A week later, I went to Darren’s house on Friday evening after school. Darren didn’t have any classes on Friday and since Wyatt never had much going on, they were already at Darren’s playing Elite Crushers. The gaming room felt like my home away from home.

“You guys stoked for tomorrow or what?” I asked.

“Yeah, man, are you?” Darren said.

“Of course! I bought a pass for the singles tournament and the doubles tournament, and I didn’t forget about the pass to get an autograph from Amaya. You guys have all three of your passes?” I said.

Darren and Wyatt paused their game and gave each other an uncertain glance.

“Hey Gordie, we’re not going to argue this, but we agreed that you’ll be playing with Wyatt for the doubles tournament, and I’ll just be watching.”

“Wait, are you sure?” I asked.

“Well yeah, who am I gonna play with? Your chances are better with Wyatt, and that will be the last we discuss it.” Darren sighed and looked at Wyatt. “Do you want to tell him? Or do you want me to tell him?”

“I’ll just tell ‘em.” Wyatt focused on me. “Gordie, truth be told, we thought it was dumb if all three of us bought a pass to get an autograph from Amaya.”

“What makes you say that?”

“I mean, what were you expecting? For one, I have no interest in getting her autograph. Two, I don’t feel very comfortable asking her to pick me for her team. Three, well, I thought I would have more reasons than just two, but I guess I don’t.”

“No, there’s a third reason. Look, Gordie, we’re not saying we don’t want to be on her team. But we just don’t think it’s necessary to have you ask than to have us ask. She’ll say yes or no to you. We don’t need to pile on,” Darren said.

My heart sank, but logically I understood where they were coming from. I shrugged. “Sorry if it seemed like I pressured you guys again.”

Darren shook his head. “No need to apologize, Gordie, and certainly no need to hang your head. We’ll be right by your side.Granted, if we are allowed to stand next to you in line.”

“But what if Wyatt wins the tournament? Shouldn’t he ask on our behalf?” I asked.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it because I plan to win the tournament myself,” Darren said.

Wyatt started shaking Darren’s knee. “Like hell, you will. I’m gunnin’ for the cash prize!”

The two of them entangled themselves in a playful wrestling match.

“Guys, guys, guys! We can’t afford any of this horseplay!” I yelled.

“Good thing neither of us are horses!” Darren shouted.

“No, seriously, what if something happens to your hands? Your hands are so vital we should have insurance on them or something!”

“He’s right, he’s right.” Darren started to untie himself from the pretzel they wound up in.

“You’re lucky that Gordie is here to save your ass,” Wyatt said. “Here, truce-ies.” Wyatt reached out his hand to Darren, but Wyatt pulled his arm and locked him into a chokehold.

“Stop! Stop! STOP!” I screamed, weaseling myself between them and breaking them apart.

They were both panting, and their faces were beat red. “Okay, furreal’ this time, truce-ies.” Wyatt stuck out his hand again. This time they were able to shake successfully.

“Geeze, you guys are like a pack of wild animals. Let’s settle any disputes we have in the game, c’mon.” I pulled out a controller, wanting a piece of them for being so reckless.

We spent the rest of the night playing against each other and playing against the computer. I made sure we all went to bed by midnight since we had to get up at 8 AM and go to the Turbo Games store at 9AM.

“Who thought a sixteen-year-old would be so much like my dad,” Wyatt said. He got his sleeping bag ready promptly at… 12:07AM, which was prompt for Wyatt.

“I’ll be seventeen in July,” I said.

“Okay, well, who thought like a 16 and a half-year-old would be like my dad.”

“At least I don’t yell at you about being a failure.”

Wyatt held his middle finger up. “Yet. It’s comin’, I’m sure.” Wyatt started completely undressing in front of me.

“Dude, what the hell is wrong with you? Why are you getting naked in front of me?”

“I don’t know what it is, but I have to sleep naked in a sleeping bag.”

“I could loan you a pair of pajamas. For chrissakes, put on some pajama bottoms at least.”

“Sorry, Gordo, can’t do it. I dunno what it is, but I just can’t.” Wyatt walked over and turned off the lamp in the room, and then I heard him slide into his sleeping bag. “Besides, you and Darren wanna watch me get dressed tomorrow.”

“It’s just a formality. We have to treat this like a major tournament. We can’t take any risks.”

“I hope I can win it sober.”

“I think you can.”

We were silent, and then Wyatt sighed. “I just mess so many things up all the time. I wish I wasn’t like that.”

That caught me off guard.

I rarely heard Wyatt reveal any sort of vulnerability. Sure, I heard him say I love you many times to Darren and me, but he never said anything like that.

“It’s alright, Wyatt. I mess up a lot of things too. Plenty of successful people fail, though. The way I see it, the more failures you rack up from trying somethin’, the closer you get to success.”

“Thanks, Gordeño.”

That’s a new one.

“Goodnight, man. And hey, one more thing, I love you, dude. You’re one of my best friends.”

Wyatt chuckled softly. “Love you, Gord-man. You’re one of my best friends too, goodnight.”

My alarm went off at 7:55 AM. I liked to give myself a few minutes to be fully awake by 8. I shook Wyatt gently and whispered his name. I’ve heard that’s the best way to wake someone up. It’s a much smoother transition than yelling their name, or at least, that’s what Michael used to do when I was much younger, and I always appreciated it.

“Yo, what’s up? I’m awake,” Wyatt said.

Darren came through the door fully dressed in a blue button-up shirt and khaki-colored pants. “Hey guys, just so you know, breakfast is ready.”

“Why do you look like you’re about to go into a business meeting?” Wyatt asked.

