Across the Miles (4 page)

“Yeah. I should probably hit the road too if
I want to make it to your next show,” Rose said, winking.

They walked back to the arena together,
chatting along the way about anything and everything. When they got
to the arena, Rose said,

“Well, that was a really great date.”

“So then it was a date?” Liam questioned, a
huge smile on his face.

Rose just smiled back before saying,

“I'll see you later tonight, Liam.”

Then Rose made her way across the parking lot
to her car, smiling to herself as she walked away.

When Rose made it back to her car, all she
could do was sit and stare at nothing. She had no idea what had
just happened, but she had really enjoyed it. She had always
claimed to be in love with Liam Walker, but that was just a manner
of speaking. She never actually thought that she was in love with
the man, or that she ever would be. She didn't even really know him
before tonight. But now that she had spoken to him and gotten to
know him, she couldn't stop the butterflies that were flitting
around in her stomach. Crap. She was in some serious trouble.

Little did Rose know, Liam was currently
sitting on his tour bus, going through the same dilemma. It
appeared that Liam was falling head over heels for one of his
fans.

Chapter 5

Liam was currently setting up for his fifth
show. He was officially a fourth of the way through his tour. He
had been going for two weeks.

And it was official. After his date with
Rose, he could not get the girl off of his mind. This was bad. It
went against all of Liam's rules about dating fans. But Rose was
different. There was something honest and sincere about the young
woman. She seemed to really want to get to know Liam. No one had
ever taken the time to really get to know him before. Liam was
completely smitten by her.

Which influenced his decision to mix up his
music set that night. He would add a song, directed at Rose.

It took the whole ride to Nashville after his
date with Rose for him to write a song to sing to her. He didn't
necessarily want a relationship with her, though. I mean, he was
still on tour and everything, which meant he needed to focus on his
job, first and foremost. And he had only known her for two weeks,
during which they had only been on one date. And he lived in
California, while she was going to college in New York City. The
distance would never work out once the tour was over. But he wanted
to spend more time with her. Oh yes, he
definitely
wanted to
spend more time with her. And the best way he could think of
getting that point across was by serenading her. So he quickly
wrote a song that conveyed everything he felt at the moment until
he felt confident that Rose would be happy with it.

Liam hoped that Rose decided to stand up at
the front of the arena that night so he could make sure that she
understood that the song was for her.

He was in luck. Rose stood front and center
at his show. As Liam walked out onto stage and greeted the crowd
with his rehearsed speech, he glanced down at the beautiful woman
right in front of him and gave her a smile, waving inconspicuously
at her.

He opened with his usual song, a fast upbeat
pop number that he wrote back in high school, then he transitioned
to a cover song, and then on to a musical theater song. Yes, a
musical theater song. People thought he was too metrosexual to be
straight for a reason. But he didn't care about those
stereotypes.

He was now at the point in the night when he
would usually cover another song, but this is when he decided to
sing his song to Rose instead.

“Okay, everybody. I hope you're all having a
good time tonight! Normally I would cover another song right about
now, but I'm changing it up a bit. I hope you don't mind!” Liam
paused, looking down at Rose, making sure he had her full
attention. Rose was looking up at him with a curious expression on
her face. Liam smiled down at her. “I made a new friend, recently.
And she's here tonight. And I'd like to dedicate this song to her.
I hope you like it.”

With that, Liam began to sing his heart out,
never once taking his eyes off of Rose.

Rose had never heard this song before, which
was strange, because she knew every single one of his songs, and
she knew that it wasn't a cover. And that's when it hit her. This
must be a new song that Liam wrote. A new song that he wrote for
her
. And it was beautiful. Rose couldn't remember all the
words, but there were a few verses like, “before I had you in my
life I was just trying to get by,” and “I hope you'll stick around
for a while because I love to see you smile,” and it was easily the
most touching and adorable thing Rose had ever heard. She could
help but smile and giggle at the sweet notion.

As the song ended, the crowd applauded
vigorously, but Liam barely registered it, keeping his eyes on
Rose, who was smiling up at him, blushing and nodding her head in
approval.

Liam continued on with his regular set after
that, making sure to pay attention to other people in the crowd,
too, and not just Rose. But it was so hard to do with Rose right
there in front of him, just being her beautiful self. Rose... his
new friend, Rose. Liam was friends with this woman right in front
of him. He couldn't be happier than he was in that moment.

Liam ended his show to more applause than
normal, and he distinctly heard Rose's cheers from the midst of the
crowd. And then, to his surprise, as he made his way backstage, he
heard people chanting, “Encore! Encore!”

Well, that was a first. Liam was completely
taken aback. He had already sung all of the songs that he had
prepared for his set list. Of course, he could always wing it. He
still had a few songs off his album that he hadn't sung yet.

And then an idea struck him. He could kill
two birds with one stone. He rushed back out on stage.

“Thanks, everyone! I'd love to do an encore,
but I'd like a little help. You remember that friend I sang to
earlier? Well, turns out, she's a singer too, and I would love for
her to sing with me. Would that be okay with you all?”

The crowd screamed its response.

“Great! Okay. Rose, would you please come up
here?”

Rose froze. Oh my god. This was not
happening. Liam expected her to sing in front of this sold out
crowd? She hadn't done that since high school. And suddenly,
flashbacks started rushing through her mind. An angry crowd
throwing trash at her from stage. Peers yelling expletives at her
as she tried to get through a song. Freezing up on stage and
running off mid-song to the nearest bathroom to empty the contents
of her stomach.

