- 12 hours ago
New🔥The Playboy Who Loved Me
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00Slept with a different woman every night and thrived on the challenge.
00:03Cheer captains, student council presidents, the mature ones, the cute ones.
00:08Nerds were the only type he'd never gone after, so he set his sights on me.
00:17I want you Sloane.
00:18Oh, I want you Sloane.
00:23When he first started chasing me, people kept warning me.
00:27Sloane, that's Asher Vance.
00:29Don't play hard to get too long. You'll lose him.
00:31I didn't get it.
00:32In everyone's eyes, though, I was supposed to blush, act flattered, fall into his arms, become his girlfriend, and then
00:39become one of his many exes.
00:40But I'm not. I had a reputation. Academic legend.
00:43Since freshman year, I hadn't dropped below A+.
00:45Every test, every quiz, I came in first.
00:49I didn't care about anything besides studying.
00:51Dude, if you can pull Sloane Beckett, I'd be seriously impressed.
00:54Asher treated it like a real challenge.
00:56First, it was imported snacks tucked into my desk.
00:59Then small bouquet.
01:00Then breakfast.
01:01Small gift, but cost a fortune.
01:03Annoying.
01:04I ignored all of it.
01:05I never said a word to him.
01:06Then, a bullying started.
01:08Someone scribbled all over my desk in black sharpie.
01:11I got locked in a bathroom.
01:12Cheap, stupid, mean girl stuff.
01:14Stay in there all day, bitch!
01:16You ungrateful idiot!
01:17Don't even dream about it!
01:18You're never good enough for him!
01:23Asher found me.
01:24Like a knight in shining armor coming to rescue the bullied girl.
01:31You just made me miss 15 minutes of physics.
01:33What's that got to do with me?
01:35I was done.
01:36One, I'm nice to everyone.
01:38I've never made an enemy.
01:39Two, until you announced you were chasing me, no one ever bullied me.
01:42Three, who's stupid enough to bully the girl Asher back once?
01:45Unless you told them to.
01:46The fake concern dropped right off his face.
01:48He pulled the jacket back.
01:50Looked at me like I'd just done something interesting.
01:52Damn, you got me.
01:55So boring.
01:57I turned and walked past him without another word.
01:59As I passed, he caught my wrist.
02:01I had to stop.
02:02Sloane, are you playing hard to guess?
02:05That actually made me laugh.
02:07Then chill out and leave me alone.
02:09When my real motive comes out, you'll know.
02:12He held onto my wrist, stared at me for a long second.
02:16Interesting.
02:17I still don't love Asher Vance.
02:19Nobody believes me, though.
02:21How could anyone not love Asher Vance?
02:24He's hot, smart, charming, rich.
02:27My total indifference confused him.
02:29I'd catch him studying me like a puzzle.
02:32Got himself moved to the seat next to mine.
02:35The whole class was waiting for the show.
02:37I didn't budge.
02:38I did problem sets.
02:39I read my textbook.
02:40Eventually, everyone just assumed we were a couple.
02:43Our math teacher loved sending us up to the board together.
02:46Every time he called our names, the classroom, Asher would tilt his head and watch me with
02:51this small, intent smile.
02:53Like he was deeply, deeply in love.
02:56For the record, when we did problems together, he never beat me.
03:00My old deskmate called me an emotionally bankrupt machine.
03:04Sloane, come on.
03:06That's Asher Vance.
03:07I know he's a playboy, but who wouldn't want to date him?
03:10Even if it doesn't work out, at least you'd have the memories.
03:13Why don't you focus on making your physics grade work out?
03:16I literally walked you through that exact problem last week.
03:18You are such a robot.
03:20Sloane.
03:20Poor Asher.
03:21I didn't see what was so sad about Asher.
03:23To him, I was a passing curiosity.
03:26There was no real feeling.
03:27It was the chase.
03:28Things between us only thawed when my mom slipped on the ice and broke her hip.
03:32I took a week off school.
03:35Asher found me at fish market.
03:36I was working.
03:37The neighbors all knew about my family situation.
