"Do you have any idea how damn frustrating you are?" He trapped me between him and the wall. Stubbornly, I looked squarely at him, "You say this like it's news to you." He pursed his lips, clenched his jaw, and stared at me with darkened eyes before he closed the gap between us. I stared at him squarely as I felt his body heat radiated off me, my lips parted and my breathing picked up a notch. He placed one hand on the wall and brought his lips an inch away from mine as the other hand trailed up my arms, "I am going to make you feel my frustration." I ran my finger along his jaw and dared him with my eyes, "I'm Mila," I grinned, "You can try but we both know you won't succeed." He ran his thumb over my bottom lip, "Don't take my love for you as weakness," he stated and captured my lips with a fiery kiss. The road to love for Mila and Mitchell wasn't easy, but they finally reached their destination after many bumps along the way. Blissfully in love, they set off on another journey together but instead of the Highway, they hit the high seas. However, love and life aren't always smooth sail and they learn that when they embark on their adult life after college. Mitchell is trying to prove to his father he is worthy of handling the grand Clarke Empire one day while Mila is determined to make her mark in the medical world. Two strong personalities have finally accepted they love each other but both are set in their ways and stubborn with unbreakable egos. Can their love weather storms in their path or will things like jealousy, insecurity, and family stand in their way to happily ever after?

Fresh off her first year at the University of California at Santa Barbara, Emilia Casey is simultaneously happy to be back in her sleepy beachside town for the summer while also missing her life and friends at college. Located on the other side of the country from UCSB, the last thing Emilia expects to see in her mostly unknown corner of the world is her college friends. And yet, that's exactly what happens when Damian Farago, the most beautiful friend she has, shows up on vacation with his family. After a startling meeting, Damian ropes Emilia into being his tour guide for the rest of his time in her charming town. As the pair explores every corner the town has to offer, Emilia finds a crush left over from the school year turning into maybe something more. In this feel-good, summer short story, attractions are strong and smiles can be found all around as two young adults realize that all this time the other had been paying attention. excerpt: ""Okay, okay!" Damian's laughter was warm as he took the cracker, the smile forming on his face one of the kind that made the world unbelievably bright despite the dark sky above them. Emilia couldn't help but smile in return, warmth flooding her chest at the sight of his crinkling eyes. He was just so beautiful. She didn't know how many times she'd thought it since first meeting him last winter, but she was sure, as her eyes lingered for a long time on every angle and curve of his face, that she would never stop thinking it. That she would never think it too much because it was so absolutely true. The way the moon caught on the few gold strands strewn throughout his brown hair, the curve of his lips in his smile, the sparkle of the stars reflected in his eyes. She wanted to memorize him, to recall every freckle and eyelash, to never forget the way he blinked-softly-or the way he breathed-steadily." **WARNING: -considerable swearing -TW: brief discussion of depression in Chapter 4, bipolar disorder in Chapter 5

Have you ever met someone who alters the course of your life? For good or for bad, they've come in, given and taken, and then- BOOM! Your life was never the same. There's always a change, an altering of reality. When you meet those people, the reality that you've known your whole life is suddenly gone and a new one has taken its place. When those moments happen, there's no going back. You can try to return to the way things were but nothing, and I mean nothing, can take you back to exactly how it was. That's what happened to us. I think that's why we're still trying so desperately to get back to some sort of normalcy. Four years later and we're still on the ground, crawling, in search of the happiness that was lost that June. Summers will never be the same. Midnight walks through my neighborhood will never be the same. Field parties with bonfires and loud music will never be the same. I still don't know why you left and what lead you to the decision you made. What I do know is that we're here. We're alive and we're pushing forward to the future. A future that you're not a part of. But in some ways, I'm glad you're not a part of it. I just wish it wasn't like this. *** TRIGGER WARNING*** SA, abuse, suicide, substance abuse, and mental illness. This is a complete story that is much like life; fast, full of surprises, and not always how we want it to be. This has been a project of mine for over three years. It was self-published on Amazon, but after some issues in publication, I decided to just upload it on here. I hope you fall in love with these characters like I have. The friends in this story are trying to make names for themselves, figure out who they are, who they can trust, how to love, and how to separate themselves from a restrictive community. As in any coming of age story, they will experience growing pains... but will they survive them before its too late? PLEASE READ THE TRIGGER WARNINGS.

