Prompt: Finish the phrase 'Listen, I...'724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGFkkD7IDId
MOMENT 1:724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXMs0I976L1
'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.'724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiVM7cV2DTc
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Dax33hiGK
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvj3ibMg6Do
'I wasn't picking on you!'724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMVeDDHhgwg
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnfangzthgN
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs2tAn43lo9
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ejb5fKIY9
'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.'724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQZUh8LJapf
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSRg08XgFdT
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSS8xVHMKR6
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc0GtkGqT3z
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo2NUpt2B1U
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFatucWD33a
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.724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfouRwqMR1O
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.724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsp3bR7CtKh
'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.'724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhdovxKIQUh
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfuiL2i6O25
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7zmsIpbA8e
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MOMENT 4:724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbIHulyDKUw
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV7wWByrhEw
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb9Np4LQkl2
'Just people.'724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD7vXsuH2fx
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuBV5IaPR4i
'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.724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzsqePZ2bET
'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.724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG7pKg7zXkg
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqOpBBhhxI9
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdZfM1AjvoY
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmRh8dZpMUB
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq07BfcFKiu
'Bastard.'724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ66CUZQx7c7
But I laughed.724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGmgmTwp8N9
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MOMENT 5:724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQN4GGmC6Tz
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxkfG4pNIVy
'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.724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlymqLwnuE8
'Open em. Smaller one first.'724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDAGMsFt9nc
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPppF30oXh5
The other gift was canvas paper.724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr4xFYWixYT
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNz4knCtNKR
'Come on, take it.'724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGY0yTxsfpT
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.724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhXWak2E0qW
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuiz84zrpYK
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG3Uu3pkt0U
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZIvqk2Pp7s
'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.724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkjO3s4GKO0
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa9Xorwmwba
'Do you like it?'724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSvkOyRgTaw
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNoD0OjFt8N
'But?'724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD8YeDPSBF3
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSZNKmMxXbs
'John?'724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSDVcHXiid1
'Yeah?'724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYDhcXoV2Lj
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD0DbOSh5kS
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnkRDxw2tbM
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI4x8Ev20tX
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡekj8PlNPFm
'No, wait, that's not what I - '724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAxBMTa22Jv
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5S6xszqzx0
'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.'724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOkzvykBK60
'I... I don't understand.'724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU5n6z6rW3n
'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.724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfJFA3Oqgcq
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg9F9qurX9T
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.724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsxF9e2XnXY
'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.724Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZuOy4FHMYs
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.
