Prompt: Finish the phrase 'Listen, I...'761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHV8aeRsOzq
MOMENT 1:761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmuXYv4rEHQ
'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.'761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF7laOm2MoR
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0yrFyLqbck
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡULsNrwZ8I3
'I wasn't picking on you!'761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDGLf9BlND9
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ITkcCp1lE
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhsatuhzk9C
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ8xYPqiNQc
'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.'761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtuXgUQN0AM
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD7ehHpm1gH
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO4Yo1qtWzr
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnylmHYzYgg
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0uDGsNcG5M
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ByKtocDl5
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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlbobyqD0ua
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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPGcG1KF0bg
'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.'761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqBOtPhlrTI
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjo7wy0O6t4
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡETkexkwmf8
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MOMENT 4:761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNJhWAVTX5g
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ288T4PRkzG
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT9s6NGajUD
'Just people.'761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7OmBAQsc60
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTEmDj7S4u2
'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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTIY9GrZM3c
'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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeOykzeOe4a
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrZ9xK3XgRa
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPyFR8M1kvo
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFKsyco0aPj
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzL6CkJ2y3N
'Bastard.'761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0v8O2WErJz
But I laughed.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡum7Tq0YVPf
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MOMENT 5:761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRi587KsDmU
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoA4hMzv8fe
'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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH895ui1Jmq
'Open em. Smaller one first.'761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNGQFY2BtLj
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ9PUjJNMcI
The other gift was canvas paper.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHNZeBwFYPX
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1PXQReD7XF
'Come on, take it.'761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCD7RWTWZVa
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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0SlawTn25N
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnDp9nIWkNE
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ438l8LNaCj
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo3Efp7HjP4
'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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5TEeEX8aQg
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFHvZHNjf9U
'Do you like it?'761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgZ5OnwSubP
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpGeII58O2a
'But?'761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOfzEsyvIoF
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCrL9usa6J3
'John?'761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFlrAJaKuZa
'Yeah?'761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgYSngPgZ55
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqS0Hb8Roud
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJyn8kHE2Bo
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpTWXR5GBNH
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjRYJmLwjqs
'No, wait, that's not what I - '761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8seQuEHkAU
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSLxfUA1I01
'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.'761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡysVU56LP9D
'I... I don't understand.'761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡERungI4O4g
'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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUIhsYdCuWm
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmYYG39rni2
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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNB3cZdugT5
'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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡefqo2QLFDb
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.
