My Number One Fan

The week passed by fast. Three days after we found out about Mrs. Hardy dying, she was put into the ground, just like my mother had told me they did. I looked around to try to find the spirit Uncle Paul talked about, but I didn’t see it.

Jeff and Matt were crying the whole time. So was Mr. Hardy. After the funeral, everyone went back to the Hardy’s property. They were having a little party thing. I think Uncle Paul called it the “wake.” Everyone was talking about Mrs. Hardy and how sorry they felt for Matt and Jeff. I was sitting in the tree Jeff and I normally climbed. Aunt Marylyn will yell at me because I messed up my dress, but this seemed like a good place to be right now. No one will find me up here. It was peaceful, an excellent view of the Hardy property. I sighed and looked down, seeing Jeff standing beside his brother Matt. Matt put his arm around Jeff’s shoulders then walked away into the house. Jeff wiped his nose with the back of his hand, and walked in this direction aimlessly. He stopped at the base of the tree I was sitting in before grabbing one of the lower branches. He was about a foot away from my branch when he noticed me up here.

“Oh, hi Riley.” he said, sliding on the branch beside me.
“Hey. Are you doing okay?” I asked him kindly.
“If it was someone else asking me that again, I would of flipped out on them. I’m fine. Honestly. It’s just going to be weird, not having my mom around anymore.”
“I know.” I said. “I miss my mom too.” I said. Jeff looked at me curiously. I’ve never told anyone that.
“What happened to your mom?” Jeff asked. I didn’t reply for a minute. “She died.” I said finally. “Uncle Paul was the closet living relative I had, so I became his responsibility after she died.”
“So you really do know what I’m going through huh?” Jeff asked. I nodded.
“Except you still have your dad. I never knew mine. I didn’t even know a thing about him until right before my mom died.” Then a thought struck me. “Oh yeah, my Uncle was going to talk to your dad about this, but he said that if you guys were feeling okay this weekend, you could come over and meet my daddy. He’s supposed to be coming over to see me.”
“You don’t want to meet your father on your own?” Jeff asked, kicking his legs back and forward.
“To tell you the truth, I’m kinda nervous about it.” I said, looking down.
“Ok, I’ll try to talk Dad into going.” Jeff said. “You helped me out with this, now it’s my turn to help you.”
“You know,” I said. “I could have been returning you helping me two years ago.” Jeff looked up confused. “You helped me find my uncle two years ago. You saved me.”
“I didn’t know you then, this is different. You’re my best friend now Riley. That was a 7 year old not knowing what he was doing, now it’s a 9 year old helping his best friend.” I nodded, realizing he was right. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders in a sideways hug.
“Thank you Jeff.” I said.
“No, thank you Riley for being here.” he said back.
“Riley!” We heard my uncle’s voice call. I jumped and probably would have fallen from the tree if I didn’t grab the trunk and if Jeff hadn’t grabbed me. “Riley Michelle where are you?”
“Riley Michelle?” Jeff said, laughing. I jabbed his ribs and started climbing back down the tree. I jumped from a branch and landed on my feet.
“Right here Uncle Paul!” I said, straightening my dress.
“Girl, when are you going to stop climbing those trees?” Aunt Marylyn asked walking up behind me.
“I wasn’t climbing a tree.” I said just as Jeff jumped out of the tree and landed beside me.
“You have leaves in your hair.” he whispered, pulling a green leaf from my ponytail. I laughed and quickly walked away, pulling at my hair to get the leaves out of it.
“Come on. We need to get home.” Aunt Marylyn said. “We have to clean up before your father gets here.”
“I thought he was coming over the weekend.” I said, walking away from the Hardy house.
“He got time off early so he’ll be there tonight.” Uncle Paul said.

I just nodded, but now I was wishing I didn’t climb down from the tree. I was as nervous as I had ever been. I was going to meet my father.

“Uncle Paul, what’s he like?” I asked as we continued walking home.
“Tall,” Aunt Marylyn said. “really tall. He looks a little like you, but not too much.”
“He’s a wrestler.” Uncle Paul said. “Just an amateur, but a pretty good one, he’ll go far.”
“What’s wrestling?” I asked, really interested.
“Perhaps later your dad will show you.” Uncle Paul said.

I looked up to smile at him, but found him smiling at something ahead of us. I looked and seen a different car in our driveway. Dad. I took in a deep breath and held it.

