- 1 minute ago
The Practice Girl💔 drama CineLatino Drama
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00The summer I turned 18, Asher made me cross a line I could never take back.
00:04I bit my lip through the ache, glowing secretly all night,
00:08convinced that six long years of loving him from a distance had finally, finally paid off.
00:14Then the next morning, I heard his friend laughing outside the classroom door.
00:17Okay, okay. Got the nerd to give it up, huh?
00:20My face burned, and I turned to slip away before anyone saw me.
00:24Then Asher's voice drifted out, lazy and unbothered.
00:27I'm trying to get with Chloe, but she'd think I was too inexperienced.
00:32So I used Stella to get some practice in first.
00:35His words hit me like a thunderclap out of a cloudless summer sky.
00:39No warning at all. My mind went completely blank.
00:42It was a scorching July afternoon, but I felt like ice was spreading through every inch of my body.
00:48Classic Asher.
00:49Even Stella was just a warm-up for him.
00:52Everyone knows how hard it is to get into her pant.
00:55Relax. She got something out of it, too.
00:58I mean, Stella's cute and all, but compared to Chloe, yeah, no contest.
01:04Asher threw a textbook at him to shut him up.
01:07It was just a vibe, okay?
01:08The moment happened, and honestly, she seemed like she was enjoying herself.
01:12The guys all exchanged, knowing looks.
01:14Asher's just built different.
01:15Who knew the book burn was that, that freaky under all those cardigans?
01:20Bro, Asher's just built different.
01:23Why leave free food on the table, right?
01:25She's been chasing him for years.
01:27Technically, she got what she wanted.
01:29After inside the room got noticeably louder, I pressed my teeth into my lower lip so hard I tasted copper.
01:36Both hands balled into white-knuckled fists.
01:38It took every single ounce of willpower I had to stay upright, to not just crumple right there in the
01:44doorway.
01:45Footsteps echoed down the hall toward me.
01:47I snapped back to reality and bolted, shoving my way blindly through the corridor.
01:52In my panic, I threw myself into the nearest bathroom stall and locked the door behind me.
01:57The tears came like a dam breaking, grief and humiliation pouring out all at once.
02:02Asher's words played on a loop inside my head, every single syllable.
02:07They shredded what little self-worth I had left.
02:10If I hadn't heard it with my own ears, I never could have believed that the guy talking in there
02:15was the same one who had held me like I was something precious just last night.
02:20Turns out you don't actually need to love someone to do that with them.
02:23Turns out you can look a girl dead in the eyes, make her feel everything and still be lying through
02:28every single second of it.
02:30The thing I thought was my happily ever after was just a punchline someone else got to laugh at.
02:36The more I cried, the worse it got.
02:38But I couldn't make a sound.
02:39My whole body was shaking so hard I could barely breathe.
02:43A long time passed.
02:44My phone buzzed.
02:45It was Asher.
02:46Just grab an Uber back.
02:48My crew's got a party tonight and it'd be awkward to bring you.
02:51I didn't reply.
02:52He sent a follow-up.
02:53So, pick up a morning after pill yourself.
02:56I'm busy today.
02:57Don't forget to take it.
02:58Good girl.
02:59I stared at those two texts for a very, very long time without moving.
03:04From dusk until nearly sunrise, Asher had been relentless like he had a point to prove.
03:09By the end, we were both completely wrecked.
03:11And right before he drifted off with his arms around me, he'd murmured the same thing twice.
03:16We weren't really prepared for your first time.
03:18I'll get you the pill first thing tomorrow morning.
03:21He'd even given me this little lecture about how girls needed to take care of themselves,
03:26said the morning after pill was really important, and that skipping it could mess up my body.
03:31And I had actually thought, this is it.
03:34He's the one.
03:35He's being so responsible.
03:36I finally got my person, and now the clarity hit me like a slap.
03:41I dug my nails into my own palm until the pain forced the tears to stop.
03:45I wiped my face and walked out of that bathroom like nothing had happened.
03:50I was too embarrassed to go to a real pharmacy, so I ordered the pill online instead.
