Prompt: Finish the phrase 'Listen, I...'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbR93tO3PPa
MOMENT 1:744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGp9qrDTPWa
'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.'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNzG4NQutFm
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaNv32VR6b2
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj3TdhtnkHV
'I wasn't picking on you!'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkuvRhJB1sa
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNTULzJwgST
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI9fLgtffNX
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ91n5qgqDOK
'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.'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG8RuzscGJA
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqXqRzCzI2X
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtz83wIOeq3
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjvv8xwAtxy
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBhmlrzyQBy
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj52n6VdJys
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.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxBQJnBbw5S
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.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhlNHuoIx5H
'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.'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡowXbpVx0zc
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ57rt30raKl
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEb2wEjd0GG
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MOMENT 4:744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqtuewqDW0u
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx09dzfMgWE
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYY8HcjNElm
'Just people.'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAY0QA526cY
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLJLVOpzi5q
'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.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgqijlF2Aoy
'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.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuVq6A7RKTi
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ntR3q2Ohc
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTneIXiYUwF
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkExuLOS4fW
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm03BujF6tP
'Bastard.'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7HXi0qfDGB
But I laughed.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaqEUTTtYlv
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MOMENT 5:744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6GUL2FU0IA
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTSnsAiG4MQ
'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.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrWVig2Vu5X
'Open em. Smaller one first.'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ22G88uRgmb
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRTEZRnWHJy
The other gift was canvas paper.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy532AggWwy
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeEQ1ky1SBD
'Come on, take it.'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXIWGqtjNxf
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.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbh9zP4NLzd
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUjFMA2Ed6w
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5lV0M2nXOB
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZzRMhQuPbg
'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.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGBp78KqSdW
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0zqaEVj7IC
'Do you like it?'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡigyieHhQH1
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQlKJdxdSMg
'But?'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0oSRSiVAg5
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxMWMLCXvTT
'John?'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡry44m4Tl9Q
'Yeah?'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZYUaWKz3Qo
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6OYzJRB855
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb06XM0LRDb
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6p7RJq9Krd
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKLVsotjLFa
'No, wait, that's not what I - '744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfUD3IGGR4H
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9GHCDjuZ75
'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.'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF4VdsONKI0
'I... I don't understand.'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsuGHAB6v2s
'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.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0eMwg3P2eo
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR5cb75Yatc
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.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9M7t6S2N0N
'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.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy2D7FtvZl6
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.
