The thing about Zoey is that people misinterpret her friendly behaviour as flirting. It's the core of the interlude episode's plot. She doesn't do it on purpose. You can't even call it subconscious, as that would mean that she has desires that she is repressing. Zoey just has a false vibe. Comparing that to Micah, who cheats on her boyfriend, leads guys on and has no guilt on being an accomplice in her friend's catfishing, is just plain unfair.
Jacob is one of the people who misreads Zoey's behaviour and the whole situation is pretty grey. The problem to my mind is that he asks permission and then ignores not getting it. If he just went for it because he felt a vibe even though he felt guilty about going for a bro's ex it would still be forgivable. Especially if you are on an MG path (except for Bella which Jacob doesn't know about) or really manwhoring an Others path. The only way to be mad at Jacob and not be a hypocrite is to play a "pining for Zoey" Others run where you do absolutely nothing at all. Or it would be if the guy didn't ignore it when he doesn't get permission.
On a completely off-topic note, I had a hard time writing this because in my morning blur I misread your username as "Beta Cuck Spunk" and it got stuck in my head and I kept bursting into laughter every five minutes. I'm seriously starting to feel bad about it so please make fun of my username to balance things up.
I wasn't comparing Zoey and Micha, just the circumstances regarding the guys who were into them. Like you said, Zoey can't help but be herself. Jacob is naturally attracted to her, and sees signs where there are none.
He probably thought it was like a movie, where two friends are totally into each other but can't hook up because of an obstacle (MC). Jacob was under the impression that things are coming to a head, and it was now or never with Zoey, with all of the imaginary sexual tension in the air. He gambles on telling Zoey about MC's refusal in the hopes that she'll be the one to say "fuck it" and kiss him, making what he did less of a betrayal and more of being swept up in a whirlwind romance. It's similar to kissing Maya when she says they shouldn't despite wanting to, or sleeping over at Josy’s and she's waiting for you to make the first move (that's a more extreme situation though).
I'd change my name for the joke, but I wouldn't want to waste my valuable name changes.