Shelly, Angel, Jill, Isabella, Vina, Maran, Sammy and Reyna were planning to have the best summer vacation ever. They arrived from the Philippines and would be going to college in Atlanta, Georgia. They were supposed to go to Florida and California for some sightseeing, and maybe even take a cruise. But an unexpected event turned their summer around. They were kidnapped and were brought to a place where they had to survive a cold, vast land on their own. Will they ever see their families again? Will they survive? Or will they stay in Alaska forever? (not edited. Thanks for reading:)

I would bet none of you have ever had that dream summer that all of us want.... that summer where you meet a boy on the beach and go surfing even though you don't know how to surf. That summer where you look him in the eyes while he runs his fingers through your hair. That summer where you skateboard along empty streets at sunset and accidentally steal candy from a grocery store. Well... I didn't get that.... but I got pretty close to it. Because for the summer I went to an island in the middle of nowhere so my dad could start up a new one of his businesses in his chain of stores. I went to the beach. And I met Royce... Royce was two years older than me and had the prettiest purplish eyes and blonde hair. He was the most charismatic person I'd ever met. Then shortly after me and Royce's first appearance we met Jack and Koa. It was amazing and I loved every second of it, until I realized that I had fallen for Royce. And he seemed to fall for me too! Until another girl came into the mix 𖣔 "Do you hate me or not Royce?" "I wish I never fucking spoke to you because god I hate you so fucking much for making me love you! It's your fucking fault! Fuck you!" "And do you love her?!" "Way more than I will ever love you." #5 in unrequited 12-3-2020 #2 in tearjerker 3-14-2021 #8 in unrequitedlove 5-15-2021

A simple family road trip...not. After being accidently left at a gas station, Skylar Grey must enlist the help of a handsome stranger to get to her aunt's house in time for Christmas, but the oncoming blizzard has other plans. He's alone and she's far from home, but at least they're together...kind of. Can total strangers find a way to enjoy the holiday season in each other's company? Skylar is about to find out. *Note: I do not own the picture used for the cover. Google just happens to be a wonderful resource.

When her ex-friend-turned-boyfriend reappears in her life, Anna must put her hurt and resentment aside to help him survive his withdrawal before he relapses, or worse, dies in the process. Two years ago, Anna's boyfriend disappeared, leaving Anna hurt and abandoned in a new city to rebuild her life. Until he appears at her doorstep, begging for something to eat and a place to sleep. Bitter and determined not to let him hurt her again, Anna agrees. As she witnesses the slow deterioration of his physical and mental health, however, and with flashes of their past together haunting every waking moment, her resolves begin to weaken. Can Anna save Kyle from his self-destructive behaviors or will she lose him once again? This time, forever. | Featured Wattpad Editor's Pick | shortlist ONC 2019 | Warning: The story contains mature language, mentions of suicide, self-harm, mental health issues, child abuse, and substance abuse. Cover designed by Holly Thurston

Phoenix Weather should be able to maintain peace and happiness. He's got a good family, good friends, good grades, and a good arm that's going to provide him his future. But through all the various stages of his life, he can't help feeling like he's drowning like a paper swan in a murky lake. Mental health and sexuality makes all his achievements seem like a lucky guess. But through it all, he has to learn how to take of himself and how to let others take care of him too. Phoenix used to think that the instruction manual of life was paper-thin. Simple. But day by day, it gets thicker and thicker. (Be prepared for extremely unedited.) {Complete}

