Prompt: Finish the phrase 'Listen, I...'810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtM4FpT83Ve
MOMENT 1:810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbYokPiUArX
'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.'810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUpPsINCQIb
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ56e2lV10CQ
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIOwZ3lW1QO
'I wasn't picking on you!'810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7rJnwZS4t8
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ySnns6zuG
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg7CUJcDunj
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKwQrery9fs
'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.'810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGCPFhy4NR1
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVBhY6BlJkU
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9v4g59hkPr
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuWWYtlMXAV
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOeCZpqUHgd
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUVx3AqNNmY
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.810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIuC3OgRDy7
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.810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡptBiCFICJA
'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.'810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGeSvwUoGrx
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2mRFALOanW
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbnLqFnojDP
810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb8lKMnDDMr
MOMENT 4:810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjuLC7NFbIV
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjZEoFPWvJO
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5zK4DifsU9
'Just people.'810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6lASw7bbQc
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3aOtNkWdFv
'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.810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkQISNxPamb
'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.810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf0p3UZDrsz
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXrFq0rX8fU
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgQqRieJT98
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaOSUuq9md8
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2YpbVxo3A4
'Bastard.'810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvGgboH4Msm
But I laughed.810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ91pmIR9izF
810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzhhxLOWC9S
MOMENT 5:810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnqRw0MkhqP
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKQe31JYXmE
'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.810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7qwoVV6tmG
'Open em. Smaller one first.'810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPlpKFztaVk
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIl9FY5C74j
The other gift was canvas paper.810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnRLjFHGwhf
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO93IaJn3Mb
'Come on, take it.'810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnSyNtrKbOx
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.810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡepHrZgfiwg
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeNJTrcn79u
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLd0ipL00Cb
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoZ8y6lr879
'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.810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ17E0X22wFC
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvukvUUV9Dw
'Do you like it?'810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhOhrcWPSZk
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj7ABcWBYO2
'But?'810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTrxsgalEev
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP0v28pPxhp
'John?'810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5i0Zvx1orz
'Yeah?'810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGb9YeobsSL
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO2KdJpAYzN
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7KWhunEU3R
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNjnzDLl4rr
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyTRZ0gcjET
'No, wait, that's not what I - '810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj0BqhC8nRL
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLFqZnlzspD
'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.'810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbJAGEWIReZ
'I... I don't understand.'810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxPeDcTYoeM
'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.810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH8rz9F2Pnw
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7NvCXf80c9
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.810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdnOhdXIqa0
'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.810Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsrU3nBcGGk
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.