Gimme Everything You Got - Iva-Marie Palmer Page 0,22
sport. Guess it makes sense they got a girls’ team going.”
It wasn’t the exact sentiment Michael had expressed, but it was in the same family. “It’s pretty tough, actually,” I said, even though I’d only had the one tryout and assumed at the moment that that was as hard as soccer would get.
“Oh yeah, I’m sure it’s just like the gridiron.” Dad chuckled lightly and put down his beer. He leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. I looked at the TV, watching as the quarterback got mowed over. I didn’t want to get mowed over. But was that because getting mowed over was something for guys to do and not girls? Or was not wanting to get mowed over universal?
“Our coach is a guy, and he’s in really good shape,” I said, thinking this fact would legitimize a girls’ team. Justifying the existence of a girls’ soccer team suddenly felt harder than the push-ups had been.
“Poor guy,” my dad said. A set of wavy lines skittered over the screen. “Dammit,” he said. “Reception’s for shit in this condo.”
His frustration was satisfying. I’d been nice about his stupid harvest wedding. He could be nice about soccer, even if he thought it was dumb.
Polly walked in and set a tray of cheese cubes and salami, a can of Pringles, and a bowl of what looked like lumpy cream cheese on the table. “The roast is going to take a little longer than I thought, and I don’t want you to starve, so I whipped up some snacks. The Jewel had fresh clam dip today, so don’t give me any credit!”
My dad and I both mumbled thank-yous and looked at the clam dip like it was a bowl of worms. Polly was humming as she sashayed out of the room, her blond curls bouncing. We reached for the same slice of salami and then pulled our hands back. “Go ahead,” my dad said, like I was some random kid waiting in line at a buffet. I took it and chewed slowly and he did the same while we sat mostly silent as the Bears gave up a touchdown and Polly sang “Chapel of Love” softly in the kitchen.
Six
Exactly one good thing came out of the Polly-and-Dad wedding-to-be, and it wasn’t that I learned there are several shades of peach. It was that after Polly and I had cleaned up the dishes from her enormous dinner and we’d eaten her homemade cream puffs and we’d all sat down to watch Mary—which was Mary Tyler Moore’s variety show that wasn’t as good as The Mary Tyler Moore Show and definitely not as good as All in the Family but that Polly seemed to like, and what could I say when it wasn’t my condo or my TV—she saw me lifting the cover of an issue of Cosmo that was on the side table and she told me, “Oh, take it. I’m so busy with this.” She held up a gargantuan Today’s Bride magazine like it was a trophy.
So I took Cosmo home and couldn’t even be all that mad at Mom when she asked if I was upset she didn’t tip me off about the wedding, because I was desperate to read an article called “How You Can End Up Turning a Man Off When You’re Trying to Turn Him On.” The article started with stories about women who couldn’t get second dates because they hadn’t asked a guy enough questions or complimented his car, but a box next to it was titled “Seductive Moves He’ll Find Irresistible.” I stopped reading the main article. The moves sounded perfect, and I liked the introduction even more:
Waiting for that man to wake up and realize you’d like a date? It’s the ’70s, sexy! Ask him yourself! Or, if you’re really wanting him to make the first move, give him a nudge in the right direction with these tricks that signal you’re ready to say YES.
I knew Bobby wasn’t actually going to ask me out . . . but couldn’t these ideas translate to helping me get his attention at practice?
I called Candace. It was a little late and I worried Mr. Trillo wouldn’t let me talk to her, but Candace picked up on the first ring. When I said, “Hey!” she answered with an “Oh, hi.”
“Um, were you expecting someone else?”
“I thought you were Reggie. What’s up?”
I couldn’t go right from disappointing her with my not-Reggie-ness to asking about a guy, so I grabbed for