"The moon's really beautiful, if you think about it," I blurted. "Yeah?" he asked, mild amusement and curiosity mingling in his voice. "Yeah," I confirmed. "It's just- there's something about the moon that's ethereal. I don't really know how to describe it, but it's a constant in life. You can't always see it, but you have to trust that it's out there somewhere. And when you can see it, it's all bright and shiny and overcomes the darkness." I paused, searching for the right words. "I don't know. I guess it's a reminder that there are good things out there, even if you can't see them... And it's cool to think that someone hundreds of miles away is staring at the exact same moon as you. It makes me feel not so alone in life." Turning my head, I saw him staring at me intently with a thoughtful look on his face. "Too deep for a Friday night?" I laughed nervously, feeling my face grow hot. And this was precisely why I didn't go to parties. He shook his head and seemed to snap out of his daze. "It was deep in a good way." *** SHE was quiet & left out. Part of a friend group because of convenience. Dealing with fighting parents at home. Looking for more in life. Always wanting to get away from Chicago & start over. Her parents' divorce gave her the perfect opportunity. Ending up in Haven Beach, she rekindled relationships with estranged relatives & got the teenage experience she had always dreamed of. Midnight drives. Bonfires at the beach. Adventures every day. Friends who actually cared. Because of Haven Beach, she found herself. HE was a focused athlete- Haven Beach's golden boy. The 4 F's were all that mattered: football, friends, family, & food. All that changed when a quiet brunette moved to town. Because of her arrival in Haven Beach, his world shifted on its axis. THIS is Charlotte & Eli's story. Started: 12/10/20 Finished: 2/16/21 WC: 107k #1 in contemporary romance 5/24 #1 in sports romance 7/16 #1 in friends to lovers 8/1 #1 in newgirl 8/8

One of the most painful things on earth is to lose a loved one. Whether in death or heartbreak. It's a pain different from all others. You feel every burn, every ache, your senses awaken, and greedily await a memory to sip in and then wreck your entire being. She took everything. His Light. His Heart. His Soul. It had no end. For years it went on like it would never end. But, it did. Just in passing, a normal day, a day like every other, but it was the day, his heart danced truly and his chest tighten as if a fierce wind had passed by, blending with his soul, leaving a suffocating feeling in his chest, a choking sensation in his throat, there was a pressure making it hard to breathe. ******* "My heart has heated for the human and my blood has flown for him. Every time I thought of him, my heart would ache. It would ache so much I couldn't breathe, the feeling of despair, yet sweetness... Even so, I still couldn't stop thinking about him." So...this is how it feels to love a person. "I belong to you, just as this merman belongs to the seas. Like a falling leaf belongs to its roots." "Nothing can stop me from falling into your embrace." ******* ®®

College. It was supposed to be a fresh start. My first real venture out into the real world, a new look, and a new me. The past wouldn't define me anymore. I was nervous, yet excited. That all changed the moment I ran into Mr. A**hole. I clearly had the right away, but he seemed to disagree with me. I breathed in a fresh sigh of relief when the whole mess was over and done with. Until, my older brother Ryan, showed up with the jerk in our childhood home. Ace Daniels. The arrogant prick loved to grate my nerves at any possible second, and yet, I was drawn to him. He was a hot mystery that lit me on fire. I couldn't indulge like I wanted to though, because my past continued to bite me in the a**. I did my best to stay away from him, but Hurricane Dawson threatened everything. Before I knew it, we were trapped at my family's beach house with no one but ourselves to keep each other company. The hurricane became more dangerous with every passing second. Our survival was at stake, but more importantly, so was my heart. *THIS IS ONLY A PREVIEW OF THE BOOK! IT IS PUBLISHED!*

Audrey Kepler wants to breathe, to run, to live. It should be a given, after all, a gift everyone receives at birth. The day she gets on the bus is the day she finally admits to herself that being alive and living are two separate things. And Audrey wants to live. When she meets Eli Davis, a mysterious, quiet, and timid boy, she assumes that they are opposites. But, they are more similar than she could have ever imagined. Eli wants to live, he thinks. He at least wants to taste what it's like before he decides. She was the sun; warm, bright, radiant, and full of the purest light. He was the stars; distant and scarce, yet fascinating and effervescent if you took the time to look closely enough. They seem so different at first glance, the sun and the stars, but they are just alike.

