Prompt: Finish the phrase 'Listen, I...'736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY2AtA2AYzh
MOMENT 1:736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJy3zE9bQf2
'Hey, listen, I think you're pretty cool.' Alice said this only after I had landed a detention for flinging my fists at her. 'We should hang out more.'736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf3VOO8eD64
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMTuRO1LHcN
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKi5apB3OzP
'I wasn't picking on you!'736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8vtcHNJCF5
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡedV3M9Ku1y
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj58g6OH3F3
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyHSMlWK5iZ
'You know it's not cool to gossip, right? A, I don't really care, and B, I thought I told you to leave me alone.'736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK0B6cYzvFC
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡht3ZOHVcbg
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIdBkh79iUN
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWvfUaWhxdS
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXiP3mLAAIz
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡty87E3azBU
I didn't want to surrender so early. 'Thanks.' I made an effort not to talk to her during the class, and she made an effort to show that she really didn't care what I thought of her.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwEdvxSsoX6
The bell rung, and as she gathered up her papers I caught glimpses of strange little sketches - a nude woman lying inside the core of a rose, spheres and pyramids in a dappled desert - and as much as I hated to admit it, she had a way with her pen, no doubt.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI4NWVJXQWj
'Oh by the way - ' she put her hand on my shoulder just before she left, and used the other to point at a figure on my page, 'it's 1954, not 1953.'736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbketKF4UdD
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvIUbja3CMa
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtzZl9mzkMP
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MOMENT 4:736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXPgITGarMt
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzs9ldeVZgj
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJrvCQMBJNK
'Just people.'736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa2Cy2YXqnB
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFZo2dV15E2
'Woah, is that me?' It was a rhetorical question, of course - the sketch was so finely crafted there could have been no doubt as to who it was. I could see my tired eyes looking back up from the page, messy hair and one hand supporting the side of my chin, angular fingers curling up a faint trail of stubble.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZyRGzy4LLY
'Nah, it's my brother. Of course it's you, doofus. You can take a closer look if you want.' She handed me the book, and I flipped through the pages. All pen sketches, some surrealist and some gritty and all too real. And on the last used page, me.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcvXkZSi3u8
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ91GELXRDyo
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIHQLT6Bq6j
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuV5ZV6Sg1a
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF5Ffzxw6p3
'Bastard.'736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ21m68RQif6
But I laughed.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm2l6l7H9w1
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MOMENT 5:736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu0HoYTs8Tk
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1HrZCWl8OV
'Oy, I didn't ask for anything. So I don't feel obliged to give you something in return.' A wink. She always had a way of avoiding saying thanks.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpzXR1O0986
'Open em. Smaller one first.'736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPPEYixlM4H
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4XZJ1ZAwTi
The other gift was canvas paper.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKslD8w9pT9
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZYPSodLFKs
'Come on, take it.'736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrhiBqt3VrM
She smiled, but there was something else underneath. 'So long as you take these.' She handed the torn wrapping back into my hands before turning around and running away across the grass, footsteps light on the weeds below and laughter spiraling behind her.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWPkW8pkzby
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVer1J77W13
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQUjp0mQ7U0
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9wNMYUvF0g
'I'll take that.' It was light, but firm. I tore the corner - canvas paper, and the smell of oil paints. 'Now that's cheating. Returning gifts much?' But she didn't laugh as I expected.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBl4vstLbvk
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZrsWaTWTgD
'Do you like it?'736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX7zkr8nKvn
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEHVNanSNdg
'But?'736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ87XLHFfNbN
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiAuTKJ4ya0
'John?'736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbA0ljz3fuc
'Yeah?'736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwVS3QtYEPt
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmxFzuOeiXc
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ByMpuA0yy
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQO0sLVsJf4
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuZMf1ojo1b
'No, wait, that's not what I - '736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDTt3Mzk37I
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpXKHTgqM85
'Wait!' I took a long, shaking breath. 'Listen, I... I really like you too. It's just that - I don't want anything more than this. This is all I need, this is all I want.' I put the painting down and held her wrists. 'Just this.'736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnHadfPN20q
'I... I don't understand.'736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡysN7a4UOZo
'Just the way we can insult each other. The way we can mess around, the way we can talk about all kinds of stupid shit and just not care, you know? It's all I want.' To be friends.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNaTy3xJsGy
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUDBDr1QUat
I hugged her then, not whispering time old lies about love, just hugging her because I cared, because I cared about that girl who punched me, because I cared about what my feelings meant for hers.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw4yz8fUlMQ
'I just don't want anything to change.' I could feel, in every struggled grasp of her fingers behind my back, the futures she imagined folding in upon themselves.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEypdAw9H8h
I don't know how long we stood there in that frozen eternity, holding each other as she gazed through tears at pastel smiles laying upon the ground in a sun-filled park only a single lost moment away.
