Prompt: Finish the phrase 'Listen, I...'745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡryPaZ1Oi6e
MOMENT 1:745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBKyPg8Vj0k
'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.'745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTZEsEoUJOP
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ8uHga9pGe
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7hqJNuQJeZ
'I wasn't picking on you!'745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnkpKPcuLcp
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNjLmtAZPke
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIIHIJLwahH
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡneRPAURa18
'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.'745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKWOIDcyfJC
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNO4tVC9hg4
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk00bCteT6E
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwpRA67gYr6
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ZcuVWjJAt
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOgvYKUjczf
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.745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5CIjYjR1OA
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.745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhFbhEvfnvC
'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.'745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7stlxCrvyb
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuh6MZRQcNS
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡonUlIvvQGM
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MOMENT 4:745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5dQV3Finld
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkMpjP0CXV6
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPlh7yFmkxu
'Just people.'745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRWMG0Fjdf9
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9jvKUhzvgL
'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.745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN0VFbddcWV
'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.745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4iuscGpO10
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2OUZ5UfKEZ
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaxzdpP6ArJ
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuddUxvr8r9
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Jc5YT0Req
'Bastard.'745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPrRbTRveU7
But I laughed.745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN97QY2Gxgm
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MOMENT 5:745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOsK3DMyEpe
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO3uQtsZwF2
'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.745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWHqrSjLaR3
'Open em. Smaller one first.'745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJHOc8zRL9y
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy2UXZOfrb9
The other gift was canvas paper.745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqDA5eFTkE4
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpxNRQVBP80
'Come on, take it.'745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIF3sm5S67B
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.745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKWroFUZIHK
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgID6aMNStf
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgrCFPhyoF5
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6LG14PRxYY
'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.745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTJSHAC1mgn
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxrzBLD5BI4
'Do you like it?'745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYRoWVjCzut
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkAeo9zXDBB
'But?'745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ96Uuu8q3i
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkC4PwwLeMb
'John?'745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzpvsDjHxNq
'Yeah?'745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt82BN6Mvy9
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVeEjm6xnLH
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqZE653wLwV
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnKbxa6a5O0
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbdt6SCyETN
'No, wait, that's not what I - '745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡancEy7h7OF
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXJTmSntcTy
'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.'745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoprNxe8ClL
'I... I don't understand.'745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8K6nPIcICy
'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.745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQOTng0Vypj
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu30qrMms5D
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.745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT8RuzBUSdG
'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.745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMOf0sQJiXl
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.
