The Rider

Chapter 2

As I pulled into the driveway to my house, I noticed a different car there. Usually, there was just my mom's car, my dad's car, and then mine. I frowned. Did we have company coming over tonight that I didn't know about? I certainly don't remember ever hearing my mom telling me anything. Of course, I could have just forgotten. I turned off my car and hopped out of the car. I strolled up to me front door, shoved my keys into the key hole, and walked inside.

"Mom! I'm home!" I shouted. I heard scrambling and whispers then my mother's voice answering,"Come to the dinner table!"

I scrunched my eyebrows together and wondered what was going on. I tossed my bag onto a nearby chair and took off my riding boots. I hurried into the kitchen and asked,"Why did you want me to come into the- ahh!" Someone had grabbed me from behind and wrapped me in a bear hug!

"Surprise Mia!" A voice shouted. I immediately recognized the voice to be my older brother's!

"Alex! What are you doing here?" I asked excitedly as I hugged him tightly.

"I just decided to swing by and visit my favorite little sister!"

"I'm your only sister you dork," I joked, punching him lightly on the arm.

"What? I've been lied to my whole life!" His said with mock confusion and surprise.
I laughed and looked at him. It had been eight months since I had last seen him, which was at Christmas. His black hair had grown out a little bit, he was obviously still 6'3 1/2, and his blue eyes still had their usual sparkle in them. My brother was a perfect mix of my mother and father. He had my father's black hair, his sharp jaw line, and my mother's bright blue eyes. In the words of other girls his age, he was hot.

In contrast, I had long, straight brown hair, my father's hazel eyes, and only stood at 5'6 while my mother was 5'8.

"Did you get a new car?" I suddenly asked, "I didn't recognized the car out there."

"No, we drove here in Sophie's car," my brother answered.

"Sophie's here?" I asked, suddenly excited. Sophia was my brother's girlfriend. They had met in my brother's sophomore year of college at A&M, all the way down in Texas. We lived in Frankfort, Kentucky, so seeing my brother was rare.

To say that Sophia was pretty was an understatement. With long blonde hair, a gorgeous tan, tall, and a slim body from playing volleyball, she could be considered a model. In my bother's words, she was a babe.

Since my brother is now 21 and on his junior year of college and Sophia is now 20 and on her sophomore year of college, they had been together for 2 years and already acted like a married couple. I expected a ring on her pretty little finger in a couple of years.

I grinned at the thought of them getting married and started looking for Sophie. Sophie and I had gotten close over the years and acted like sisters. I scanned kitchen and living room until I finally saw her making her way from the bathroom.

"Sophie!" I yelled excitedly.

Her head snapped over in my direction and an excited smile lit up her face.

"Mia! It's so good to see you again!" She yelled, equally excited.

I attempted to run towards her, but forgot that I was wearing socks on a tile floor. I felt my feet slip out from under me and felt my butt hit the hard tile.

"Ow," I mumbled.

I then heard laughing erupt around my whole kitchen. I scowled as I watched my mother, father, Sophie, and Alex hunch over in laughter.

"I'm sorry Mia! That was just hilarious!" Sophie gasped in between laughs.

"Yeah, that was hilarious, ha ha." I mumbled dispiritedly

"I'm sorry, but it is great to see you again," Sophia said, wrapping her arms around me.

I sighed as returned the hug and smiled up at her. She pulled me up from the floor and asked," How's Caspian? I guess you just came back from riding," she asked looking at my navy breeches and black t-shirt.

"He's great and yes I did just get back from riding," I answered, leaving out the conversation I had overheard.

"Well, since Mia is finally home, we can have dinner," my mom interrupted.

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After dinner, I jogged upstairs and walked into my room. I switched on the light to find my cat, Medusa, sitting happily on my bed. I smiled as I walked over to my bed and started petting her.

"You silly cat. Did you do anything besides sleep today? Probably not," I said as I continued to pet her. Medusa was a fluffy black cat with green eyes. If you got on her bad side, she made sure that you felt her wrath. I would say her name fit her perfectly.

Feeling exhausted, I flopped face-first on my best friend, aka my bed.

"Ah, I missed you so much," I said, the pillow muffling my words. I groaned as I sat up, realizing I had to get a shower. I stumbled over to my dresser and grabbed my favorite pair of pajama pants and my Nirvana t-shirt. I trudged over to my bathroom and set my clothes down on the floor. I turned on the water and as I waited for it to get warm, I causally scrolled through Instagram. As soon as the water felt warm, I turned on Pandora and clicked on my Three Days Grace radio. I immediately started lip-syncing to Breaking Inside, by Shinedown, as I climbed into the shower.

30 minutes later I had finished my shower and put on my pajamas. I winced as my comb got stuck in a knot in my hair. I considered tearing the comb through my hair, but decided against it and combed out the knot, without ripping any hair out. After my hair was throughly combed out, I walked over to my bed and collapsed onto it. My thoughts immediately went to the conversation I overheard. I wonder who is coming and why they are coming? The person on the phone wanted the boy to be able to do hard work, so maybe he's some sort of troubled teen. I wondered if he is around my age...I wonder if he's cute.. Mia! Snap out of it! He's probably no good for you anyways. He's probably some sort of arrogant jerk and you don't need another one of those. I groaned into my pillow as my thoughts began to be overwhelmed with the thoughts of the new boy. Stupid teenage hormones.

I was startled when I heard the song Animals, by Nickelback, blaring on my phone. I recognized the ringtone to be Tori. I quickly picked up the phone, answering the call.

"Hello?" I answered.

"MIA! MIA GUESS WHAT!" I heard Tori's voice scream over the phone.

"What? Let me guess, you got another date?" Tori always had new dates. She didn't move on from one boy to a another like other girls do, but she had more dates than I did.

"Uh yes! And he's totally gorgeous. His name is Jacob and he took me out to a movie and he was so sweet and...."

I laughed at Tori's rattling and shook my head.

"Tori! Calm down! I'm sure the date was wonderful, but did he try to kiss you?"

"Yes!"

"Well did you let him?"

"No! Of course not! That's like the number one rule of dating. Never let him kiss you in the first date. You can't let him think you're easy. You have to play hard to get."

I laughed at Tori and listened to her ramble on and on about the date until she had to go. I told her goodbye frowned slightly. She had lots of dates while my last date was in December. It's been eight months since my last date. I had lots of bad experiences with some of my boyfriends but I still missed dating. Guys do ask me out occasionally but I always turn them down. I've found it so hard to trust them since I dated a piece of crap in my junior year. He didn't care about me one bit and just dated me for popularity. He eventually broke my heart in the worst way and left me to pick up the pieces.

I quickly rid the disgusting thought of him out of my head and felt a wave of exhaustion wash over me. Horseback riding really drained me of my energy. I quickly turned of the light and crawled into bed with thoughts of the new boy slowly creeping their way into my head.

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Hey so this is my first story and I'm really excited to be writing it. I'm not really writing for reads, more just for fun. But anyways, hello my name is Brooke. I hope you enjoy the story.
Also, Kelli Berglund plays Mia.