The week before the tournament, I felt like a nervous wreck. Not because of the New York City trip at all. It was actually about the Sunday, just a few days before we left.

My parents agreed to have Darren, Amaya, and Wyatt over for dinner.

They wanted to sit down and get to know them on a personal level. I knew Darren and Amaya would be on their best behavior, but thinking about Wyatt and his ways made me shake with anxiety.

Since I stayed the night at Darren's house on Saturday, I was going to drive all of us to my house on Sunday for dinner. Amaya came over Sunday afternoon wearing a vibrant red and orange floral dress.

"Whoa, you didn't have to get this dressed up," I said as the three of us were standing in Darren's game room, Wyatt was in the bathroom.

"I know you guys are used to seeing me wear baggy sweatshirts, acid wash jeans, and normcore stuff, but I can dress up for nice occasions," she said.

“But this really isn’t a nice oc––“

"Wait till you get a look at this guy," Wyatt said from the other room. He spun around from the doorway and flashed a pose a professional wrestler would make. "Well, what do you think?" Wyatt had a dark blue suit and a paisley tie that matched. He wore a white button-up shirt and matching dark blue pants.

"What the hell is this? This isn't an interview. We are just eating dinner with my parents. None of you need to dress up. Darren looks perfect in his flannel."

"Oh, I was actually planning on changing into something a little nicer," Darren said.

"Why? Why are we all getting dressed up? I'm just in a T-shirt and jeans."

Wyatt put his hand on my shoulder. "Gord. You've met my parents. You met Darren's mom, who was kept a secret from you, we've even met Amaya's parents when they came to visit her in Chicago, and they took us all out to eat."

"Yeah, but we were just dressed in normal street clothes. I feel like there wasn't as much pressure for that. We ate dinner at Lou Malnati's Pizza, a pizza chain famous in Chicago," I said.

"You take that back! Lou Malnati's is not just a pizza chain!" Amaya snapped.

"Look, I love their pizza just as much as the next guy, not saying anything is wrong with them or their place. It's just, I feel like the circumstances weren't all that different."

Wyatt still had his hand on my shoulder. "Gordie, tonight's a big deal whether you admit it or not. And we are here for you, buddy."

At the dinner table, everyone had a smile on their face. My dad made his family famous meatloaf recipe with a sweet tomato glaze and savory meat underneath. We also had garlic mashed potatoes, brown gravy, and grilled asparagus. We all inhaled our meals.

The conversations were filled with the standard surface questions like 'where did you go to school?' 'What did you study?' 'what do your parents do for a living?' When that question reached Darren, I had a mild panic attack. I felt like we prepared for every topic to be discussed, but how did we forget about his mom’s profession?

My eyes were laser focused on Darren's face. Analyzing every micro-expression in my mind, I wondered if my parents could tell he didn't want to answer the question. I told them all not to lie. Honesty is the best policy.

"Well, my dad isn't involved in my life at all, but my mom does pretty well as a model, so we're able to stay in the area okay, but it helps to have me working too," Darren said. He technically didn't lie. Nice one, Darren.

I could tell that my parents were most intrigued by Amaya and her story. Living in Chicago, coming from Washington, and making a career out of being a professional player had my parents on the edge of their seats. They asked her way more questions than they asked Darren or Wyatt.

When my parents asked Wyatt what he did after he graduated college, he said, "I'm just living at home still. Been able to win some money at local tournaments with Elite Crushers. Amaya here thinks I have a shot at being something special at the game, so I might be able to make it my career, but we'll see at the New York tournament this upcoming weekend. But, also, honestly, I smoked a lotta weed and drank a bunch after I graduated. I'm getting much better now, though. I don't really do all that stuff anymore, Gordie especially doesn't do that stuff, and no one else here at the table does unless you two smoke and drink.” Wyatt pointed at my parents, and I grimaced.

It could have been better or not mentioned at all. Either way, I was embarrassed and felt Wyatt had overshared.

"That's alright, Wyatt. I was an alcoholic after I graduated college. Glad to hear you're doing better now," my mom said to him.

Whoa, I didn't know that.

"And I used to smoke a ton of marijuana in college and after graduating. Those days are long gone, but it's not abnormal to still find your way after finishing up at college. Hopefully, the video game endeavors continue to go well for you,” my dad said.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

“Right on, Mr. and Mrs. Ross. I appreciate that a lot,” Wyatt said.

The rest of the conversation was easy going and more fun stories were shared between everyone. I was dazed.

I drove Darren, Amaya, and Wyatt back to Darren's house around 8 PM. Darren sat up in the front seat next to me.

"Gordie, man, your parents are really cool. I'm glad they had us over," Wyatt said.

