Across the Miles (12 page)

“Ummm... crap. Sorry. I didn't mean
girlfriend...” Liam stammered, pulling away from Rose in
embarrassment.

“You didn't?”

“Well, I did. I just- I'm sorry I just
assumed. I haven't even asked you...” Liam started babbling,
nervous that Rose would reject him. He seriously hoped that he
hadn't screwed everything up.

“So ask me,” Rose replied, as if it was the
most obvious thing in the world. Liam was shocked.

“What?”

“Ask me to be your girlfriend, Liam. I
promise that if you do I'll say yes,” Rose winked, pulling Liam
close again, resuming the slow, intimate dance that they had just
been doing.

Liam smiled brightly at this.

“Okay. Ummm, well... Rose Moore. I love you.
You're the most amazing person I've ever met and I would love
nothing more than for you to be my girlfriend.”

“Yes, Liam Walker, I would love to be your
girlfriend,” Rose responded, sealing the deal with a kiss.

“Mmm... I'm happy.” Liam stated, eventually
pulling away from the kiss, continuing the slow dance with his
girlfriend. His
girlfriend.
Yeah, he liked the sound of
that.

“Me too.” Rose replied.

“Can we just stay like this forever?” Liam
asked

“We said that we would stay like this forever
the other night when we were laying in bed, too. You can't have
both. You'll have to pick one.”

“Well that's no fair. I want it all,” Liam
pouted.

“Well I already have it all.”

“You do?”

“I have you, don't I? That's all I'll ever
want.” Rose replied, smiling up at Liam. Liam spun Rose again, but
this time when he pulled her back, he placed a kiss on the top of
her head.

They continued to dance some more, content
with silence. After a few minutes, Rose questioned, jokingly,
“So... when do you start showing me off?”

Liam pondered ideas silently for a minute,
before finally replying with the one thing he had been dying to do
again since that night almost a month ago.

“Sing with me?” Liam asked Rose.

“What, right now? I don't know this song,”
Rose questioned, confused at Liam's request.

Liam laughed.

“No. At the show in LA. It's the last show,
and I want you to sing with me. Not for the whole show, or
anything. I think the fans might kill me if I did that. But sing at
least one song with me.”

“I would love to, Liam. But we haven't even
practiced anything together.”

“We sing together all the time on the tour
bus! And we sang that song together a month ago without any
practice and it was perfect. Besides, we can always practice all
day tomorrow before my show.”

“Oh, all right. Fine. But only for you.
Because I love you.”

“I love you, too”

“Let's not go back to the bus tonight,” Rose
suggested suddenly, not wanting to leave her boyfriend's arms.

“What? Where do you suggest we go
instead?”

“Nowhere. Let's just stay here. Let's just
dance the night away. You said you wanted to stay here forever,
right? Well, I can't give you forever, but I can give you the
night.”

“Not that I don't love this idea, but what
about sleep? We need sleep.”

“Coffee. There's a 24/7 coffee shop right
down the street. When we get tired, we'll go get coffee. Until
then, I'm currently running off of the adrenaline caused by being
with you. So can you please just continue to hold me tight and
dance with me?”

Liam chuckled at his girlfriend's craziness,
but couldn't refuse to dance with this beautiful woman in his arms
all night.

“Fine. But when you're dead tired tomorrow,
don't blame me. We still have to practice that song at some point
too, remember,” Liam responding, trying to be somewhat
practical.

“It will all be worth it. Trust me.”

Trust me... that was something Liam could
surely do. He had never trusted anyone in his life more than he
trusted Rose Moore. So he held on to Rose even tighter and
continued to dance with her until the early hours of morning.

On their way back to the bus, at around five
in the morning, they decided to hit up that coffee shop. As they
were waiting on their coffees to be made, Rose said suddenly,

“You know, Liam... I was reluctant to be with
you. I didn't want to just throw myself around all for a summer
romance. But this is so much more than that. I'm not throwing
myself around with you. You matter to me. And you make me feel like
I matter, too. I'm so happy that we're together. ”

“Me too.”

And Liam meant that with all of his heart. He
completely agreed with Rose. This wasn't just some summer romance.
He would be with Rose no matter what, even if it meant rearranging
his whole life.

But wait. There's a thought. Yeah... that
might actually work. Oh boy. Liam had some phone calls to make when
he got back to LA.

Chapter 15

When Liam and Rose woke up after a long
night's sleep following the show in San Francisco, they were
halfway to LA. They still had four more hours, including traffic,
until they would be getting off the tour bus. But neither of them
minded. They were perfectly happy to spend time together on the
bus

“So, what do you want to do, today? We're
stuck on the tour bus for a little while longer, and then I have to
start setting up for the show. Sorry I won't have time to show you
around,” Liam said

“Oh, no worries. I'll see it when I come to
visit you.”

Liam smiled at this.

“How about we watch a Disney movie?” Liam
suggested

Rose was tempted to say “again?” but
refrained, not wanting Liam to think that she didn't love every
second she spent with him, even if a lot of that time was spent
watching Disney movies. Rose found it endearing. She loved that
Liam still had that childish behavior left in him. So, instead, she
said, “Sounds great. Mulan or The Little Mermaid?”

“You know me so well,” Liam faked swooning.
“How about both? Then we can practice that duet. Actually, on
second thought, we should probably just watch one, so we can have
more time to work on the song... Mulan it is!” Liam replied,
getting up to grab the movie and place it into the dvd player.

“Perfect. I'll go get the popcorn.”

