The Difference Between Getting and Needing

f i f t y

"Thanks, Mom. Thank you for doing this," I said as I embraced her hug.

"Of course! Twenty-five is a big year. I wouldn't want to miss it," she smiled, pulling herself back and tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear.

"Alright now that they're here, can we eat? I'm starving," Duncan whined from where he was leaning against the island with an icy cold Stella in one hand.

I scoffed, "Sorry. We would've been here sooner but there's road work on every other street in the city."

"Don't believe her," Sutton interjected, sparing a second to shoot me a glare while she garnished a bowl of dip. "Traffic is always her excuse and it's always a lie."

Duncan hummed in thought, a knowing smirk on his face. "Well, maybe if you guys moved out of Philly, you could be living that sweet suburb life like the rest of us."

"And be right around the corner from all you people? I think I'll wait a little while longer," I jokingly grimaced. I had to ignore the rolling of my mom's eyes at my comment as I let her go and hugged my older brother.

Deep down, she had to know I was kidding. On the other hand, maybe not so much.

"Where's your other half?" I asked Duncan, realizing that although his daughter was here with him, there was another certain brown-haired beauty not currently present. I stole a peek at Sutton to see if my question stirred up any reaction from her, but to no avail.

"Today's her mom's birthday actually, so she's with her parents for the day," he told me after taking another swig from his beer. "She said to say happy birthday and that she's sorry she's missing this."

"That's nice of her." I smiled, at both the pleasantry from the wench formerly known as the snake and how far we had come. Things weren't tremendously better, but they weren't worse either so that was progress in itself.

I was sure it'd always be weird for Sutton – her best friend and her brother falling in love. She had learned to deal with it over time, as we all did, though she never quite kicked the habit of picking at the stitches and tearing the wound open again. There would always be a part of her that refused to accept it.

She and Valerie had been complicated from the start. An ongoing rivalry with a complex dynamic that put even Gus and me to shame. That didn't mean their friendship was indestructible, it just meant that after the Duncan bombshell had been dropped, they had to pick through the rubble to save any redeeming part of their bizarre bond. They had to learn how to be friends again.

Sutton knew Valerie was in it for the long haul, and Valerie knew that if she was going to have Sutton as a potential sister-in-law one day, it was best to be on her good side. 

Rightfully so. We were all too familiar with the trauma of surviving Cyclone Sutton's wrath. That shit stuck with you for life.

My dad was sitting in the breakfast nook, a very focused Madelyn drawing at his side while a very patient Asher watched. As I came around the table to greet my dad, he whispered to me that my niece was working on a birthday card for me and that I shouldn't disturb her just yet, so I respected her artistic wishes.

The back door burst open and in walked Koa, donned in a tie-dye t-shirt, shorts, and one of my mom's floral-printed aprons. He was holding a gigantic aluminum pan with a hunk of meat inside of it, his forehead shiny from the scalding temperature outside and the weight he was bearing in his arms.

"Bayla! Gus! You're here just in time. The pig is officially done," he announced with that beaming face of his.

Gus gasped at the sight while mid-fist bump with Asher. "You made Kalua Pig?" He exclaimed.