Across the Miles (2 page)

Rose was about to reply when a security guard
came up behind Liam, telling him that he had other fans that were
waiting to see him. Liam shrugged him off, telling him he would
make his way around in a minute.

Rose smiled to herself, excited that Liam was
paying so much attention to her, but decided it wouldn't be fair of
her to overstay her welcome.

“No, no, don't mind me. I should probably let
you get along to your other fans. I hate to have taken up so much
of your time. But I just wanted to let you know that I have tickets
to all of your shows this summer. I decided I needed a break from
school and thought I'd drive around the country for a while.”

“Woah. Seriously? You'll be at
all
of
my shows? That's insane! But totally awesome! I look forward to
seeing more of you, then, Rose. I guess I'll be talking to you
soon,” Liam replied, then winked before turning away to greet his
other fans.

Rose was completely speechless. Liam Walker
just winked at her. And talked to her for like, five whole minutes.
Rose couldn't have been any more excited at what just happened, and
literally ran from the room so she could spill all the juicy
details to Mason.

Little did Rose know that Liam was just as
excited at the idea of seeing her every night at his shows.
Admittedly, he was a little unsure about Rose, knowing that she
must be a pretty huge fan to have bought tickets to all of his
shows, but he admired her dedication.

Liam found himself looking back over to the
spot where Rose had just been standing, but she was already gone.
Liam felt something in his stomach lurch, and, were those... oh no,
those couldn't be butterflies in his stomach...

But Liam just tried to ignore the feeling he
was getting in his stomach and went back to casually saying hi to
all of his other fans, trying his hardest to block Rose out of his
mind, focusing more on looking forward to getting back to the bus
to get some rest before his performance the next night.

Chapter 2

“And then, he put his hand on my shoulder! I
swear, I felt electricity running through my whole body. And did I
mention how cute he is in person? Oh my god, Mason, it was the
greatest night of my life. I could seriously die right now and be
perfectly content with my life.”

Rose was going on and on, telling Mason about
her five minutes with Liam, and Mason, being the great friend he
was, sat there and listened to it all, for, at least, the seventh
time that night.

“Yeah, yeah. I heard, Rose. That's pretty
awesome. Just... don't get in too deep, okay? I mean, he probably
meets like, a hundred people every week? Maybe even more. I know
you want to feel special and feel like you guys had a moment or
whatever, but he's a public icon. He's used to making everyone he
meets feel special,” Mason explained, hating to burst his best
friend's bubble.

“Yeah, I know. It's just... a girl can dream,
right?” Rose laughed, before continuing,

“But I get what you're saying. Besides, it's
not like I actually have feelings for him. I don't even know him. I
guess I just... admire him. You know, like with Justin Timberlake
when I was twelve. He's just another meaningless celebrity
crush.”

“Good. Just make sure you protect your heart.
And don't be too creepy this summer while following him around on
tour. A restraining order does
not
count as an autograph,
okay?”

“Oh, shut up,” Rose joked, shoving her best
friend.

“So when do you set off for the next city on
the tour?” Mason questioned.

“Tomorrow morning. The next show is tomorrow
night, so if I leave early enough in the morning, I should be able
to make it there on time.”

“And you have enough money for all of
this?”

“Yes. I did the math and I have enough money
to pay for food and gas, plus a little extra in case I run into any
car problems. And I figured I'd just sleep in my car. I think I
have a spacious enough back seat for that.”

“Whatever you say, Rose. Whatever you say,”
Mason replied, rolling his eyes.

“So your flight to Kansas is on Thursday,
right? Say hi to Lillian for me. And if I remember correctly, one
of the stops on tour is in Wichita, Kansas, so you should come to
the show, and bring Lillian, of course. I miss her!”

“Will do. Anyway... it's getting late. I'm
gonna head to bed. I'll see you in a few weeks, okay? Drive safe,”
Mason said, leaving Rose's room to go to his own dorm for the
night.

The next morning, first thing, Rose set off
for the next city on the tour- Columbus, Ohio.

It would be a nine hour drive, and Rose
wanted to make sure she was able to get there with plenty of time
to spare.

The long road gave Rose plenty of time to
think about the summer that was lying ahead of her.

She realized that Liam probably wouldn't even
remember her. She wasn't expecting anything to come of this summer,
anyway. Like she had said to Mason, she didn't even really know the
guy. She just wanted to listen to her favorite artist perform live.
He really was extremely talented. She hoped that one day she might
be just as highly recognized as he was. But she had her doubts.

Sure, she was a music major, but she was
still shy when it came to singing. When she sang in glee club in
high school, she would try to put her all into the performance once
she got up on stage, but that had resulted in some pretty
catastrophic moments that she'd rather not reminisce about. She had
some pretty bad experiences with performing in the past, which led
her to be pretty weary about singing in public now. Right before
getting on stage, she would always have a bit of a nervous
breakdown, then back out at the last second.

Maybe seeing Liam perform all summer would
inspire her to face her fears and contact a few record labels.
Maybe this summer tour would be a good thing for her. It could
change her for the better.

She could only hope.

Chapter 3

The next two shows, Liam kept an eye out for
Rose, intrigued by the gorgeous girl he had met on opening night.
But Liam tried to keep his mind from wandering to his fan when he
could help it.

You see, Liam had a rule for himself that he
made shortly after he had his heart broken shortly after becoming
famous. He found out the hard way that people would often try to
use him for his fame. No one really cared about him. And if they
did, they only liked the image that he was portrayed as in the
media. No one really knew him. At least, not the
real
him.

