Prompt: Finish the phrase 'Listen, I...'743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTnADC3tVef
MOMENT 1:743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz244X6fGva
'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.'743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡik4SrjXrNa
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpymwfljXik
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVO4hx5wTl3
'I wasn't picking on you!'743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjno1o9tUnT
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGHhde0lQxh
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ63NB1ZXh08
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsKPDYBrBT1
'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.'743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIXalkLbxKP
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoR2lYD2AQN
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBjuVnOZaU5
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJHwItJS7yE
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeIDKckLcqe
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMdBPhPPeap
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.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnIyQWmh3V1
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.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOm2Pv4hW9z
'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.'743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjIzhXOuiWn
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpdBa9nXk6A
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZfxPkafOw6
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MOMENT 4:743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡShwC4eI7GV
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsmPc9RZUDU
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡABykO5mAkD
'Just people.'743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ2Ja3jo4iB
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKceritPlVy
'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.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEVHLVNppLq
'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.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡifUZGb3jES
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ59HyywY1R5
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR01UB6DWGi
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBz2U17mSto
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUrRMzG7CI3
'Bastard.'743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtFT8zncZUH
But I laughed.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlKre2gFwhW
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MOMENT 5:743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKEm4STnxuU
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6kJM5mKYqu
'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.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhf8RpU1Ban
'Open em. Smaller one first.'743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEA9AMzZts7
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Cd9DWHk5E
The other gift was canvas paper.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv2wMYppVVy
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ4Fmow9wAp
'Come on, take it.'743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡifQIgZC4d9
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.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsrSo8eAMvQ
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKC7IxwGxVx
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRDZAJFNd0d
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnBXUbg1kkC
'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.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeFr0DqTTW5
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPpdpLB58ZN
'Do you like it?'743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf5tNCLmJ0W
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGas4FI0KwH
'But?'743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm1swpvZWQ9
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRDDzMZY758
'John?'743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoxO0s0o2UO
'Yeah?'743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtYD7pBo5aB
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡczR68mkvTe
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdm53I9LI40
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI9m1U5YdCR
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIu4lVcUvTh
'No, wait, that's not what I - '743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUWoYWweEHW
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJc3xZ97tfH
'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.'743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8WJAyXkw0w
'I... I don't understand.'743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJIdiy7WIkY
'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.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwaLM4RJSv0
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMyFHlTcAiA
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.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhhfsmSAJmS
'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.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUd9sbDVeS1
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.
