This day turned out much differently than Marcus expected.
He had only met Jess mere hours ago, at least in person.
For months, they had been corresponding back and forth via online chatroom, when Jess inquired about his user ID "Sureshooter", and Marcus casually expressed a love for the first-person shooter game "Gunner's Valor".
This simple admission intrigued Jess, who also admitted to having spent countless hours on the game and was one of the best players in her regional lobby. This piqued Marcus's curiosity as well. He asked her if she would like to hop on the server and play head-to-head sometimes.
Jess agreed, and play head-to-head they would. For several months they traded victories and were stalemated at 20 wins apiece. Occasionally they would team up against other players. And when they do they were unstoppable, fielding a perfect 25-0 record.
Then Jess made a most unusual request- she wanted to meet up in person.
Marcus originally had no plans to initiate contact in the real world. After all, "Jess" could be anybody- probably a man in real life.
But he turned out to be completely wrong, and glad for it.