One last trip with her family before she goes to University. Her intentions for this trip were to spend every minute making memories and savouring the last moments she'd get with her family before she moved away. She did this, just not with who she had planned. In the Italian sun it's easy to make rash decisions and to have a lapse in judgement. Especially when a man, you've only just met, comes into play. When he's showing you the island and teaching you Italian, how can you not fall madly in love? With three weeks to spend, will she let herself fall head over heels for a guy she will most likely never see again, or will she stick with her former plan and come to her senses?

Have you ever wished to spend your days sitting in the sun? Not having to care about anyone or anything? Never having to worry about make-up, boys, clothes, money, or family? Well then I, Rachel Robby, can relate. I fact, I wished the very same thing upon a shooting star. Well, I thought it was a shooting star, but it could have been an airplane. Or maybe, if you believe in aliens, you would have thought of it to be a UFO. Anyways, my wish came true. So here I am, stuck in my cat Dexter's body, when I'm actually supposed to be sipping on a margarita on a white sandy beach in Maui for my yearly vacation. Either way, I still get relax and I'm even starting to enjoy my life. That is, until I find out that I'm not the only person-gone-animal. So for now, I'm trying to find a way to get not only myself, but also my new companion, back into human form before the cat drags in something even worse.

(Rated R for strong explicit language) *Completed!* I'm just your average nobody. I've lost pretty much all the friends I had, and with it, everything that I once was. That was until my shining star Sarah appeared. She sort of made me feel like someone. Someone who's past isn't so bad. Someone whose just as normal as the next guy. But, like all stars, they explode in a giant supernova one day and all that's left is this awful darkness. You know, the type that puts you back from where you started. A place without a sun, or any planets of that matter. Just blindly floating in the nothing like a piece of dust. Yet, there's something different this time. What if being in the dark isn't as bad as I thought? What if there is someone who's in it, just like me? *Enter Keith's journey on figuring out girls, a guilty conscience, UFOs, and himself through everything that's left.

After a highly contagious disease caused the downfall of mankind as they know it, married couple Sophia and Tom were forced to leave their home and seek a way to survive in more than ever unforgiving conditions, scavenging for food, collecting rainwater, migrating to the south for the winter, and fending off both hostile survivors and dangerously aggressive Infected. Being nomads made for rather unpleasant interactions with settled communities and pushed them into complete isolation. Their relationship grew each day more bitter, binding them only through the sheer inability to let go of life, no matter how brutal or dreadful it got. Unexpected sudden encounters will make them question their past, feelings, and motivations, as they navigate the ruins of their sense of self and of their close-to-failing marriage. "[...] in any case, destiny, or whatever higher power acting upon them, had a splendid way of forcing self and mutual reflection for the umpteenth time in about two weeks." [Picture of family on the cover by Craig Adderley on Pexels.]

-Let's get this straight. From a dead end job to a useless crazy ex boyfriend- my happiness is with my best friend yet the fear of our relationship ending completely scares me and id rather fake it and be in fear than find out and never be happy. It sucks, seeing him everyday and knowing what i feel for him and how deep those feelings go is painful...- But when he comes around everything changes for the best and for the worst. As a whole they are deeply loved and equally as hated by others but the love from one another is undeniable, if only she wasnt so selfish with her choices and words- -Lying, cheating, sneaking, crying- many acts and emotions come from within when there's someone you love unaware of that love.. Possibly growing to love someone else right before your eyes..Its gut wrenching, i know because ive fucked up. Its worse when you're aware of the harm you cause yourself and others but dont care how the outcome turns out to be. Why would it matter how it effects you if youre used to pain and people leaving? it wouldnt. All because you take comfort in your own mind and mental illness, once you realize you have freewill it may become a bad thing if youre careless.- - Gabriella White.

