As the evening continues, Sean texts her a sentimental photo from a past trip together. Dean takes Allie outside to the patio and persuades her to share a joint. The marijuana loosens her up, and she gives Dean a candid account of her relationship history with Sean: the early breakups driven by her own hesitation, his subsequent controlling behavior, and the recent, final fights over their future—specifically Sean’s demand that she abandon her acting career and become a homemaker in Vermont after graduation.

Allie hands Dean her phone and asks him to keep it away from her so she cannot text Sean. Dean suggests the fastest cure for heartbreak is a rebound hookup and volunteers himself. Allie refuses, though she privately admits the idea appeals to her. Back inside, Dean drapes an arm around her and makes increasingly brazen propositions, which she deflects despite a growing physical attraction. He eventually disappears into the kitchen and returns with a bottle of tequila and two shot glasses.

Allie wakes the next morning in Dean’s room, naked and severely hungover. Her memories from the night before return slowly: She and Dean slept together twice. She finds physical evidence of the night and recalls that she had made the first move. She attempts to sneak out, but Dean wakes as she searches his sweatpants for her phone. When he teases her about what happened, she insists they never mention it again. They agree to keep the night secret from everyone, particularly Hannah and Garrett. Allie privately reflects that Tucker would have been a far more suitable rebound candidate, then heads downstairs to retrieve her clothes, relieved there’s no one around to witness it.

Saturday night, Dean is at Malone’s with his freshman teammate Hunter Davenport, who is stewing over their recent hockey loss. Dean gives Hunter blunt but constructive criticism and offers to schedule extra one-on-one practice sessions. Hunter notices the hickey on Dean’s neck, but Dean deflects. When Hunter spots a woman at the bar, Dean recognizes Sabrina James and warns him off, citing a drunken hookup and a subsequent, undisclosed falling-out between them just as Tucker arrives, drenched from a worsening storm.

Dean texts Allie. He knows pursuing her will likely create problems with Garrett and their entire social circle, but he can’t get her out of his head. Concerned by the storm, he leaves the bar and calls Allie from his car. Before she can hang up, Dean tells her he wants to sleep with her again. 

Allie hangs up shaken. She resolves not to sleep with Dean again and goes back to the script for her final play at Briar. Her agent has been sending her scripts for film and television comedies, but her summer performance in a serious play has opened doors to dramatic stage work. She cannot decide which direction to take.

Sean calls and apologizes again, begging for another chance. Overwhelmed by guilt, Allie confesses that she slept with someone else the night before. After a long silence, Sean asks who it was. Allie says it does not matter and that it was a mistake. Stricken, Sean thanks her for telling him and hangs up.

“Dean”

Garrett and Logan return from their weekend away and wake Dean. Garrett asks whether Dean behaved himself with Allie. Dean lies and says he was a perfect gentleman, knowing he’s still unable to stop thinking about her.

At the hockey arena, Dean meets with Coach Jensen, who introduces Frank O’Shea—Dean’s former high school coach—as Briar’s new defensive coordinator. Dean reflects that Coach O’Shea once punched him in a parking lot, but Dean never reported him. Standing in front of him now, O’Shea is cold and businesslike: He forbids any discussion of their shared past, demotes Dean to the second defensive line, and assigns him to coach a middle school hockey team. Dean agrees, but privately, he’s seething, certain that O’Shea engineered these changes to punish him for what happened with O’Shea’s daughter, Miranda when they were in high school.

After leaving the arena, Dean calls his older brother, Nick, but his younger sister, Summer, answers and reveals she has been placed on academic probation at Brown University and is considering transferring to Briar. She gives the phone to Nick, who advises Dean to keep a low profile with O’Shea and wait out the year. Back at the house, Dean only tells Garrett and Logan that O’Shea is his former high school coach, omitting the personal conflict. That night, Dean calls Allie again and repeats his request to sleep with her. She declines and hangs up.

“Allie”

Hannah appears in the doorway of their shared dorm just as Allie hangs up on Dean. As Hannah talks, Allie continues fielding flirty texts from Dean, surprised to feel genuine arousal at his suggestions. Hannah helps Allie run lines for the play and asks whether Allie regrets ending things with Sean. Allie says no and confirms their incompatible futures made the breakup inevitable. She floats the idea of a casual fling, and Hannah is skeptical since Allie has always been a boyfriend person. Allie privately considers whether a fling with Dean might be the answer, then decides against it.

The conversation turns to Thanksgiving. Allie plans to visit her father in Brooklyn and silently worries about his worsening multiple sclerosis. She had turned down a full scholarship to UCLA partly to remain close enough to care for him. Hannah tells Allie she can grieve her breakup with Sean as long as she needs to without judgment.

O’Shea runs the defensemen an hour after Monday’s practice is supposed to be over. Afterward, Dean reflects that his disastrous experience with Miranda in high school prompted his current habit of spelling out his intentions clearly before any hookup. He feels unexpectedly melancholy about the idea that graduation will scatter his closest friends across the country. He attributes his strange mood to not having had sex in three days.

That night, Dean sees Kelly outside the rink, but when she flirts with him, he feels no physical interest whatsoever and understands that he has fixated on Allie to the exclusion of everyone else. He turns down Kelly’s offer and meets up with his friend Beau Maxwell at Malone’s, where he admits there’s a woman he cannot stop thinking about. Beau and Dean joke that Dean has imprinted on her like the vampires and werewolves in Twilight. When Beau suggests sleeping with someone else to break the spell, Dean admits his body refuses to cooperate with anyone but Allie. Beau concedes he has no useful advice.

Briar loses their second game of the season. Dean reassures a dejected Hunter, and O’Shea unexpectedly compliments Dean on his defensive play. In the parking lot, Dean meets up with Garrett, Logan, and Hannah. When he casually asks after Allie, Hannah reports she is home alone moping after a troubling call from Sean. Dean tells the group he will meet them at Malone’s, then heads directly to Allie’s dorm.

“Allie”

Allie hears a knock on her door and worries that it’s Sean, who called earlier to say he forgave her for sleeping with someone else and asked to meet for coffee. Instead, she finds Dean at the door. He lets himself in, removes his shirt, and settles on her couch. Allie tells him she feels ashamed about what they did because she doesn’t usually have one-night stands. Dean firmly rejects the notion that consensual sex is anything to be ashamed of, and his words partially lift the guilt Allie has been carrying. She admits she told Sean about the hookup, though not who was involved. Dean asks directly whether she wants Sean back. Allie thinks through the months of arguments and ultimatums and feels certain the answer is no. Dean advises her to cut off contact with Sean, and proposes they have sex to help her forget him. After an extended back-and-forth, they settle on a compromise: Dean stays, keeps his hands to himself, and watches her favorite TV show with her without complaint.