Prompt: Finish the phrase 'Listen, I...'740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyD7Ct9i45B
MOMENT 1:740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3lZSR3X07j
'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.'740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg3OwSpEQNL
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡThIO0DVcpF
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUO1ke0ziIU
'I wasn't picking on you!'740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Zuym5aZW0
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpBPxDmKMIQ
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKVnsnIBSCY
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnEs5XB6W8C
'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.'740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfxVZVyGMgD
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXvQ0u3p9Hu
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTcUUZ3aVEa
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOee9wPseFK
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu6ms3HkDMh
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvye6eq5vfi
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.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC8xmpOhGCu
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.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpgpSZMdAY7
'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.'740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMlcimgyOpL
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiKIqcdI31X
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNZZ4QVnBZx
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MOMENT 4:740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyPGJrE6ZpX
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrveUvjp99b
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ1vyk1wLG3
'Just people.'740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZpAFhWQvLh
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡItPp5ArWHD
'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.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBNPg4ft71K
'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.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzPv6EnYMMt
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIm1phJfIqt
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbm2kVVvOlu
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi1Ctrweou3
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRURKikAlQT
'Bastard.'740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡikLmg0KjmD
But I laughed.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjJQJq6k1r7
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MOMENT 5:740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoyejYjM66S
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡByDqpIg2bQ
'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.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9r2qoPeMZg
'Open em. Smaller one first.'740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR7OBJIHqCg
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnBAq68Jrjv
The other gift was canvas paper.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTcoha04EOt
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEqiv7mbzXk
'Come on, take it.'740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0zME5ICsaP
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.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ69uHbGphV
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvJOSIFIGd5
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ73f3j94BPr
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIX0PRGFiNd
'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.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzczMGqHLHb
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmicZ7Vju8k
'Do you like it?'740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXsdxtZD5gr
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZFjz6g7D5j
'But?'740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnPege4abEj
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJaEaOdoXfp
'John?'740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsHPZFqbmFj
'Yeah?'740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkDSdBcnyK0
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuzqfSKHr4F
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc6cEL5zbEs
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ61ohdGe71D
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPse2ZYvSFt
'No, wait, that's not what I - '740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd2UHsTFuhz
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH7ri38tncZ
'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.'740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVqYzyHe8wM
'I... I don't understand.'740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEjM3yDG5fv
'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.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE1Xkwy9PfR
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyfggqg0anz
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.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMnyIJckXXW
'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.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡElCzyoUj6r
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.
