Prompt: Finish the phrase 'Listen, I...'738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYIWHV8gUNF
MOMENT 1:738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq0cTctzEER
'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.'738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSvMUsfI8Fj
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1vjpKqVE39
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2UYUPEbfhW
'I wasn't picking on you!'738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIopPyemeX3
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOvIjvHeRGT
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkUAagIRRIE
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVvfcWYDA3c
'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.'738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1FerN0oW5A
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtequXDkSpR
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIhYl687oQy
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4fKkEnCr0m
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt8SathWK6r
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy0L7qx16dZ
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.738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡthUpHBrZNJ
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.738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzMttcGSOWz
'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.'738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHTfd1om2Q8
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYkePGRio3H
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq45wSHB1Y0
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MOMENT 4:738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGPYqy37ZTs
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwsah6bFHKl
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk189ha2FFl
'Just people.'738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjL6hV4IorK
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJlozB8qzlX
'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.738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Z9REsqiJg
'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.738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6yGnd1NQXy
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzMv5rw7D8u
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSqL5UMds4Y
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9OnFb2QZG5
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuRUCszUEVa
'Bastard.'738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTiWx2QfHhC
But I laughed.738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0NB7us9Bsi
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MOMENT 5:738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8J5AhSX7Y0
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUz6x8gev1z
'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.738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxKxo4POcLK
'Open em. Smaller one first.'738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqGmkl5gg1a
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw9UO4WyNl5
The other gift was canvas paper.738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm2CZmXxsVw
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFpK4DU0T36
'Come on, take it.'738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1U61A8QAvn
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.738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGHSDvNYZyN
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXTE7wGb5zL
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR9IBcixvVY
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8qfDKwcPL0
'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.738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYTj7qUUJQf
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTLSCAFczL3
'Do you like it?'738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmZf1j8um9m
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2KiugWO5oX
'But?'738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbTFr9LW5F9
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6uhuTsU1lW
'John?'738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHCTC7t13tz
'Yeah?'738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdCCgvkydkr
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmfyq5sXXX5
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDpy8TnnXlu
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOMTrNWyIiK
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIGdifQOUwu
'No, wait, that's not what I - '738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3wwC1GlGpX
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTZ59QbZYim
'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.'738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTGcZAlh08W
'I... I don't understand.'738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgqyE6RPrnx
'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.738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIl3UrmPWYF
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEr1Z0iCIFI
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.738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlUDWu37UGr
'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.738Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF8PXQ4D1BM
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.
