Menu

Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog
Directory
Contests
Magazine
FAQ

Write a story about two characters who like each other but don’t get a happily-ever-after.

Posted in Romance on Sep 22, 2023

Submissions are closed

Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy account.

Sign in with Google
Sign in with Facebook

Or use an email address:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 91 stories

Who Are We to Judge the Music of an Octopus?

Winner of Contest #217 🏆

               Who Are We to Judge the Music of an Octopus?                                A short story by Paul Crehan The octopus swam up the aquarium like an arpeggio up staff paper. Bob listened as he watched. What did he hear? I’ll be damned, he thought. Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring. With a discordant no...

109 likes 80 comments 80
Read story

Check, Please

Submitted to Contest #217

The quaint Italian restaurant was nearly empty, with plenty of seating available inside and out. Zoe always loved the romance of a meal outside on a summer night, the sun disappearing, the moon and stars lighting the sky. The cool night air caressed her arm, causing tiny goosebumps that made her soft blonde hair stand on end. Ben took his dark brown eyes from her face for a moment and noticed, placing a hand on her and running it softly and slowly from elbow to wrist, collecting her chill and making her burn instead. He looked back to her fa...

48 likes 42 comments 42
Read story

I Don't Blame You

Submitted to Contest #217

That's it the rope has been cut and ignored. I tried to lend a hand but you never wanted my support. My presence to you is more trivial than it was a reward. My heart listened as it was being torched.Sorry for those petty mistakes. The ones we argued over as it became late. For the days I'm exhausted I just happen to stay awake. You can never sleep in the middle of a debate.I don't blame you and I'll explain why. Love is a two-way street. You're just oblivious on your side. If only you could be in my shoes and watch from my eyes. My actions ...

46 likes 13 comments 13
Read story

Fallout

Submitted to Contest #217

“I’ve been thinkin’,” Randall says, forced levity coloring his voice; it cracks just enough for me to raise a critical eyebrow at him, and his eyes dart back down to the hammock we’re attempting to string up across the hallway of our dormitory with bungee cables from the emergency kit my dad assembled and stashed away in my car. “I think maybe we should have sex.” I straighten now, my side secured to the not-totally-kosher eye bolt screw I’ve sunk into the drywall. “Oh?” Randall plows ahead, his words tumbling out one atop another. “I ju...

41 likes 5 comments 5
Read story

We'll Always Have Uber

Submitted to Contest #217

I just blushed. Didn’t mean to. She just caught me off guard. It’s been a while since anyone complimented me. “Well, handsome?” She asks again. “Who was here first?” This is like a typical Hollywood-style encounter, where two people enter a taxi from opposite sides, only to find that one of them must get out. Instead, they decide to share the taxi leading to a whirlwind romance that sweeps them up into a happy-ever-after ending. I hesitate with my answer. I have a wife at home – I remind myself. I am about to suggest we share when the taxi ...

36 likes 16 comments 16
Read story

Falling Star

Submitted to Contest #217

Falling Star     “Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket."                                                         -  PerryComo               &n...

28 likes 16 comments 16
Read story

The Other Side of Ever After

Submitted to Contest #217

Day 643Some say we're not human anymore and that we've become something else, but the sun still warms our faces, and the ocean wind still lifts our hair as the waves ebb and flow over our bare feet.Love is still love. I kiss Jess. He smiles.We hold hands while walking along Ocean Beach in San Diego. Other couples walk nearby, and some families too. No one walks with dogs. The seagulls ignore us to fly further out over the water on their endless quest for food—survivors like us. By now, they know we won't feed them. Food is too dear.SeaWorld ...

26 likes 16 comments 16
Read story

Asphyxiation

Submitted to Contest #217

I would love to be skinnier, I really would, but the ponds here are so shallow and the creeks are so narrow; the sidewalks are clogged and the shoes on my feet feel heavy because of the care I see in everyone’s eyes.  Currently, I am behind a boy in a letterman jacket and faded blue jeans. We are shambling along in the midst of thousands, inching our way past the plazas of coffee shops and convenience stores and soaring apartment buildings, and I think we’re going to be late for our eight o’clock lecture.  I also think this boy’s...

