Prompt: Finish the phrase 'Listen, I...'739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrHUFo1hmra
MOMENT 1:739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7afcdBKCau
'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.'739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1SujM77Q8g
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLKBaxmkgyr
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡad8i1JGTLi
'I wasn't picking on you!'739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDSzTCT1iFA
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbFJ1QNYqfw
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyrHFh4XUIW
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRs9nO2GNF8
'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.'739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9FTcYqpsG1
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKuTQ9KqQkS
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt0FrXOSOEo
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0CiETUcdfq
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrSRNdPVBAb
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMqhYIli1aO
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.739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6y5MKvbdgu
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.739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh3mVqysGxN
'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.'739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡokovwnMcmH
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvhTAkHPGDs
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ4XeBwL06p
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MOMENT 4:739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnRbbmzaeqH
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6pSwBX2MQx
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSZY8KGgCZ3
'Just people.'739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbxTXJuwYsg
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtrdmTNl2dD
'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.739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHT7aTiatRU
'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.739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdhCCF68wmj
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB1gQygipui
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv7asXr3bPL
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpjdOsLyjOp
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiemmeDnxSA
'Bastard.'739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTY1xE4xrsE
But I laughed.739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiqh76PP1Kf
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MOMENT 5:739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Ml8myQDIx
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo9Tayy5RMr
'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.739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcV1QHtrQ38
'Open em. Smaller one first.'739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSTZXku38oN
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW5TC8dQ7M8
The other gift was canvas paper.739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Mfardi3Ub
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMPKuKDBtz8
'Come on, take it.'739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1g5I1dfnFd
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.739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiIxGNFIFRW
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP8X2heu4wq
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbncFby4CkL
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKckwcCsqZx
'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.739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0L0Mw8wKLV
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhvFknMtYBQ
'Do you like it?'739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4CI3S3bIsx
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUnnlAu4jWl
'But?'739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjdIE9HEyY6
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpXrXrCDeqW
'John?'739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxJUqAq70yv
'Yeah?'739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ66Phkv8R9i
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkOzjagzGkK
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ35JZHTNRdz
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqiZdT8Lk1W
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpvyMdDBFb2
'No, wait, that's not what I - '739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCEGW3LIuvm
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3K9uYRvjEY
'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.'739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP8hTpOFXI8
'I... I don't understand.'739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTNnLlueklF
'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.739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡts8J4Gbe2z
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm6LOHp503w
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.739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjmLuDkxpjr
'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.739Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkZDBc3WUsB
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.