03:40They came through fast.
03:41Then, I started cleaning up.
03:43The ice trays, the cutting board, scales everywhere.
03:46I was stacking the bins when I looked up and saw him.
03:49He was standing at the entrance.
03:51I have no idea how long he'd been there.
03:54I ignored him.
03:55As I was hauling a bin toward my mom's old pickup,
03:57he walked over in that expensive shoes.
04:00He lifted the bin out of my hands, set it in the truck bed.
04:04Heavy stuff.
04:05Should be a guy doing this.
04:06I didn't argue.
04:07Just watched, quiet, as he helped me load the rest, fish smell and all.
04:11He didn't flinch.
04:12Then he climbed into the driver's seat, looked over at me.
04:15Where's home?
04:16I'll drive you.
04:18Can you actually drive stick?
04:20He blinked.
04:21Probably the first time anyone had ever stumped him.
04:24I laughed, just a little.
04:25He looked at me.
04:26Then he started laughing too.
04:27Sloanie.
04:29That's the first time I've ever seen you smile.
04:31For the rest of that week, he showed up every morning.
04:34Helped me set up.
04:35Helped me close.
04:36The first time he watched me gut a fish.
04:38Clean strokes.
04:39No hesitation.
04:40He just stood there laughing to himself.
04:42I looked over.
04:43What?
04:44My grandmother used to say you can tell a lot about a person from the way they move.
04:47The way you handle that knife?
04:49No hesitation.
04:50Ruthless.
04:51So, Sloan, is your heart as ruthless as your hands?
04:54Asher, you and I are from two different worlds.
04:57You can see that.
04:58I'm not playing hard to get.
05:00Honestly, I don't have time and I can't afford to.
05:03Stop wasting your effort on me.
05:05The smile slowly faded.
05:07He turned his head so I couldn't see his face.
05:09Got it.
05:10You lost someone great.
05:11Don't regret it later.
05:12Then, Asher started dating again.
05:14Gorgeous girls.
05:15Soft and sweet ones.
05:17The proud type.
05:17And those with strong personalities.
05:20He's hooked up with all sorts of girls and still cycled through them as fast as ever.
05:24He was still my seat partner.
05:25He just stopped bothering me.
05:27People stopped pairing us up.
05:28Honestly, I don't think Asher knew what liking someone even meant.
05:31His feelings moved like weather, fast.
05:34I'd watch him skip class one day to bring a girl her favorite latte.
05:37Then, dump her the next morning.
05:39Cold as anything.
05:40Sometimes the girls came back crying.
05:42He'd be gentle, smiling.
05:43But you could see the boredom underneath.
05:46You knew what I was when we got together.
05:49Let's keep this clean.
05:50Don't drag it out.
05:51Asher, you are such a playboy.
05:54At least I'm an honest playboy.
05:56Way better than the guys who pretend to be nice and bleed you dry.
05:59Besides, as long as you don't date me, I'm a great guy.
06:03That part was true.
06:03I went back to my problem set and ignored him.
06:06The first time we drank together was after graduation.
06:08The class threw a party.
06:09Everyone was emotional.
06:11I had a couple sips of beer, just from the mood in the room.
06:14Afterward, he walked me home.
06:15The moon was out.
06:16He was quiet.
06:17Unusual for him.
06:18I looked back and noticed he was watching the ground.
06:20Stepping on my shadow with every stride.
06:23What are you doing?
06:25Which university are you going to?
06:27Come on, you know I can find out either way.
06:30I just want you to tell me yourself.
06:33Princeton.
06:34For the first time, I sort of understood why so many girls were willing to briefly have him.
06:40Even knowing exactly what he was.
06:42This smile was real.
06:43Different from his usual lazy, half-bored smirk.
06:46Maybe it was the moon.
06:47His voice came out soft.
06:49See you in New Jersey then.
06:50I didn't say anything.
06:52Just looked at him.
06:53I figured I wouldn't see him again.
06:55Goodbye.
06:57He called me right after college decision day.
06:59He must have been past angry.
07:01There was that brittle laugh in his voice.
