Prompt: Finish the phrase 'Listen, I...'954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOOwWrpzsCC
MOMENT 1:954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9qnQ5Upcok
'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.'954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHQKZHt7TVu
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Jj9HrrB8T
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZzS5IG74O4
'I wasn't picking on you!'954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0JYzrAllqP
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHwRG81Y5Wz
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzqMu7O6k3D
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGADHMZz3PU
'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.'954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ67jAwsdYRy
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhr6FC197LQ
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw74icSYEWy
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKPCpzy44lk
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqbRHB5nosH
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcjEqe6g3lm
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.954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtHILaZ7shU
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.954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Y46Ix0ofx
'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.'954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0d6Y15AXKp
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaWih4Qij6f
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7lpSYJO4vj
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MOMENT 4:954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt6erbF7lYE
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuX5cuISns2
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡahrqalHNyS
'Just people.'954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvNKqpanOlR
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHeu48chCji
'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.954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡib3RNVRxTZ
'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.954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWnkNqOLUMV
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK7VVsdEJ1N
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEJUbk6U7gC
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFmhItjK6gk
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAsacaA3uY5
'Bastard.'954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡljSbtmHnbu
But I laughed.954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3W4Y9sNgOW
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MOMENT 5:954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuHXTJTeHPq
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCKw0m9CRf0
'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.954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN1LslbIy0Q
'Open em. Smaller one first.'954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡarbZdei5yk
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC8xRKvHgbc
The other gift was canvas paper.954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPI9NOLg4JW
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL4bXKEEslf
'Come on, take it.'954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTiQm6OxIAt
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.954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVzHkUcpIaC
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2jeGnAuAex
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkuWsezkqDt
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKhsU9H4Wx2
'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.954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7mn94iyvuo
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeIAa4ofUs6
'Do you like it?'954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbEozILiCr1
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXaoj9lQQ4l
'But?'954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV82DirDUCl
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡytI20A0iVW
'John?'954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDrJLTiKi9q
'Yeah?'954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoyr00hlLj5
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTVSRQnauWr
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmFfIkMLIbE
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkPtS3FDhzs
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVpWHdaKtqb
'No, wait, that's not what I - '954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVhgXquhkPu
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Nxjz9VsiW
'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.'954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡciHlYpQM07
'I... I don't understand.'954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWXFc3X9E3f
'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.954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCpCVvpkQfk
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxFro3Oiglw
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.954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQKf5LzKPYg
'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.954Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8cLUyzDVkP
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.
and then Add to home screen.