First Love

Shelly, wearing only a towel, slips into the dorm room next door — Elgin's room — after David's girlfriend interrupts. She says she'll stay only until David finishes with his girlfriend, but the tryst lasts longer than planned. The awkward moment sets up ongoing tension and the possibility of future complications.

After the awkward arrangement, David thanks Elgin by arranging Shelly to be with him. The gesture introduces a foreshadowing of shifting loyalties and the campus's web of entanglements. This act plants the seed for future complications between the characters.

Elgin, working as a busboy, first talks with Caroline in the school cafeteria. Their conversation is awkward, and he accidentally spills tea on her and her book, breaking the ice. She leaves her dormitory name on a sheet of paper, beginning a thread that will draw them closer.

After their initial meeting, Elgin goes to see Caroline with a new copy of the book she spilled on him. She agrees to go for coffee, indicating she is open to seeing him again. This marks the move from a casual encounter to a budding relationship.

Elgin and Caroline go on their first real date to the symphony. During the evening, Caroline reveals that her father is dead, which deepens the emotional edge of their growing relationship. The date becomes a key turning point in Elgin's feelings.

Caroline introduces Elgin to John, a man who is married. The moment unsettles Elgin, and Caroline asks to spend a night with him because she does not want to be alone. This creates a complicated triangle from early on.

Elgin and Caroline start an ongoing sexual relationship. Their affair is threatened when David and jealousy over Caroline's other connections come into play; David confronts them, but Caroline asserts she is not interested in David. Elgin struggles with the entanglement and its consequences.

Elgin is fired for lateness, cutting his work at the cafeteria short. Around this time, he and Caroline grow closer, but jealousy simmers as he learns about John and Caroline's past. The instability of their relationships intensifies the emotional weight of the story.

David watches Elgin play a successful game of soccer, and Elgin and Caroline sleep together again. He asks about John, and jealousy spikes when he learns that Caroline slept with John. Caroline becomes mad about the discussion, and tensions escalate.

Caroline tells Elgin that John wants her back and that they cannot see each other any more. Elgin leaves, riding away on his motorcycle, and later encounters Shelly waiting at his dorm door. Shelly confesses her love for David, though she suspects he may not feel the same.

Elgin meets Shelly again; she makes a third proposition for sex, but he turns her down in favor of focusing on Caroline. This moment underscores his emotional conflict and reluctance to pursue the former arrangement.

Elgin visits John at his office and asks if his intentions with Caroline are honorable. John reveals a shaky marriage but emphasizes that his kids matter and cannot easily walk away. Caroline then shows up in Elgin's room at night, they have sex, and she brings him breakfast in the morning.

John decides that he will not get the divorce, which leaves Elgin feeling like a second choice. He takes Caroline back, but the emotional weight remains heavy, and he eventually tells her that his love is gone. They say goodbye as she leaves him on a train, and Elgin returns to his solitary soccer habit.