But she was brought out of her flashbacks by
the sound of Liam's voice, calling out to her once again.

“Rose?”

She could do this.

She remembered her thoughts on the first
night of tour. She had hoped this tour would change her for the
better. That Liam would somehow inspire her. Well, here was her
chance. If this crowd was different from her past, she could
finally confront her demons. She could finally have a music career
of her own. She could stop hiding her voice with the exception of
the shower and vocal exams in her music classes.

She could do this.

With slight hesitance, Rose reached up and
took hold of Liam's outstretched hand, climbing up onto the stage.
She grabbed the microphone that was being handed to her from a
stage hand, and slowly turned to face the crowd, mentally reminding
herself to keep breathing.

“Everybody, this is my friend Rose. Please
give her a warm welcome!”

Liam paused, allowing the crowd to cheer for
his friend for a minute before quietly asking her, “You know all of
my songs, right, Rose?”

Rose nodded, still unable to speak due to her
stage fright.

Liam smiled at her, then leaned over and
whispered in her ear, “You'll be great! Don't worry!”

And with that, he began to play the opening
notes of Rose's favorite song of his. She smiled. This had to be a
sign. She could totally do this.

Liam started off singing the opening verses
of the song, but Rose joined in on the chorus, and the crowd went
wild. Liam and Rose were both in shock, but for different
reasons.

Liam was in shock because Rose had the most
beautiful voice he had ever heard. Like, woah. It took all he had
to continue playing the guitar while Rose sang. It was the most
magnificent, pure, angelic voice he had ever heard in his life. It
was even better than he had expected. He was barely able to focus
long enough to come in on the next part of the song. He almost
didn't want to, for fear of missing hearing Rose's voice.
Rose, on the other hand, was in shock because the crowd
seemed to love her. What was going on?! The crowd loved her? It was
like nothing she had ever experienced before. People were clapping
along and cheering and shouting out her name and just wow. This is
what she had been missing out on by not singing in public? Because
this was great. She had never felt so wonderful in her life. So she
finished the song with even more vigor than before.

As the song came to a close, Rose and Liam
received a standing ovation, but neither of them even noticed. They
were both staring at one another, completely enthralled in one
another. The world around them might as well have disappeared. For
all they knew, it was just them in that moment.

“Meet me backstage in five minutes,” Liam
whispered into Rose's ear after the song while giving her a brief
hug. “I'll tell security to let you back.”

Rose almost didn't register what Liam had
said to her, still in shock over the moment they had just shared,
not to mention that the beautiful song Liam had sung to her earlier
that night was still replaying in her head. Oh boy. Rose was
practically swooning. But she managed to nod her head and climb off
the stage, receiving pats on the back from people in the audience
surrounding her, congratulating her on a job well done. She had
never been so happy in her entire life.

After five minutes had passed, Rose made her
way backstage, security nodding at her as she walked past. Liam
spotted her immediately and ran over, wrapping Rose up into a tight
hug, spinning her around.

“Wow! Just... wow. I mean, I figured you were
a good singer when you said you were part of Lincoln's glee club...
but wow! That was incredible. That was the most beautiful thing
I've ever heard! I can't believe that
you
think
I'm
the talented one, because that was just... wow,” Liam said,
fan-boying a bit over how talented his new friend was.

Rose laughed, feeling high off of the
performance and the feeling of Liam hugging her.

“Seriously, Liam? I tell you that I can sing
yesterday
and you've already got me performing in front of
sold out crowds? Impatient much?” Rose joked, before continuing,
completely serious, “Thank you, though. It felt good to sing again.
And that was my favorite song, so win-win! I had a lot of fun.
Thanks for letting me sing with you!”

They were quiet for a few seconds, before
Liam realized that he was still holding Rose close to him in a hug
and let go quickly, backing away to give Rose her space. Rose
immediately missed the close contact.

“Umm... so, why did you want to see me?” Rose
eventually asked, trying to get rid of the awkwardness.

“Oh yeah!” Liam said, perking up immediately,
remembering the reason for inviting her back in the first
place.

“I was wondering if I could get your number?
I mean, it gets pretty lonely on the tour bus, driving around from
city to city, waiting for the next show. So I was hoping we could
hang out in each new city before I have to set up for the show. I
usually have an hour or two to sight-see or just chill before they
need me at the arena. I've been pretty bored so far, with the
exception of our date the other night, so I would love the
company.”

Rose was beyond excited, not because this was
Liam Walker, the superstar, asking her, but because her cute new
friend Liam wanted to spend more time with her. But she tried not
to show her excitement, replying calmly,

“Yeah, sure. Okay. I would like that.”

So they swapped numbers, and Rose said
goodbye to Liam until his next show. Or at least, that's what she
thought.

Rose had barely made it to her car when her
phone vibrated with a text message.

I'm bored already and we're not leaving this
city until tomorrow morning. Want to catch a movie with me? -L

Rose was a little reluctant. She only had
enough spending money for food and gas and in case of emergencies.
She didn't really have enough to spend on things like movies. But
she didn't need to worry, because Liam quickly texted her again
before she could respond.

I'm buying
.
Meet me at the tour
bus. -L

Rose smiled as she turned away from her car
and started toward the tour bus. This summer had already been
fantastic, and Rose could tell it would only get better from
here.