07:04Slolan Becklett, nicely done.
07:06Nicely done.
07:08Nicely done!
07:10I wasn't surprised he'd already found out where I was going.
07:13Never Princeton.
07:14When the results were posted, my school put up a giant banner across the front entrance.
07:19Princeton and MIT.
07:21Different schools.
07:22Different cities.
07:23About four hours apart.
07:25But knowing Asher's pride, I figured he'd never reach out again.
07:28We were from different worlds anyway.
07:30Even in the same university, I figured we'd never run into each other again.
07:34Unless one of us made it happen.
07:36Until junior year, I never saw Asher once.
07:39Just heard his name now and then.
07:41Mixed in with whatever scandal he was attached to that week.
07:44He probably heard mine too.
07:46We met again junior year.
07:48That spring, I signed up for a Teach for America program.
07:51Six weeks in rural West Virginia.
07:53Small town.
07:54One stoplight.
07:55One school.
07:56Then the earthquake hit.
07:57It was the middle of the night.
07:59I'd just finished prepping lesson plans and was reading a research paper in bed when the building started coming out.
08:09They pulled me out two or three days later.
08:12I was weak by then, but calm.
08:14The rescue worker held up his fingers in front of my face and asked how many.
08:18Someone passed me water.
08:20Someone cheered.
08:23Then I saw Asher in the back, silent, eyes red, watching me.
08:29I have no idea how he knew I was in West Virginia, but the second they pulled me out, I
08:34understood.
08:35He knew, so he came.
08:36Whatever happened between us later, I always come back to that moment.
08:40He really did love me, at least once.
08:42We hadn't seen each other in three years.
08:44That night, he sat by my hospital bed while they ran a saline drip.
08:51Sloan, you looked surprised when you saw me.
08:53Honestly, I was surprised too.
08:54I heard about the earthquake.
08:55I didn't think.
08:56I just came.
08:57I've been keeping up with you these three years.
08:59It's strange.
09:01Even I don't know what I feel for you.
09:03Whether it's just the obsession of never having you or I actually love you.
09:07I don't have anything to compare it to.
09:10You've always been an exception in my world.
09:12If you don't know the answer, let's find out.
09:17Asher, want a date?
09:22Are you pitying me?
09:24I've dated a lot of girls, Sloan.
09:26You don't think I...
09:26I'm not made of stone, Asher.
09:28My hands may be ruthless, but my heart isn't...
09:30Not yet.
09:32Nobody could sit there unmoved by what you just did.
09:35But keep talking and I might change my mind.
09:39Then you better mean it.
09:41Once you commit, you can't take it back.
09:43But before we do this, Asher, we're gonna lay down some ground rules.
09:47For a while, Asher and I were good.
09:49Sweet, even.
09:50Like a fairy tale.
09:51Rocky start.
09:52Sweet middle.
09:53But we weren't living in a fairy tale.
09:54I don't remember when the fight started.
09:56It was small stuff at first.
09:58Like him accepting a homemade gift from another girl.
10:00Playing video games with a girl from his program.
10:03Driving a tipsy female friend home.
10:05He didn't get why I was upset.
10:07I didn't cheat.
10:07I don't love any of them.
10:09Slaylor, what are you actually mad about?
10:10I just look at him.
10:11He had it all.
10:12Girls swarmed him like moths to a flame.
10:14He'd always with everyone and committing to nothing.
10:17After we got together, he tried to settle down.
10:19But clearly we had different definitions of in a relationship.
10:22I kept getting messages from numbers I didn't recognize.
10:25But girls asking when I planned on stepping aside.
10:27We fought about it enough times that I stopped bringing it up.
10:30The thing that broke us was his birthday.
10:32I told him I was too busy with bio research to celebrate.
10:34Then I baked him a cake.
10:35Drove down to Princeton.
10:37Called him from the front gate.
10:39You said you didn't have time.
10:41You said I never surprised you.
10:43He hung up and came running back from wherever he was.
10:45Probably out with friends.
10:47The second he saw me, his face lit up.
10:49He came toward me fast, smiling.
