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Dirk Strider is Jane Crocker’s best friend.
Many people might find surprise in this statement. Many people may believe that Roxy Lalonde is Jane’s best friend. They would be wrong. Roxy is kind, and nice, and funny, but they are wrong. Roxy is not Jane’s best friend.
Some people even assume Jake English is Jane’s best friend! “Oh, Jane! You loved him so dearly!” They would exclaim. “Surely you would want to be his best friend, and bring him closer to you?” For a time, they would have been right. Jane tried to get closer to her friend, but over time it was clear that their relationship was best the way it had been.
Dirk Strider is Jane’s best friend.
Many people may not understand why . Many find Dirk Strider to be aloof and uncaring and positively impossible to befriend and get along with. And sometimes, Jane will admit he can be a bit hard to put up with. But Jane herself is no better than he.
Dirk is not like they say, anyways.
Dirk is soft, for example. You would not assume it from his frequent training and sword flinging, but Dirk is soft and very nice for hugging, if a little boney. He is strong, but he is also gentle and warm, like a summer’s day at a beach, or a winter’s night by the fireplace. Dirk and Jane hug a lot.
Dirk is helpful. When Jane is baking, she always appreciates having Dirk nearby, because he is always ready to help her. It isn’t that Jake and Roxy don’t help her, but Dirk is always focused and exact in his measurements, and Jane likes to have fun and bake good foods, and that’s hard to do when your friends are doing this and that and trying to improvise your recipe.
Dirk is quiet, as well. When he came into the room and saw Jane, body curled up, fingers tightly wrapped around an old, worn toy, eyes innocently on the cartoons on her tv, Dirk did not pester her with questions like Roxy or Jake. Dirk just gave her a silent nod and sat beside her, which her fuzzy mind appreciated greatly.
Jane suspects that Dirk did not ask because he could already understand. Later times, finding him in footie pajamas with a blanket held close to his face, confirms these suspicions. Dirk is quiet when he is small, and that’s okay, because Jane likes the quiet, and Dirk is her friend, and she loves her friends.
Dirk Strider is Jane Crocker’s best friend, and there are many reasons for that. Regardless of those reasons, or the surprise this fact may bring to many, Jane is glad she has such a wonderful friend.