Chasing Mia SAMPLE

Chapter One- It Could Happen

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I hear my phone buzzing on my nightstand, but I'm having an internal struggle of whether or not I want to answer it. On one hand, it's Saturday; my day to sleep in. On the other hand, it could be my brother begging me to come pick him up from some strange girl's house again. Going with the latter, I turn over and ignore it.

While Ryder has more than enough experience with the ladies, I, on the other hand, have absolutely zero experience with boys. Ryder, along with my nephews CJ and Russ, have managed to keep all members of the male species far, far away from me. Which would be fine if I were eleven or twelve. Maybe even if I were sixteen, but I'm eighteen and about to start my first year of college.

That's right, folks. Mia Rhodes is going to college in exactly two weeks with no relationship experience to speak of. I'm not unattractive or awkward. I'm not the shy girl or the girl no one notices. Quite the opposite actually. Thanks to my brother, I spent my years at Bellevue High School as somewhat of a legend. Not because of anything I've done, of course. But because of my brother.

Girls wanted to befriend me to get closer to Ryder. That's why I never really had any female friends; not any real ones anyway. I've always gotten along better with guys. However, since my stupid brother scared off any guy with just the slightest interest in me, they tended to stay away. Everyone except for Jake, that is.

Jake Parker is an exception. His parents are long time friends of my oldest brother, Logan, and his wife, Katie. We've known each other since birth and he's been my best friend ever since. We'll be sharing an apartment at UCF come fall, along with my nephew, Russ.

It feels weird calling Russ my nephew since I'm only three months older than him. Logan was twenty-five when I was born. My mom had him when she was only fourteen while Ryder and I came much later. Russ' older brother, CJ, was close with Ryder until Logan's family moved away to Chicago when Katie got a job as the Professor of Medicine at Northwestern University.

Russ decided to apply for college here in Florida so he could be reunited with Jake and I.

When my phone buzzes again, I decide I better answer. I lazily grab it from my nightstand through my blurry vision, I notice it's my dad that's been calling me all morning, not Ryder.

Uh oh.

"Hello?"

"Mia, I've been calling you all morning!"

"Sorry, dad. I thought you were Ryder."

"Speaking of the pain in my ass..."

I giggle. Ryder drives my parents crazy, making me the golden child. Especially with my dad.

"I need you to go help your mom at the bakery. Ryder was arrested last night and I'm on my way to the police station."

"What? What did he do to get arrested?"

"Fighting. Again."

"Of course," I sigh. "I'll help mom. Don't worry."

"I never do with you, princess."

"Love you, dad."

"Love you, too."

I take a quick shower before throwing on a pair of jean shorts and one of Ryder's oversized t-shirts. I pull my hair up in a messy bun and decide against makeup. I'll only be slaving away in a hot kitchen all day anyway.