Monday morning, Amaya sent out an email to all of the administrators in the Elite Crushers tournament circuit. On Sunday night after we devoured our pizza we started working on the email. Although Amaya had a much better way with words, so she crafted majority of the document and had us there to keep us in the loop.
Elite Crushers administration:
I’m sending out this email in support of Wyatt Reynolds in joining my team for the Miami tournament. After his display in Atlanta a while ago, I understand the decision to ban him from all singles and doubles tournaments. It wasn’t specified however that he couldn’t play in the Quadruples tournament. Furthermore I would like to add that Wyatt has sought out help and has received the proper care he deserves. By denying him the right to enter back in the tournament, you aren’t giving him a second chance when his behavior should be rewarded for his months of complete sobriety. I can assure you that he is full of regret and I am willing to step in and offer my own responsibility for his actions from here on out. Hold me accountable if you feel it necessary, but the least you could do is let him perform in the Miami Invitational.
They replied after a day of anxious waiting with an email that said:
Amaya:
While we appreciate your input and all that you have done for the Elite Crushers tournament development, we cannot oblige your request since Wyatt Reynolds has displayed obscene behavior publicly in front of a mass audience that a lot of younger people were exposed to. If this news became a national story, we would be criticized for allowing him to come back. We are sorry we don’t have better news for you at this time, please look into finding another partner that would be eligible for the Miami Invitational. Thank you and we look forward to seeing you there.
From their Amaya took the bold step of posting both of those letters on her social media pages. She tagged Wyatt and asked for support from her fans and the Elite Crushers community.
“We must rally behind this wonderful person who has taken the steps to make a permanent change for the better. He should be given another chance and show that there is hope for all substance addicts out there that they can still quit, recover, and lead a life of success because their dreams are still meaningful.”
Amaya’s message on Twitter and Instagram became her most reposted and liked text she had ever pushed out. Ten thousand more people started following Wyatt, showering his social media platform with love and support. An army of online fans signed a petition to get Wyatt back in the tournament and 50,000 people signed it and some even took a few steps beyond and wrote out to the Elite Crushers tournament administrators saying they would boycott if they banned Wyatt. 75K even threw behind his support and said he would not participate in the Miami Invitational.
I couldn’t believe the amount of attention Wyatt was receiving. Let alone the response from 75K.
The following week on Monday Amaya received an email from the administrators that said:
Our office is located in New York City. Please feel free to have Wyatt meet with us whether in person or a video conference call soon. Thank you.
Amaya texted that to our group chat.
“I’m sorry guys but this is something I have to do alone. Let’s do the video conference. Thank you Amaya so much for making it all possible!” Wyatt responded.
As the week came along Wyatt told us that he was going to have the video conference on Friday and that he would want to meet up with us at Amaya’s house in the evening. Even though Darren and I both had to work, we agreed to go there later to catch up.
In the depths of my brain there was this negative feeling taunting me throughout the week. It kept snarling, “Wyatt isn’t going to make it to the tournament. There ain’t a snowball’s chance in hell he gets in. After that humiliating display he put on? Not to mention that lunatic hippie is going to talk to a bunch of administrators with his stupid mustache, long flowing hair, and a tank top?”
“Wyatt, be sure you wear a nice button up shirt during the video conference call,” I texted, to try and silent the sinister voice in my head. It doesn’t matter anyways, you four jackasses are going to lose no matter if Wyatt plays or not and it’s going to be your fault, Gordie, because you suck. You’re a shell of a player that your brother was. You couldn’t even breathe properly in front of 75K during the top 32 round.
As soon as Darren and I punched out on Friday we hightailed it to Amaya’s house in his car. Wyatt was already there by the time we showed up and Amaya had ordered yet another pizza for the occasion which was waiting in the oven. Seeing that Wyatt was in his signature tank top, I felt my stomach drop.
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“Let’s eat first,” Wyatt said as we loaded up our plates with a broccoli and garlic Chicago style pizza. “It went well, it went really well.” Wyatt chuckled during his intermission between slice two and three.
“You’re ready to do a deep dive? I don’t know about Amaya and Gordie, but I have a million questions,” Darren said.
Wyatt shrugged. “I don’t know about that. Don’t worry, Gordie I followed your advice and I wore a nice button up shirt that Darren had in his closet.”
“Did I say you could borrow that?” Darren smirked.
“Fuck you.” Wyatt cracked up. “So anyways, we start the video conference call and immediately, right off the bat they said:
‘Wyatt. We don’t want to take up too much of your time. First we’d like to thank you for joining us today. Secondly we wanted to tell you that you are allowed to join Amaya for her team in Miami. The third thing we wanted to say was sorry for being so daft earlier in this process. The outpour of support from the Elite Crushers community definitely helped see the error of our ways. There was another thing that happened and we would like to let our director of operations tell you himself.’
