Chapter 1: The Great Duo Queue Gamble

My best friend and I both started duo queueing with top-ranked North American server players at the same time.

It honestly felt like jumping into a reality dating show, except our stage was a League of Legends lobby and our hearts were more invested in climbing out of Diamond IV than finding romance. We weren’t searching for soulmates—just someone who could help us escape ELO hell before the season timer ran out.

She found a top-tier Jack, I found a top-tier Will—Jack and Will, our mains, the characters we played the most.

To anyone else, it might sound like we’d hit the jackpot in some esports lottery. But American gamers know that matching up with a ringer online is as random as flipping a coin at a Friday night football game and expecting heads every time.

Later, my best friend caught Jack duo queueing with another girl behind her back.

That girl’s avatar was flashier than a county fair float. The betrayal stung, and Rachel’s face turned as red as a stop sign. It felt like classic small-town drama—just with more lag and way less eye contact.

She asked me, "I’m done. I want to break up with him, like, right now."

She hesitated first, biting her lip and fiddling with her phone, torn between anger and regret before she finally blurted it out.

I replied, "Yeah, sure. No big deal. I’m cool with whatever." But my stomach twisted, and I wondered if I was just pretending not to care.

After deleting the game, we both happily moved on.

It was almost like a ritual—deleting the app, then high-fiving over iced coffee at the corner Starbucks, promising ourselves next time, we’d find better. We toasted our iced coffees like it was New Year’s Eve, laughing too loud and ignoring the side-eye from the barista. We joked about how we’d spend our newfound free time, like normal American girls, maybe even picking up yoga or binge-watching another Netflix series instead of grinding ladder points.

But not long after, Will brought Jack to meet us in real life, after our whirlwind online romance.

Only in America do you think you’re done with someone online and then find them at your local bowling alley or, in our case, the community center’s esports club meeting. The rec room’s carpet was stained from decades of soda spills, and a faded banner for last year’s dodgeball tournament still hung over the snack table. The smell of popcorn and cheap energy drinks filled the air, and suddenly, there they were—looking less like digital legends and more like two slightly awkward guys in hoodies.

He grabbed Jack by the hoodie, looking as jittery as someone who’d just chugged three Monster Energies.

"Hurry up and say you have nothing to do with that drama queen—otherwise, you and I aren't bros!" The words tumbled out, fast and desperate, like someone trying to stop their buddy from wrecking his own car at a tailgate party.

"Dude, you’ve got a mouth—use it! Tell her what’s up!"

The tension was real, like a schoolyard standoff where nobody wanted to throw the first punch. Jack’s face flushed, his hands fidgeting with the strings on his hoodie.

"Or else you'll lose your girlfriend, and mine's about to dump me too—dude, come on..."

It was the kind of public mess that’d get you roasted on TikTok if anyone bothered to record it. I half expected someone to start chanting "Worldstar!" in the background, but we were all too stunned.