“I can’t.” I said suddenly. “I can’t. I told Jeff he could be here when I met him.” Aunt Marylyn was about to say something, but was cut off by someone running up to us.
“Hey Riley, Dad told us your dad showed up early. He said I could come down with you, if it’s okay with you two.” Jeff said. Uncle Paul chuckled and smiled.
“You can stay Jeff.” Aunt Marylyn said.
“Yay!” I yelled throwing my arms around Jeff’s neck. Now I wasn’t as nervous as I thought. I was still scared, but I knew I could face it now.
“Let’s go.” Jeff said, grabbing my hand and pulling me toward the front door.
I stumbled along behind him, looking back to my aunt and uncle. They were following behind me really slowly. I looked back at the front door and seen a man standing there, staring at me. I suddenly became so nervous I nearly tripped over my own feet. He was tall. Way taller than my uncle or Jeff’s father. His hair was long and he had a beard. Even from the distance I seen he looked like me. He had my nose, my eyes, and even my skinny frame.

“Riley?” Jeff’s voice asked. I blinked and looked at him. He was ahead of me. I didn’t realize I had stopped moving. “Are you okay?” he asked. I nodded, looking back up to the man who was my father. He didn’t look old at all. He looked a lot younger than Uncle Paul.
“Riley?” he said, walking down the front stairs.

I automatically started moving toward him, my feet kicking dirt up into the air. The man, my father, kneeled in front of me and grabbed my arms gently. He ran his hands over my hair, then my shoulders. This close, I finally noticed he had green eyes, the same color as mine and Uncle Paul’s.

“Daddy.” I whispered. Then he smiled and stood up, picking me up with him. I couldn’t help but laugh as he spun me around in a strong hug.
“Riley.” he said. He looked over to his brother and sister-in-law, smiling from ear to ear. I looked down at Jeff and seen tears in his eyes. I kicked myself from my father’s arms and ran up to him.
“Daddy, this is my best friend Jeff.” I said. Dad looked down at Jeff, who looked nervous all of a sudden.
“It’s nice to meet you Jeff.” Daddy said, holding out his hand. Jeff put his own hand up, but then put it back down, and put it back up again before taking my father’s much larger hand.
“Nice to m-meet you sir.” Jeff said.
“Call me Mark.” Daddy replied. Jeff relaxed slightly. Daddy winked at me then turned to go talk to his brother.
“You looked more nervous than me.” I said to Jeff.
“I think I was.” he admitted. I laughed and touched his arm with my hand.
“You’re it!” I shouted, running away from him. He stared at me before smiling and chasing me.
“You can never get away from me.” he said as he ran. I laughed and ran harder. Sure enough a couple minutes later I felt his hand on my back, tagging me back.
“Riley, Jeff, come on let’s go inside.” Aunt Marylyn called.
“You know you’re still it.” Jeff said, running toward the house. I laughed and chased him, catching up to him and tagging him back.
“No tag backs!” I said. Jeff muttered under his breath when we both heard a laugh behind us. It was Daddy watching us.
“So, Christmas break?” he asked, referring to school. Jeff and I both shook our heads yes.
“Daddy, Uncle Paul said you were a wrestler. What’s that?”
“A wrestler?” he asked, looking up at his brother. “Well, that a person who fights other people.” he said. He laughed at the look that must have been on mine and Jeff’s faces. “I’ll show you two if you want me to.” he said.
“No thanks. That sounds dangerous.” Jeff said.
“Since when did that stop you?” I asked. He stuck his tongue out at me before jumping up and running toward the back hallway – toward my bedroom.
“Jeff!” I shouted, running to catch up with him.
“No running in the house!” Aunt Marylyn called.

Jeff and I both slowed down. He got to my bedroom door first, but I was able to slip past him and get into the room before he could. He slammed the door shut and turned the light on.

“No slamming the door either!” Uncle Paul’s voice called. Jeff and I both laughed.
“So what do you think of my daddy?” I asked Jeff, watching him grab a marker from my desk and start to draw on a sheet of paper.
“Looks like you.” he said. “He seems nice too.”
“Yeah...” I said, looking out my window into the woods behind the house.
“Riley, I heard my dad and your uncle talking about him a couple days ago. Your uncle said your dad lived in Texas.”
“Texas?” I asked, trying to remember the map mine and Jeff’s teacher showed us. Texas was the biggest one connected to the other states. That was far away from here.
“I was just thinking, what if you dad wanted you to move in with him?” Jeff said. I didn’t think about that.
“I don’t know.” I said. “If I move with him, then I lose you, Matt and Mr. Hardy. If I do move though, I’ll finally have my daddy.”
“I know.” Jeff said. “That’s why I wanted to talk about it. I don’t want to lose my best friend, but I want you to be happy.”
“I know.” I said, looking down at the floor. “This sucks.”
“You can say that again.” Jeff said, sitting on the bed and putting his arm around my shoulders. “Here, I just drew this so you won’t forget about me if you do have to move.” he said, handing me the paper. It was a huge purple and pink heart. On the side of the heart it said “Jeff and Riley together forever.” Tears filled my eyes as I took the paper and hugged him fiercely. I stared at the heart for a long time, thinking about what would happen if I did lose my best friend. What would happen to me… what would happen to him… so many questions; only time could give me answers.