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Chapter Thirty - January 1

"And here's the Mickey Mouse pancakes for the birthday girl!"

We were at IHop and Shelby was armed with a fork in one hand and a knife in the other. Her face broke into a huge smile.

"Mickey has a BANANA nose! Bwhahahahahah!"

The waitress couldn't help but laugh. She smiled over at Molly and me.

"You are the cutest family I've ever waited on," she said.

Molly blushed; I smiled. Shelby looked up and grinned.

"They kiss a lot," she said. "It's gross." She ate Mickey's banana nose.

The morning had started off with a pile of presents on the kitchen table. It was impossible to ignore that Shelby was the birthday girl. She had come running down the stairs with a Birthday tiara and these red sunglasses with three candles poking out of the top of each frame.

"How old are you?" the waitress asked.

"I'm SIX!" Shelby said. She bounced in her seat. Then she looked back at the waitress. "I'm going to eat now, thank you."

I friggin' loved that kid. She even knew how to wave off the wait staff.

After breakfast we headed back home to grab our luggage and head to the airport. We had a flight out of Tampa that would take us to Miami. From Miami we would meet up with the other guys and head to Mexico City.

We were embarking on ten straight months of touring.

"This is going to be my second time on an airplane!" Shelby announced to the stewardess as we got on the plane.

"Did you get to meet the pilot the first time you went on an airplane?" the lady asked. Shelby's eyes widened.

"NO! And it's my BIRTHDAY!"

After the plane took off and the seatbelt light disappeared, the stewardess took Shelby up front to meet the pilot. For one second I had the irrational worry that she was going to push some red button that would send the plane crashing.

It could only happen with Shelby around.

Instead she came back about ten minutes later sporting a fancy 'wing' pin. She spent the rest of the extremely short flight talking about how she wanted to be a pilot when she grew up. I couldn't help but laugh.

Last night she had announced she wanted to be the ball that dropped on New Year's Eve.

The girl had big dreams.

By the time we landed in Miami, it was lunchtime. I was still pretty full from IHop, but Shelby spotted the McDonald's and it was all over.

"I need a Happy BIRTHDAY Meal!" she announced.

"Shelby, you just had pancakes," Molly argued.

"But we won't eat FOREVER!" she announced. "I don't know what people eat in MEXICO!"

I laughed. "She kind of has a point," I told Molly. I stood in line with her and got her a Happy Meal. I got a couple burgers and a fry...just in case. We passed Mason, Kev, and Addy. Shelby was so engrossed in finding the toy in her box that she didn't see them.

Once Shelby got her plastic Hello Kitty out of the box, she spotted the guys before I did. She ran up holding her McDonald's bag.

"IT'S MY BIRTHDAY! IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!"

"I'M SIX YEARS OLD...AND I GOT A HAPPY MEAL!"

I grabbed a fry from my bag and laughed.

"I'M ALMOST SIX! I'M ALMOST SIX!"

Mason had caught up with us. Shelby turned around.

"YOU'RE FIVE AND A HALF!"

Mason looked like she had just slapped him. "But that's close to six."

Shelby opened her box and took out her burger.

"Do you want my pickle?"

Mason smiled. "YEAH!"

"Now boarding for Flight 632, Mexico City, Mexico."

Before Shelby could pick through her bun and go pickle-diving, I took her hand, readjusted my hold on Ally's car seat, and headed onto the plane. Molly was right behind me with Joe.

I have to admit it was a little overwhelming to look around the cabin and see all of us surrounded by offspring. Once upon a time all five of us shared one bus. There was no way in hell we could even double up now.

"I want to sit by Mason!" Shelby announced.

"Shelby, I'm sure Mason wants to sit by his dad," Molly said.

"I WANNA SIT BY SHELBY!"

It took us a little rearranging, but finally they were sitting side by side. They began to scoop out their fries and rearrange them from smallest to largest. A stewardess with the patience of a saint passed out cookies.

And just like that we were on our way.

Once the seatbelt like disappeared and the fries had been devoured, I helped Shelby and Mason out of their seatbelts. One by one little Backstreet-lets began to wear out the carpet runner in the aisle. I watched Brooke and Kayleigh walk by three different times. It was like a female version of Frick and Frack. Every so often they'd stop and say something to each other, giggle, and move on.

The minds of two almost two-year-olds was frightening.

Molly and I fed Ally and Joe and I was just about ready to announce to the other guys that our first group flight was a success when I heard Mason screaming at the top of his lungs.

"DADDY!"

Mason tore passed me and dove right into Kev's section.

"I'M A GIRL! I'M A GIRL!"

Shelby almost flew by us, but Molly swooped in and grabbed her around the waist. Her face was almost as red as her hair. She was breathing hard.

"What are you talking about?" Molly asked. Shelby looked up at her. She stomped her foot in annoyance.

"Mason said someone cut off my wiener, but I told him I'm a girl!"

I think I heard Nick and Brian laugh.

"Hey Kev, I think you need to have a talk with your boy!" Nick called.

I wasn't thinking about the cute factor. There was something else that was bothering me.

"Hold it. Shelby, how did Mason find out you didn't have a wiener?" I asked suspiciously.

"We wanted to play doctor," Shelby said. She looked at me and shrugged as if it was obvious.

Now, it's not like I didn't realize that they were both little. But I remembered some of the things I did at six. I had convinced a girl to play 'choo choo' with me. My version of 'choo choo' went like this: I was the conductor and she was the tunnel. Of course, unlike Mason, I knew girls didn't have wieners. Now that I was the adult, having a boy, even one of my best friend's boys, play doctor with my Shelby was unacceptable.

"KEVIN!"

I scrambled over Molly and headed over to Kev's seat. Addy looked up at me like I was crazy. I placed an arm on his headrest and leaned in. Mason looked like he needed some therapy. Kev looked up at me in frustration.

"Your son tried to play doctor with Shelby," I said.

"Something tells me that was probably her idea," Kev said dryly.

"Girls don't think of things like that," I argued.

"That girl isn't normal," Kev said in a lowered voice.

"He obviously didn't mean anything," Kev added in a normal, albeit impatient voice. "He's only five."

"And he thinks girls have wieners!" Nick called out. I didn't need any commentary from the peanut gallery. I glared over at him. He gave me a little fingertip wave and slunk down in his seat.

"I have a wiener!" James called out. Howie groaned.

"This makes me wish we had the Black & Blue plane back," I heard Leighanne tell Bri.

"Listen," Kev said. "I'll talk to him."

I think he just wanted me to sit back down. I was kind of making a scene. Other passengers were craning their necks to make sure they didn't miss a second of the drama.

I grunted and headed back to my seat. Shelby was sitting on Molly's lap.

"I just don't know what I did wrong this time," she said. "It's my birthday!"

I had a feeling that if she had gotten a boy to play doctor with her on her sixth birthday that I was going to need a whole gun cabinet by the time she turned sixteen.

I heard Kev started to explain to Mason the difference between boys and girls. I leaned down and met Shelby's gaze eye-to-eye.

"Promise me something kiddo," I said softly. "Don't ever play doctor again, okay?"

"I promise," she whispered. She kicked the seat in front of her. "But, Mr. J?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I play pilot?"

I tried to think of any type of sexual thing that could happen by playing pilot. I drew a blank.

"That's fine with me," I assured her.

Things settled down after that. I pulled down our overhead bags and prepared for landing.

"It's going to be a long ten months," Howie said as we descended into Mexico City. I laughed.

"Something tells me we're just getting started," Nick said.

I had a feeling he was right.