10:51He bent down to take the cake from my hands.
10:53That's when I saw the lipstick mark on his neck.
10:55I switched my phone to selfie mode.
10:57Aimed it at the bite.
10:58Took the picture.
10:59Held it up to him.
11:01What's this?
11:02It was a dare.
11:03Some classmate did it.
11:04It didn't mean anything.
11:05I turned her down.
11:06I hadn't seen it coming.
11:07I swear I haven't done anything wrong.
11:09I'm a calm person.
11:10Always have been.
11:11That was the first time I really lost him.
11:13I shoved the cake into his chest.
11:15I looked at him.
11:16Tired.
11:17Sighed.
11:17Found out, Asha.
11:19We solved the problem.
11:20From the very first step, we got the math wrong.
11:23The second we wrote down the answer, every step after was always going to be wrong.
11:27We don't work.
11:28I'm done.
11:29I turned and walked away.
11:31After that, he kept apologizing.
11:33Kept calling.
11:34He'd never apologized to anyone in his life.
11:36That was probably the first time he ever bowed his head to another person.
11:40Sloan, that really doesn't mean anything.
11:42You know you've always been the exception.
11:44A few weeks later, he showed up while I was getting dinner with a guy from my undergrad.
11:48Year above me.
11:49The guy had liked me once.
11:50I'd turned him down politely.
11:51We'd stayed friends.
11:52Asher knew that.
11:53But the second he saw us together, his face changed.
11:56Cold.
11:56Angry.
11:57Look at that.
11:57Such a double standard.
11:58By your own logic, Asher.
12:00I'm just having dinner with a guy who used to like me.
12:02What does that mean?
12:02You're just doing this because you know I'm in love with you.
12:04That's not what love looks like.
12:06I'd been calm the whole time.
12:08Probably because I knew Asher too well.
12:10I'd seen this ending coming.
12:11Once, he called me drunk.
12:14Sloan, sometimes I really wonder if you ever loved me at all.
12:17How are you always so calm?
12:19He wouldn't accept the breakup.
12:21Not until I left for Oxford, my master degree.
12:23He showed up at the airport.
12:24Sloan, you really doing this?
12:27Breaking up?
12:28I said I'd change.
12:29I'd stay away from every other girl.
12:31I'd hold myself to your standards.
12:32You still won't come back?
12:34Yeah.
12:35He looked at me for a long time.
12:37Then, quiet, furious underneath.
12:39Fine.
12:40Don't regret it.
12:41I turned and got on the plane.
12:42Didn't look back.
12:43That was probably the first time a girl ever walked away from him.
12:45He'd never had to chase.
12:47Never been dumped.
12:48It bruised him in a way nothing else had.
12:49After that, even though we shared a lot of the same friends,
12:52he never said a word in any group chat I was in.
12:55That wasn't his style, normally.
12:57Then there was a terror attack in my neighborhood overseas.
12:59I have no idea how he knew where I lived.
13:01He called me the night of the riots.
13:03You okay?
13:03I'm fine.
13:06Don't worry.
13:06The embassy already put out an emergency notice.
13:09He made a small sound.
13:10Hung up.
13:11The next day, he showed up at my door.
13:13Travel worn.
13:14Eyes tired.
13:15He just looked at me.
13:16Made sure I was actually fine.
13:18Didn't say a word.
13:19Then turned around and left.
13:20My friends used to say,
13:21Sloane, we don't get you.
13:23Asher's loyal in his own way.
13:24He's loaded.
13:25Why won't you take him back?
13:26To them, Asher was the wandering bad boy who treated everyone else like dirt,
13:30because none of them mattered.
13:31I was the exception.
13:33The special one.
13:33After I left for Oxford, someone said,
13:36It's so weird, Sloane.
13:37Look at him.
13:37Total playboy.
13:38But somehow we all know if you ever turned around, he'd be standing right there.
13:41He says he'll change, Sloane.
13:43Why not give him another shot?
13:44I'd just smile and say nothing.
13:47Asher needed freedom.
13:48There was always going to be temptation.