03:55When the delivery guy left the package at my door, I waited another long stretch before I could even bring
04:00myself to go get it.
04:01I swallowed it with a mouthful of my own tears, and then I just sat down on the floor, staring
04:07at nothing, completely empty.
04:08Ever since Ash's family had moved next door to mine, I'd trailed after him like a shadow, and that had
04:14been ten years of my life.
04:16I had genuinely never stopped to think about what a world without him would even look like.
04:20I couldn't picture it.
04:22But starting right now, I was going to have to figure it out alone.
04:26Outside the floor-to-ceiling window, the neighbourhood lights blinked on, one by one, and then off again.
04:32At some point, I really didn't know how long I'd been sitting there, Mia called me on FaceTime.
04:38Stella, why didn't you come to the party tonight with Ashler?
04:40That girl Chloe from the AP track is here, by the way.
04:43She has been all over him since you didn't show.
04:45It's actually disgusting.
04:49In the dark corner of the VIP booth, Asher and Chloe were sitting so close together, their thighs were touching.
04:57Chloe had worn a crop top and a curve-hugging miniskirt, and she looked exactly as model-perfect as you'd
05:03expect.
05:04Long, tan legs, tiny waist.
05:06The two of them had created this invisible bubble that separated them from everyone else in the room.
05:12Even the way they were talking looked more like whispering secrets than having a conversation.
05:17I could feel the charged energy between them through the screen.
05:21Something in my chest locked up, like someone had reached in and squeezed.
05:25He'd only said he wanted to chase her this afternoon, and apparently tonight was all the time he needed.
05:32The game switched to truth or dare, and Chloe drew a card that said she had to do a push
05:36-up challenge with a guy hovering over her.
05:39Predictably, Asher volunteered before anyone else could open their mouth.
05:43The whole room immediately started hovering.
05:46The room erupted.
05:48Everyone screaming so loud the walls practically shook.
05:51Asher's and Chloe's faces went even redder,
05:53With the whole crowd going absolutely feral around them,
05:57Asher just tilted his head down and kissed her.
05:59Not a quick peck.
06:01A full, deep, for the whole room to see.
06:04Kissed.
06:04Three full minutes before they finally pulled apart.
06:07For all three of those minutes, I sat completely frozen, eyes locked on the screen, barely remembering to breathe.
06:13It felt like someone was reaching into my chest and tearing something loose.
06:17I wanted to cry so badly, but I'd used up every tear I had in that bathroom stall and had
06:23nothing left.
06:24Oh my god, Stella, did you see that?
06:27He literally kissed her in front of everyone.
06:29He is so into her.
06:31Mia shook her head and stepped out of the booth, turning the camera as she went.
06:35She found a quiet corner and looked at me with that serious face she uses when she means it.
06:40Don't be mad at me.
06:41If I hadn't shown you, you never would have let yourself move on.
06:44My voice came out wrecked and scratchy, barely recognizable.
06:48I'm not mad at you.
06:50I moan you mad at myself for wasting so many years.
06:52I had always assumed that the spot beside Asher was mine, that it would always be mine.
06:57I am so done with him, Stella.
06:59Who does he think he is, watching you love love him for years, acting all innocent like he had no
07:03idea, just letting you fall deeper and deeper?
07:05You saw what I showed you.
07:06I'm seriously begging you, please don't let him waste the next four years of your life, too.
07:10He won't, Mia.
07:11I cut her off, and my voice came out calmer than I expected.
07:15I'm not giving myself the chance.
07:17Mia, I've already decided.
07:19I'm going to California with you.
07:22But you have to promise me you'll keep it quiet for now.
07:25Right after I said it, so I wouldn't talk myself out of it, I flipped open my laptop right in
07:30front of her.
07:30Without a single second of hesitation, I changed my first choice school to the one in California, one minute before
07:37the deadline.
07:38Mia basically levitated off the ground.
07:41She'd been begging me for months to apply to the same school as her.
07:45But back when we started high school, Asher and I had made this pact.
