Christopher
"This is easy" Story shrieked paddling her bike with a big wide smile across her face.
She began to paddle in circles around me on her bright red bike. "Alright now let me take off the training wheels"
Her feet abruptly stopped and so did her smile. She lifted her head up to look at me with her mothers eyes. "Come on Story, don't you wanna learn how to ride the bike like a big girl" I asked before squatting down to the bike.
I began taking off the training wheels as she watched. "Dad I don't want to ride the bike anymore" she whined.
"Why not" I asked looking up at her.
"I don't want to fall in front of all of these people" she said looking at the people at the park.
"Hey look at me" I said bringing her attention to me.
"Who cares what they think, they don't know you. Don't ever be afraid of what people think. You are my daughter, you will always be amazing to me. Who cares what they think?" She nodded her head.
"And don't you ever be afraid to fail. If you fail and fall Story I want you to get back up. That's what we do when we fail, we never stop trying. Sometimes it's good to fail, so next time you know what to do to get it right. Failing leads to success Story. What do you think mommy does when she fails?"
I watched as she shrugged her shoulders. "She gets back up and does it again! She learns from her mistakes and does it better. Are you afraid to fail?"
Story shook her head no with slight smile on her face. I got up just enough to kiss her cheek. She smiled even harder looking away as her cheeks grew red. "We're winners in this family Story. Your gonna ride this bike like a winner before we leave this park, right?"
"Right!" I was so proud of her I raised my hand out. Story slapped my hand giving me a hard high five. I began to chuckle as her little hand left a sting.
The night before I stayed up watching bike learning videos on YouTube. "Alright Story so your going to sit up it's all about balance" I stood up giving her space.
"Always look forward, you have to watch where your going at all times. And don't forget your brakes. Your brakes will save you if you feel like your about to fall, ok" I said placing my hand on her helmet. "You got this"
"Ok dad! I'm ready!" I gave her a little push before she began to paddle.
She started off slow taking her time as paddled each foot. Story was paddling without the training wheels for a good while making feel like a proud dad. "There you go Story" I shouted.
I guess I should've stayed quite because she turned around to look at me with a bright smile. "Look forward!" I yelled watching her lose balance.
Her smile turned into a frown as her eyes widened out of fear. My feet picked up as I ran towards her watching the bike slant. Story went down with the bike on her side into the grass.
I got down picking her up by the one arm with my free hand on her back. She held her face as if she was about to cry. "Are you hurt" I asked her.
"A little bit" she said holding her head down.
I pulled her into a hug. "Your lucky you fell in the grass, no scratches" I began to rub her back. "Are you ready to go again" I asked in an enthusiastic tone.
"No" she said shaking her head.
"Come on! What do we do when we fail?"
She stayed quite for a second before looking up at me. "We learn from our mistakes" she said before smiling.
"Right Story you got it!"
I watched as she picked the bike up and jumped right onto the seat. She glanced at me before paddling again. Story picked up her pace riding straight for a good minute. I stayed quite this time holding in my scream. I wanted to scream and shout out of joy.
But she was so focused, she kept her head forward. Story came back to me breaking in front of me. "Good job baby! You didn't need my help at all" I said.
She jumped off the bike before squeezing me in her arms. "Can you record me this time and send it to mommy?"
I began to chuckle nodding my head. After Story rode around for another twenty minutes I promised I'd take her to get ice cream. I took her the ice cream parlor that I took her mother to on our first date.
"Did mom see my video" Story asked sitting across from me.
"No not yet, she's probably working right now"
Story and I talked while eating our ice cream. I had chocolate while she ate her cookie dough ice cream.
"Dad I have a question" she said shifting her eyes to me.
"Alright, I have an answer" I said confidently.
"Why don't we have a dog? All of my friends in school have dogs" she spoke fast.
I looked into her eyes knowing I had to give her the bad news. She will never have a pet dog till she's old enough to move out. "I'm sorry Story but we can't have a dog"
Story's eyes widened with her gaping jaw. "Why not" she whined knitting her brows.
"Because I'm allergic Story. I can't be near dogs without sneezing" I said watching her pout. "Do you want a cat?"
She shook her head looking at her ice cream. "What about some fish?" Story looked at me shaking her head faster this time.
"Your aunt Latoya has a dog. You know you can always visit and play with her dog" I said shrugging my shoulders.
I watched her bring her mouth into a half smile. "Yeah, I can always play with coco" she said before eating her ice cream.
Story's hair was way different from the way it was when I dropped her off at Stevanna's. She had to buns and baby hairs. Her hair was slick too, not one hair was out of place. I defiantly didn't do that myself.
"Who did your hair?"
She looked up at me with a smirk. I watched as her cheeks began to grow red. "Stevanna" she said smiling flashing her teeth at me.
"It looks nice pumpkin"
Story frowned her brows while smirking at me. "What I can't call you pumpkin" I questioned.
"No" she said in a serious tone.
Her little serious face brought a smile to my face. I couldn't hold in my laugh for much longer. "Please don't call me pumpkin dad" she said making my laugh harder.
"I'm sorry" the word pumpkin was on the tip of my tongue. I wanted to say it so bad. Story stared at me squinting her eyes. It was like she was reading my mind.
"Dad, don't say it" she said widening her eyes.
My smile grew bigger. "Pumpkin"
I watched as she fell back into the booth crossing her arms. She held her head down as if she was mad at me.
"I'm just teasing you Story, I won't say it again"
She lifted her head up with a contagious smile that just made you want to smile back. "You did a good job today riding your bike, Story. Im proud of you"
"Thanks dad" she said raising her hand out.
While extending my hand out I reached mine to make a high five. But this girl put her hand down before I could even touch her hand. My smile dropped as she giggled.
I couldn't help but laugh with her. "Too slow" she said in playful tone.
"I can't believe you just did that. I'm proud of you"
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Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did writing it. Vote and comment for more🫶🏽✨