Prompt: Finish the phrase 'Listen, I...'980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYgnNIotpHO
MOMENT 1:980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkCTOk1qYLl
'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.'980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPr1Ykzd9ry
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHMY771uARs
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuEWDNEuNx5
'I wasn't picking on you!'980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAZwPj62Qcg
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPzm9Y2oCwU
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBWqS6Fkmrb
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhETcgSRaYg
'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.'980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNe3FB5mPLW
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmNcFuVPqyV
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN4M4q7n5Lp
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN1c8p5PF8x
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgRN1JJUWL4
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzMZYpRZTp5
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.980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp3xQXbwTLA
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.980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIQJk7yTRul
'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.'980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNqMpdUsAGv
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3MpCwLhQY9
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9yO5E33yuD
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MOMENT 4:980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4SoUaDc8IE
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFQJVHAtsLI
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJZ7gpehZu1
'Just people.'980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbsaUxYBfXR
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQT7yyelgSF
'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.980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRTky5tD5r0
'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.980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡppUgilRuHC
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCz2PY0cuDa
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGYkFZjoEcI
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT56mnyL1xx
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ76eRwpOveJ
'Bastard.'980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRr6F0if1R4
But I laughed.980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFEDUNAihQg
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MOMENT 5:980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXKDdXY2l0V
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYzt48oSS0Z
'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.980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxPXSwE2B6m
'Open em. Smaller one first.'980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkFQWbvFVbo
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmqbHF5e7Py
The other gift was canvas paper.980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMZBOkZDWN6
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ae8BaFfk1
'Come on, take it.'980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFtZ8f5dPB6
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.980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdZmg1djBtQ
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡicclb40PQN
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsSkmKKLBx0
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWj1vEmgRIK
'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.980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxHtRRi9KMX
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKo0BxtiUhB
'Do you like it?'980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl7lnPERLB0
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPklveFNQUg
'But?'980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLTV3z8z3ai
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvuNpYmMiDq
'John?'980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp6fViVNDoo
'Yeah?'980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9GhsS6vDRd
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8IZWBCn5aN
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw8TFow3Ihv
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSi5j1gzq7Z
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN5hzs72gbN
'No, wait, that's not what I - '980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo0fPAKoG7z
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8bNtlTZiMf
'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.'980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdtHCSZ0rU4
'I... I don't understand.'980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPaGTmXeXbS
'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.980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTCgvcNnM1d
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Y8NPBAemv
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.980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4qdiLy9aft
'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.980Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡisDGTMf8Sh
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.