Prompt: Finish the phrase 'Listen, I...'717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ65nmmoaWR3
MOMENT 1:717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYJdNSd4ntG
'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.'717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1HuzmQVGCN
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ23lvLykbOG
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡShwYppRCuR
'I wasn't picking on you!'717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZJpefVZJMv
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZyUjuG5qC0
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgjnKgbTf0V
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaqhzYy1d1K
'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.'717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡynoIyf4JcA
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjfNONQ5dyb
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTCMU0agzIR
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSxDRt8cub1
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYkULFWf1dT
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGMWCJSUGqB
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.717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMVdG1WRo96
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.717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrXkN6bAZlt
'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.'717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp1DdvM469q
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN7dAjy8Kax
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgT8RUP9VHM
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MOMENT 4:717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO5JixWUB51
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI7PKmeIBPK
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo4DsoRcbnk
'Just people.'717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsyHQrUf20G
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHKGNpLwp9M
'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.717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvc9Nrz6YFg
'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.717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4EaEMhVkIA
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ07tpHfAQK
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3vbdvgiTBs
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKn6niWfysz
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRGMHyF1gc7
'Bastard.'717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYBNcQ9v79f
But I laughed.717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoxNXqdFNEz
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MOMENT 5:717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmXFOoEDdnX
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWmN64dHJFc
'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.717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtGBcquHjVB
'Open em. Smaller one first.'717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡruzkQBr4ug
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrijiQZXcuo
The other gift was canvas paper.717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhHnKPq08uA
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSK4v4pzyZx
'Come on, take it.'717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡewL8QUN8zT
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.717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT1ji60vKwg
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡff2xVNAbOL
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Ajijr8uOv
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNQo5Rd7pOd
'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.717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Mdmeo2Oig
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1niPl6L1Nt
'Do you like it?'717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjPnJKWvWAi
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnyMbRpt3wM
'But?'717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpeifyFkmEH
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtKPdIce5g9
'John?'717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxNchEkqQ1y
'Yeah?'717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡprcET1K4kO
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgh1dO9nT2w
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXwJh1KFbuR
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo1kcMtPQAm
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3s1IJSuUmk
'No, wait, that's not what I - '717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwA0t7zVd5k
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5NtegENGDX
'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.'717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBb3pasUDDm
'I... I don't understand.'717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT31G5z2qmc
'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.717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIfd9brnsiU
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw9udHgJRCZ
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.717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Xy5YRfHPR
'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.717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeRGbHBaWMg
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.
