Prompt: Finish the phrase 'Listen, I...'712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡftNFaItMLP
MOMENT 1:712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvkgyLG65pz
'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.'712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8gri64uZBB
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWxhsfi493y
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡROvGKpFKbY
'I wasn't picking on you!'712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsdO1vH3ehp
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9DdAKHOQaR
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxwL8J8wRa4
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTZceJse4XW
'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.'712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnJRSTumoeY
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6bE1afiCXp
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIpWI6FGYpK
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlTRSpmO3ve
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTTeDO44KF7
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeiXmAGPiCX
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.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnkM9tqT6Tt
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.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe7kAlpbGHN
'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.'712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ77lkK5L7iy
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKqI8QEhN94
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHfSpJ92EfP
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MOMENT 4:712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNQY83sQlsk
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX2LEI0EY5v
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAHWR9yOQne
'Just people.'712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJK7KrdC6N3
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqwkAUE1Xcw
'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.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWiLx6KdhaK
'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.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzwpwK30Wl1
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkCaa54Kin7
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnBoGJy8GSZ
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKnpHhtlZin
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4WfYyqbvXh
'Bastard.'712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDhI7sTlzn1
But I laughed.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVdREoZB9GG
712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnsBB9rRJzB
MOMENT 5:712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN0SzxQuGoG
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvcmKWYCyEQ
'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.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyhBzAGwEeR
'Open em. Smaller one first.'712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnpfm7I5Di8
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0QSKAnsY2u
The other gift was canvas paper.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0gT5DtkPbK
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSzLdpcX3sG
'Come on, take it.'712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5InnOqadUa
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.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzsowkUQckB
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr80xBn6KQA
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmSlUMwN5KE
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbODOSQOBhM
'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.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIZb7yMAPGi
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPfg6qLYIYz
'Do you like it?'712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNc2aE8lyq1
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPv6QMHvBNq
'But?'712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5depN6pHMI
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2YvelIWwTZ
'John?'712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs0mKevMuVh
'Yeah?'712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuqWSnu208v
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS7hLoMFlLn
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡduocP4B4UN
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ84FLn0HXKV
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy6wvrjNWvA
'No, wait, that's not what I - '712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmTjw6AOEVi
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE7kvP2jjPN
'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.'712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdUphmiCWT1
'I... I don't understand.'712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXS1yHMFvxi
'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.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9vkdWePFqi
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhN2WGzToWe
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.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsDv6ctNDKq
'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.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡahJFqExfqE
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.
