Chapter 20

Dean sits alone in the locker room after being ejected for punching a St. Anthony’s player amid rising rivalry tensions and his own simmering anger. Allie bypasses security by claiming to be his girlfriend and confronts his recent avoidance. She confirms she refused to get back with Sean and declares the breakup final, which visibly relieves Dean.

Allie tends to Dean’s bleeding knuckles and learns O’Shea has been on his case over an Instagram photo of Dean holding a beer with a puck bunny. She urges him to control his temper. Tired of secrecy, Dean impulsively proposes driving to New York together for Thanksgiving, staying separately but meeting up; Allie agrees, on the condition she brings “Winston.”

On the nighttime drive, they bicker playfully over music and talk exes. Allie mentions old friends and an ex, while Dean admits his longest relationship was in high school. Pressed, he reveals that girl was Miranda, Coach O’Shea’s daughter, and that O’Shea knew about them and was overprotective.

Dean recounts how Miranda shifted from a mutual plan to break up before college to intense clinginess. After they had sex while Dean was very drunk—later learning it was her first time—he ended the relationship. Miranda, who had struggled with depression and stopped her meds, spiraled, threatened self-harm, and was pulled from school. When Dean later sought news, O’Shea punched him and blamed him for using Miranda, fueling years of animosity.

Dean explains this history shaped his honesty-first rules about sex and avoiding virgins or clingy partners. They arrive in Brooklyn Heights, and Allie unexpectedly invites him to Thanksgiving with her dad. Though alarmed, Dean agrees, signaling a shift from secret fling toward something more open and serious.