Across the Miles (13 page)

“Thanks. It's a bit big for just me... but oh
well. I didn't even pick it out. My manager got it for me. But I'm
glad you like it.”

“So what should we do?” Liam asked while
following Rose around the apartment, who was taking in the
lavishness of it all.

“Anything but sleep. No sleep for us. If we
sleep, it will be tomorrow faster.”

“I completely agree. No movies either.”

Rose nodded her agreement.

“Can we just stay up and talk?” Rose asked,
wanting to spend every last precious second just being with
Liam.

“I think that sounds lovely. I'll go get us
some cookies and coffee from the kitchen. My room is to the
right.”

Rose wandered into Liam's room. It was
simple, but still magnificent. There was a giant king sized bed in
the middle of the room, a bookshelf that was practically
overflowing with books and albums of all kinds, and a record player
sat off to the corner, with vinyls surrounding the floor around it.
There was also a couch off to the side, but Rose completely ignored
that and went straight for the bed, making herself comfortable.

“Coffee, two creams, no sugar, just the way
you like it,” Liam said, upon entering the room, handing Rose her
coffee.

“Thank you.”

“So, you excited to see your friends
again?”

“I'm definitely excited to see Mason again.
You know, you can thank him for us meeting. I almost didn't go
through with going backstage to meet you. I was a nervous wreck.
But he made me go anyway.”

Liam laughed. “Is that so? Well, I'll have to
write him a thank you note or something. Maybe dedicate a song to
him on my next album.”

“Oh, yeah. Because that won't give people the
wrong impression about you at all,” Rose laughed, sarcastically.
“When do you start working on your next album, anyway? Your tour is
done now. Time to move on to the next step.”

“I have to write the songs first. But I doubt
I'll have any trouble coming up with inspiration after this
summer... I'm pretty sure my fans will be sick of all the love
songs that will be headed their way.”

Rose giggled. “Well, just as long as they
don't start throwing tomatoes or something at you at your shows. I
can't have my beautiful clothing designs get ruined over your
mushiness.”

“So, we're on the same page, then? I was
hoping you would want to design some outfits for me. In case you
haven't noticed this summer, my fashion sense is pretty much
non-existent.”

“Oh, trust me. I noticed. It's adorable,
though. It's very... you. But yes, I will definitely be designing
your clothes from now on.”

And their conversation went on like that for
the rest of the night, both of them talking about anything and
everything, planning their future, getting to know one another
better, taking frequent breaks from conversation to just kiss and
explore one another, taking each other in, memorizing the other,
hoping to take just a bit of the other with them when they went
their separate ways in the morning.

“Hey, do you mind if I use your shower really
quick before we have to go to the airport?” Rose asked when she
noticed the sun was beginning to rise.

“Sure thing. I'll be in the kitchen making us
breakfast.”

Once Liam made some eggs and bacon, he had a
few more minutes before Rose would be out of the shower, so he
decided that now would be the opportune time to make some phone
calls to his manager and landlord.

“Hey,” Liam said through the phone to his
manager, “Could you do me a few favors? I have something I need to
discuss with you. Something big.”

Chapter 16

When Rose got out of the shower a few minutes
later, Liam was just finishing up his phone calls.

“You ready to head out to the airport?” Liam questioned

“No, not really. But I suppose I have to,
don't I. School's waiting,” Rose answered, glumly.

Liam grabbed Rose's bags and then, with one
last kiss, they were off.

“Now boarding Flight 127 to New York City.
Flight 127 now boarding,” A voice called over the intercom.

Liam was able to go through security with
Rose to see her off at the gate. Being famous had its perks
sometimes.

“That's you.”

“That's me...” Rose repeated, stalling.

'I'm not going to cry. I'm not going to cry,'
Rose thought on repeat. Damn. She was crying.

Liam saw the tears falling from Rose's eyes
and immediately grabbed his girlfriend into a tight hug, trying to
comfort her the best that he could.

“I don't want to leave you,” Rose mumbled in
a cracked voice.

“It's not for forever. We'll be together
again soon,” Liam reassured Rose.

And with that, Rose let go of Liam and walked
onto the plane, not looking back. It would hurt that much more if
she did.

Rose texted Liam the second she landed in New
York City.

I'm here. I miss you already. -R

Liam replied almost immediately.

I miss you, too. Webcam chat later tonight?
-L

Yes please! I love you! -R

I love you, too. -L

And then Mason was pulling up to the airport
in Rose's car to pick her up, so Rose hurriedly stuffed her phone
back into her pocket, a sad smile on her face. She was back home,
but she had never felt so alone. But the instant she saw Mason, her
smile lit up.

“Hey! I missed you! How did the rest of tour
go?” Mason questioned.

But Rose wasn't ready to explain the whole
story just yet. It was still fresh in her mind and it would hurt
too much to talk about her summer romance with Liam right now. Rose
would tell Mason all of the details soon enough, but she just
wasn't ready yet.

“I'll explain soon. I promise. Just... not
right now. Let's just get back to the dorm. I just want to sleep
before classes start tomorrow.”

It was now Wednesday of Rose's second week
back at school. She talked with Liam over webcam every night,
texted him throughout the day, and called him when either had a few
free minutes to spare. It was difficult to go from seeing Liam
every single day to barely getting to talk to him. It physically
hurt Rose sometimes.

Just as Rose was thinking this, she saw that
she had an incoming call on her laptop. Liam was calling her
through his webcam.

Rose rushed to her laptop, fixing her hair
along the way, and quickly answered the call.

