems nervous when he mentions the gift, and then gives him an incredibly direct opening by asking if he likes her and telling him that now is the time to say it.
Her disappointment and irritation when Bear says they’re just good friends also makes more sense in that context. I think the “Freaky Nikki” comment hurts her for the same reason. Coming from Ian as a joke, she might have brushed it off. Coming from Bear, someone she was beginning to have feelings for and apparently saw as a sweet, kind guy she could really talk to, it feels like a cheap shot from the last person she expected it from.
That doesn’t mean Nikki was already deeply in love with Bear or that a relationship was guaranteed. But Navarrette’s own interpretation strongly suggests that Nikki’s feelings were real and still in their early stages, and that the car scene is where she comes very close to letting Bear know.