Prompt: Finish the phrase 'Listen, I...'776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMMCTLXze9t
MOMENT 1:776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFSoSvjggEY
'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.'776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxfIS1ED5XH
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKklOZrbell
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVvkrippJ3X
'I wasn't picking on you!'776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡropmvAmESO
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuW9vfbKCbE
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpbnrEHU8N9
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNNOeCHK2TA
'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.'776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNEnrRnMyME
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9FuTlhJeYy
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡij6MKr0cad
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq6h4kfuZfL
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCSvf7vgtMj
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡginwfmlKAb
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.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ75IF5S5a0r
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.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbWudCEyONV
'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.'776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY4qC44s3MQ
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6PQ6CqqLf8
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpHvT1jt1dV
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MOMENT 4:776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwg9myazLh0
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEH3ry5TbQZ
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡldPhxGoPaM
'Just people.'776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGb2AEx3A2K
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqNqAblTNtJ
'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.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp7XFfGay54
'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.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZSfAa9G1em
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAy3pinB2GA
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkE65sz0eQ6
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5fK55QEjrA
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡavU8XcvhrV
'Bastard.'776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlih7nXiCSY
But I laughed.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG5X035d3mZ
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MOMENT 5:776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhJaKiIU7rL
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJbj7bFgHSK
'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.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡil92mbMCGS
'Open em. Smaller one first.'776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnxbVitzSd7
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHbgngwopIW
The other gift was canvas paper.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwJXuAtJ9Bs
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFo4kDeQLx9
'Come on, take it.'776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5gPRMF1xGH
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.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyxjWsURvIj
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiCpSCVZFhx
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJnqDqizp01
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbrwvXw38Wb
'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.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhVDeouZlEw
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Jnf3gK6pv
'Do you like it?'776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDkhBCM9qtQ
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF7hTmdBRVF
'But?'776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡexBL0nBREX
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoBCD2XLGZn
'John?'776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp91wYT5fgr
'Yeah?'776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM6f473e6sO
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVs2bxcu30S
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡICcg54ZRVo
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6u6eGVoC2U
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBaLDifiXgv
'No, wait, that's not what I - '776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCPz5o4li7L
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm30AuU8JKt
'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.'776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV4bm7ZCY7r
'I... I don't understand.'776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT5fYAKh5kE
'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.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu8eIuDRPdn
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfxgLrPc1LS
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.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoP7sSa2Ows
'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.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡary2hh0fTE
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.
