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Write about two characters who meet and/or fall in love in a museum.

Posted in Romance on Mar 15, 2024

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✍️ 96 stories

Do Not Touch

Winner of Contest #242 🏆

Jen lived by the unwritten rules of being single but wanting a child. Don’t look at children. Don’t engage with children. Don’t talk about children. Don’t let other people talk about their children. And don’t, for the love of all that is holy, tell anyone you long for a child. A nearby suitor could be eyeing you up, biting their bottom lip at the sight of your untoned bum, lusting after your wide midriff, admiring your conical legs. They could be subconsciously sliding you through their mental mold of their dream woman, seeing you slot in j...

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Letters to Margriet

Submitted to Contest #242

14 February 2019Dear Margriet,Hello!Look, I know you might find this a bit creepy, see this bold action of mine as an enormous scarlet stroke haphazardly brushed onto the pristine white canvas of your consciousness. I’m very sorry, if so. However, I can’t deny what I feel anymore; as much as I try to let it fade, it always bubbles to the surface. Yes, the truth is that ever since I first saw you at the Mauritshuis museum today, took in the chiaroscuro of your soul in those steel grey eyes that sparkled like the most brilliant of jewelry, you...

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Back to the Garden

Submitted to Contest #242

The Earth Museum had been devoid of visitors for weeks before its overhead tubes crackled and illuminated the cavernous atrium beyond my enclosure. I heard the familiar grind and clank of the distant security door and peered through the reinforced glass to see our android curator enter with a scaly reptilian, lurching forward on its hind legs. The immediate greeting from my fellow inmates was the usual deafening, mealtime cacophony of howls, shrieks and yelps. The curator waited for the racket to diminish before starting the tour, introducin...

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When Will We Ever Learn

Submitted to Contest #242

When Will We Ever Learn?“Careful. That whitewash may still be wet.”“What are you talkin' 'bout? How would you know?”“Helpin' paint picket fences is one of ma many talents. Used ta spend hours doin' it just fer fun.”“Just fer fun? Sounds like work to me.”“Then ya'll haven't ever met my good ol' pal Tom Sawyer. He'd talk ya inta it alright. But then agin, ya'll pretty little. Maybe ya couldn't handle the big ol' brush, anyways.”“I'm plenty big enough to use a brush. Ya gots one on ya? I'll prove it to ya.”“Na, they's got fancy maintenance peop...

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First Try Wins

Submitted to Contest #242

“Congratulations,” he said, “But you didn’t really win.” Lisa glanced over at the man bundled up in what looked to be two winter coats and a sweater. He was wearing thick glasses and a gray beanie. It was one o’clock in the afternoon, and they were the only two people in the gallery reserved for displaying the winners of the museum of art’s weekly amateur painting and sculpture contest. Lisa’s painting titled “Denver in January” had come in first place, and she was featured prominently with the runners up placed on the adjacent walls. It wa...

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The Kiss

Submitted to Contest #242

“Physicists tell us that the solidity of matter is an illusion, more like a vibrational frequency than particles of solid matter, more like a musical note. “Form is emptiness, emptiness is form,” states the Heart Sutra, one of the best known ancient Buddhist texts. The essence of all things is emptiness.”― Eckhart Tolle, The Power of NowWhile my wife was still living, we would spend most every Sunday afternoon at the Museum of Art. We would drift through the cavernous halls, but always start and end with a life-sized sculpture, a nude coupl...

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The Art Of Love

Submitted to Contest #242

James winced.       The gallery benches were solid and unyielding, something he should have remembered after 53 years. Misery bit at his sharp, protesting bones as he sat, tweaking his purple scarf. Visible but unapproachable, like an anxious aubergine basilisk.#       On his first trip to London, his parents had dashed him up the long rumbling escalator from the underground. The promise of a trip to see the guards parading in their smart scarlet tunics outside Buckingham ...

