How to Get One Million Reads on Wattpad (a novel)

9) Setbacks Make Stronger Stories

The door shut with a click, leaving Stacy alone in the house.

She took a deep breath to steady herself. Her body was a mix of heat and disappointment. A slosh of oil and water beading up and bouncing around. Discombobulated. Confused.

Their kisses, and the way he'd pressed against her: there had been desire in his touch. His movements.

And her body had responded.

Her heart had revved up. As had other parts.

And then... it just ended. And she wasn't really sure why.

Not able to resist, Stacy turned around to look through the door's peephole. Derek was shuffling away, hands stuffed into his pockets. He kicked at something on the ground before he disappeared from view.

Stacy lingered at the door for a moment longer, still staring through the peephole, as if Derek might suddenly turn around and knock. To beg to be let back in.

But he didn't.

With a sigh, she stepped back, pressing her hand against the cool wood of the door.

What the fuck had happened?

And what could she do about it? Take a cold shower? Eat a tub of ice cream? Call Amanda?

None of those suggestions felt quite right.

As if on auto-pilot, Stacy made her way down the hall to the stairs, her mind replaying the date. The way their hands had fit together so naturally. The easy way they laughed about the craft beer names.

Everything had felt so right—until it didn't.

The connection with Derek had been electric. So why had he left so abruptly?

Her chest tightened as insecurities flooded her mind. Had she said something wrong? Or was he just not that into her?

Now that she thought about it, when their bodies pressed together, she hadn't noticed that unmistakable sign of a man's desire. Maybe she didn't turn him on. Wasn't pretty enough. Didn't have the right sex appeal.

As she opened her bedroom door and flopped on her neatly made bed, she couldn't help but think back to Jake.

Another man she had completely misread.

They'd been in the same seminar during the fall semester of her senior year of college. She had been more impressed by his ideas than his looks. But even though he wasn't classically handsome––the way Derek was––Jake was magnetic. Full of charisma. He was a man with big goals for himself and seemed so much more mature than other boys her age.

She'd fallen hard and fast for him, convincing herself that their whirlwind romance was more than it was.

She'd even told Amanda he was husband material.

Obviously, he hadn't felt the same way about her.

In the end, he hadn't even let her down gently. Just one day—no texts, no calls, nothing. Ghosted.

But at least Jake had followed her inside when she invited him into her bedroom the first time. Even if his sweet words had all been lies, at minimum, he'd been a good fuck.

Derek had left her at the front door.

Stacy could feel herself about to spiral out of control. The thing with Jake had happened months ago. And there would be nothing useful about conflating him and Derek.

Looking for a distraction, Stacy grabbed her laptop from the bedside table and opened Wattpad. Maybe losing herself in someone else's love story would help. She pulled her blankets up around her, the cozy weight feeling like a shield.