Prompt: Finish the phrase 'Listen, I...'711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOQjVxQBPE9
MOMENT 1:711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡra8gw4zg7q
'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.'711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZpwWDYOgzq
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4aFygJMGDE
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeOnXfKqids
'I wasn't picking on you!'711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbW96rfOTTC
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQXf4anKTCB
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6CPwkmZrrl
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRx4QuBiPip
'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.'711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXYEaM0zMYQ
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAL8A3ncadr
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQfoNt0M149
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMTBKWOCA3m
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyA0oFGbzqM
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡufweCqhPKM
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.711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjFOan6yL1n
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.711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbA3IzShHqU
'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.'711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS75bqXax9D
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyedEt09lcY
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBjSLcodPkh
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MOMENT 4:711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkbYVXkK7kS
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDoiJeSikfL
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbdAIEeeE17
'Just people.'711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVD2700TIdE
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ73eEGJ2pR2
'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.711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrfLPksTQNj
'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.711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxGwdJfnDmC
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTcmYHokIDL
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0JLiLRJldY
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6IL6yTotJW
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ynafLkEoM
'Bastard.'711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ28Wdkbj6Kq
But I laughed.711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVyO3MF2xP4
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MOMENT 5:711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCdS6n5nlBZ
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQHgxwq9MOt
'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.711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlnS0h1MtvC
'Open em. Smaller one first.'711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd6U1JKNXyR
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPMgf3sjpzw
The other gift was canvas paper.711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaeMeYnaW7p
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYDMayj6dHW
'Come on, take it.'711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9bz87kNgOe
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.711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8u6gNjOH6W
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCmI4bRLfrM
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuuOjU2Ff6e
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa7JSX7mjJP
'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.711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡifACe38t5D
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT8zgJ5BOGn
'Do you like it?'711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjLw5HtEzmP
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRQYiD2F3lN
'But?'711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFfLBJ017E5
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNpYGRlRqnC
'John?'711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡneneeWiLm3
'Yeah?'711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9JjS0j7eXU
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ55B4mrKI6C
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW90ap78Hk5
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe78iqmdFDJ
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3XQXuyBn0m
'No, wait, that's not what I - '711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi8sNu9mLrs
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg05sowXaxP
'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.'711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyFpBGo31xB
'I... I don't understand.'711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0drLOZmLfC
'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.711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ1zQuzx2YS
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnyE2MgnKpL
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.711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmHyuLh42DJ
'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.711Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCHProa9TBW
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.
