My Number One Fan

~Time elapse: 3 years~

“Riley, I want you to go overseas with us this year.” Vince’s voice said over the phone. I dropped my fork, which landed on my plate with a loud clatter.
“Overseas, you mean like Europe?” I asked, shocked.
“Not particularly,” he said. “I’m talking farther east.” My heart skipped a beat. I knew right away what he was talking about.
“Really?” I asked, not able to keep the excitement from my voice.
“Yes, but not as a reporter, as a special guest.” Vince said.
“I’m in,” I said, sitting up straighter.
“I’ll see you at the airport.” Vince said before hanging up.

~POV Change: Jeff~

“Yeah going to go see the soldiers,” Matt said excitedly.

I just laughed. I loved how the WWE started doing this. Every Christmas they had a tribute to the troops over in Iraq or Afghanistan, and this year I was able to go. Superstars and Divas were taking their seats, but one caught me completely off guard. I felt my heart freeze when I seen her.

“M-Matt,” I said, nudging his arm. He looked toward me, then to what I was looking at.
“I didn’t know she was coming.” Matt said, staring. She headed toward us, looking at the seat number on her ticket. When she reached us, she paused. She looked down, and her smile slowly faded.
“H-hello,” she said.
“Riley,” Matt said, happy. I couldn’t form a single word in my brain. “Are you sitting over here?” Matt continued. Riley nodded and pointed to the seat right next to mine.
“Right here,” she said, looking around, obviously uncomfortable.
“What are you doing here?” Matt asked as she put her luggage in the overhead carrier.
“Vince called me and asked me to come,” she replied, sitting down beside me.
“Really? For the magazine?” Matt asked, sounding confused.
“He said as a special guest.” Riley replied. I lowered myself in my seat. I knew this day would come, I just didn’t expect it on a plane heading to the Middle East.
“Hello Jeff,” Riley’s voice startled me. I jumped and looked at her.
“Hey,” I said, sitting up a little bit. Matt had started talking to someone beside him, giving me and Riley privacy. I’ll kick him later.
“H-how’ve you been?” Riley asked, startling me again.
“Pretty good.” Jeff said. “You know just living for the moment.”
“Jeff, I know you better than that.” Riley said, sighing.
“Do you?” I couldn’t stop myself. “Do you really know me that well?”
“I know you enough to realize how stupidly wrong I was about that day eight years ago.” she said so softly I almost didn’t hear her.
“Did you say how wrong you were?” I asked her, confused.
“Look Jeffrey,” Riley said, being as serious as she could be. “I realized long ago that you never betrayed me. I did the stupid thing and jumped to conclusions.”
“It was understandable.” I said, looking toward the front of the plane.
“No, it wasn’t.” She said. “You weren’t even stripped. You were completely clothed and freshly showered and everything.” I felt my stomach twist into knots. “I’ve blamed myself for years on making myself so miserable, and for making you leave when you did also.”
“Whoa whoa whoa,” I said, turning to her. “No one made me leave. I left on my own. I burnt myself out.”
“And failed three drug tests?” Riley snapped. “Jeff, you were perfectly fine until I left.”
“It had nothing to do with you,” I growled.
“Then what was it?” she asked, exasperated. “What the hell was it Jeffrey? If you won’t tell anyone, tell me. The one person from our messed up pasts that was truly there for you every time you needed me, please explain it to me.” I looked up and seen tears running down her face, smearing her eyeliner.
“Okay, this isn’t the place,” Matt’s voice muttered behind me. I turned to look at him, but realized that many people around us had stopped their conversations to stare at us.
“We’ll finish this later,” I muttered to her.

She just nodded, wiping at her cheeks. When we lifted off into the air, everyone else went back to their conversations. I stretched my legs out the best I could and leaned my chair back. Out of nowhere I felt a hand on my chest and hair tickling my cheek. I looked over and seen Riley had fallen asleep. Her head had slid onto my shoulder and her hand on resting on my chest, right beside her cheek. I drew in a deep breath and let it out in a hiss. Matt looked over to see what was going on, and smirked when he seen Riley sleeping on me.

“You know you want it.” Matt said, nudging me in the arm with his elbow.
“Matt, I don’t know what I want,” I said, honestly. “For right now I just want to survive this trip.”
“So does she,” Matt said.
“How do you know?” I asked, looked at him.
“I’ve seen her Jeff. I’ve talked to her since everything’s went down. She has this huge guilt inside her for what she did, and she won’t let it go until she’s certain you didn’t blame her for anything.”
“I told her I didn’t.” I whispered sharply, not wanting to start yelling again.
“She’ll believe it when she sees it Jeff,” Matt said. “You know how she is better than any of us.”
“Maybe I don’t know her anymore.” I muttered looking down at her.

She was still beautiful. Her hair was a different color and longer, but she looked exactly the same way. She still kept herself in shape as well, that was extremely obvious. Matt turned back to the book he was reading, leaving me to think. When we landed, Riley woke up with a jolt.

“Morning sleeping beauty.” Matt said as she looked around.
“Are we there?” she asked, her voice slightly slurred.
“Yeah, we are.” I said, standing up and waiting for her to stand up as well. She stared at me for a minute before standing and grabbing her carry on, walking toward the doors of the plane.
“Very smooth Jeff.” Matt muttered.
“I’m here for the WWE, not to reconnect with my old childhood flame.” I said, grabbing my own case from the top compartment. We unloaded from the plane into the hot Middle Eastern air, and the first thing that greeted us was cameras and soldiers.
“Hardy, Hardy.” some soldiers started chanting. Matt and I looked at each other, amazed.
“Let’s go.” Matt said, pushing my shoulder lightly. I smiled and headed toward the crowd.
“My wife is going to be so jealous,” one person said, walking up to us. “She’s a huge Hardy fan. Both of you.”
“Well, we appreciate that,” Matt said, shaking his hand. He shook my hand as well.
“It’s an honor to be so well enjoyed by a nation hero.” I said.
“We’re no heroes, we’re just men doing our jobs,” the shoulder replied. I smiled and looked around, seeing Riley watching us. She blushed and turned around, talking to a female shoulder. I turned back to the conversation.
“Yeah, we know how that goes,” Matt said.
“This your first time here?” the guy asked us.
“Not mine,” Matt answered.
“But it is mine,” I said before Matt could.
“Well, welcome to the middle east!” he said.
“Yeah, this is Jeff, I’m Matt.” Matt said, pointing from me to himself.
“Jack,” The soldier said. We shook hands just as vehicles came up.
“Fellow soldiers,” Jack said, seeing my alarmed gaze.
“This is a safe zone,” Jack explained. “We wouldn’t allow you over here if there was any danger.” I just nodded. I looked back behind me to see Riley had gone.
“He’s in a little bit of a hardship right now,” Matt’s voice whispered. I turned back to the two of them again.
“Relationship troubles?” Jack asked.
“Eight years in the making,” I mumbled, glaring at Matt.
“He was dating one of the females here, but there was a huge misunderstanding.” Matt explained better.
“You talking about that one chick you was talking to?” a new voice said behind us. We turned around to see it was Oscar, or Rey Mysterio.
“Yeah, Rey, her.” I said. He just nodded.
“Rey Mysterio.” Jack said. Rey turned and shook his hand.
“I’m gonna go walk around,” I said. I headed toward a building that looked like a mess hall or sleeping area.
“So, are we going to finish talking now or later?” Riley’s voice asked me. I turned to see her standing behind me, her eyes squinting in the sunlight.
“We can finish this now,” I said, fully looking at her. I kept a cool face, but on the inside, I was nervous. I knew this wouldn’t end very well.