“Hey! I was just thinking about you,” Rose
said, moving the laptop over to her desk so she could get
comfortable. She and Liam usually talked for at least an hour when
they spoke over webcam. It was harder to hang up when they were
right in front of each other, so their conversations often lasted
longer.

“I was just thinking of you, too. Hence the
call,” Liam laughed.

“I don't see how you can be so cheery all the
time,” Rose said, jokingly.

“Well I'm especially cheery right now because
I'm talking to you,” Liam explained. Rose blushed.

“Hey! Guess what I found today!” Liam said,
suddenly excited.

“What?” Rose was a little hesitant to ask.
Liam seemed way too excited about this. It couldn't be good.

And then Liam was lifting up a magazine and
putting it right up to the webcam.

“What is that?” Rose questioned.

“It's us! I was checking out at the grocery
store today and I looked over and we were on the cover! Check it
out! We're making out on stage at my show in LA!” Liam said,
practically giddy.

“Oh jeez... You are way too excited about
this.”

“Of course I am! You're totally gorgeous! And
now everyone knows that we're together! Not just the people who
were at the LA show. Why wouldn't I be excited that everyone can
see that I snagged myself the hottest girl around?” Liam said,
sticking his tongue out at Rose.

“Oh hush, you. Although, that is kind of
sweet. But I'm still humiliated. I haven't even told Mason that
we're together, yet. What if he sees that? Oh man... he would kill
me for not telling him.”

“You haven't told Mason yet? Are you serious?
You've been home two weeks,” Liam asked, curious that Rose hadn't
told Mason about him yet. Rose told Mason everything. Liam was
suddenly worried that Rose was embarrassed of him.

Rose blushed before explaining, “It just.. it
hurts too much to talk about. I miss you so much.”

Oh. So Rose wasn't ashamed of him. The exact
opposite. She loved Liam so much that it hurt her to talk about
him. And that thought broke Liam's heart.

“I'm sorry... I- I'm just so sorry. I promise
I'll make everything better soon. Sooner than you think,” Liam
said, a fire burning in his eyes.

“Liam, I appreciate it... but don't make a
promise that you can't keep,” Rose said, sighing.

“I'll keep this promise. Trust me. But for
now, I need to go. I have some stuff to take care of. I'll see you
soon. Love you,” Liam said.

Rose barely had time to say “I love you” back
before Liam had ended the call and disappeared from her screen.
Rose missed him instantly. She had no idea how she would make it
three more months before she saw Liam in person again during her
next school break. She truly hoped that Liam would somehow find a
way to keep his promise to make everything better.

Later that day, Rose was hanging out with
Mason between classes. They were eating together outside at a
picnic table, enjoying the warm summer breeze. Mason was going on
and on about something random, but Rose wasn't really paying
attention. She was in her own world again, thinking about Liam.

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a
light slap on the arm from Mason.

“Rose, what is wrong with you? You've been
mopey ever since you got back. Please don't tell me you're all
heartbroken because you and Liam didn't end up together. I mean, I
assume that's what happened, since you won't tell me anything. I
know you liked the guy, and I thought he might have liked you too,
but, seriously though, you know the chances of someone famous
ending up with one of their fans is like, one in a million,
right?”

Rose couldn't help but laugh at the irony of
what Mason was saying to her.

“One in a million... right.”

Rose decided now was the time to tell Mason
the truth about her relationship with Liam. She figured it couldn't
hurt any more than it already did to talk about it out loud.
Besides, Mason was her best friend and deserved to know what had
happened to her.

Rose started digging through her backpack and
pulled out the magazine that Liam had showed her over webcam
earlier that morning. Even though it was still kind of odd to see
herself on the cover of a magazine, kissing her boyfriend, of all
things, she wanted a copy of the magazine for herself, as a
reminder that, yes, that really did happen, so she went out and
bought one before she went to class.

Rose shoved the magazine in front of Mason's
face.

“I'm dating him,” Rose explained, a smile on
her face, trying not to laugh at her friend's reaction.

“Oh my god! Is that you? Oh my god, that
is
you! You actually snagged Liam Walker!”

Rose nodded, confirming his exclamation.

“How could you keep this from me, Rose? This
is huge! Oh my god! You're dating Liam Walker! And that's why
you've been so sad! Because you miss him! Oh my god! I can't
believe this! This is incredible!” Mason went on and on describing
how awesome it was.

“That's not even the whole story, Mason. I
sang with him at his last show in LA. In front of everyone. That's
where they got the picture for this magazine. It was amazing. It
just felt... right, I guess,” Rose said, thinking back to that
amazing night.

“I am so happy for you, Rose! You deserve
something good in your life!” Mason exclaimed, pulling Rose into a
tight hug.

“So I have one question for you: Can I talk
to him now that you're dating?” Mason questioned..

“Who? Liam?”

“Yes Liam! I have to give him the standard
I'm-Rose's-best-friend-hurt-her-and-I-kill-you speech,” Mason said,
a serious look on his face.

Rose laughed, but knew better than to deny
Mason, so she pulled out her phone and, reluctantly, gave in to his
demand.

“Ugh, fine. I'll call him. Hold on.”

Rose quickly dialed Liam's number, which she
knew by heart now, and only had to wait a second before Liam
hurriedly answered.

“Hey, sweetie,” Liam answered, knowing it was
Rose calling him.

“Hey.”

"I get to talk to you again so soon? I can't
believe my luck!" Liam joked, even though he really was excited to
get to talk to Rose any chance he got.

“Yeah, yeah... there's actually someone here
who wants to talk to you, first. Can I just say I'm sorry?”