31 likes 28 comments 28
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Metamorphosis Reimagined

Submitted to Contest #242

     She was my muse, first coming to me in a feverish dream when the heat pressed down on my body, and the ocean failed to send a breeze across the whole of Cyprus. She teased me coquettishly; shooting looks from beneath lashes so dark they could have been crafted from the night sky, her eyes the net with which the stars became ensnared. Selene doused this impish nymph in her light, and I watched her dance. For the whole evening, I sat in the shadows of my subconscious, hypnotized by the sway in her hips.  ...

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Beware Paris

Submitted to Contest #242

Beware brides upon the Seine, perfumed with river water, whose veils catch the wind like white flags of surrender. They will trip along the cobbles with their arms full of roses, and the petals will find you with all the softness of forever. The brides alone feel the thorns.Beware the Latin Quarter with its songbirds and bistro tables within kissing distance. Do not be tempted here to make a beautiful acquaintance, not over a bottle of wine, not over a shot of espresso, not even over a love song.Beware the dreamers of Montmartre who create e...

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The Lovers

Submitted to Contest #242

The young docent, Simone, led her group into the final gallery of the tour. They gasped at seeing the museum’s most popular painting, ‘The Lovers,’ by Veneer. It depicted a young couple realizing their love for each other.Eyes shining, as if in worship, they couldn’t look away. The tour group strained against the velvet ropes. They wanted to enter the painting. Exclaiming, they pointed at details, like the doves nesting in a branch above the reclining figures. And the raven watching from the shadows of the verdant foliage bursting with flowe...

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Love Amongst the Portraits

Submitted to Contest #242

Emma was a single woman in her early 40s who adored art galleries and museums. For her, they represented sanctuaries where she could revel in solitude without succumbing to loneliness. The serene ambience of these spaces allowed her facial muscles to unwind from a week of stress and transformed her into a more radiant version of herself. As an independent soul, she relished mingling with others who shared her passion for art, enjoying the silent camaraderie of fellow gallery-goers. That spring Saturday morning, in bustling Central London, wh...

22 likes 13 comments 13
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"MUSEUM OF DESTINY"

Submitted to Contest #242

In the museum's empty restroom, Jelly Summers gingerly splashed water onto her face, trying to shake off the dizziness that had enveloped her since the crowded room awakened the panic inside. The cold tiles of the restroom floor felt unforgiving beneath her palms as she struggled to regain her balance.“I’m fine. I just need to freshen up a little,” she said calmly, comforting herself.Clad in a simple white blouse and blue jeans, Jelly had chosen her outfit to be casual that evening, hoping to strike the perfect balance between professional a...

22 likes 13 comments 13
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A Day With Degas

Submitted to Contest #242

In an apartment uptown:“Please! Just come with me. I really want to see this exhibit.” “Not interested, Brynn. Go by yourself. You know, it’s okay to do things by yourself sometimes,” said Henry. He had just gotten home from an all-night study session with his study group and was lying on the couch desperate to get to bed. “You might even enjoy it more if you don’t have to explain everything to me,” said Henry. “I like explaining things to you. You’re my little brother, and you need me to enlighten you,” she said laughing. “You. Need. S...

21 likes 14 comments 14
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On the Other Side of the Wall

Submitted to Contest #242

Emma's chest felt tight. Even with the wall down, it felt wrong to be crossing over to the other side."This is exciting," her father said, his words landing with a dull thud in the silence of the family car. Sure, it had been exciting when the first reports hit the news. It had been exciting for a moment, but that moment had passed. Now it was weird.Emma's mother smiled and cleared her throat. "When was the last time you visited the other side, dear?" she asked dutifully.Her father glanced over his shoulder into the back seat where Emma sat ...

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Look With Your Heart

Submitted to Contest #242

Charles walked into the museum slowly, shuffling with his polished hardwood cane. He looked around and frowned.  Kids? He thought in disgust, looking at a family with three young children. Who on earth brings kids to an art museum!? Those inconsiderate, selfish people. They’ll ruin it for the rest of us! Charles, a longtime fan of the arts, (more accurately, a professional fan of the arts), knew that only the most refined, dignified, educated person could enjoy them. Having two PhD’s on the subject, he knew what art was. He kn...

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