The knock on the door startled Lance from his self-imposed stupor. He glanced at the clock and noticed it was past one. There were times he hated having another job with clients, and telephone calls and paperwork. He couldn’t just go out and have fun after a show anymore.

Sometimes it was hard being him.

He pushed himself off the hotel room bed and felt his back tingle where it had been pressed against the wall for two hours. He cringed as he heard his spine pop. Popping bones were one of his pet peeves.

The carpet felt soft underneath his sock-covered feet as he walked to the innocuously-colored beige door. His feet and legs tingled from lack of circulation. 

Lance looked through the peephole. He didn’t know who would be knocking on his door at one in the morning, but he saw white skin, blue eyes, and red hair falling down to jacket-covered shoulders. He blinked and opened the door, really only wondering one thing: Where were his bodyguards?

"Can I help you?" his voice was tired, restrained.

"Yes," the girl said, flashing a smile. She pulled a magazine out of the pocket of her heavy winter coat and pushed it towards Lance. "I wanted to give you this."

As he took it, his eyes immediately went to the name of the magazine. It was relatively respectable. He took the glossy magazine and stared at the cover. The girl on the front was the girl standing in front of him. He looked at the name in the teaser. 

Alexis Morton. 

Morton. Alexis. Lexis. Lexi.

"Lexi?" Lance asked, the girl in front of him suddenly looking familiar. "Lexi Morton?"

"So you do remember," Lexi said as she leaned against the door jam. "I wasn’t so sure the magazine would jog your memory. I’m was so memorable to you, after all."

"Of course I remember you," Lance said, trying to sound indignant. "You were in my… that one class in high school… you know?"

"Ms. Burt," Lexi said. "English. Fourth period. And Geometry, sixth period, Mr. Markham. There were a few more, too."

"Yeah," Lance said slowly, nodding. "I remember now."

Lexi smirked. "Sure you do, hun."

Lance nodded again in what he hoped was a convincing manner. He did remember her. He did. He just wasn’t sure why she was standing outside of his room. "So…" he said.

"So," Lexi said. Her smile stretched her lips into her cheeks and showed off her teeth. "You’re probably wondering why I dropped by."

Lance continued nodding, just speeding up the motion. "Um, yeah."

"So glad you asked," Lexi said. Her right index finger landed heavily on the magazine Lance still held in his hand. "I had to show you that."

Lance held up the magazine again. There was a dull sheen from the yellow lights in his hotel room reflecting off of the page. "Alexis Morton," Lance read. He saw the guitar resting in Lexi’s lap. "You sing?"

Lexi nodded. "Sing, play. That’s more than you do."

"I play," Lance said, because he could pick out ‘Heart and Soul’ on the piano with the best of them. "I take it you’re good?"

"That would be the reason I’m on the cover of the magazine." Lexi rolled her eyes. "You should know. You’ve been on enough."

"Well, congratulations," Lance said. He narrowed his brow, unsure of what to do.  After a few moments of silence he said, "Listen, I’d love to chat, but I was just getting ready to go to bed, you know, being that it’s late and all."

"Oh, you aren’t getting away from me yet, Bass," she said as she stepped into the room so Lance couldn’t shut her out in the hallway. "It took me long enough to find a way up here without going through those idiots at the front desk."

Lance left the door open, suddenly nervous. "Okay."

"Do you know why I came to show you this?" Lexi asked. She ran a hand through her hair. The soft waves of red returned to their original position.

"Um, no," Lance said. "Why’d you come to show me this?"

"Because you’re the reason I’m here," Lexi said. "It’s all you, James."

Lance swallowed, his adams apple bobbing. "I’m glad I could be an inspiration for you."

"You weren’t my inspiration, Bass," Lexi said. "I did this so I could show you I was someone, too."

"Well, it looks like you are," Lance said. "I’ll have to pick up your CD."

"Don’t flatter me." Lexi shook her head in a condescending manner, as if she were speaking down to him. "You didn’t even know I existed until five minutes ago."

"I was only at high school for two years," Lance said. "And I wasn’t even there very much, you know."

"I was in your kindergarten class," Lexi said. "And first, and second, and third… you get the picture."

"There were a lot of people in those classes," he said. He paused, feeling lame. He didn’t like that feeling. "Listen, it was great of you to drop by…"

"I’m not done yet," Lexi said. "I had the worst crush on you for three years and you didn’t even know I existed. I tried to get you to see me, but you never gave me the time of day."

"You had a crush on me?" Lance said. "I was a geek back then."

"You’re more of one now," Lexi said. "All that pop shit. You know what you did to make me like you?"

"What?" Lance asked.

"You smiled at me," Lexi said. "You bumped into me, made me drop my book on the ground, then you bent over to pick it up, and you smiled as you handed it back to me. From that day on I was gone and you never gave me another glance."

"I wasn’t there a lot—" Lance repeated.

"You were there enough," Lexi said. "I followed your career in the beginning, hoping you’d come back some day and recognize me. Give me another smile. That’s what I wanted."

"I’m sorry," Lance said.

"Oh you are now," Lexi said. "I vowed that I’d make it. That I’d be the one to go back to the reunions and have people come up and say wow, you did good. I said I’d go back and tell you that you missed out."

"It sounds like you are doing well," Lance said. "Real well."

"Believe me, I am," Lexi said. "This is the life I’ve been waiting for."

"Good," Lance said. "I’m happy for you." He didn’t know what else to say. He looked at the woman standing by the bed. "Listen, Lexi, I am really tired, but if you want to go get coffee sometime…"

Lexi pursed her lips, then smiled, and shook her head. "No, I don’t. You had all sorts of opportunities to get to know me and you didn’t take them. Quite frankly, I don’t really care to get to know you now."

Lance felt his eyes widen. A girl didn’t want to go out to coffee with him, and not only didn’t want to, but had no desire to spend time with him. It had been a long time since that had happened.

Lexi walked past him, to the still open door. "I’ll see you at the Grammy’s, Bass. May the best Mississippian win."

Lance stood in silence for a few moments as the she left, and he assumed, walked down the hall, before he closed the door and then walked back into his room, back to the bed and sat down, leaning against the wall and crossing his legs. He picked up the papers again and began reading through them.

His mind wasn’t on FreeLance, though, and he looked back down at the magazine lying next to him on the bed, only it’s corner showing under the contracts and papers. He pulled it out and studied the cover and flipped through the magazine until he saw her face across the two-page spread. He reached for the notepad lying on the nightstand and started his ‘to do’ list for the next day.

Buy Lexi’s CD.

Maybe she’d be good. Maybe he’d see her around at awards shows. Maybe he’d get her to go out to coffee with him.

Maybe.