Written in the Stars *EDITING*

Chapter 20: The Cool Cousin

As she entered her Aunt Lucy's house, Mia wondered if this Christmas family gathering would be more fun than last year. The noise and chaos of the full house greeted the Wilson's the second they crossed the threshold into Aunt Lucy's single-family house. Her mother had three siblings, each had at least three kids. Mia being an only child was an oddity for this side of her family.

As a small blond child ran up to her Mom with a powdered donut in his hand, Mia wished she was back with her Dad's side of the family. The three of them had visited his side of the family a few days ago and it had been an absolute riot. It wasn't that Mia didn't enjoy her Mom's side of the family, it was just that her Dad's was so much cooler. He had two siblings and both of their kids were some of the coolest people Mia had met. His older sister had two kids while his older brother had three. Riley, with her glowing dark skin and chocolate brown eyes, was a model and Tyrell was an actor. He didn't have any major roles, other than a recurring guest spot on a soap opera, yet but he still regularly booked roles and partied with some of Hollywood's most famous. Those two had the craziest stories from being immersed in the entertainment industry. Quin was in his second year of college and was having the best time, even offering to hook his cousins up with a couple of grams on their walk before dinner if they pleased. Soraya and Dwane were younger than Mia but still cool nonetheless. So even though she wasn't the coolest cousin when she hung out with them, she still had an absolute blast.

On her mother's side of the family, she definitely felt like the cool cousin. Especially considering she was the oldest. After greeting her Aunt's and Uncles she made her way to Lola's room. It was where the teen cousins hung out before dinner.

"Hi!" She greeted Lola and Emily, the two cousins closest in age to her. Emily was going to turn seventeen in a few weeks while Lola had only turned fifteen recently. The rest of their cousins were quite young and were wreaking havoc across the house. They greeted Mia back and the three settled onto Lola's bed. Mia smoothed out her plaid skirt that had her red sweater tucked into it. At first, she thought her outfit was too plain for a pre-Christmas gathering, but after adding the heart tights she loved it.

"So has anything interesting happened since the last time we saw each other?" Emily asked, the three catching up while they waited for dinner to be ready.

"I'm learning how to drive," Lola supplied. "I've also been thinking about getting a tattoo but my Mom would never let me."

"Hell yeah Aunt Lucy wouldn't let you, you're fifteen," Mia said. Emily nodded in agreement, having heard from her father, Lucy and Anna's brother, how strict Lucy could be.

"Whatever, I'll just wait until I'm eighteen. So Mia, still the lame cousin?"

Mia gasped in shock. "I'll have you know I am the coolest cousin here! Hazel and I have had a lot of fun over the past few weeks. We even saw a cute romance movie the other day." Emily and Lola looked at each other, the former playing with her deep brown hair so she wouldn't have to answer to Mia's disbelief.

"You know we love you, it's just that you never do anything cool. Besides, you hang out with Hazel all the time. We think she's cool but you guys together just...isn't."

"I have done plenty of cool stuff these past few weeks. I went to a high school party, I snuck out. I even touched a stingray."

"I guess that stuff is kind of cool. But I mean, I've still had more boyfriends than you."

"Yeah," Emily added. "It's been so long since you broke up with your ex."

"What number boyfriend are you even on Lola?" Mia asked.

"My second," she shrugged.

"Well, I'll have you know I have a boyfriend. So we're even." At the look of excitement that passed over her cousin's faces, Mia continued. "Yeah and he's nice, cool, popular, and hot." She didn't view Nathan in that way but she knew objectively that he was hot with his messy ink hair and piercing smile.

"Let us see him!" Emily said.

Pulling up his Instagram, she gave them her phone so they could scroll through his minimal amount of pictures. At their sounds of amazement, Mia felt a haughty smile make its way onto her face. They would so admit she was the cool cousin.

"I don't believe you," Lola scoffed as she handed the phone back to Mia.

"What?"

"You probably just pulled up some classmates Insta."

"My initials are literally in his bio!" A few weeks ago, Mia had jokingly added "MW" with a red heart into his Insta bio, expecting him to delete it. Instead, Nathan had taken her phone and put "NC" with the red heart emoji into her bio. She had almost put the lock emoji instead of the heart but found it too cringey even for a one minute joke. When Rose had messaged Mia telling her how cute it was, she couldn't stop laughing for a few minutes.

"That could be for someone else?" Emily questioned.

"Fine, I guess I'll have to prove it to you guys," she grumbled as she opened FaceTime. Calling Nathan, she almost hoped he didn't pick up. Unfortunately for her, Nathan answered after only two rings. Taking in his small smile and flour stained pajama shirt, she quickly said, "Hey babe! I'm here with my cousins and they wanted to meet my boyfriend. Hope you don't mind."

Through the screen, he looked her up and down, noticing the nervous look on her face and his smile grew. "Sure, babe," he laughed. Turning the phone so he could see Lola and Emily, Mia plopped onto the bed again.

"You're actually dating Mia? Our cousin. Why?" Lola asked after seeing just how hot Nathan was and the cool air around him.

"Ok that one hurt Lola," Mia complained as she slapped the back of her blonde hair.

"Why wouldn't I be? Mia's nice, smart, funny, brave, and absolutely gorgeous."

Emily awed and Lola smiled at the sweet words. "Now do you guys believe me?" After they nodded, Mia got off the bed. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go talk to my boyfriend in the other room." Closing the guest room door behind her, Mia sent him a sheepish look over the screen. "I'm so sorry about that. It's just, they thought I was the lame cousin. I mean, how could they! I'm the coolest person in this house, let alone the coolest cousin."

Nathan laughed again. "So other than annoying cousins, how's the family gathering going?"

"It's fine. The food will be bland except for what my Dad made but hey, that's what happens when you're white," she shrugged. "What were you doing before I called?"

"Just making Christmas cookies with my Mom."

Mia held in her aww, not wanting to embarrass him. "I'll let you get back to it. Thank's again for going along with this stupid scheme to impress my younger cousins."

"It was fun. Have a good day," he looked her up and down through the screen, a wicked grin on his face, "babe."

Mia groaned after she hung up, knowing he wouldn't let that go. Maybe it would have been best to be thought of as the lame cousin instead of the cool cousin.