The Difference Between Getting and Needing

f i f t y

"Well, it'll always be weird for me... but you have my blessing," Sutton said begrudgingly, even going as far as painting a saccharine smile on her face.

"Aw, Sutton. That's the sweetest thing you've ever said," Duncan mocked her catty comment from earlier with a spot-on impersonation of her voice. "Anyway, I can't believe you're all this shocked. I thought it was kind of predictable. Did anyone ever think Bayla and Gus would get married, out of all of us? No offense, guys."

"None taken," Gus chuckled.

"Miracles do happen, I guess," I sang as I circled the table, stopping to pat Duncan's back and remark under my breath, "Considering someone fell in love with you."

"What was that?" Duncan asked at the top of his voice, just begging for me to repeat it for our mother to hear.

"I said congrats and all the best to you two! Can we go back to Asher and his news now?" I deflected, returning to my seat between my baby brother and my own husband.

"No, please let's not," he laughed awkwardly with a shake of his head. "Can we celebrate your birthday since that's why we're here in the first place?"

I pretended to contemplate it for a moment before I ultimately gave in because any self-respecting Leo like myself wouldn't dare pass up the opportunity to be the center of attention.

From the archway that entered the kitchen emerged my grandmother, a wary look on her wrinkled face. At her side was Madelyn carrying the cookie tray they had so artfully put together.

"The cookie tray is ready... or does it need some more rearranging?" My grandmother proclaimed, an excessive amount of naivety behind her words even though we already knew she heard everything that was said. It was where my mom got her killer intuition from.

My mom laughed to herself and waved them on. "It's perfect how it is, you can bring it over. It's time for us to sing anyway." She stood up to light the candles on my cake, pushing it closer so it sat directly in front of me.

After Madelyn set the cookies down, I smiled at her across the table and asked, "Wanna help me blow out the candles?"

A toothy grin split across her face at the offer. She couldn't be at my side fast enough, dropping to the floor and crawling under the table to me. I scooted over to share my seat with her and wrapped an arm around her tiny body, resting my head on hers as my family sang to me one of the worst, most out-of-tune renditions of "Happy Birthday" I think I'd ever heard.

I was doubled over, clutching my aching stomach as my dad said, "Alright, blow 'em out and make a wish."

Madelyn sucked in a breath like her life depended on it while I could barely catch mine from laughing so hard. Once I was ready, we exhaled together, making sure every little flame was accounted for and that there wasn't a single spark left alight.

Time seemed to stop when I looked to my left at Gus. His eyes were already on me. 

Sapphire blue. Calm, glistening, just like the stone. Nothing out of the ordinary. The only color that defined us. The color I would paint us with over and over again.

Everything else became background noise then. My mom grabbing the cake to cut it. Sutton insisting she only wanted a tiny sliver, but would definitely steal half of Koa's piece. My dad snatching the candles from my mom to get the extra icing off the bottom of them. Madelyn claiming how good her wish was and how she hoped it would come true.

I couldn't say the same. I blew out the candles, but I didn't need to make a wish. I already had everything I would ever need.

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A/N - THE END.

yo... so uh... anybody got a tissue up in here???? bc oh my GOD i'm crying my damn eyes OUT!!!!! holy shit you guys!!! i never thought we'd see the end of this story but we're HERE. this is the official END of TDBGAN!!! i can't fucking believe it!!! we did the damn thing! i'm so unwell right now sorry not sorry if whatever i'm about to say doesn't make any sense. it's gonna be a long rambly mess. i'll save the pretty, poetic note for the outro.

THOUGHTS??? HOW WE FEELING??? ARE WE OKAY??? did you like how i did the ending??? is there anything we missed? anyONE we missed?? personally, i missed collin and i'm sad i didn't get to write a proper honeymoon for bayla and gus. BUT we got to tie up A LOT of loose ends and see a happy ending for everyone! it was super important for me to round things out and make sure we saw that. we dropped a lot of bombshells here and it's a lot to digest. also that "sapphire blue" line... any OG's recall that from the very first chapter??? LOL that was... so fucking long ago. but now it's tweaked bc bayla is a happy bitch for life :')

i gotta say i started loosely planning the end of this story well over a year and half ago (may 2020-ish) and it's changed a ton since then lol. there was so much i wanted to include that i just physically couldn't without it being too much of a hot mess and so THIS here is what we ended up with. i know this chapter was VERY dialogue-driven and ngl it stressed me the hell out writing it. i've been working on this mf finale for months now, chipping away at it endlessly in between work + life and as sad as i am that this story has FINALLY come to an end... i'm so damn happy with it. i owed bayla and gus and all my children a happy ass ending, and i think i delivered. 

i feel like a piece of me has been laid to rest with the end of this story, but it's also an enormous weight off my shoulders. it's been one wild exhausting hell of a ride, but MAN it's been fun. i'll miss bayla and gus more than anything, but i'll always carry them with me. i hope maybe you will too. thank you from the absolute bottom of my heart for reading. for the last time..... I LOVE YA LOTS.

xoxo, sabbbycat