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