The Difference Between Getting and Needing

f o r t y

It could have been the diluted whiskey talking. It could have been a lapse of concentration on my behalf. It could have been that I was so used to Gus and I being married that it just felt completely normal.

For a second, I thought that maybe I didn't actually say it. The term elope came out so painstakingly slow, like the last few drops of honey oozing from the bottle, that maybe nobody understood it. Against the clashing of two hundred or so voices in the room plus the background music, it was damn near impossible to hear.

I was proven wrong when I looked around my table and saw everyone had stopped whatever they were doing to gawk at me.

Gus leaned closer to me then so his mouth was by my ear as he murmured, "I think we have to explain ourselves now."

You couldn't have paid me to squeak another word out. I was shellshocked to the core, frozen in time and too busy wishing I was dead. I had come so far by going to therapy with Gus. I was learning so much about opening up and communicating. I was getting better at it, but damnit, therapy did not prepare me for this.

Gus cleared his throat before he spoke up for both of us. "So um, obviously this isn't how we planned to tell you all... but Bayla and I eloped."

A monsoon of questions – who what where when why how – hit us in full force. I even heard a "you guys are kidding, right?" from my mom. I couldn't answer any of them.

All I managed was to raise a shaking finger in my sister's direction, my mouth parting like I wanted to say something but not a sound came out. From across the table, her bloodthirsty gaze was already fixed on me. I could see Cyclone Sutton brewing in the distance and this time, I couldn't run from it.

"We did it in Hawaii," Gus shouted over everyone, drawing them into silence and squashing their interrogation. They all listened with bated breath and beady eyes as he continued. "It was the night of the wedding when we left the reception early. It wasn't planned. We were very intoxicated when it happened. Keone took us to the chapel because we were joking about getting married and he told us he knew a guy so that's why he got involved. Next thing we knew, we were walking out of there with rings on our fingers. It's been hard, but we're happy and we've been trying to figure out a way to tell you guys ever since. We're sorry it took us so long."

He spoke so earnestly as if the story wasn't outright asinine. As if this whole thing were a rational, day-to-day occurrence. Much to my surprise, Sutton still hadn't reacted but the scorching effect of her stare had me feeling like I just took a step on the sun.

Instead, Koa was the first to say something. He shook his head incredulously and asked, "Wait, Reverend Henekai?" When Gus nodded in confirmation, his eyes lit up. "Brah, I haven't seen him in a long time! He's a great guy. You know, I thought about having him do our wedding but he only does small private ones so–"

"Why are you chitchatting right now, Koa? Did you hear what he just said?" Sutton cut him off with an impatient, frenzied shriek.

"Yes, mau loa, I heard him. Loud and clear," he smiled wryly, then added on as an afterthought, "Exactly like I'm hearing you now."

Cyclone Sutton ignored his remark. She was about to touch down and take us all with her, and it wasn't going to be pretty.

"I didn't know when I demoted Valerie from being my Maid of Honor that I was replacing her with her understudy."

At the mention of the snake, Duncan sitting next to me visibly stiffened. I peeked at him from the corner of my eye but I kept my mouth shut. Sutton must not have noticed; her verbal onslaught was set in motion and nothing could stop her.