Edge of Seventeen (1998)

1984. Best friends Eric and Maggie, who attend Sandusky High in Ohio, have their immediate future mapped out, where they will both attend OSU in the music program after they graduate. Beyond doing it with Maggie, the choice of OSU for Eric is largely because that's all he and his working class parents can afford, he who really dreams of going to NYU. Eric, who loves music more than anything, gained such appreciation from his mother, with who he has a special bond among his already tight-knit family. If asked directly, Eric and Maggie, who are both virgins, would say they are not boyfriend/girlfriend as they tentatively move their relationship to the making-out stage. They gain a new circle of friends when they start summer jobs working together in the food services section of the local amusement park, their boss, Angie, who fosters this sense of fun and friendship among coworkers. Besides Angie, this job is both their first exposure to open homosexuals, the other being OSU student Rod. While making out with Maggie has a feel of tentativeness, Eric feels that sexual connection to Rod, this Eric's first acknowledgment to himself that he might be gay. With Maggie's help, Eric begins to explore his true self hidden beneath the staid, conservative exterior. Eric's transition is not a problem-free one as he tries to reconcile his sexual feelings with what he was brought up to know and want, not specifically the opposite sex but the notion of monogamous romantic love as the end goal as opposed to sex purely for physical gratification, and as he believes he risks losing the emotional support from both Maggie and his parents if he comes out. Conversely, he may try to convince himself that this is just an experimental phase in his life if it isn't as happy a life as he imagined it would be.