07:49We'd work hard together and go to his dream school up in Boston after graduation.
07:54It had his aerospace engineering program, the one he'd been obsessed with since we were kids.
08:00So even though I didn't particularly love the idea of brutal winters, and even though that school was a technical
08:06institute that didn't even have my major, I'd spent three years treating it like my only option.
08:12Our families had lived next door to each other for so long that both sets of parents thought it was
08:17basically a done deal we'd end up at the same school.
08:20Everyone, including me, assumed Asher and I would just naturally become official once we got to college.
08:27But right now, I couldn't think of a single reason to still go to Boston.
08:31Because honestly, after today, if I kept following Asher around the way I always had, I would never be able
08:38to look myself in the mirror again.
08:39I just needed to go somewhere far away.
08:42It didn't even matter where, as long as he wasn't there.
08:45He was going east, so I was going west.
08:49Before bed, I filled the entire bathtub.
08:51I needed to scrub every inch of myself clean.
08:54But when I took off my clothes, the bruises on my skin were still so vivid it made me flinch.
08:59The memories from last night rushed back before I could stop them.
09:03The burning heat of his skin pressed against mine.
09:06The sound of his breath ragged and warm against my ear.
09:09The ghost of it all still seemed to linger in the air around me.
09:12I shook my head hard, physically trying to shake myself free of it.
09:16Then I grabbed the roughest loofah I owned and scrubbed myself raw, over and over, until my whole body was
09:23flushed, pink and stinging.
09:25I was trying, clumsily, desperately, to erase what was officially the worst night of my entire life.
09:32The result was that the pain kept me awake the whole night anyway.
09:36Asher didn't text.
09:37For the first time in six years, ever since we both got phones, we didn't say goodnight to each other.
09:42That was fine.
09:43It was going to happen eventually anyway.
09:46Tonight was as good a time as any to start letting go.
09:49I didn't fall asleep until just before sunrise, drifting in and out of exhaustion.
09:54Early the next morning, while I was still buried in sleep, I felt, in that foggy space between dream and
10:00awake,
10:01the soft press of lips against my forehead.
10:03I jolted awake.
10:05The first thing my eyes landed on was a jaw I knew too well, and the soft dip of a
10:10throat right above me.
10:12The scent hit me next.
10:13Cedarwood.
10:14That cologne he always wore.
10:16And underneath it, the faintest trace of something new.
10:19Something citrusy that wasn't his.
10:22Right.
10:22I'd completely forgotten that Asher still knew my front door code.
10:26Seeing me awake, he shifted lower, a low laugh in his throat, and tilted his face down toward my lips.
10:32I jerked my head to the side.
10:33I shoved him back with both hands and scrambled to the far edge of the bed.
10:37He blinked, then let out a short laugh like I'd surprised him.
10:41Since when are you shy?
10:42Hmm?
10:43I didn't answer.
10:44I just yanked the blanket over my head and disappeared under it.
10:47Asher started talking, his voice going from amused to mildly annoyed, as he tugged at the blanket.
10:53Stella, seriously.
10:55You didn't say goodnight?
10:56You turned your phone off and now you're hiding under a blanket?
10:59Still avoiding me?
11:01Then he just lifted the blanket and slid himself right in.
11:04I didn't even have time to react before his arms wrapped around me and pulled me flush against him.
11:10Hey, how many times have I told you, you can't skip breakfast?
11:15I ran half a mile to get you those croissants from your favorite place and stood in line forever.
11:21Want to get up and eat now or get eaten?
11:24His breath was right against my neck, warm and close, and his hand slid deliberately over my waist.
11:30Reality crashed back in and I fought like my life depended on it.
11:34But I'm 5'2 in sneakers and Asher is literally 6'2 of solid muscle.
11:39It was not even a contest.
11:41I honestly could not figure out what game he was playing.
11:44He had Chloe now, so what was he even doing in my bed?
11:47Let go of me!
11:49I tried to push him away, only to be held even tighter.
11:52After what felt like forever of thrashing around, I was panting and had accomplished nothing except being held even tighter.