"Yeah, it was a great night. Thank you guys for coming over. We'll have to do it again soon. My parents kept saying that they wanted to and that you three are welcome over whenever, so that's an excellent sign. I know they're still iffy about me playing as much Crushers as I do, but I think they're starting to understand better."

"Your parents are stellar cooks, too," Amaya said.

"You guys have no idea how big of a deal it is that I'll be going to New York for the first time ever. Especially with their permission and how everything transpired, I couldn't be more excited."

When we flew from Chicago to New York and took a cab to the hotel, none of it felt real. I kept pinching myself, trying to wake myself from the dream, but it was reality. I was worried we would have to pay the cab fare and the ticker continued to go up and up. It was unbelievable to me that the cab price was hitting the hundreds from JFK to lower Manhattan.

"It's okay, Gordie. This ride was covered by one of my sponsors, don't worry about it," Amaya said.

"Is it this expensive to travel around NYC? I don't think I'm gonna make it. I didn't plan for—"

"Gordie, it's alright. We're going to take the subway trains to get everywhere. Just like back at home, it'll be much cheaper. Trust me, you'll be able to afford it. If not, I can help if you're in a jam."

My eyes were glued to the outside of the window. Chicago always felt like a big city, but New York seemed way larger. All of the skyscrapers and old buildings had me in a trance. I didn't want the car ride to end.

Arriving at the hotel, we stepped out and had bellhop service take care of all of our luggage. Amaya had an incredible suite with two bedrooms and a massive living room with a beautiful view of upper Manhattan. The Empire State building was visible on the horizon.

"I think I could look at this for hours," Darren said to me while shaking his head. "Unbelievable. I can't believe we're here. Part of me felt against it because I'd rather be working and saving money, but… I've never been here before, and it's amazing."

"Yeah, this view is incredible. I don't even want to think about how much this room costs. We have to take pictures. My parents are gonna freak out when they see that we received the hook-up," I said.

Wyatt approached us, gazing out the window. "What's happenin' Broseph Stalin's? I'm not sure if there's anything you guys want to do in particular, but Amaya said she has some spots for us to check out. She was talking to me about it when we were at the terminal. I still can't believe her sponsors gave her first-class seats."

I shrugged. "I can believe it. Her sponsors paid for this room and the cab ride over here. It pays to be in the top eight, man."

"Yeah, I guess so. You guys want to get dinner at Lil' Italy? I'm already getting kinda hungry, gotta get used to this Eastern Time Zone bullshit," Wyatt said.

The three of us laughed; Amaya finished unpacking and joined us in the living room. "You guys ready for some dinner?" she asked.

Darren, Wyatt, and I followed Amaya's lead on everything. Navigating the city was similar to Chicago, but it took some adjustment. Amaya showed us how to buy subway tickets and read the map. We hopped on a train and took it to Little Italy, where we moseyed along as it was dusk until we finally decided to stop at a random restaurant. All the options looked amazing; not one place stood out from the other. The patios were crowded; we certainly didn't beat the rush. The four of us landed on a spot where the sidewalk patio doubled the size of the interior restaurant, but the windows were wide open and the garage doors were rolled up. Hardly any separation from the interior and the outdoor patio. The menu was written in Italian and English, with many dishes I had never heard of before.

"I got to tell you guys, I'm pretty nervous about tomorrow," Amaya said. "It's my first time back at a tournament since Chicago, and I am now back to where I was when I started, all on my own. For the past two years, I had that security blanket with Dayzees, but now it's gone. Not that it was easy, but it was still a challenge facing other opponents, even with him as my teammate, but this will be a lot harder now. More people are involved in the game, I'm coming out of the shadows, and the press will be all over me. It's just very stressful; I don't know what to do. It's been hard to fall asleep the past few days. Part of me wonders if I should keep doing this to myself?"

None of us had a clue what to say.

Was the great Amaya thinking about retiring already?

Fortunately, Darren stepped up to the plate. "I understand this must be one of the most stressful moments of your life, and I can't imagine what that's like, but I've found that talking about it helps. So that's good you let us know, but honestly, what also helps is not thinking about the thing that stresses you out. I know it's a lot easier said than done, but try and think about how much fun we'll have here in New York City. Think of the places you want to show us. We will still go to the tournament and do that whole song and dance. But, it might be good for you to view this as a vacation instead of a work trip, try and trick your mind into framing this experience differently."

"Darren over here, where did you learn to be, fuckin' old ass man sage? +10 to wisdom after that spiel, huh?" Wyatt joked, and Amaya shrieked with laughter, to everyone's delight. Wyatt gave me a wink.

"I'm so glad you guys are here," Amaya said as her chuckling faded. "That's a good idea, though, Darren. I'll keep that in mind."

"Just think about how we're about to devour some amazing Italian food and that we're going to have a good night hanging out just as we would if we were in Chicago. We’ll live in the moment.” Darren smiled at Amaya.