Prompt: Finish the phrase 'Listen, I...'680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEHGnEBvvNZ
MOMENT 1:680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4F4HgKPINM
'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.'680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡek3LGbqd4V
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOIYWg7yZ8V
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI7aeAXF3WW
'I wasn't picking on you!'680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAPB2cigrKP
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQpoSOx0ffg
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjAmGNckcMX
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzVxdn4AK7a
'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.'680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwCZPHKL018
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxdA1pbeXvW
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5SFcGyfvZp
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyeTnTxqyqe
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaeJbT3mWRX
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjEq6XnGxuV
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.680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzSIgIto2cc
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.680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvGF1qW2fnD
'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.'680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmRmWtflwrn
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvG16aa1fsn
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE8UMfjoEUm
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MOMENT 4:680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlNzx43I7EZ
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLH90cfzd1Z
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIPktL93Z2L
'Just people.'680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWRPeDUHvZm
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡefkqcQ9YdP
'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.680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfUo8myLGtU
'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.680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd20FRM0bEt
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyaKOIG8mtL
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYUtp2mh92o
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzHAPto9dO4
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLNQYgoegxk
'Bastard.'680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF5jHY2kvmF
But I laughed.680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpkefzaP9ha
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MOMENT 5:680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ua5gnhRqh
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6X68uunNLN
'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.680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWGFKFZfhzd
'Open em. Smaller one first.'680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNTj5TlLWhx
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡknEPRISOJ1
The other gift was canvas paper.680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkx49ccy0qA
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ08CEUITOLL
'Come on, take it.'680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8W89bie8Jg
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.680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlq9DFPhejj
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpIr2lYIVrW
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIkVinjsvca
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDbpfjXL2QQ
'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.680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1dXp8AGSZm
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5WD3q8c9hp
'Do you like it?'680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXPRkRHafKn
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTDvuC09w75
'But?'680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡckwhX3Ru8Z
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBPA9b6eAXs
'John?'680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeFClI3rraN
'Yeah?'680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhnQUIr6fi0
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWWIsljH00z
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUsAuUi6lxc
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡynSRWKSvD3
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRaASzKQZci
'No, wait, that's not what I - '680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6WtAJsQpOF
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjIFKjDC4vq
'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.'680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZQYlxeTg8W
'I... I don't understand.'680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLPBpEhVk2T
'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.680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIppGWwMubi
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrnS8hzOEEK
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.680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVDL5O364kP
'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.680Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD5yzqObEJo
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.
