Prompt: Finish the phrase 'Listen, I...'702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRrPbK4ArKn
MOMENT 1:702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ88WFSHIl9h
'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.'702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9nPCgClSGR
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeYA9gtnbBO
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQFXBViK9qj
'I wasn't picking on you!'702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL2OhpdYHXv
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5TMN1HFkFO
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG9SVpXBaGU
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7bwxbAOBfx
'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.'702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9X7AoEUnvY
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzz5iZ7JeJ3
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ839GPrtyH6
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTuW925DbWB
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWRSNFJZaQM
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTaAJrx4O0N
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.702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ06oFMiWuAn
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.702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSApBynDBCd
'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.'702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhqdx5ZxSNy
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVlRQHDxYI2
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhgrJOK5TrE
702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbuFwG2m1LR
MOMENT 4:702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd3zqKBGUKh
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqGf6nYgXv4
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL957WnPygW
'Just people.'702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm0AvAReGfq
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEuMY70RZf4
'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.702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLCPEvDvm1f
'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.702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWICifL5C9I
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEX72Y9crO1
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc3lKbOBBNT
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD5mhS2LTWI
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlWRqYtUtPj
'Bastard.'702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuTSuE4ZHWY
But I laughed.702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGYDXHEoEvM
702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRAvtabPtwr
MOMENT 5:702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhqymA5sAdw
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbcJ2RTbU5D
'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.702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ99A9dObla
'Open em. Smaller one first.'702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwHWygnkYiU
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3PeJhTP1hq
The other gift was canvas paper.702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq8XrtIkVEE
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ36wuXKFHW6
'Come on, take it.'702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYFAlBoqITb
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.702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZDGUFWCeFK
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaIaVF2quND
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzWL7569jtw
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3falvHCmJI
'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.702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6mzSYsYmaI
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJZtY1J6trE
'Do you like it?'702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWxt1aFOKe1
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu5mL2xbVY7
'But?'702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfKiTnt3RYc
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOSMnJnfHyS
'John?'702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRVee2ISf4Q
'Yeah?'702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoL94UaolFC
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7UqWFX1c0W
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4CIC7IK6ii
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGbK8BPslAy
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVK7Au1oP01
'No, wait, that's not what I - '702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUL53V4HsRr
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBCXZHw7sF0
'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.'702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Iy5x3P9mf
'I... I don't understand.'702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlBQoyNml8A
'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.702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡomJcWOMb9S
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFJlhHDiBLV
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.702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVrX18I4Vds
'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.702Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf7bm2UGfvj
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.