Rose left the room and headed to the kitchen.
It might sound strange, but she was going to miss this tour bus. It
had started to feel like home to her, as crazy as that was. But
then again, maybe it was just Liam who made it feel like home. Rose
was sure that no matter where she was, if Liam was by her side, she
would feel at home.

Liam appeared to be thinking the same thing,
because the instant Rose came back with the popcorn, Liam pulled
her down onto the couch and snuggled close to her, wrapping his
arms around her and laying his head on Rose's shoulder.

When the movie ended, Liam went and grabbed
his guitar so that they could practice their duet.

“Any ideas of what we should sing?” Rose
asked.

“Not a clue. Something happy. Something that
fits into our lives. Every song I've sung for you so far describes
exactly how I feel about you. I don't want this one to be any
different.”

“You know what... why don't we write
something together?” Rose suggested.

Liam quickly agreed, and after about two
hours of working on the song together, they were finally in LA.
Liam was back in his home town. It felt strange to be coming back
here after everything that had happened to him this summer. It no
longer felt familiar. Rose was what felt familiar.

Liam set off to start warming up for the
show. Rose hung back and practiced the song a bit more, as well as
chatted with various members of the security team who she had grown
close to over the summer. The security team had warmed up to her
immediately after that day she rescued him from the crazy fans.
Rose had almost become a part of the team. She cared for Liam even
more than they did, so they knew they could trust Rose with his
safety.

And then it was time for the show to start.
Rose took her position backstage, where she always stood, and
enjoyed listening to her boyfriend sing. It was crazy how much she
loved hearing Liam sing now. If Rose thought she had loved Liam's
voice at the beginning of the summer, well, she practically
worshiped it now.

Liam did his usual medley of pop, acoustic,
and Disney songs. The crowd ate it up. This had to be the biggest
crowd of the entire tour, with it being in LA and the last show of
the tour. And Rose would be singing in front of this crowd soon.
Wow. And she thought she had been nervous singing at a small cafe
earlier this summer. That was nothing compared to this.

And then, suddenly, Liam was talking about
her. Well, looks like that was her cue. It was time to sing.

“I'm sure you guys have seen the pictures all
over the internet and in magazines and stuff, so I thought I would
clear up any and all rumors and tell you guys the truth myself. I
would like for you to meet my girlfriend, Rose Moore, who I am
totally and completely in love with. I've asked her to come out
here tonight and sing with me. So if you would all give her a warm
welcome.”

Rose walked onto the stage, butterflies going
crazy in her stomach, waving to the crowd who was cheering for her.
Wow. A sold out crowd in LA was cheering for
her
- Rose
Moore- as she walked onto a stage to meet her
boyfriend
-
Liam Walker.

Holy crap. She had to be dreaming.

Rose subtly pinched herself before sitting
down on the stool that had been brought out and placed next to
Liam, where he was currently sitting on his own stool, holding his
guitar.

Rose looked over at Liam, smiled and nodded
at him, and then Liam began playing the opening to the song. Rose
started off the song, singing the first few verses.

Wherever we go

No matter the time

You'll be in my life

You'll be by my side

Then, on the chorus, both of them sang
together, their voices harmonizing and sounding like the most
natural thing in the world. Liam could never get over how great his
and Rose's voices sounded together. It was like they were born to
do this. They finished the rest of the song singing together.

Throughout the distance

Across the miles

I will always love you

I'll want to see your
smile

The song expressed their love, how much their
lives had changed in the course of a few months, and how everything
felt different now. It was Rose and Liam, through and through.

Forget about the past

Forget about the lies

We've traveled across miles

And come to realize

I love you

When they finished, Liam put down his guitar
and pulled Rose into a tight hug, kissing her straight on the
mouth. At a sold out show in LA. Where everyone could see them.
Kissing. And he didn't even care. Neither did Rose.

Just as they had anticipated, paparazzi and
fans bombard them after the show.

Even Rose gave out a few autographs, which
was pretty surprising for her. Liam wasn't surprised, though. Rose
was gorgeous. And she had a beautiful voice. Put the two together
and she was total superstar material.

Rose and Liam answered a few questions that
the paparazzi asked them as they made their way out of the arena
and toward the car that was waiting for them,

“Yes, we are definitely together.”

“We met this summer. It's a long
story...”

“Yes, I really love Liam. No, I'm not using
him to get famous.”

“No, she's not putting out an album, at
least, not right now. But she will be a famous fashion designer one
day. Maybe she could design outfits for my next tour.”

And then, finally, they were in the car,
alone.

“Well, that was kind of amazing,” Rose said,
exhausted from the energy of all the people who met them after the
show.

“Just kind of?”

“Okay, that was completely mind-blowing. I'm
still in shock. You'll have to excuse my inarticulacy.”

Liam laughed, and pulled Rose into a tight
hug.

“We can sleep at my apartment tonight, if you
want. Then I'll drop you off at the airport tomorrow so you can fly
back to New York in time for class on Monday.”

Rose just nodded, suddenly overcome with
sadness. This was really all ending. It would be over tomorrow. The
best summer of her life. The best thing that had ever happened to
her- done.

“Hey now, don't be sad. Stop thinking sad
things. Just live in the here and now. We've still got tonight
together,” Liam said, seeing the resigned look on Rose's face.

And with that, they got in the car and made
their way to Liam's apartment.

“Ummm... woah. You live here? This place is
all kinds of amazing,” Rose said as they entered Liam's apartment.
Apartment didn't seem like the right word though, because the place
was massive.