11:59What's the tantrum about?
12:02You're mad because I didn't bring you to the party last night over something that small?
12:05I said nothing.
12:07He buried his face in the curve of my neck and actually laughed.
12:11Let me guess.
12:12Mia told you something.
12:13It was a party game, Stella.
12:15Is it really worth getting jealous over?
12:17You're doing that thing you always do.
12:19I get slightly close to another girl and you go all silent and sulky.
12:22I was so furious I couldn't even form a sentence.
12:25I dredged up something from the self-defense unit in gym class.
12:29Asher's jaw went tight, his whole face going red.
12:31I quickly walked from the bedroom to the living room.
12:34I did not want to be in any room with him, and especially not my bedroom.
12:38Asher came out not long after, looking equal parts irritated and exhausted.
12:43He was quiet for a long moment, then seemed to suddenly remember something and asked casually.
12:48Hey, you took that pill yesterday, right?
12:51Because I really don't need that kind of drama, and I definitely don't want to have that conversation with your
12:56parents.
12:57Asher walked over to the counter, picked up the smoothie he'd brought, and held it out to me.
13:02Come on, be reasonable.
13:03Eat something before you pick a fight.
13:05You know your stomach's sensitive.
13:06I didn't speak, and I didn't take it.
13:08He held the cup out for a long, awkward beat, and then his patience cracked.
13:13What is actually going on?
13:15Stella, even a tantrum needs a reason.
13:18There have to be some limits here.
13:20I kept my voice ice cold and set it flat.
13:22I don't deserve to have any say.
13:24Asher snapped.
13:25He slammed the cup down on the coffee table so hard it cracked.
13:29The plastic split, and the smoothie spilled out in a wave, soaking into the rug.
13:33What is that supposed to mean?
13:36Who do you think you are, Stella?
13:38We slept together once.
13:39It was consensual.
13:41And now you think you own me?
13:43Do you know how suffocating that is?
13:45His voice had a viciousness to it I had never heard before.
13:49The second he finished speaking, my eyes flooded.
13:51No warning, no build-up, just instant tears.
13:55Yesterday's humiliation came crashing back, hitting me all over again like a fresh wound.
14:00Asher clearly hadn't expected me to cry this hard, this fast.
14:04He looked genuinely thrown, scrambling for what to do.
14:08I'm sorry.
14:09I drank too much last night, and I was out of line just now.
14:13He reached out to wipe my face, but I twisted away, putting distance between us.
14:17His hand frozen mid-air, hovering there.
14:20He opened his mouth to keep trying, but his phone buzzed.
14:23He glanced at the screen once, and his entire expression shifted, and moved toward the door.
14:28I've got something urgent.
14:29Take a minute to calm down.
14:31We're going to college soon.
14:32You can't keep throwing fits like a little kid who's gonna put up with that.
14:35He hadn't been gone 30 minutes, when Mia sent me a screenshot, Chloe's Instagram story.
14:42Just said, I'm hungry, and breakfast appeared like magic.
14:45Pretty sure this is mutual now, with a little heart.
14:47The photo was of the exact same croissants that were sitting on my kitchen counter.
14:52I didn't respond.
14:53I just quietly wiped my eyes, got on my hands and knees, and started cleaning up the smoothie
14:58Asha had spilled.
15:00I scrubbed for a long time before I accepted, with a hollow feeling in my chest, that the
15:05stain had soaked all the way through the wool rug, and wasn't coming out.
15:09So I just threw the whole rug in the trash.
15:11It didn't matter anyway.
15:13That rug was something Asha and his parents had spent an entire afternoon picking out on
15:18a family trip, and he'd lugged it home in his carry-on himself.
15:21Then I went through everything else, every single thing Asha had ever left at my place,
15:26every gift he'd given me over the years, every photo of the two of us, every small souvenir
15:31and keepsake.
15:32It took the rest of the day, but I packed every last bit of it up, and threw it all
15:37out.
15:38I doubted he'd want any of it back anyway.
15:40After he left that day, the silence stretched.
15:43Days went by, and he didn't reach out at all.
