Prompt: Finish the phrase 'Listen, I...'669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKFp6v3ZoRp
MOMENT 1:669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz9vG5SyNrh
'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.'669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMGXSPMTxnt
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRdoGxtEv75
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡntSwyAi4kN
'I wasn't picking on you!'669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE3TyuLH3zi
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9eLhekpGNA
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY8bnzYWoeF
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7CpqkBd7YY
'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.'669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmYnLVNlIph
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgeWWRwo4Aj
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0mCZb5rz9G
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeQQgdigPTZ
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxoug72TpO5
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKPGJpfMef5
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.669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjSnOKgMEyZ
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.669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡckUNkOTggQ
'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.'669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkLIzRnJC1a
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv1LnxB30Ib
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOvGECtD79y
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MOMENT 4:669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtNWX99wg8e
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe07pjEBmDR
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Ls2oq4Jsc
'Just people.'669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeDMV6OWWs6
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWlm3bmpnpc
'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.669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ39kv4EFJrP
'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.669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp8nhUTpevu
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ87dOTgiNT
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyUgIq8IMn6
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK2k0yjMrHs
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPEy2zMY4Ph
'Bastard.'669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLE5mhS1Ltw
But I laughed.669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA65ksjAetw
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MOMENT 5:669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVt2elqz8HQ
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7BJTkbbo7n
'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.669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4ZqG0Nt7Jq
'Open em. Smaller one first.'669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUTr0nYpmUv
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡssVyTaoxrY
The other gift was canvas paper.669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIDIQIehvn7
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOAGdhHITF2
'Come on, take it.'669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt0aMvrM1hn
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.669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ5B2LTRIOA
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyinD9wjvTk
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKqm64hO0mP
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYFs9v4Gbjd
'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.669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡChItR0VAKa
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZua0AztuHr
'Do you like it?'669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs3t0xbvTzi
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsYluf3PHd3
'But?'669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJn0TdZLtqg
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3M4DgRN2qj
'John?'669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeHM9m8QFZn
'Yeah?'669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlp30hiCpt5
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF7GEpFpOEX
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRq6Gajn6mZ
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJXyiEloYVB
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDBBALUJdgA
'No, wait, that's not what I - '669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA1KDBbG1q1
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDawl3hq5GC
'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.'669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL00UrB3oeq
'I... I don't understand.'669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlSWs80Gmyw
'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.669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡztZECWxMbp
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0XgdNCBPGu
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.669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo7k1Dimmyl
'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.669Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbXDa6pNAhD
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.