Because of this, Liam made it a rule to not
date or be interested in his fans. Of course, he had complete love
and admiration for them. Without them, he'd still be stuck in a
glee club somewhere- not touring the country like he was currently
doing.

But he couldn't help but think that there
might be something different about Rose. Liam wasn't sure exactly
what it was, though. Maybe it was the fact that Rose was absolutely
beautiful. Or that she wasn't as hyper-active as some of his fans
tended to be when meeting him. And Rose's dedication to Liam,
traveling around the country with him, was really touching. No
matter how hard Liam tried, he couldn't seem to tear his thoughts
away from Rose for too long.

It didn't help that Rose was at every show,
and Liam couldn't help but look for the young woman in the
crowd.

However, for the next two shows, Rose didn't
stand as close to the front as she had in New York. She decided
that since she would be at every show, she would allow other fans
the opportunity to get a close look at the singer. I mean, Rose had
met Liam, for god's sake. She was completely satisfied to just be
there at the show, no matter where she stood.

But Rose couldn't help but notice that, no
matter how far back she stood, Liam always seemed to find her,
usually about halfway through the show, and that his eyes kept
glancing back to her every so often after he located her.

Rose would always blush, grateful that Liam
couldn't see her flushed cheeks because of the dark lighting in the
clubs, and then she would continue to bob her head to the music,
enjoying the flawless voice of the famous singer, while trying to
convince herself that it was just a coincidence that Liam always
found her. He played in relatively small venues, after all.

But after Liam's fourth show, in St. Louis,
Rose could no longer talk herself out of believing that Liam was
actively seeking her out in the crowd.

Liam had made a decision. He had to see Rose
again, face to face, if anything so he could try to get the girl
out of his head. Maybe he would be able to convince himself that
Rose wasn't as attractive as he remembered, or maybe Rose would
scream in his face and Liam would be able to move on, writing the
girl off as just another crazed fan.

So, after the show, Liam darted backstage and
rushed outside to the front doors, where the fans would be
exiting.

That was a seriously stupid idea.

Sure enough, he appeared at the front door
shortly after fans began exiting the arena, and complete chaos
broke loose. Fans were screaming and running up to Liam, just
trying to get close to him, or touch him, all shouting his name and
jumping up and down in their excitement.

Liam got lost in the crowd. In his rush to
get to Rose, he had forgotten to bring his security guard along.
And now he was stuck in a mob of crazed fans, all wanting pictures
and autographs. The only way Liam could see himself getting out of
this was to just consent to the fans' pleas, smiling for pictures
and giving autographs, praying that no one would get hurt in all
the excitement.

It was as Liam was about to pose for another
picture for someone who had pushed their way to him that he saw the
familiar eyes that had stuck in his memory from earlier that
week.

It was her- Rose. She was in the middle of
the crowd, trying to see what all the chaos was about, staring
right at Liam, an expression of shock on her face.

Liam, desperate, mouthed “help me” to her.
Rose understood and starting pushing her way through the crowd to
get to him.

Liam reached out and grabbed Rose's hand, who
was doing her best to lead the taller man out of the crowd and
toward the club's back door.

“Ok, people, that's enough. You've had him
long enough. Make way! Make way!” Rose cried out as she pushed and
shoved her way through, making sure to keep a tight grip on Liam,
wearing an expression on her face that basically screamed at people
not to mess with her.

Liam couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity
of it all, but at least he had found who he was looking for.

At this point, security had been alerted as
to what was going on and rushed out to meet Rose and Liam halfway,
attempting to pull Liam away from Rose and get him back inside,
away from the crowd, but Liam refused to let go of Rose's hand,
saying,

“She's with me.”

Security didn't question him and let a
confused Rose come along with them backstage. Once they were safely
inside with the doors closed and locked, Liam finally relaxed,
laughing at the crazy situation he had gotten himself into, all for
a girl he barely knew. What in the world was he doing? What was he
thinking?

Rose was wondering the same thing.

“What the hell was that? You could have
gotten yourself killed! What were you thinking going out into a
rabid crowd after your show? You've
never
done that before!
What could possess you to do such a thing now?” Rose yelled out,
scolding the singer.

Liam just laughed even harder at this.

“You,” He finally managed to squeak out
between laughs.

“Me...? What?” Rose asked, more confused than
ever.

Liam had finally managed to calm down a
little, or, at least, enough to explain.

“I wanted to find you, Rose. See you again. I
was wondering if you would like to go out for coffee with me.”

Rose was speechless. She could barely believe
that Liam Walker had even remembered her name since meeting her
last week. Rose was sure he must have met hundreds of people since
then. And then he risked his life just to ask her out for coffee?
What was happening? Again, Rose voiced this question out loud.

“Liam, what is going on? I am seriously
confused. Why would you want to go out for coffee with me? You're
Liam Walker!”

Liam laughed again.

“And you're Rose Moore! I'm intrigued by you.
You seem like a really sincere person and I just want to get to
know you more. I mean, it's the least I can do considering you'll
be at all of my shows.”

Rose stood there for a minute, silent,
contemplating what had just happened and trying to figure out what
she should do.

“Ummm... Ok? I guess? Yeah. Sure. Coffee.
Let's go. Just... bring security with you this time, please.”

Liam smirked and grabbed Rose's hand,
alerting security that they were ready to go.

He was taking Rose, a fan, on a date.