Upside Down

When I woke the next morning, Tawny wasn’t there. I sat up quickly, looking around the room, but she wasn’t in the room at all. That’s when I noticed that Tony was also gone. I took a deep breath and calmed my rapidly beating heart. Stretching, I got out of bed, pulled on the closest shirt, one of Tony’s, and went downstairs.

Tawny was sitting at the coffee table, a bowl of cereal in front of her, and what looked like the Price Is Right on the TV. Was it already that late in the morning? And was she really watching a game show instead of cartoons? Tony was in the kitchen with Vic making breakfast.

“Good morning Mike.” Vic greeted as I walked in, turning and waving a spatula.

“Morning.” I walked over and kissed Tony’s cheek. “Why didn’t you wake me up babe? You gave me a slight heart attack when I couldn’t find Tawny.”

“You looked so peaceful, I couldn’t.” He chuckled. “That and Tawny told me no.”

“Dude, she’s already got you wrapped around her tiny little finger.” Vic joked as he walked out, probably to wake Jaime.

“So,” I started. “The Price Is Right?”

“She refused to watch cartoons.”

“What?”

“I know. Anyway, eat your food.” He turned and handed me a plate with scrambled eggs and chirizo, bacon, a hashbrown, and a piece of toast. If I didn’t know him well enough, I’d think he was trying to make me fat.

“Thank you.” I took my plate and one other to the table as Jaime walked in, moving to kiss Vic before he took a seat across from me.

“She is just too much. Her eyes are glued to Drew Carrey.” Jaime commented.

“As long as she’s happy.” Tony brought the other two plates over and we all sat down to eat.

After breakfast, Jaime and Vic took off, claiming to have errands that they needed to run. I was pretty sure they were just going out for a date. They rarely ever had to go do errands. Tony had to head up to the store to work on some stuff for his clothing line today. So that left me to watch Tawny.

We were currently sitting on the couch watching Home Alone. I’m pretty sure she was the only person I knew besides Jack who could quote the whole movie. I just kicked back and relaxed as she got engrossed in it.

I must have dozed off while watching the movie. I awoke on the couch, a little groggy, and a terrible sound was echoing through my house. Justin Beiber. Tawny was dancing around the living room singing along. Albeit she was adorable, but that didn’t change the fact that something had to be done about her taste in music.

“Tawny, sweetie.” She spun around and stopped dancing.

“What Uncle Mike?” She skipped over, stopping in front of the couch.

“Why are you listening to that?”

“That’s what mommy use to listen to.” Hey eyes depicted her confusion. “You don’t like Justin?”

“No.” Her faced formed into a small, confused frown.

“Then what do you like?”

“Do you want to listen to the music that me and your uncles make?” Calling the guys uncles was a little weird still, but she was determined to refer to us that way.

“Yeah!” She jumped up and down as I got up from the couch and walked over to the stereo. I grabbed one of our CDs and popped it in.

Two hours later, Tawny was running around the living room yelling jumbled lyrics from our music, Sleeping With Sirens, Memphis May Fire, Of Mice & Men, and Bring Me The Horizon. I was watching her from the kitchen, laughing as I fixed her lunch. What I was really looking forward to was hearing the guys’ reactions when they got home.

“My love for you was bulletproof, but you’re the one who shot me!” She came running into the kitchen and pretended to be holding a gun. “Pew, pew!”

“Ah!” I clutched my chest and sank down to my knees. “You got me.” She giggled and ran away.
“Tawny Lynne, come back here. Your sandwich is ready.”

“Uncle Mike, you’re dead, you can’t talk!” She poked her head around the corner.

“I’m invincible.”

“Like Superman?”

“No, like Harry Potter.” She giggled again and sat at the table.

Vic and Jaime got home about an hour later. They dropped a few bags off by the front door and joined me in the living room. I guess they really did go run errands. From what I could see, they had gotten quite a lot of stuff from different places.

“Where’s Tawny?” Vic asked as he sat down. Jaime had gone into the kitchen and came back with a few sodas.

“Taking a nap. She spent all morning dancing around the house.” I answered as I took my drink.

“Vic and I went to a few stores and got her some toys and some stuff for her room.” Jaime sat down next to Vic.

“Oh that’s cool. The last thing we need is a bored child while we’re touring.”

“Yeah, and it’s not like we can just leave her with someone.” Vic added. “Plus having a kid on tour might be fun.” Jaime and I both nodded in agreement.

“Is Tony still up North?” Jaime inquired.

“Mhmm. He said that he would be leaving the store at about four.”

“Maybe we’re just having too much fun!” Vic and Jaime both looked up towards the stairs.
“Tawny’s awake.” I chuckled.

“You did not.” Jaime turned back to me, laughing lightly.

“Oh I so did.”

“I am so proud to call you my brother.” Vic smiled.

“You make me feel low!” Tawny came walking down the stairs. “Don’t make me- Uncle Vic! Uncle Jaime!” She ran over and jumped in between them on the couch. “Do you guys really throw your guitars?”

“Tawny, where did you see that?” Vic chuckled.

“On here.” She pulled out an iPhone.

“Where did this come from?” Jaime took it from her hand and unlocked it.

“Mommy gave it to me.” Jaime glanced at me and turned the screen. There were at least six calls from Tony’s number. Tawny had Bree’s phone.

“Tawny, why do you have your mom’s phone?” I asked, taking it from Jaime. She got this weird look on her face, like she was scared or something.

“Am… am I in trouble.” Her eyes began to water.

“No, sweetie. We just want to know, that’s all.” Vic pulled her up into his lap and she clung to his neck. He began to rub her back lightly.

“Mommy said to keep it.” She sniffled. “She said that with this, she can talk to me.” Vic looked up at me and I sighed, running a hand through my hair. Now we knew that something was really wrong. No parent leaves their iPhone with their child when they know how to get a hold of the people they’re with. Things were starting to look really bad, and I didn’t think I wanted to know just how bad things might get in the near future.