The Difference Between Getting and Needing

f i f t y

"Lord, help me," my mom uttered under her breath, shaking her head.

"I'm sorry... what? Since when?" I decided to chime in since no one else was addressing Asher's news. I turned to him sitting quietly next to me, but his head was hanging low like he was too ashamed to look at any of us, his hands folded in his lap and all.

His muffled response came after a hefty sigh. "Since May."

"May?" I squawked in disbelief. "Who is she? Why didn't you tell us?"

"Because you guys are so dramatic!" His head jerked up at his hysterical exclamation, a frenzied look in his widened blue eyes. I flinched because I wasn't sure if I'd ever heard Asher's voice get so loud, and when he noticed, he grunted in frustration. "I'm sorry, but it's true. You all exaggerate the shit out of any shred of news in this family. Sorry for the poor choice of words, Mom." She let out a passive-aggressive huff without taking her concentration away from transporting the cake successfully to the table in one piece. Asher went on, "I didn't want to say anything if it wasn't going anywhere. I met her at school, she's a dance major, that's that. You said to make an announcement"–he gestured to our father who was stunned silent–"so I thought I'd just blurt mine out and get it over with."

This was headed in the same direction as the night of my dad's ceremony where we all aired out our dirty laundry. When I accidentally told everyone that Gus and I eloped. When Duncan revealed his romantic entanglement with Valerie. And when Asher spilled that he drank all the booze in the hotel room. Talk about a hell of a scandalous night.

"Am I the only one shocked by this?" I glanced around the table at my family. "This is Asher we're talking about. This is the first time I've ever heard the word 'girlfriend' come out of his mouth, am I wrong?" I shot him a sideways glance just to confirm that statement, and he gave me a small nod in return. I looked across at Sutton who was still standing at her seat, then to Duncan slumped in his chair. "I mean yeah, you guys haven't made your announcements yet but this is huge! We should be excited for him and you're all just sitting there like–"

"We're having a baby!" Sutton spastically blabbed.

I thought I knew where I was going with that little heroic monologue. Obviously, I no longer did.

Her delivery, both abrupt and staggering, left us all to react in our own ways. My mom froze in place as she reached the table at her empty spot next to my sister, her face as white as the frosting on my birthday cake that she was still carrying. Gus happened to be taking a sip from his beer which he nearly spat out. Koa exhaled like this wasn't how he planned this would happen but he no longer had control. Asher gasped, my dad had a coughing fit, Duncan didn't even bat an eye.

I was the only one to speak, again.

"What the fuck?" Was the age-appropriate question to come flying out of my mouth.

Sutton wasn't fazed. Rather than acknowledge what the hell just happened, she sent Duncan a grin so smug it should've come with a warrant. She propped a hand on her hip and snarkily replied, "Can you top that?"

Like I said before, Duncan took shit from no one. I'd gone my whole life watching my two older siblings square up time and time again, and you couldn't underestimate either one of them. They each had their strengths – Sutton knew how to light a fire, but Duncan could put them right out.

He sat up in his chair, lips pursed and narrowed gaze aimed straight at our sister, like a hunter targeting his prey. A single, challenging eyebrow lifted. I swore we collectively stopped breathing as if we were going to miss his retaliation.

"I'm gonna ask Valerie to marry me."

The words rolled off his tongue, casual and calculating, squashing Sutton's gloating moment.