Upside Down

I sat on the couch staring into a pair of bright blue eyes. They were surrounded by thick, dark lashes, pale white skin, and curly, dark, black hair. A light scattering of freckles decorated rosy cheeks that complimented light, pink lips. In short, she was absolutely gorgeous.

I could hear Vic and Jaime in the kitchen and Tony sighing frustratedly in the background. Apparently no one was returning his calls. The little girl in front of me, continued to gaze at me, but not my eyes. (She couldn’t be older than four of five.) Her eyes were bright with wonder and innocence and it didn’t take me very long to realize that she was staring at my tattoos.

“Do you want to touch them?” I asked calmly as I noticed her hand moving towards mine. She looked up at my face and nodded shyly. I moved so that she could reach me and she gently ran her hands over my forearm, a smile crossing her face as she did. She stood and moved closer so that she could reach my upper arm and shoulder then stopped when she got to my neck. She smiled again and began giggling. I felt a rush of feelings hit my stomach. She was just so adorable.

“I can’t reach Bree.” Tony walked back into the room and sat down on the couch opposite from me.
“So what are we going to do?” Vic asked as he and Jaime joined us in the living room.

“Keep her. There isn’t much else that we can do at this point.” Jaime knelt down next to the girl, who promptly hid behind my arm a little. “What’s your name sweetheart?”

“Tawny.” She replied meekly.

“I’m Jaime, this is Mike, my boyfriend Vic, and Mike’s boyfriend Tony, who I think you know already.” Jaime pointed to each of us as he told her our names.

“Boyfriend?” She moved out from behind my arm. “Like mommy’s boyfriend?”

“Yeah, like your mom’s boyfriend.” I explained as I tried to contain my chuckle. She gaped up at me.

“Do you kiss Uncle Tony?” I heard Vic choke on his laughter, Jaime turned away from me, trying not to die, and Tony turned beet red. I couldn’t help but smile at her.

“Yes I do.” She made a weird face.

“But he had cooties.” She turned to Tony. “You have cooties!” We all started laughing at Tony’s flustered expression. This child was pure golden comedy.

“I do not have cooties.” Tony argued.

“Yes you do!” She mocked.

“Tone, I doubt you’re going to win this. She is a girl, remember that.” Vic chuckled again. “So Miss Tawny, did you have anything that you brought with you?” I hadn’t even thought about that. Now that I think about it, she didn’t have anything with her.

“No, mommy’s boyfriend has my stuff.” She climbed up next to me on the couch, crawling under my arm. “He told mommy that she couldn’t take anything on her trip.” I glanced up at Tony who was currently face palming himself. I saw Vic’s eyes move towards mine. One silent, second long conversation later and he was nodding.

“Well Jaime and I were going to go to the store; would you like to come with us?” She nodded eagerly and jumped from the couch. She promptly grabbed Jaime’s hand, looking up at him then to Vic.

“I’m ready Uncle Vic!” She announced. Vic just laughed again.

“Alright then, let’s go.” He stood up and pulled his keys from his pocket.

“Make sure you get her a booster!” Tony called out before they shut the door. After the door was closed, he moved over and plopped next to me on the couch and leaned against me.

“What did I get us into?” He covered his face with his hands. I rubbed his arm soothingly.

“Relax babe. I know you were just trying to help a friend who was in serious need. We’ll figure this out alright? I promise.” I wrapped my arms around him loosely.

“Thanks Mike.” He tilted his head up to face me and I kissed his forehead.

“Of course love. Now come on, we need to go get the guest room ready for her.” He groaned and stood up, offering his hand to help me to my feet. We headed upstairs to go convert our game room back into a proper bedroom again. It was a short lived additive anyway.

By the time we were finished moving everything around, Vic had sent a text saying that they were heading back. He made sure to emphasize that they got a booster seat before Tony went into mama bear mode. He had his doubts, but I was sure that with his nature, we would do just fine with her.

“I just wasn’t expecting to all of a sudden become a parent.” He explained as he tucked in his side of her bed.

“Neither was I babe.” I chuckled, tossing a couple pillows at the top of her bed.

“What if she doesn’t like me?” He popped his head up above the mattress as he leaned over to grab something.

“Tony, she’s going to love you.”

“I don’t know Mike. I think she’s enthralled by you.” He stated flatly.

“Jealous?”

“Of a five year old girl? Of course not, don’t be ridiculous.” I could see the red that was tinting his ears.

“You’re a terrible liar, Tony.” He threw a pillow at me. I was about to retaliate when I heard the door open and close. “Come on.” I walked over and took his hand in mine and dragged him downstairs.

“Uncle Mike!” Tawny yelled as I came into view. “Look what I got!”

“What did you get Tawny?” Tony and I took a seat on the couch as Jaime and Tony set down the bags.

Tawny proceeded to give us a full fashion show of her new clothes. Jaime and Vic had gotten her a blue, a light green, and a red dress, four pairs of pants, two pairs of shorts, a polka dot skirt with leggings, new socks, some undies, a pair of pajamas, and seven shirts. They also got her some sandals and two new pairs of Vans. So with the pants and shirt she had now, she was pretty set as far as clothes went. Her fashion show ended with a huge yawn and sleepy eyes.

“I think it’s bedtime, sweetie.” Jaime stood and picked her up with ease, grabbing her PJs from the couch. She rubbed her eyes and held on to Jaime as he ascended the stairs. I couldn’t help but smile as they went.

“She was so cute at the store.” Vic began. “She was trying to pick out clothes for Jaime and I and insisting that she didn’t need anything.”

“She seems like a really good kid.” I added.

“Yeah, hopefully she’s not like her mom.” Tony mumbled. I wasn’t sure exactly what he meant, but with what had happened already, I wasn’t going to push the matter.

“Alright, well I’m going to go to bed. That little ball of energy wore me out.” Vic stood and headed up the stairs.

“We should go get some sleep too.” I gave Tony a kiss and pulled him up with me. He made some noise in protest but followed me anyway. We got to our room, changed into shorts and crawled into bed. Tony snuggled up close to me, falling asleep quickly. (This must be taking its toll on his emotions.) I fell asleep not long after him.

It was a few hours later when I was awakened by a noise outside in the hallway. Groggily, I sat up, trying not to wake Tony and went to see what the noise was. Tawny was standing in the bathroom, shaking slightly. I walked over towards her.

“Tawny, is everything okay?” I knelt down next to her. She had been crying.

“I-I had a b-bad dream.” She sniffled. I reached over and stroked her head.

“Shh, you’re okay now. Want to come and sleep with me and Uncle Tony?” She nodded, wiping at her eyes. I took her hand in mine and walked back into my room. Tony was sitting up, yawning as we walked in.

“Aw, what happened?” He questioned as he noticed Tawny standing next to me. Instead of answering, she crawled up onto our bed and clung to Tony. He looked up at me, slightly confused. I mouthed the words bad dream and he made an “ah” face and nodded, rubbing her back gently. I got back into bed and we all lay down. Tawny was pretty content stuck to Tony’s side so I just moved my arm so that it was over both of them. My last though before falling asleep was that I could get use to this feeling.