“So then this man came up, dressed in a real nice suit and tie, older gentleman, and he sat in front of the computer screen in their conference room. It was Lloyd Hernandez. The head dawg.
‘Hello, Wyatt. Thank you for joining us today. I just wanted to step in and congratulate your sobriety. I myself am a recovered alcoholic. Nothing makes me happier than to see you doing better and allowing you another chance to join the Elite Crushers tournament. We look forward to seeing you in Miami.’
“And that was pretty much the end of the conversation.”
Darren, Amaya, and I all screamed at once and applauded. Wyatt was grinning from ear to ear and he bowed his head.
“I even received more great news this week.” Wyatt’s eyes had a layer of mist over them. “I’m going to have a sponsor, it’s going to be Hydraphin Controllers!” He bit his lower lip but his mouth ripped into a smile and a lone tear slid down his face.
“Wyatt! That’s amazing!” I hollered.
“I’ll just have to play with Hydraphin Controllers now which suuuucks,” Wyatt groaned.
“Not necessarily,” Amaya said. “While sure, I agree that their controllers aren’t up to par with ENControl, I think that you can have them design a controller that fits your needs and who knows, they might sell that controller based on your likeness. Get in touch with them fast to see if they might be able to get one to you in time for Miami.”
The whole month passed by and it felt like a lifetime. Every day was too long. Time ticked as if it was submerged in molasses. Whenever I played Elite Crushers, that was the only instance where time felt normal again, which I practiced and played until my fingers hurt. Although as soon as I felt any slight pain or discomfort I took a break. The concern of carpal tunnel jabbed at me with a mental pitchfork.
The night I bought my ticket I told my parents I had to talk with them at the dining room table.
“What’s this about, Gordie?” my dad asked.
“Well, you remember my friend Amaya, Darren, and Wyatt. Amaya came in second place this last tournament here in Chicago and then she won the doubles tournament with Darren. Because of all of this, Amaya has to assemble a team for a special Miami invitational which will take place in just a three weeks. I will be gone for the week and unfortunately I will miss school, however this is an opportunity for me to win $250,000 if we come in first place. The good news though? Just for qualifying in the tournament I get paid...” I started chuckling. “$10,000! I’m still in disbelief, but I really wanted to tell you both that I can make living doing this, and as much as you make fun of it or underestimate it, I plan on coming back with some change in my pocket.”
Both of my parents studied my face for a moment.
“Gordie, are you serious about this?” my dad said.
“Yeah, I’m serious about all of it, no jokes no pranks, this is for real.”
“You already have the $10,000?” my mom asked.
“That’s another thing I wanted to show you,” I slid my phone out of my pocket and pulled up a screenshot of my bank account. “This is the money I’ve saved up for working at the grocery store, along with the 10,000 I received for the Miami tournament.”
“Wow, I’m impressed. $14,000 for a kid your age? Not bad, Gordie. Not bad at all!” My mom grinned.
“Look I just wanted to prove a point. I know you two have hated how much I have devoted towards video games, but I’ve been able to take all the time and double what I’ve made after two years in a grocery store in just one weekend playing a video game. Obviously there’s a lot of practice involved, but if things go well, I have a shot at winning 250,000.”
My dad nodded and raised his eyebrows, his forehead creased. “Gordie, are we able to attend?”
“What?” my jaw dropped and my eyes expanded.
“Can mom and I come out to support you? As long as it doesn’t make you nervous of course.”
“Yeah of course you guys can come, I would love nothing more actually,” my voice became distorted from my sinuses preparing for a load of tears. I couldn’t look to my left even though I felt Michael’s presence there at the table with me, I didn’t want to turn only to see that nothing was there.
“What’s the matter, Gordie?” My mom’s voice, inflection, and care made the tears burst out with a harder velocity.
“Is it about Michael?” my dad asked.
Words were impossible to form, so I just nodded.
Both my mom and dad stood up and walked over to wrap their arms around me in an awkward over the shoulder hug as I sat there trembling.
***
Thursday night we arrived in Miami and as soon as we stepped off the airplane I couldn’t believe how much warmer the air was. Amaya had a hotel as per usual and Darren, Wyatt, and I stayed with her.
“I’m hungry for some dinner, let’s see with the Miami pizza game is like out here.” Wyatt snickered.
“I’m down,” I said.
“Count me in as well,” Darren said.
“Can we ever get something else?” Amaya said.
“But you like pizza, right?” Wyatt said.
“I just feel like we have it all the time, that’s all.”
“Come on, just this one night, I’ve been craving it and I want to see what it’s like out here. Let’s get a little flavor of Miami.” Wyatt bounced his eyebrows a few times and grinned ear-to-ear.