Prompt: Finish the phrase 'Listen, I...'518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWW9bHGE9eD
MOMENT 1:518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkj3Js9ykod
'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.'518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhAlg3MeYmR
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjSXhUlda5v
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT8ZC0cOppP
'I wasn't picking on you!'518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvBcLMrZd3b
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsK030wlfHL
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKwMEvXZX3t
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhjrUuyLllb
'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.'518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFbgFgDwBCR
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHfBZZrOgiq
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz07VBVTPWl
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNn1pdv2nTL
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRpmXxH1S9q
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7LQeApHwvw
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.518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcxT8kvoY6k
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.518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZyoIHLZxNF
'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.'518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEbhJbioR4s
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpuB3QpITMK
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYhF93EM7mF
518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpvADnjBQZp
MOMENT 4:518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmmmTZlFTtm
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoygUFJITRR
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTCcyeHXOTV
'Just people.'518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQfyJLoUOA8
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWhkAaSaMnk
'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.518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYiGQM9nyTF
'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.518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhsVO55F9S7
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvd7GmiqnP6
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtRngWRtPMl
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbLhUP74UnV
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYo3M6BepF1
'Bastard.'518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhyOZ1UkR9L
But I laughed.518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXJFgdiRXTA
518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGlN8GFuZe7
MOMENT 5:518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡitLOoDs4ZU
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdUJq5j04vU
'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.518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSGcsWrGtvx
'Open em. Smaller one first.'518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd9afUoOlnZ
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpBTQdIsOMd
The other gift was canvas paper.518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXkJ2ejvehg
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb7RqGNR6d2
'Come on, take it.'518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgKmkMJVFQC
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.518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHtLEHJcT2V
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK3KLb6vA0L
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4p75kGvkjh
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ007M2aVIfO
'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.518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbknvDaVsuc
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTZMgWZMzIj
'Do you like it?'518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP8Fg9ufOqr
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdZ3hEhErL8
'But?'518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWwgkPESXhF
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOzu9oLAlkb
'John?'518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7XJ5Inxlzg
'Yeah?'518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCR7Bv6wZ4B
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ03qIXkIeYO
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHJtcYpMmTR
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVTx9m5BDEK
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNqXbToflMW
'No, wait, that's not what I - '518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrkhRSiR9Nu
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeZ6TEJCliQ
'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.'518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Q1JV76A7k
'I... I don't understand.'518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoyjgEGCB0J
'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.518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdKBIre9nGB
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO0JEAVCT6w
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.518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnUFvvQiwau
'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.518Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvzpHZQec6o
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.