'She reminded me of the Northern lights - bizarre but beautiful, mystical but hypnotizing...' Amidst the woods and under a dark starry sky meet two complete strangers who at first glance radiate hate vibes for each other but soon find their opinions changing as they head out on the road to unearth what awaits them at the end of it. Along the road, both discover immutable facts of each other's life and form a bond of friendship which, eventually, might bloom into something more... In the words of DANIEL; 'The steering wheel might have been in my hands all along but it was she who was driving me to my destination. One that I didn't know of.' In the words of AURORA; 'The road had ended now, but I found my heart creating one of its own. With HIM. And this one was going to be infinite.'

[Completed] Bea, a young artist on the wrong side of 25, has to follow the letter. Her dead mother's last wishes. It would be horrible not to. Her best friend Nicole is the keeper of the letter. With a firm hand and a sassy attitude, Nicole ensures that Bea follows the letter. To leave the safety of her father's Florida home to fly to England. To accept an art award she doesn't feel she deserves. But first Bea is sent on a small detour. Peter, a well tempered Englishman, is far from home. He's disappointed his father. Again. Business tycoons rarely take it well when deals fall through. His best mate Dean spurs him on to do something. Go anywhere but home for a real holiday. Not one dictated to him by his family's expectations. Two dissimilar people are tossed together. Where strangers tend to meet. An airport. Both headed to Cappadocia. An ancient land filled with mysterious wonder and hot air balloons. Be it fate, destiny, kismet, or Providence...Bea and Peter continue to bump into one another. One on an adventure she didn't choose. Another fighting against a life he doesn't quite fit. These two lonely people are brought closer, the pressures from home forgotten as this tease of something beautiful starts. Then reality slams down quite brutally, breaking the two apart. Separated by an ocean, Bea and Peter are both confronted by their feelings. Will Bea take a stand and make her own choices? Will Peter fight to be his own person and go after what he wants? *** (This is my first venture into the world of a novella length story. This reluctant wanderlust story has a healthy dose of love and humo[u]r tossed in. Then it's submerged in the sea of cliches. Hate it? Love it? Read it.😄 There are plans to go back and fix and edit this story that was concocted in less than 3 months.) 🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹 Originally written for the @opennovellacontest 2019 , General Fiction (#2: Against an Obstacle Prompt) *Round Two Qu

---------------------------- Alex never thought she could love anybody. Her family left her to foster care, and she hasn't been able to ever make any real friends. She plans to live a simple boring life, possibly until death comes for her, but is that what she really wants. No, perhaps she just needs someone... someone she never realized was just around the corner from her life. Shirley has had a great life up until now, at least she likes to think so. She does prefer looking at things through a more positive lens, so things like her debilitating health conditions seem to slip her by. Eating less food could only be a good thing right? Well, soon she would learn, not only to take better care of herself, but also to love. An experience she has yet to discover, until her lingering eyes fall far too long on one particular girl. ~~~~~ Wendy was the sweetest girl alive, with simply no one to share the overwhelming stream of love she had to share. When a storm hits her town, she's locked inside, desperate and alone for what seems to be an eternity. But unbeknownst to her, this would bring her closer to love than ever before. Marissa was getting over her past trauma, and only games could ever do that for her. During yet another month of locking herself up in her room, she found someone who was different, a light through the darkness that was her life, an angel, to save her tortured soul from damnation. At least, that's how she might phrase it. ---------------------------- The title was chosen years ago, so I decided to leave it be and combine these two stories. This will be a moderate length mini story for the two couples, exploring their journeys which happen at completely separate times. These are the untold stories of our side characters from my other book's shared universe, but reading those two books are not exactly necessary to enjoy this one. Either way, this is made for those who want to know more about these characters, so please enjoy.