26 likes 3 comments 3
Read story

Shooting Star

Submitted to Contest #217

CW-drug useFor Antoine de Saint-Éxupery who taught me about shooting stars “Thank you! Enjoy your birthday party,” I smile at the blonde little boy with a red dinosaur shirt and blue tennis shoes as I hand his birthday cake over to his mother. I pause at the counter, my finger tips softly drumming as they make their exit past the small wooden tables and through the bakery door; the bell dings. I make my way swiftly to the door, flipping the sign to indicate closed.Bella walks from the back of the kitchen, her pink apron covered in a flurry o...

23 likes 6 comments 6
Read story

A Petition.

Shortlisted for Contest #217 ⭐️

In the District Court for Splitsville County, State of Denial Civil Division I.            This suit is brought by Absolutely (Abby) Dunn, Petitioner who is Forty Six (46) years of age and who resides at 1111 Loved Him Once Street, City of Newfound Freedom, State of Annoyance.             Respondent, Dr. E. B. Dunn, is a permanent resident at the Nobu Hotel with his 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO in a gated parking location. II.  ...

22 likes 19 comments 19
Read story

Philemon and Baucis

Submitted to Contest #217

*** The syringes made their way to your veins caressed by time, and she stood on the edge of the abyss, watching you step towards eternal silence. *** When your kiss intertwined with mine, I felt it was our fate to be together! Nothing else mattered, and no matter how old we might have been, in the image of our last dance, youth shone with purity! I was your pillar, the axis of your world, the brute force, and you were my purity and immortality, delicateness and happiness. I asked you for one last dance, and you gave it to me. A face marke...

21 likes 6 comments 6
Read story

Rescuing Holly

Submitted to Contest #217

From the age of twelve, Holly had been confined to the three-story Tower House of her mother’s Southampton Estate on Olde Towne Lane—a veritable prison lined in gold, restricting her every move. Her mother Rose was in San Diego selling a historic Southern California mansion—the “Coronado Castle” on Coronado Island, the Old Hollywood haunt where Marilyn Monroe filmed Some Like it Hot—and she wouldn’t return until after Labor Day.  This was Holly’s chance to escape and see the world. Although Holly, at the age of 22, was alrea...

20 likes 10 comments 10
Read story

A Snap of the Fingers

Submitted to Contest #217

With his hands firmly planted on his hips and wearing a sneer that would make Elvis envious, Jim the Mighty scoffs at Minotaur, the beast who would rule the world. Minotaur thrusts his two coconut-sized fists toward the heavens and bellows, “I will destroy you, puny human!” He lowers his massive head and glares at Jim the Mighty with eyes that burn like two hot coals, steam blowing out his nostrils. While casually examining his fingernails, Jim the Mighty chuckles, “You don’t scare me, you old cow.” A fully enraged ...

18 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

The Handsome Prints

Submitted to Contest #217

Once upon a time, it was a dark and stormy night, and a fair maiden was looking for her prints. It would be like any other evening, except this evening was unlike any there had ever been. It was so disheartening to deal with such disturbance and utter disappointment.“It should have been by now!” she thought. “What death-defying happenstance could account for this malfeasance?Her one and only handsome prints were not to be found, such as they were, a figment of her imagination. For it was said that one day, the owner of everything would appea...

18 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

Almost Heaven

Submitted to Contest #217

Amber was cleaning the upstairs attic. The attic was to be her room because her Mom had turned her bedroom into a gym. Amber moved back home after being laid off from her job. Although Amber got an excellent severance package, her Mom insisted she move home to save money. Amber thought her Mom was lonely since her Dad died last year but didn't want to tell her. Amber looked through boxes of old pictures. There was a picture of a smiling, handsome, tall Black man in an Air Force flight jacket and uniform. Amber turned the picture over and rea...

17 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

🌟 Similar prompts

Set your story in a creepy mansion — except nothing horrifying takes place in it.

Horror – 64 stories

Write about a person who's been called to mentor someone in a special skill, but doesn't really want to.

Adventure – 27 stories

Write about a sleuth who’s a little too keen, but not because they have a traumatic past they won’t talk about.

Mystery – 10 stories

Write a story about a warrior who doesn’t want to kill the dragon.

Fantasy – 91 stories

How to Write a Novel

Join Tom Bromley for a writing master class and finish your first draft in 3 months. Learn more →

How to Write a Novel