15:46Things with Chloe were probably going great.
15:48Or maybe he was waiting for me to be the one who caved first.
15:51In every fight we'd ever had, I was always the one who broke first.
15:55Every single time.
15:57No exceptions.
15:58But this time, I didn't go looking for him.
16:00And I didn't have any reason to.
16:02I blocked him on everything.
16:04Texted all social media, changed my front door code,
16:07and deleted every account he might use to find me.
16:10After that, I called my parents, who were both travelling for work.
16:14I want a spimmer visiting my aunt.
16:17My plan was to stay there until school started,
16:19then head straight to California with Mia, instead of coming home.
16:23Other than Mia, no one else knew yet that I'd changed my application.
16:27This plan should work perfectly.
16:29There was basically zero chance I'd run into Asha if I pulled this off right.
16:34My mum actually laughed over the phone.
16:37Ooh, so you and Asha are taking a vacation together.
16:41I made up a quick excuse and didn't go into detail.
16:43I wanted to visit my aunt and grandma.
16:46I begged my dad to book me the first available flight,
16:48and I was ready to leave that same night.
16:51Of course, because the universe has no chill,
16:53I ran into Asha's mum right at our front door on my way out.
16:57She grabbed my arm warmly and started chattering.
17:00Stella, honey, where's Asha?
17:02He's not coming to pick you up.
17:03Didn't he say he was taking you on that ski trip?
17:06Go have fun.
17:07I am 100% behind you two.
17:10I was confused.
17:11I had mentioned once during senior year,
17:14I'd always wanted to try skiing in Colorado, just offhand.
17:18But given everything that had happened between us,
17:20the idea of going on a trip together seemed completely impossible.
17:24I was running out of time, though,
17:25so I said something vague and non-committal and slipped away.
17:29What I never expected was that at the airport,
17:32I would come face to face with Asha.
17:34He was with a group of friends.
17:35Chloe was there too.
17:36Asha had her designer bag in one hand,
17:39and his other arm slung around her shoulder.
17:41They were trailing at the back of the group.
17:43Every so often, Chloe would lean her head toward him to say something,
17:46and every single time, without any hesitation,
17:50he would bend down to listen.
17:51He never did that with me.
17:53Asha had always been taller than me,
17:55and the gap had only gotten bigger over the years.
17:58When it was the two of us,
17:59I was always the one bouncing on my toes,
18:02craning my neck up just to catch his eyes.
18:04Turns out, for the right person,
18:06he would be the one who bends.
18:07I breathed in slowly.
18:09I told myself I needed to have some dignity about this.
18:12Whatever he did was none of my business.
18:14If I let myself overthink it,
18:16I deserve to be slapped.
18:17But there seemed to be only one path to the gate.
18:19All I could do was stay far enough behind
18:21that he wouldn't notice me.
18:23By some miracle,
18:24we eventually reached a fork in the terminal,
18:26where the paths split.
18:28Asha seemed to get distracted around then.
18:30He made a bunch of calls,
18:31none of which seemed to go through,
18:33and then spent a long time staring at his phone.
18:36Eventually, he borrowed someone else's phone,
18:39his face dark and unreadable,
18:41and disappeared into a nearby bathroom.
18:43A moment later,
18:44my phone rang.
18:45Unknown number.
18:46So you've got a real attitude on you this time.
18:49You're just not going to come to me first?
18:51You actually blocked me?
18:52Fine.
18:53Keep it up.
18:54How great you do when we're both in Boston,
18:56and you don't know anyone,
18:57and there's no one to look out for you.
18:59Asha came out swinging,
19:00rattling off complaints in one long, irritated breath.
19:03I had absolutely nothing to say to any of that,
19:06but Asha seemed to get angrier at my silence.
19:09I'm done talking about this.
19:11Just unblock me.
19:12I'm heading out of the country for a couple days with some friends.
19:15Probably won't have great reception.
19:17Don't get all weepy about it.
19:19I couldn't even be bothered to say a single word back.
19:22I hung up and turned my phone off.
