Prompt: Finish the phrase 'Listen, I...'618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy1KSSOMfSr
MOMENT 1:618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG67KgnzMy6
'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.'618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwWBrSaQxUw
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSgxmLn3HVf
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjbK5r5bhyC
'I wasn't picking on you!'618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXk3QQLnIhz
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsT5WAwsjt2
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwzNdwFGHdA
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1TnLBtZ6yJ
'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.'618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9cCVrBWPGw
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡityr9bmiix
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFhK89RhUae
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTFtmCBAVka
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx6QULhdSL9
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9vHniNpH70
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.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk8JR664W0a
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.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQwpESmAGTP
'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.'618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKxr3ldT6T6
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ6UDu5QcTx
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmQXt9hxEA1
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MOMENT 4:618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9lJ60IkKms
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyVPpfECIBy
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqD9g1nQ4nv
'Just people.'618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLTMES6WsWr
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLk2PJbYRoP
'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.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6eXS5LIaim
'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.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBELZCiTmZi
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaA8ENHHTjH
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq4wpghIao3
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL34AC4EuAB
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPd63n29pt0
'Bastard.'618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGBIz1UF3BY
But I laughed.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN3P3mtT8eq
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MOMENT 5:618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlcz7I4MdTB
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHTLC9ytfpa
'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.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKEdFKVZZo2
'Open em. Smaller one first.'618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdFfcAoQUZ5
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkxJw2V1o2p
The other gift was canvas paper.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdzHS2maN2l
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGNPS09pkrM
'Come on, take it.'618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlEm5s1tdP5
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.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3sm9NKfQIF
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqfwEnzEpQt
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB6VHQ2124i
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM3RtkMCkb6
'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.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb8MQ8RFoqc
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnx5tLtVs7C
'Do you like it?'618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡANPA2nak6j
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKLtLfVvC6s
'But?'618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEcrwdii18L
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡinXBRE1agk
'John?'618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxb12RptIEh
'Yeah?'618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhZzTMxCO6Q
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUCd8zV3za6
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDMMYeDMawr
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq5Kzzkqlnp
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDK0OulUy1V
'No, wait, that's not what I - '618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSGEGThx5wY
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2CJT3KCpAl
'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.'618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpyO6aaqujM
'I... I don't understand.'618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡltNv4zgepn
'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.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ58m7dVWu6a
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCCvE9mSE5t
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.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEKfOgiVUkl
'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.618Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlYFH0iISwW
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.
