Upside Down

Over the next few weeks we adjusted to our new life. It was pretty weird having a six year old running around our house, singing our songs and cleaning up after us. (No, seriously, we can’t even leave a cup out without her putting it in the dishwasher.) Considering everything that Tony had told me about Bree, I was very surprised at how well Tawny behaved.

Today was the day before we were supposed to leave for tour and we were spending the day shopping around the mall. Tawny was loving all of the different shops and pulled us from one to the other. How someone so small had so much energy, I will never understand. God forbid we ever get her hyped up on sugar or something.

We had been here for about an hour and she was still dragging us into everywhere that caught her attention. I was pretty sure that we would have bought her anything that she wanted, but she only ever wanted to look. I had to convince her that it was okay for us to buy her a portable game system, explaining how long and boring the drives could get. She, however, was thoroughly convinced that she would be fine without it. We got it anyway.

“So Tawny, where do you want to go next?” Tony asked. “Tawny?” He repeated when she didn’t answer. We turned around. “Guys, where’s Tawny?” Tony’s voice was panicked. I looked around and she wasn’t behind us.

“She was right here a second ago.” Jaime explained, looking through the groups of people.

“Then where is she now?” I questioned, jumping up onto a ledge to get a better view.

“Oh my god! We lost a six year old in the mall!” Tony was officially freaking out.

“Babe, calm down.” I jumped down and grabbed his shoulders. “We’ll find her.”

“Mike’s right Tone.” Vic agreed. “Now let’s split up so we can cover more ground.” We nodded and all four of us split up.

I went back the way we came, hoping that maybe she had gotten distracted by something in one of the shops. I checked every corner of everywhere we past, finding nothing. I was sure that I had checked this floor twice before I went down to the second.

Half an hour had past and I was on my way over to the security station. As I was approaching, I heard someone yelling at me.

“Uncle Mike!” I turned just in time to catch the small body that was launched at me.

“Tawny!” I held her tightly to me. “Where on earth have you been?” I held her against my hip so I could see her face.

“I can answer that.” A familiar female voice offered.

“You know what,” I began as I looked up. “I’m not even surprised to see you.” She chuckled.

“Now is that any way to greet a friend?” She stepped towards me.

“It’s good to see you-“

“Tawny!” I turned to see Tony rushing over. He took her from me and hugged her tightly. “I’m so glad you’re safe. Oh, hello Taylor… Taylor?”

“Why hello yourself Tony.” She chuckled again. “Now, will you please explain how you guys added such a lovely girl to your family and neglected to tell me?” She was staring at me.

“Hey, I called you three times and you never answered.” I defended.

“What number did you call Michael?”

“Austin’s.” She rolled her eyes.

“Mike, how many times do I have to tell you that we weren’t together?” She shook her head. “I was working on a project with him, that’s all.”

“Sure Taylor.” Vic’s voice came from behind us. He and Jaime joined our group.

“Are we ever not going to run into you in random places?” Jaime asked.

“Hey, be nice to her.” Tawny pouted. “She’s nice.” Jaime held his hands up defensively.

“Thank you, Tawny.” Tawny smiled brightly at Taylor.

“So Tay,” I began. “Why are you here in San Diego?”

“I came down to get a couple prints from Adam and to pick up the camera he ordered for me.”

“What happened to yours?” Vic questioned.

“Austin tripped and bumped me and I fell with it.” She shrugged. “Anyway, I have a plane to catch so I’ll be seeing you guys. Tawny, don’t go running off anymore okay?”

“I won’t.” She promised.

“Later guys.” Taylor winked and walked off in the other direction.

“She scares me.” Jaime announced. We all laughed at his comment.

“Come on guys, we have packing to do.” Tony carried Tawny and we headed back towards our car.

We got home that afternoon and finished up the last of our packing. Tawny was in bed by nine and we weren’t far behind her, having to get up at five the next morning. I wasn’t sure why we were leaving so early seeing as our next show was two days from now in Arizona, but whatever. I was curious to see how she reacted to being on tour. As far as we could tell, she would be fine, but you never can know for sure.

The next morning proved to be a bit of a hassle. I mean, have you ever tried getting a six year old to get up and move at five in the morning? Yeah, I didn’t think so. Anyway, we got Tawny down and into the bus before we loaded up all of the remaining equipment. When we left, she was sitting on the couch, trying to stay awake. By the time we got back in, she had fallen asleep again. I was already up and awake, so I picked her up and laid her down in my bunk so she could sleep.

“So did I tell you that Kellin’s bringing Cope with him?” Vic asked as I walked back into the front lounge.

“Really?” I took a seat at the kitchenette table. “That’s awesome. I’m sure Tawny will love her.”

“Cope’s already one, right?” Tony asked as he sat on the couch.

“Yeah, I’m sure that they’ll get along.” I answered. “Tawny likes cute things and Copeland is definitely a cutie.”

“So how did Kellin take the news?” Jaime asked Vic.

“He was pretty confused at first, but he said that he’ll help out in any way that he can during tour.” Vic replied. “And Matty said he has no problem watching the girls since he’s tagging along with the guys from Sirens.”

“So we have a baby sitter?” Tony chuckled. “Matty’s a good guy.” We all agreed. I guess this shouldn’t be too bad, maybe even easy.

“This should be a cake walk.” Jaime finished. Oh, if only we knew how wrong those words would turn out to be…