19:24From across the terminal,
19:25I watched Asha stalk back to his group,
19:27his expression stormy.
19:28He grabbed Chloe's hand,
19:30didn't hesitate for a second,
19:32and walked toward the left gate.
19:34I let out a long breath,
19:35turned around,
19:36and headed right.
19:37With my family,
19:38I performed happilys,
19:39and honestly,
19:40I got pretty good at it.
19:41I deliberately kept myself slammed with plans,
19:44filling every gap in the day,
19:45so I had no need to spiral.
19:47I definitely didn't add Asha back the way he demanded,
19:50but Mia and some others kept me updated on his life anyway.
19:53Asha and his friends had apparently been skiing in Colorado for days.
19:57For some reason,
19:58he was suddenly posting on social media every single day,
20:01which was completely unlike the version of him,
20:03who used to go months without posting anything.
20:06Sometimes it was slow motion clips of him carving down the slopes,
20:10sometimes it was food and late night parties,
20:12but mostly it was big group shots of everyone clowning around in the snow.
20:16Even though I genuinely didn't want to see it,
20:19somehow people kept sending it to me,
20:21unprompted.
20:22Everyone was very casually curious about why I hadn't gone with Asha.
20:26I didn't know what to say,
20:27so I just told people I had family stuff going on.
20:30Mia was the only one who openly called him a trash human.
20:34Everyone else around me seemed to be constantly stopping themselves from saying something.
20:38I knew.
20:39They'd probably figured out something was wrong.
20:41In every single group photo Asha posted,
20:44he and Chloe were glued together, inseparable.
20:47But that spot beside him had been mine for years, just mine.
20:51Every time I saw one of those photos,
20:53my face stayed completely neutral,
20:55but something deep in my chest would clench.
20:58He was the first person I ever fell for,
21:00someone I had genuinely, completely, embarrassingly loved for such a long time.
21:05In the middle of the night, alone,
21:08I would fall apart a little.
21:09And sometimes I felt this stubborn, stupid feeling that I wasn't ready to let go.
21:14But every time that feeling started rising,
21:16I'd replay his words and give myself a mental slap.
21:20I'd repeat it to myself over and over.
21:22Stella, don't be pathetic.
21:24That's the fastest way to make yourself even less worth respecting.
21:27Less worth respecting.
21:28Just hold on a little longer.
21:30Once the detox period was over,
21:32everything would be fine.
21:34We went a full month without any contact.
21:36The longest we'd ever gone since the day we met.
21:39Distance and time turned out to be the best medicine.
21:42I ground through the worst of it and came out the other side.
21:45Just when I'd reached the point where I didn't think about him every hour of every day,
21:50he switched to a new number and called me from across the country.
21:53So you're just that bold,
21:55running off without me and staying this long?
21:57Summer's almost over, Stella.
21:59Did you forget you promised to go on a trip with me?
22:02Maybe it was because we'd gone so long without talking,
22:05but underneath all the complaints,
22:07his voice had this edge to it,
22:09almost careful.
22:10I still didn't want to talk to him.
22:12I was about to hang up when his mom snatched the phone.
22:14Stella, sweetheart,
22:16are you having fun out there?
22:18This boy won't tell me anything.
22:20I only just found out you two had a fight.
22:22Don't be too hard on him, honey.
22:24When you come back,
22:25I'll make him apologize to your face.
22:27And Asher just got his acceptance letter today.
22:30Yours should come soon, too.
22:32Have you thought about when you'll come home for your going away party?
22:35I've got a little surprise plan.
22:37Asher's mom had been like a second family to me since I was little.
22:41I couldn't bring myself to hang up on her,
22:43so I stayed on and let her talk.
22:45I'm not really planning to have a party.
22:47My parents are always traveling,
22:49and honestly,
22:49we can just do a video call thing with family.
22:52I probably won't be back before school starts anyway.
22:54I'll just come home right before move in.
22:56I didn't even finish the sentence before Asher took the phone back.
22:59His breathing was heavy.
23:01I could feel the anger coming through from 3,000 miles away.
Comments