13:49He could change for a while.
13:51But forever?
13:52People called me cold.
13:53I just call it clear-eyed.
13:55I came back three years later.
13:56Right before I flew home, I caught up with an old friend.
13:59She sighed and told me Asher had a new girlfriend.
14:02She said the girl looked a little like me.
14:04Then she added,
14:05Of course.
14:05Not as pretty as you.
14:07Not your vibe.
14:08I was staring at a vase of roses on the table.
14:10Took me a second to come back.
14:11I laughed.
14:11After all these years, he still hasn't changed.
14:14That girl looks so much like you.
14:16We all know he's not serious about her.
14:18I could hear the disdain in her voice.
14:20Honestly, it's a good thing you're coming back.
14:22I didn't want to bring it up.
14:24But she's such a try-hard.
14:26The look-alike thing isn't her fault.
14:29But she figured out everything you like.
14:31And she copies it on purpose.
14:33Your hair.
14:34The way you dress.
14:35The way you talk.
14:36What you eat.
14:38Even the way you smile.
14:40It's gross.
14:41We can't stand her.
14:42Went quiet for a second.
14:44Changed the subject.
14:45We talked a little longer, then said goodbye.
14:47I didn't think about it much.
14:48Until I got home and my friends threw me a welcome back dinner.
14:51That's where I met Asher.
14:52And the girl my friend had called the stand-in.
14:54I'm not sure if Asher brought her on purpose.
14:57He pulled the girl up to me and introduced them.
14:59Sloney Beckett.
15:01This is Margot Hale.
15:03My girlfriend.
15:04He hit the word girlfriend hard.
15:06He watched my face.
15:08I was curious where the resemblance was.
15:10So I looked at her a little longer than I should have.
15:12Up close, the features weren't really alike.
15:15Just the general shape of the eyes and brow.
15:17Five or six out of ten.
15:18Plus the hair and the clothes.
15:19That bumped it up to seven or eight.
15:21I looked away.
15:23Smiled politely at both of them.
15:25Hi.
15:25Margot stared at me for a beat too long.
15:27Then snapped out of it.
15:28Smiled.
15:29Pale and shaky.
15:30Hi.
15:31I've heard a lot about you.
15:32I sighed and sighed.
15:33In every one of Asher's exes' heads,
15:35I was probably the do-nothing, win-by-default kind of girl.
15:38The unbeatable one.
15:39Their imaginations had blown me up into the enemy.
15:42I didn't engage.
15:43I turned and said hi to someone else.
15:45Maybe Asher thought my long look at Margot meant I cared.
15:48Because suddenly, he was performing.
15:50Pulling her chair out.
15:51Pouring her drink.
15:52At one point, he pressed a hand to her forehead.
15:54You cold?
15:55He picked up his coat.
15:56Draped it over her shoulders.
15:58The friends around us went silent.
15:59They stopped looking at him and started looking at me.
16:02I smiled at Margot.
16:03If you're cold, do you want me to ask the servant to turn the heat up?
16:06She shook her head.
16:07Then they brought out rainier cherries.
16:09Oh my god.
16:11Sloney's favorite.
16:12A friend at the table laughed.
16:13They all glanced at Asher, knowing.
16:14He didn't look up.
16:15He just picked up a cherry and started pitting them.
16:18He was using a small folding knife.
16:20The handle had our initials carved into it.
16:22I gave it to him for his birthday three years ago.
16:25When we used to date, he did this for me at every dinner.
16:27Because I hated using a pit spitter.
16:29Slid it across to Margot.
16:31Eat.
16:31Margot looked up at me, then at him.
16:33She didn't say anything.
16:34She started eating.
16:35Asher kept pitting.
16:37However many he handed her, she ate.
16:39I didn't touch a single one.
16:40The warmth on his face slowly disappeared.
16:42He set the last cherry into her bowl.
16:44You like cherries this much, I'll have him bring another bowl.
16:46Margot's voice caught.
16:47I don't really like fruit.
16:50The table went quiet.
16:51Awkward.
16:52My face went cold.
16:53I stood up.
