“Just like the rest?” Lance asked himself. He didn’t know what he had done wrong. I guess whatever it was it was pretty bad. Shea, who had seen the whole exchange, and walked up to his table.
“What did you say to her?” Shea asked, defensively.
“I…I’m not sure…” Lance didn’t want to tell her about his confession of love. It was too embarrassing. He told Mackie that he loved her, and she ran away crying.
“Lance, you better tell me what you did to hurt her! Mackie has been hurt her whole life, and she doesn’t need to be hurt by you…especially not by you!”
“I…I told her she was beautiful, and that I think I fell in love with her tonight.”
Shea’s eyes grew large. “Oh my gosh, were those the exact words you used?” Shea knew all about Mackie’s infatuation turned love for James Lance Bass. But, she also knew that Mackenzie hoped that Lance had always loved her. The night after she had been accepted into the Miss Mississippi competition, they had stayed up all night talking. Mackie told Shea that if anything, she hoped that the transformation would go unnoticed by Lance. Unfortunately, that didn’t seem to be the case.
“Yeah, I think those were the words I used. Why is that so bad Shea? What did I do wrong?” Lance was extremely confused. He had fallen in love with Mackie. He knew because the thought of not being with her for another second was killing him. Being in her presence again…it was a feeling he just couldn’t explain. It was as if breathing had become harder now that she left the room. If that wasn’t love, he wasn’t sure what the word meant at all.
Shea saw the love in his eyes. Mackie had the same look in hers. “It’s not bad that you love her, Lance. But, what you said…I don’t know if it is my place to tell you this.” Shea politely asked JC, who had been standing next to her the whole time if she could talk to Lance alone. Josh nodded, and headed to the door, waving to his 2 friends. She took the seat that Mackenzie had occupied, and continued. “Lance, the way Mackie looks…well, it’s a fairly recent development. She had looked the same for as long as I had known her. She got taller, but that’s about it. She looked just like you remember her. Last year, she was watching the pageant, and she saw you with all those beautiful girls, and she decided that she would make herself pretty enough to be a part of it. She wanted to be noticed, for once. But, mostly, she did it for you.”
Lance stared at the girl across from him. “For me?” was the only thing that came from his mouth.
Shea nodded. “I didn’t see anything wrong with what she looked like before. But, she made up her mind and she’s so stubborn…you know that. Anyway, she cut everything bad out of her diet, exercised for hours on end, every day. And, she did it. She looks amazing, as you can see. She got involved in local pageants, and then Miss Mississippi. She hates the whole scene, but she grinned and bore it. All to get here to see you again. That part of her dream came true. The other part almost did.”
“What was the other part?” Lance asked. He felt the tears coming to his eyes. He didn’t realize everything Mackie went through just for him. ‘I never wanted her to change, though!’ Lance thought.
“She wanted you…to love her.”
Utterly bewildered, Lance yelled, “But, I DO love her Shea! I just told her that and she ran away in hysterics.” Tears began to slip from his eyes.
“Don’t cry. She wasn’t upset that you said you loved her. It was how you said it. But, I’ve told you too much already. I feel like I’m betraying her. But, talk to her…she needs you right now.” With that, Shea stood up and walked from the café, leaving Lance to ponder the night’s curious events, a stream of tears dripping off his chin.
