Prompt: Finish the phrase 'Listen, I...'759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA8OyMSI36M
MOMENT 1:759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBcXwDLYCld
'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.'759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVAZUWQq9aH
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaCEHzu80v7
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUICpn5n34x
'I wasn't picking on you!'759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMKTeVdybFT
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj6ZRxUUWzI
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhGOZL696U2
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv3CA3FLTZE
'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.'759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJBPC1QOdD1
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ47DVRE6eMW
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOYkRm9lsYf
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkUgaumNlus
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpl9FIx0WHj
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEkfRwxaRcw
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.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8PFuXchNMH
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.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQdf2ct0a1m
'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.'759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Qoj5hWEru
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5hcrzTJK3A
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6kT97NnoXa
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MOMENT 4:759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwPLtiDFB5a
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGaELKInwav
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8q4txXfvTN
'Just people.'759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUGuMSzVCFt
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhSWqLQwuWM
'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.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmRWulOyMVq
'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.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgaqaVrIZA1
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmhxWI73f5Z
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8GyJet1Xmc
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4owBjBpiYY
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIot6WgZ1yO
'Bastard.'759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpvvbcf0Z2E
But I laughed.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi3BVFmqFQO
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MOMENT 5:759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX90WWQY77F
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyVJa40mDKT
'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.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxtqx4m3FWg
'Open em. Smaller one first.'759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXRtFLWAV88
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLPNK2ZtGUE
The other gift was canvas paper.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd56fjQpXnI
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXiUtkq7fkE
'Come on, take it.'759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2rhAvs9oub
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.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8IvU6FIqU9
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡza26JOKoEK
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡol6WdfUGiP
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtCs3RZR1Bf
'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.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx23lsGO1bm
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡphoK4EemaE
'Do you like it?'759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEHpQDcwQcW
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfUR8PXfcej
'But?'759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfAEj8i67Dg
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnh9qEjxVGu
'John?'759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdGClDz21bJ
'Yeah?'759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZrFHviDFJn
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ54v8ScW29B
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH68YdFxgVq
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ81GIWgipMf
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9s9yKf4KXF
'No, wait, that's not what I - '759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1GhUfRQMGb
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNdvrqlRsVz
'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.'759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwLy6V0LOtf
'I... I don't understand.'759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd7RsNK4f5u
'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.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvyzbWAdwyL
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡubSfLTFL6a
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.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYlwPgtqtvg
'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.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVJy9zGwhUT
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.
