Prompt: Finish the phrase 'Listen, I...'619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcCxdlFh4XF
MOMENT 1:619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxOghW3JU55
'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.'619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7KFBNhMSuK
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAw7cqlMPSy
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeOEvDNRM3O
'I wasn't picking on you!'619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAPtiHfZLxy
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbYHj2VBWk0
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAm44ZWtjRe
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwKjpNo9pFi
'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.'619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnkGZ7A72p2
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwRrFJk5pam
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtGhqeqTodt
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0g4J4jHI09
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu6jxolbKkG
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡciBJSJsS8b
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.619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoYVlXmf0fS
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.619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyQhREq34Cb
'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.'619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡObCkZUSiqF
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqrFv6SFt0q
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡouHEH2uIGk
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MOMENT 4:619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxXj0LnYziE
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTZLQVw4kq6
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1MOsMMKrlS
'Just people.'619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUn3Lqgq0pn
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXby3cG4zcz
'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.619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ZZpQ8TR4B
'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.619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYNaC9K7k6r
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJfga4dvO0M
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡey7kwbEhZK
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡThbxAER6Tq
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5oZK7BiOuW
'Bastard.'619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg4HkRAqYIt
But I laughed.619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFNOjB5L7XA
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MOMENT 5:619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHdWfTJiB8A
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIyQTRYTJp5
'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.619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoEnV6Zr38P
'Open em. Smaller one first.'619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5mAGbb5q5Q
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUgtBVdF9xW
The other gift was canvas paper.619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYXMO3vMvEl
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqxIlaxAAm5
'Come on, take it.'619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ739YjtQfHX
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.619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡISpgW5Cf8T
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLCE2muiDmG
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqom8yFmdvM
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl9MI20KdZB
'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.619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRTh5tOKcKo
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXT2jtvM98u
'Do you like it?'619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYKhel6cwMH
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡssI7apr6o5
'But?'619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzB8MBMCrNN
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJKsETnHxOZ
'John?'619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9GldxrBZQF
'Yeah?'619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ78iFazIxy
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqZ63wOf0uF
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlSTzMdIMGA
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO1HPVZvwAF
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFTlmSQ8n3n
'No, wait, that's not what I - '619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ss0uBi95H
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaByAT8rhxP
'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.'619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5l2pTs4efE
'I... I don't understand.'619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWKvtREm6tw
'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.619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3XnCbhSDlQ
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLuHSPfQDXj
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.619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy7egVxsJIC
'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.619Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl54H9sFFO9
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.
