I buckled my seatbelt and held my books tight. We were going to the library! I had finished my books two days ago, but dad and papa were both busy and Gil's grandpa's car broke down.
Gil was sitting next to me, trying to tell papa about how the t-rex was the best dinosaur. Papa was nodding along, but I don't think he really understood how a t-rex would beat a stegosaurus in a dinosaur fight.
My book was about a prince who went on an adventure in a kingdom full of dragons. It was a good book, but not as good as the one I read last week. It was about a bunch of forest animals that had to defeat an evil hunter.
I loved going to the library with Gil. He'd tell me random facts from whatever book he picked out. I would show him all the pictures from mine. Gil was a better reader than me because he was a whole year older. The books he read had less pictures and sometimes he even read books from the grown-up section.
When we finally got there, me and Gil ran inside. Papa called after us, but I didn't hear what he said. I was too busy dropping off my old book and heading straight to the kid's section. Gil was right behind me. He was headed to the nonfiction shelf, but I was headed to the adventure one.
What book should I read? The shelf was taller than me, but there was a little stool next to me, so I was good. I stepped on the stool and randomly grabbed a book. It had a picture of a mouse with a little sword on the front, but the title had a big word in it that I couldn't read. I put it back and grabbed another one. It had a picture of a cat with a little backpack walking through a scary looking forest. The title was easy to read, so I knew it wasn't too hard.
I walked over to the reading table to start on my book. Gilbert wasn't there, which was weird. Gil usually picked out a book fast and was already waiting for me. I saw him staring really hard at one of the nonfiction shelves. Oh well, he would join me when he was done.
The words were kinda tiny, so each page of the cat book took me a while. After I had read three pages, Gil still hadn't come back. I looked around and saw him asking a librarian something. He and the librarian walked off towards the grown-up section. What kind of book was Gil looking for? He could usually find a book on whatever thing he wanted. He read books on everything, like spies and birds and volcanoes.
A minute later he came back with a few books that were each at least a finger thick. I waved at him and pointed to the seat next to me. He smiled and walked over towards me, but then he stopped. He got a really determined look on his face and sat at a table over in the grown-up section. Why wasn't he sitting with me?
I got up and walked over to where he was.
"Hey Gil. Why are you sitting over here? I saved you a seat and everything!" I sat down next to him, but he scooted over to the next seat. He laid all over the books he had so that I couldn't see what they were about.
"You have to go away Matt. These books are a secret." He said.
"A secret from me? But we're best friends! Why would you keep secrets from me?" We told each other everything! I even told him about that time I put all of Dad's ties in the toilet and blamed it on Al. Best friends always told each other everything. Did Gilbert not want to be my best friend anymore?
"It's a surprise for you! If I tell you it'll ruin it. Please Mattie. It'll be a good surprise." He looked like he really wanted to tell me.
"Okay." I grumbled. I was still sad that I wouldn't get to sit with him, but I understood why I couldn't. I trudged back to the kid's section, dragging my feet and hunching my shoulders so that Gil knew that I was sad about it.
I was mad at Gil. It had been three whole days since we went to the library and he hadn't played with me at all. When we got off the school bus he went straight to his house and started doing his chores. He never did his chores, especially not for three whole days straight. But now he wasn't doing anything but his chores. Whenever I went over to play, his grandpa would tell me that he was busy.
I was sitting by the front window when I saw Gil run up to my house. He was smiling real big and looked really excited. He started knocking on the door really hard (Papa disabled the doorbell a while ago because Gil had been ringing it too much). Dad yelled from across the house for me to answer the door. I didn't want to answer it, but I did.
"Go away Gil. I'm angry at you." I said as I peeked out from behind the door.
"Why Mattie?" He looked sad, which was weird because Gilbert usually doesn't get sad. The only time I ever saw him sad before was when his grandpa told him that the Power Rangers weren't real (which was totally a lie).
"Because you've been ignoring me!" I pouted.
"No I haven't! I've been doing my all of my chores because Grandpa said that if I did he would buy me two things from the dollar store. The first thing was a coloring book, but the second thing was this!" Gil dug around in his pocket before he pulled out a plastic ring that had a pretty purple plastic gem on it.
"See Mattie! We can get married now!" Gil was smiling really big. I was confused. Didn't you have to be a grown up to get married?
"Married? But Gil, were kids, we can't get married."
"No Mattie, the book I got from the library said that you can get married when you're young if your parents give you permission. I asked Grandpa if I could get married and he laughed, but I think that means yes. And I asked your papa yesterday when he was in the garden and he said yes. So Mattie, let's get married!" He got on one knee and held up the ring.
I thought about it for a second. Didn't married people have to live together? That would be pretty cool because it would be like a never ending sleepover. And didn't married people have to kiss? I had never kissed anyone except for when I kiss Dad and Papa on the cheeks. I wouldn't mind kissing Gil on the cheek, but I don't think kissing on the mouth would be fun though.
"Okay. But does this mean I have to wear a dress?"
"I'm not sure. I think we can both wear suits, but you can wear a dress if you want." He put the ring on my finger and it was too big, but that's okay. It was still a really nice ring. I grabbed his hand and ran off to tell dad that I was getting married. I'm sure he would be fine with it.
We had our wedding in the backyard. I wore Papa's suit from when he got married and Gil wore his red Power Ranger costume (he said it was the nicest thing he owned). Al was my best man and Ludwig was Gil's. Al wanted to be the priest but Papa said that we should let Dad be the priest because he had done it once for a friend's wedding. All the neighborhood kids came, although Lovi didn't want to come but his grandpa made him. Me and papa made cupcakes because I like cupcakes better than real cakes because they're tiny and cute.
After we said our vows, Dad said we had to kiss. Gil was too embarrassed to kiss me on the mouth, so he kissed me on the cheek instead (which I was secretly glad for).
Dad said that we have to get married again when we're grown up, but that for now just one wedding was okay. I don't mind having to marry Gil again, I would marry him every day if I had to (even if half the reason was to have some more cupcakes).
Author's note: Matt is 6, Gil is 7. You actually have to be 16 to get married with parental permission in the US, but Gil chose to ignore that fact.
Thanks for reading!