16:54Excuse me.
16:54When I came out of the toilet, Asher was waiting outside.
16:57He was leaning against the wall.
16:58Somehow looked like old money anyway.
17:00Same as I remembered.
17:01He looked over.
17:02His mouth set.
17:03Cold.
17:04You happy now, Sloney?
17:05I gave him a confused look.
17:07He kept his voice level, like he was forcing it down.
17:10Happy I picked someone who looks like you?
17:11Happy I still can't get over you?
17:13Five years after we broke up?
17:14You happy?
17:15Suddenly I was tired.
17:16He clearly didn't believe me.
17:18If I'd known the night was going to go like this, I wouldn't have come.
17:21He said it himself.
17:22Five years.
17:23I thought we were both past it.
17:25To me, he was just an old friend.
17:27You take people's real feelings and waste them.
17:29I'm not happy, Asher.
17:31If you don't love Margot, leave her alone.
17:33Don't waste her time.
17:34Don't waste yours.
17:35If you do love her, then love her right.
17:37Love her, right?
17:40You weren't around, so I lied to myself.
17:43I tried to find you and her, but seeing you two side by side tonight, I realized she doesn't
17:48look like you at all.
17:48I mean, the face is close, but sitting next to you, she looks like a Tempu version of
17:53you.
17:53Why did I treat her like a stand-in for you?
17:55It's an insult to you.
17:56Asher, I caught sight of Margot behind him.
17:59We must have been out there a while.
18:00She'd come looking for us.
18:01She'd heard everything.
18:03She stumbled back two steps, caught herself on the wall.
18:06Her eyes went red.
18:07She just stared at the back of his head.
18:08I'm slow to anger, but I felt it then.
18:11After all this time, you still haven't learned how to respect another person?
18:15Nobody is anybody's stand-in.
18:17Margot isn't a Temu version of me.
18:19But you?
18:21You're as much of a piece of trash as you've always been.
18:24I didn't look at him.
18:25I walked past him.
18:26Past Margot.
18:27I said quick goodbyes to my friends.
18:28Grabbed my bag.
18:29Left.
18:30The next day, Asher called.
18:31I'd humiliated him in front of his girlfriend and his friends.
18:34He wasn't even angry.
18:35His voice was small.
18:36He apologized.
18:37Said he shouldn't have used Margot to test me.
18:40Shouldn't have put me on the spot.
18:41Let me take you to dinner.
18:42Let me make it up to you.
18:43He still didn't get it.
18:45I wasn't put on the spot.
18:46I was angry.
18:47And not because he'd been all over Margot in front of me.
18:50I was angry because after all this time, he still hadn't learned to respect another person.
18:55He couldn't tell the difference between liking and loving, but he kept stomping all over both.
18:59I told him I was busy.
19:00Hung up.
19:01I saw Margot a week later.
19:03There's a girl outside asking for you.
19:05Hey, she kind of looks like you.
19:07Do you have a sister?
19:08I put down what I was doing.
19:09Thought about it.
19:10Went out to see her.
19:11Honestly, I had no real impression of Margot.
19:13Wasn't interested in her drama.
19:15I had to guess what she wanted.
19:17Something to do with Asher.
19:18I was busy.
19:19I'd taken a research position at the Broad Institute the second I got home.
19:22Bio-research is my whole life.
19:24I just want to do my work.
19:25I really didn't want to get pulled into other people's relationships.
19:28I went out anyway.
19:29Because I kept seeing her face from that night.
19:31Pale.
19:31Eyes red.
19:32Watching the back of Asher's head when something inside her broke.
19:35Call it karma points.
19:37When I came out, Margot stood up fast from the bench.
19:39She looked anxious.
19:40Eyes already wet.
19:41But thank God she didn't run at me crying.
19:43She just stood there.
19:44Miss Beckett.
19:46Sorry.
19:46I didn't want to come.
19:48She looked like a lost lamb.
19:50Sad and confused.
19:51I...
19:52Asher just broke up with me.
19:53I know he's always been in love with you.
19:55I came to ask, are you back together?
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