As most of the previous posters have noted, you'd get best results from having at least 3 players. Having reliable players is still the holy grail of PnP gaming, so if you do know someone who plays unreliably, that's as good as most of us have.
For 2 players though, depending on your needs, you may want to look at:
(1) You could use a traditional rule pen-and-paper set like Dungeons and Dragons or GURPS. Create two characters of equal strength together, and then take turns inventing small battles and puzzles for each other. It would be fairly tricky to do this without irritating each other, but it's technically possible.
(2) You could forego the role playing and settle down for some fantasy-based fun or strategy games, like the DnD-inspired card game Munchkin, Magic: the Gathering (or any other collectible card game), or maybe a 2-player variant of Risk or Settlers of Catan.
(3) You could forego the PnP requirement, and go for some multiplayer Baldurs Gate, Icewind Dale, or Neverwinter Nights games. Two computers would be required for best results. Computer games are obviously limited compared to what you can do in PnP games, but they will give you a very well balanced and in-depth role-playing scenario, and maybe give you the framework you need for some good role-playing (and you can always do your role-playing outside the game).
(4) There's a GM-free RPG system advertised
on this website, but I have never seen it until now and can't vouch for it. You might want to check out their Yahoo! group and see what people think.