"No wait." I say, stopping him from standing.
"I thought you were ready."
"I am, I mean, maybe, I don't know." I sigh covering my face with my hands. "What place lets two fourteen year olds to get married?"
"Ask Hype. Probably lied about her age or something; maybe she got married in some state that lets you get married if the woman is pregnant," Jasper states, rubbing his tired eyes.
"No, no, no." I hurry. "No, I am not pretending to be pregnant."
"No, I mean I'm just stating that a few states like, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, and Oklahoma allow pregnant teens or teens who have already had a child to get married without parental consent."
"So, where do you want to get married?" I ask uncertainly.
"Not here" Jasper trails off, "somewhere very far from New York."
"Well, we could-"I start.
"We can walk from Central Park to Prospect in Brooklyn, then take however many trolleys to Maryland right? Yes, good plan." He whispers excitedly.
"Or we could walk to Grand Central and it could take us to wherever and…" I trail off. "How long will we be gone?"
"A few weeks, maybe a month or so," he smiles, kissing my cheek.
"Okay, let's go," I smile.
"So how exactly are we getting there? We aren't technically rich," Jasper states as I help him up.
"Two words: Daddy's wallet." I state, "it's what Elsie and I bring home so, I should get at least half, then I've saved up a little for myself which is like a dollar maybe. Then Dad has a savings thing for me for when we could actually pay to go to school but that is never going to happen, so all that adds up to maybe fifteen dollars?"
"I have a few dimes if that helps," he sighs, fingering a few coins in his pockets.
"Great, let's go," I smile, heading to my bedroom to shove clothes and my little money box into my newspaper bag, then run back into the kitchen, taking my dad's wallet from behind the cookie jar, like he needs it anyways. The moment I close the door and lock it, we start running hand in hand towards central park, putting in as much distance as we can away from everyone we know. Thought Race through my mind until we run out of breath, then right as we know it, we crash into Sketch and Davey, knocking Sketch unstable.
"Sorry Sketch," I say, helping her up, her face less red as she sees us.
"So where are you guys off to in such a hurry?" Davey asks as he rubs his temple.
"Oh you know, were going to go get married, see you in a week," Jasper smiles as we stride forward.
"Don't tell anyone until we get back ok?" I ask.
"Hey now," Davey says, stopping us before we take another step. "What prompted this so quickly?"
"What?" Jasper asks.
"Nothing, come on," I say, tugging him along.
"Now wait a minute," Sketch speculates. "So you don't even know why you're getting married? Does your Dad know this?"
"Don't even bring it up," I laugh lightly, turning the other direction.
"Now let's not go crazy," Davey pauses.
"We'll go crazy on our wedding night I'll tell you that," I say, daydreaming about a dress.
"Can't you guys wait a little?" Davey suggests.
"Hype never waited," I reply smugly.
"Hype…I honestly have no idea why Hype got married at fourteen…" Davey reasons, at least he isn't stuttering.
"Exactly, Hype got married at fourteen and I always tell Elsie she needs a model so Hype's going to be our model," I smile, waving my skirt in the moonlight.
"Can we do anything to stop you?" Sketch whispers.
"Can't you just at least be happy for us?" I snap.
"No, just wait a few weeks or something," Davey explains.
"No, just wait a few weeks or something," I mimic.
"You could get married here in Central Park in a few weeks in front of the other newsies like we did," Sketch suggest as I laugh.
"No way, not here are you out of your mind?" I smile. "Come on Jasper, we're wasting time." We say goodbye to Sketch and Davey as they roll their eyes playfully at us. We don't care though this is possibly yet to be the best thing we've ever done.
"Okay," I say a little while later as I try to read a poorly drawn map of Manhattan and the surrounding boroughs. "So where are we going exactly?"
"Maryland." Jasper smiles, holding me as he turns the map around, "I know how to get there and we will never get there as long as you hold the map that way; unless you want to get married in Canada or something."
"So where exactly do you want to get married, outside or in a steeple or what?" I ask, shoving the map into the tiny space in my bag and stepping on the train.
"Steeple, then I don't know, we get married, and we come back." Jasper says, shrugging his shoulders.
"Honeymoon, we can't forget that" I smile.
"Not a long one, remember, you still live with your Dad and your sister, but I do have a slight surprise for you when we get back, we actually past it on our way to the park." He says, kissing my cheek as we look out a window, seeing the underground lights light up everywhere.
"Really what is it?" I ask, jumping up in down.
"I said it was a surprise, so hold your horses." He smiles leading to the bed. We never shared anything before besides food and kisses so this will be a new experience, I think. We just sit there for a while, not saying anything and getting used to the fact that we ran away without leaving a trace.
"Jasper what did we do?" I ask silently.
"Let's not focus on what we did do and focus on what we are going to do, Ella, we're getting married," he smiles, shaking me a little. "So what did you bring anyways?" I swing my feet over the bed side and bring back my bag, taking the contents out all at once: a necklace that reminds me of Elsie, Dad's wallet, a nightgown and a few days' worth of clothes. His eyes get big as he sees everything.
"Hey Jasper, I'm scarred, we've never done this before." I whisper into his chest.
"Hey now," he replies smoothly, "forget the risk, take the fall. If it's what you want, it's worth it all."