“Finally learned to move those hips, huh James?”

The voice from beside him was so familiar, he didn’t even have to look over to see who it was. He knew. He had left that voice back in Clinton, and only heard it in his dreams of his old, normal life. The words that flowed from her lips were soft, melodic. He had always loved her voice. Turning to greet his old best friend, the thoughts flew from his mind. This was not the little girl he hugged in the airport 5 years earlier.

"Mackie, is that you?”

The girl standing in front of him was ravishing. She had a perfect body, well toned, lightly tanned. The white shorts she had on made her perfect legs seem a million miles long and the navy blue shirt clung to her firm stomach and round breasts. ‘Woah, Bass, get a hold of yourself!’ he thought. He looked up at her face, the same beautiful face, her blue eyes shining. Her long stringy hair had been cut to frame her cheeks, and her braces had been removed, leaving a row of perfect white teeth. She was breathtaking, to say the least.

“Yeah James, its me. It’s been a while.”

Lance smiled sadly. “Too long, Mackie. You are all grown up.” ‘Not to mention you are a full-blown hottie’ ran through his mind, and he immediately admonished himself silently.

Mackenzie laughed. “Yeah, that tends to happen.” Her voice became soft as she asked the one thing she had wondered more than anything else in the last five years. “Why haven’t you called James? Did I do something wrong?”

Lance wished he had a better excuse; the looks of hurt and worry on Mackie’s face made his heart contract painfully. “I am so sorry Macks, I really am. Things in the group just got so crazy, and I had my address book stolen in Germany…there were just so many things going on. I know that is the worst excuse ever, but it’s the truth.” He wanted to cry, he felt so bad about all the concern he had caused her over the last few years.

Mackenzie smiled again, although not as brightly as before. “I figured that was probably what happened. I have been following the group forever it seems like. Congratulations on the new album, by the way. It is amazing.”

“You’re a fan? Why haven’t you ever come to one of our shows?” Lance asked.

“I have. 4 or 5 times, actually.” She smiled sheepishly as his eyes got wide.

“How come you have never tried to see me? I would have loved to hang out with you.” He thought of all the time they could’ve caught up on, all the things they could have done together.

“You aren’t really an easy man to track down. Plus…well, I used to be kind of angry about the whole situation…you know, you not calling and everything. I thought…well, I guess I thought I wasn’t good enough for you anymore.” She cast her eyes at the ground.

“Mackie, you know that’s not true. I talk about you all the time, just ask the guys. I would have been thrilled to get to talk to you, to see you again.” ‘Not to mention to touch you, to kiss you, to…STOP!’ His mind was heading in directions that they just shouldn’t have been. She was his best friend; at least, she had been at one point. He decided to change the subject. “So, what are you doing here?” The look Mackie gave him was one of confusion, as if he should have somehow known. Her words were captured by the escalating music, and he missed them. “HUH?” Lance shouted.

Mackenzie lean closer to him, and placed her lips by his ear. “I’m Miss Mississippi, James.”