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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#81: Candy Hearts

Ah, love. From the first spark of attraction to the soul-deep contentment of a long-established relationship, romantic love is a force that continues to mystify, enthrall, and surprise us.

And while there’s plenty to criticize about Valentine’s Day, it’s still a nice excuse for people in romantic relationships to stop and appreciate their partners for a day. Especially during lockdown, when quarters are tight and nerves are often frayed, it’s important to remember why we chose the person (or people) we coupled up with.

What better time for a writer to dive headfirst into romances? No matter how many times we tell a love story, each relationship is going to have its own unique joys and frustrations, and we want to feel them all. So feel free to let your sappy side out — this week we’re celebrating love!

This week's prompts

Write about two people reconnecting after a rough patch in their relationship.

Romance – 247 stories

Write a love story about an older couple who’ve been together since they were teenagers.

Romance – 168 stories

Write about a first date that surprises both people, but in different ways.

Romance – 161 stories

Start your story with one character setting up a romantic dinner, and end it with them looking at a framed wedding photo.

Romance – 181 stories

Write about someone asking out an old crush, only to realize their crush doesn’t remember they’ve ever met before.

Romance – 159 stories

Stories

“California Cafe” by David Black

Submitted to Contest #81

It is a typical June morning for San Jose. Beautiful weather, work is exciting but repetitive. Typical morning. I receive a text from my girlfriend, “We are over. I’m sure you feel hurt, but time will pass and it will be less. I am not the best person for you. You will also see that in time. We had some good times; let us not make them more or less than they were. We each grew in different ways, for the better I believe.”Maybe not so typical a morning. Damn.Sitting there I ponder what to do next. I decide out of the blue to go on a dati...

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“You Shine” by Kaylie Brisbourne

Submitted to Contest #81

Sadie Grace Covington was late, and she was never late. The only time she had been late for anything was in the second grade for a dentist appointment, and even then, her mother had booked it early enough in the morning that Sadie had only missed the first fifteen minutes of her morning class.She was late to her own brother’s engagement party - the party she had decorated. She had spent months just debating on the colour palette. (Blush pink, gold, and white.) Had dedicated every waking moment of the last three and half months to this party,...

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“I'm Gonna Go Cry In The Shower Now...” by Lennox Ducksworth

Submitted to Contest #81

She knew. She knew who I was. Who I really am. But how? How did she know that Malcolm Chidike was Maximum, the famous-well infamous superhero? The first superhuman and first superhuman star. I mean I’ve read the Reddit forums and Twitter pages trying to figure out my identity but really? Her? I peeked through my hoodie across the hallway at her. Gaia was still beautiful, even though she was probably traumatized after almost dying from the hands of a psychotic pyrokinetic who wanted to burn our school down. But other than that, her gol...

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“Sandcastle ” by Radha Suryawanshi

Submitted to Contest #81

LUNA.“Lily,” Luna fumes. “I’m gonna kill you.”Lily only giggles because she savvies what a helpless situation Luna is trapped in.Luna glares at her mirror which was posited in her locker. Luna’s reflection gazes back at her. She’s the most popular girl in school. It’s obvious. Gorgeous, thick blond hair that reaches down to her waist, big blue eyes that catches everyone’s attention, flawless skin and taffy pink lips that looks like a heart.Being popular is more complicated than people ascertained. Like when people expect you to be a certain ...

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“Push-Over” by ℤ ℍ☮️

Submitted to Contest #81

Feb. 14th, 1992It's Valentine's day. Today, it's our day. Matthew and I both agreed that there shouldn't be a nation-wide holiday, for expressing love, but I like Valentine's Day and I've made him like it too.The construction paper is this bright cherry red. The sides of it are lighter like a tide of water has scarred them over and over again, but this is the paper that I use every Valentine's Day. Since 3rd grade, where I proposed my love to Jonathan in the middle of the hallway, until now, Senior Year.I take out a pair of scissors and star...

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“Happiness is…….” by Paresh Bansod

Submitted to Contest #81

The minute and an hour hand of the wall clock made a perfect ninety-degree angle. Sunlight was peeping inside the window of her bedroom and fell on her face. Her fair skin glowed, her eyes felt a sudden increase in brightness of the room. She opened her eyes and stretched her arms. She yawned deeply. She looked on the other side of the bed. She had the bed all by herself for the first time after the marriage. She rolled over and crossed the imaginary border of the bed. She was on the other side – an unexplored side of the bed. She stre...

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“Never Giving Up Hope” by Ashley Waldrep

Submitted to Contest #81

The first time Lindsey saw the second faint line on the test her heart fluttered with joy. Lindsey is a young woman in her 20s with blonde hair and green eyes. She was so excited to tell her husband she just had to find a special way to tell him. So she went to walmart and bought a pair of little booties with a pacifier and put them in a little blue baggy. Her husband Tom came home from work later that afternoon after being exhausted from working in the factory all day. Tom is also a young man in his 20s. He has short brown hair and blue eye...

