Hmmm....interesting viewpoint, William! Never thought of it that way.
I could see your reasoning for this. Brian frustrates and annoys Angela SO much, SO often, that you have to wonder why she allows him to get under her skin that much! It's kind of like the way elementary school kids act towards each other when they really have crushes. For example, a little girl will roll her eyes at a boy, or a boy will say "eeewwww, I hate girls"...when they really are developing mini-crushes!
However, my opinion slightly differs on yours here...if she is "in love" with Brian, I don't think she is conscious of it at all yet. She is all-consumed with Jordan at the moment. That is not to say she doesn't have a confusing emotion when thinking about Brian, yet I don't think it has come to the surface yet. There IS a hint of this though at the very end of Episode 19.... that "confusing" emotion she has had about Brian finally makes a tiny bit of sense.
When she realizes Brian wrote the letter, a spark is lit but she's not quite sure how to process it. When Brian does that "nervous talking thing," trying to cover up his slip about writing the letter, you can see Angela's face change from annoyance to something else. Her look softens and it's like something just switches in her brain. Here's the lovely scene (from MSCL.com transcripts):
Angela : You proofread a love letter? Is this like a game to you?
Brian : Um, hardly.
Angela : But you admit that you were involved.
Brian : I'm not admitting anything.
Angela : This is a joke, right? That the, the two of... Oh God. I can't believe I fell for it. It's obviously a total lie.
Brian : No, I meant every word. [pause] I mean, the person who wrote it meant every word. Probably.
Angela : Brian?
Brian : I didn't write it.
Angela : But Brian, you said-
Brian : Forget what I said. Forget this whole conversation!
Angela : How?
Brian : [pause] You liked it, though, right? It made you, like, happy?
Angela : Yeah.
Brian : 'Cause that's probably all that, you know, matters.
Angela : To who?
Brian : To, you know, the person...who wrote it.
[Jordan crashes the scene]
Jordan : Angela. Hey.
Angela : Hey.
Jordan : Hey, Brain.
Brian : Hi. Hey.
Jordan : Come on, let's go. [she hesitates] Don't worry, your mom said it's okay. See ya, Brain.
This scene is just brilliant. When Brian says "Forget this whole conversation" and she says "How?"... I think we see the beginning of Angela's realization.
Feel free to debate me!
I'm intrigued by this idea that you think she knew before that. Good topic.