“Technically, we kinda are. We’re going to try and talk to Amaya. Gotta leave a good first impression,” Darren said while Wyatt crawled out of the sleeping bag. “What the hell, Wyatt? Do you really have to sleep naked when someone else is in the room?”

“I’ve told you before, I can’t do sleeping bags with my clothes on. I don’t know what it is. Besides, both of you said you wanted to watch me get dressed, so I don’t try sneakin’ any booze.”

“He’s not wrong,” I grumbled, then I walked over to his pants and checked them thoroughly for any concealed drinks.

“See? No alcohol.” Wyatt laughed.

We watched him pull on his underwear and then his blue jeans. He put on his headband and then one of his signature vintage tanktops.

“Alright, let’s eat!” he said.

When we made it to the tournament, I was delighted to see that they only let 128 people sign up. Every match was single-elimination, which I appreciated because it would finish up a lot sooner. We signed in and received our lanyard passes for the day. The singles tournament winner would take home $500, and second place took home $250. If I won first place, it would be more than I would earn from a few weekends at work.

At the registration table, I saw a bearded guy overseeing the operations that made my face light up. He didn’t look too busy, as the workers at the table were handling everything well. After Darren, Wyatt, and I got our lanyards, I walked up to him.

“Hey, Jerry, how’s it going,” I said, but at first, he looked a little lost, trying to figure out my name. “I’m GordieHoward, but you can call me Gordie. I played against you two years ago at the Chicago tournament.”

He had a realization and snapped his fingers. “Gordie! What’s up, man? Oh my gosh, you look way different.”

“Yeah, well, I’m sixteen now.”

“Well, that explains that. You signed up for the tournament today?”

“You betcha. These are my friends Darren and Wyatt.”

“Yeah, I know these two troublemakers.” Jerry winked. “They’ve done tournaments through us before, and historically you guys have done well. Heh, wow, we’ve got quite the power trio here.”

“Better watch out,” Wyatt said and hazily smiled.

“Good thing I’m not playing in this one. Okay, guys, you have fun today. Thanks for comin’ out,” Jerry said and smiled.

Darren and Wyatt wandered toward the room where the matches were held. I followed behind, but I heard my name whispered. Turning around, I saw Jerry in front of me.

“Hey, I know this might be weird to bring up, but when I was at the tournament two years ago, I watched the matches go on, and I saw what happened to your brother. And, well, I even heard the news about him. I can’t imagine what that must’ve been like for someone that young. I always wanted to give you my condolences because you were one of the coolest people I met that day. So, I’m really sorry, Gordie. Thanks for coming in today, though. I’m glad you’re friends with those guys. They’re good dudes.”

I froze up. My brain stopped functioning, but I had to say something. I blurted out, “Thanks!” I turned away, but turned back around and added, “I really appreciate that.”

“Just let me know if you need anything,” Jerry said.

I nodded and ran after Wyatt and Darren, who were already in the other room. They had a six TV set up for Elite Crushers and plenty of chairs available behind them. It felt like a vintage cosmic arcade inside, except without the giant pinball and arcade games. The lighting was dim, the crowd wore all sorts of video game regalia, and the loud sounds of the Elite Crushers menu played on. I was impressed with the speed of the whole event. After an hour, we were already on round 2. Darren, Wyatt, and I were moving along smoothly. I never heard of the players we played against, but they weren’t noteworthy.

Observing the matches, I noticed one player who was head and shoulders better than anyone else he played. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous about playing him. His gamer name was Or1on.

Darren and I were watching Wyatt play some random guy, but the thoughts of Or1on were getting to me since he was playing on the TV right next to Wyatt. I nudged Darren and whispered, “Dude, this Or-1-on guy is making me nervous. He plays a mean Cyber-Skeleton.”

“It’s pronounced Orion.” Darren chuckled. “And you can totally take ‘em.”

“What makes you say that?”

“VICTORY - TOXIC-JAVELIN,” the game announced. Wyatt won his first match handily in Round 3.

“I’ve seen him before at local tournaments, and I’ve also beaten him,” Darren said.

“Yeah, but, I don’t know, Orion looks pretty good. When was the last time you played against him?”

“Uh, probably a year or two ago?”

“So it’s very likely he’s gotten better, couldn’t you say?”

“But so have you.”

“I’ve never played the guy! I don’t know what I’m up against.” I gulped. Or1on was in my bracket. I was going to play him in Round 5 if I kept winning. Fortunately for Darren and Wyatt, they wouldn’t have to play each other until around six, when only four players were left. We’d be sure to get one of them in the first or second place, which felt redeeming.

Round four came and went. We all had advanced.

Jerry stepped on stage to announce, “Let’s get on TV one, GordieHoward, and Or1on.”

For the first time during the whole tournament, I felt a rush of anxiety.

“Not to make you nervous, but look who’s here,” Darren said.

I turned around and surveyed the entrance, and a store clerk was talking to Amaya as she had just walked in. Other people in the crowd also turned to gawk at her and started to chatter amongst themselves.

Fear filled my soul, making my legs feel like cooked noodles.

“Dammit! Now I’m nervous! I don’t know if I can do this, Darren,” I said.

“You got this, bro,” Wyatt said, giving my shoulder a squeeze.

“Yeah, man, I beat this guy before. You’ll champ it out.” Darren patted me on the back, and I trudged up to the stage.

I plugged in my trusty ENControl Controller, and Or1on joined me.

It was Cyber-Skeleton vs. Golden-Bow. The Star’s Edge (my pick).

“Good game,” Or1on said. I won the first match.

“Good game,” I said. He won the second match.

I turned around and scanned the crowd behind me. Nearly everyone was watching our match, but then again, there was also a match next to us. It was hard to tell where their attention was directed, but one thing was sure. Amaya made eye contact with me. My heart plummeted.