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“Relic of the Past” by Jungle Clover

Submitted to Contest #81

Slumped in a corner booth, scrolling through her phone, Elizabeth sighed as she realized that another minute had passed. If there was one thing she disliked, it was tardiness, and her date was already five minutes late. Though she was dressed casually, in a pale blue pair of skinny jeans and a white, long-sleeved blouse, those were her nice jeans and blouse, and she had spent hours agonizing over her makeup and her hair. Now done mourning the time she had wasted, Elizabeth shuddered as she imagined having to face the friendly waitress aga...

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“Don't You Dare” by Louise Bell

Submitted to Contest #81

“JUST STOP IT ALREADY!” I screamed, “I HATE YOU WHEN YOU TRY TO DO THAT!”“OH REALLY? WHAT AM I DOING THAT IS UPSETTING YOUR PERFECT LITTLE WORLD?” Adam yelled back in my face. Before I knew what was happening, my mobile phone was flying out of my hand, heading straight for his face. He moved out of the way just in time, but it still scraped against his cheek as it flew past. “YOU JUST CAN’T STOP ANTAGONISING ME FOR A SECOND, CAN YOU?”He was slightly pale from the close call with the phone. His voice was calmer when he spoke, though. “I wish ...

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“Force that brings us together” by Parth Tyagi

Submitted to Contest #81

True love happens in a dimension beyond human understanding. -Unknown His face was bruised with patches of dark maroon colored clots stretching all the way from the jaw bone right up to his right eyebrows. There were stitches on the back of his head and the blood that had flown out of the head wound had flown down from the head through the neck. The dried-up traces of blood were still there behind his ears. Those cheeks that blushed even with a slight expression of love, today seemed all bruised. The doctor came in an...

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“Peas” by Chris D

Submitted to Contest #81

Being the kind of kid born and raised in a church (quite literally, he popped out mid-sermon Christmas Eve, to Jesus jokes galore), the last thing he can admit to his parents is that he is gay. He's seen what happens, exiled off to conversion camp, to bleed the gay out them. He's not the real Jesus. He's not bleeding nothing for nobody. His parents have tried setting him up with the girls at church. They corner him at the dinner table during their Sunday lunches when he comes over post church. "Robin, don't you think Marybeth looked pr...

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“Whatever Happened to Maxwell, Charlie?” by Amy Ayres

Submitted to Contest #81

The third time I saw Max, I heard his laugh for the first time; it came floating through the air until it pounded in my temples and made a breeze flutter through my eyelashes. All of us girls would sit side-by-side on the bleachers. We made a point to share an entire jar of peanut butter and a sleeve of crackers. We would just pass the peanut butter jar from one to the next down the line, absentmindedly. All of the girls were fused to the bleachers, silent, staring, while I would sit there and write. They all had this look on their...

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“Gloriously Glazed p.2” by Zoé Nöel-Lemieux

Submitted to Contest #81

“Jasper! Come help me bring in the boxes of flour!” Aubrey yells beside me as she finishes wiping the front counter and rushes out to meet the delivery man out the front of the bakery. “I’m coming!” Jasper yells from somewhere in the far reaches of the bakery. It’s another day working at a bakery, but rather than at our family bakery, it’s at Glazed and Glorious. Our family bakery shut its doors last Tuesday and since then, we’ve worked peacefully alongside the Thompson’s at their bakery Glazed and Glorious and my father has not been seen s...

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“Strawberry Rum” by Suhani Choudaha

Submitted to Contest #81

Freshman year of college, and the smell of roses was in the air- a rather painfully obvious indicator to the season of love- and the hushed glow of twine wrapped candles flooded the room. I remember thinking to myself, “All it would take is one wave of my hand to turn the mood lighting into a trail of scented smoke,” but I persisted, and took the time to straighten my bow. The oven timer cut through the silence, and I took the notification as a countdown. I fixed my hair, straightened my collar, and lightly doused my crisp suit in that colog...

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“The Anniversary Gift” by PK Spice

Submitted to Contest #81

TW: suicide Fred snapped his wrists and watched as the tablecloth floated down to perfectly cover the round table. He carefully picked up the vase with a dozen freshly cut yellow roses and centered it on the starched white fabric. He added the pair of candlesticks he’d polished this morning and went to the hutch to get the fine china, the sterling silverware, the serving dishes, and several other things he needed. Why do we only use the good stuff once a year? As he finished setting the table, the kitchen timer began to beep. He quick...

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$50

Prize money

916

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Feb 19, 2021 EST

Won by Molly Quinnell 🏆

Title: Golden Cheekbones and the Rising Sun

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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