Prompt: Finish the phrase 'Listen, I...'737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTd89O8gxzK
MOMENT 1:737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAaPfByCXep
'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.'737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdnHCg12CXk
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDrdnwozwEF
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdBEKaF7Bec
'I wasn't picking on you!'737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLwA5aKPy8f
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJN7hv6SY0F
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlmsaBTdTUZ
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡefAcepYR2k
'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.'737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRjPhp6zETr
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyu4D8TEhXB
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSNIa9Nrzb8
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwpNdVtr5qy
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAn1Hr4gKf9
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvCDseA1ayq
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.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8oLsLsVPqI
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.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡay4owZ5TnB
'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.'737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgCZhSuDdoL
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4heA2uTRB4
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbr1SBAJUJi
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MOMENT 4:737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHrntsNrtHD
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMn7no7g9SJ
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkmHCz3aRlC
'Just people.'737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7pQkSof7eo
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCojqXxHNwv
'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.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoOGgn0kV8M
'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.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzNa8O6RVSW
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0XBToX2nAo
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjEO5pGx1xC
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDG4PUKEhTQ
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKWGfJIztcE
'Bastard.'737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3B1r7DSTDg
But I laughed.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlqUM3xGDPo
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MOMENT 5:737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRUCvqFkyVr
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbRLWnhNynS
'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.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6alAsRCQpq
'Open em. Smaller one first.'737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxMkCjzq765
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoflrHm8KIA
The other gift was canvas paper.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkp8vqea6ZI
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUsWECEBiOF
'Come on, take it.'737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCurdzuwo80
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.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ofqwUhvNn
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu04VDFqy6O
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxLebkkanF1
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpmD5O4qIrk
'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.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHNiak3pP6X
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdqZPqV5R3i
'Do you like it?'737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJGaHQuGczt
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5KesJRHwrH
'But?'737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwM0UCI2hpq
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPeMLTa2yum
'John?'737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLWllZqH5vm
'Yeah?'737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbLiBdFLfMs
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡadPozpjTFd
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG2BbvkCJKH
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZmIuY1AbzP
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxjKVS8fkI2
'No, wait, that's not what I - '737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUwWg2TB0oZ
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxPES5F6qlr
'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.'737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfPZbfJK6H9
'I... I don't understand.'737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡci1aUqK3BZ
'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.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1joblYQjJQ
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1YXeHKXQ8C
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.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFgsbJsolVN
'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.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcVujbmIjeq
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.
