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The plane lifted off and Emma's eyes widened as the ground fell away beneath us. I could see that fear gave way to curiosity and she looked out of the window. For a while she just looked at what we were flying over, then I saw her look back at the wings of the airplane and yelp.
“Alex, Alex,” her hand hit me repeatedly on my shoulder until I leaned over to see what she was staring at.
God fucking dammit, there was some kind of super-scotch-tape on the wing of the plane.
“I'm sure it's there just as a decoration, Em. I promise you we'll be fine. Now let's distract you with some memes,” I said as I grabbed her chin and gently turned her head to look forward.
Then I took out the big guns—the meme album in my photos app. What can I say, I am an excellent curator of memes, because for the rest of the flight Emma leaned her head against my shoulder, her eyes glued to the phone as she kept scrolling through the memes. We both knew this was stupid. This is what you did to distract kids, not full-grown adults. I knew it only worked, because Emma was grasping at straws as well and latched on to my dumb suggestion.
“Thanks, Alex,” she whispered, her voice barely audible over the hum of the plane. “I don't know what I'd do without you.”
I smiled and kissed the top of her head. “You'd probably be just fine, but I'm glad I can help.”
As the flight attendants began their service, Emma sat up a little straighter, her eyes darting around the cabin. I could see the remnants of her nervousness still lingering so I reached into my bag and pulled outa pack of gum.
“Here, chew on this,” I said, handing her a piece. “It'll help with the pressure in your ears.”
She took the gum and popped it into her mouth, chewing thoughtfully. I watched as she tentatively looked out the window again, still curious.
When the pilot announced our descent, Emma tensed up slightly, but I was quick to reassure her. “We'll be on the ground before you know it.” I murmured, giving her hand a gentle squeeze.
She took a deep breath and nodded, her eyes fixed on the horizon as the plane began its slow descent. And then the wheels touched down with a slight bump, but nothing more.
Emma rushed me all the way out of the plane.
We arrived at the hotel only to realize Lauren had booked us a single room with a double bed. She was onto us and this was her way of telling us. I guess we were really that obvious, huh? I mean, professionally we had to hide it from her, but she knew me just as well as Ryan did at this point and both of them knew I was absolutely whipped for Emma. Asking Lauren’s help for Emma’s surprise this weekend was probably the last nail in the coffin.
We settled into the hotel room and started changing into our cosplay costumes as soon as we unpacked. Emma put on her wig and spent a good half an hour doing her makeup—which looked flawless in the end—while I coordinated our badges to be dropped off at the hotel.
Emma helped me secure my own wig in place and then sat in my lap for a good fifteen minutes trying to put contacts in my eyes—I couldn’t poke my own eyes with them, I could never get the hang of them.
We walked over to the mirror by the entrance of the hotel room and looked at ourselves in the costumes. Emma was dressed up as my favorite Carry hero; who happened to be a girl sharpshooter with electrical powers, while I was dressed up as her favorite Support; a scarecrow-looking guy with a huge lantern.
It was still before noon, so we headed to the convention center which was down the street from the hotel after picking up our badges at the hotel reception.
“I still can’t believe you convinced me to do all of this,” Emma said on our walk there.
“Your costumes are amazing!” A younger girl who was standing outside the convention center shouted as we walked by.
“Thank you!” I shouted back and waved, while Emma seemed to shrink in and walk closer to me.
Once we got through the bag checks, we were inside the convention center properly. The whole place was a sensory overload. Booths lined the aisles showcasing the latest gaming gadgets and merchandise. Giant screens displayed ongoing matches, and the cheers of the crowds around the different stages erupted in bursts.
We were far from the only ones in cosplay; there were so many others in varying degrees of intricacies but one thing was the same—we were all having fun.
Our first order of business was to get to the Team Solid booth. My plan with the cosplay had worked and neither me nor Emma had been recognized by anyone. As we made our way through the convention hall, we passed the long queues for meet and greets with the special guests of the convention. When we got to thebooth the group gathered there was familiar. I knew all of them which made the introductions to Emma a lot smoother.
I walked up confidently and tapped Ryan on the shoulder. When he turned around I saw him do a double take before he recognized me. “Alex, man, you scared the shit out of me,” he said, pulling me in for a bro hug.
The rest of the group recognized me as well and I greeted them one by one. “This is Emma,” I said with a proud smile, urging her to step closer to the group. “She’s the newest addition to the Team Solid family. Lauren signed her, what, nearly two months ago now, and she’s been keeping me sane during my recovery.”
Blushing under the attention, Emma managed to smile and greet everyone, shaking hands with them and eventually getting a hug from Ryan.
“You know, Emma, you could probably go pro if you put your mind to it. I know a few of the women’s league teams who would snap you up in a heartbeat if you said you were on the market,” Ryan said to her, before she was swept up to greet the others.
Among the group were two other women, including Lisa, another NLA streamer with a reputation for being an untiltable Jungler, and Nina, who was the coach for the Team Solid academy where she coached the upcoming competitive talent.
“It’s great to finally meet you, Emma,” Lisa said, pulling her into a hug right away. “I watched your climb to Challenger every night and was a big fan. Thank you for letting me be a part of the charity stream even though I couldn’t make it. I’m organizing a little get-together at a club tomorrow night, you should totally come.”
