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“What about at games? Cameras cut to families, don’t they?” Emily asked and my eyes widened as I turned to Kodi.
“I mean, sometimes if they score.” She shrugged. “But we could also seat you somewhere not in the friends and family section if you wanted.”
Emily nodded in relief, though considering she was some New York model or something, I was kind of surprised she was worried about that. But maybe her move down her was about escaping that life.
“I don’t know if I’m super concerned about just being seen at a game. But … how many games do y’all go to during the year?”
“Every one I can,” Kodi said, while Rosa shrugged and said, “However many I feel like.”
“Helpful.”
“Look,” Rosa said. “Anyone who’s keeping track of how many games you’re going to is an asshole and not worth planning your life around. You got your own life, a kid, normal people won’t expect you to be at every game.”
“That’s good, I guess. But also … what do I even do at a game? I don’t know any of the rules, is there a way I’d out myself as an idiot?”
“Honestly, just sit with us and wait for Kodi to react and copy her. Eventually you’ll catch the rhythm of it. That’s how I don’t look stupid when I’ve been on my phone and not paying attention.”
“I’ve looked up some rules, but I don’t really understand offsides,” Emily asked and we all looked to Kodi, Rosa included.
“Okay, so—”
“Guys— I mean gals,” Brooker cut in, sliding over to the island and crashing into it with his elbows slamming onto the granite. “Do any of you know what Fruits Basket is?”
“What?” I asked.
“Oh, that’s an anime Meghan likes. She watched it a lot when we were in college, but I don’t know what it’s about.”
“Fuck,” Brooker hissed. “Carter asked what her favorite anime was and she said that and …” He snapped his fingers as brain worked. “Fullmetal Alchemist. And Carter just said, ‘Damn.’ And I can’t tell if that was a good damn or a bad one.”
“Brooker, leave Carter alone. He doesn’t need you pushing him into a relationship,” Kodi chastised.
“I just wanna see my boy happy.”
“I’m sure Meghan’s happy to have someone to talk about anime with,” Emily chimed in. “Especially a handsome guy like Carter who doesn’t have that gatekeeper energy like most guys who share her nerdy hobbies.”
“Is anime nerdy or dorky?” Brooker asked and Emily’s brow furrowed.
“I don’t think I know the difference between those two words.”
As those three continued chatting about Carter and Meghan, Rosa slid her arm through mine and pulled me closer.
“I’m not gonna lie to you, being married to a fútball player sucks sometimes. I miss him when he’s at away games or at training camps for the Ecuador team. And he misses out on shit too. He can’t always go to graduations or weddings. And when he’s struggling with work shit, I can’t do much to help him, like advice wise. But I wouldn’t say there’re more struggles than a relationship with normal jobs, just drastically different kinds of struggles.”
“That’s … a bit reassuring I guess.” I rested my head on the top of hers and sighed.
“It’ll be all right. You’ve got me and Kodi and Emily. We can start a wives of major league soccer players club, maybe even get our own show.”
“Ew, absolutely not.”
“What?” she whined. “It could be fun. We could be petty little bitches and make money.”
“Nope, no way,” I said, giggling. It was the first time I’d turned down someone like this, in good humor. And at this point, I wasn’t surprised to find I enjoyed it.
The Simmer
Niall
“They gave us way too much,” Leah said as I started unloading the car. When I looked back at the packed trunk, I couldn’t help but think that they’d been rather tamed. Everything was practical and they coordinated to not give duplicates of anything. Though Sosa did get us Dastards onesies in every size the team store had.
