Across the Miles (15 page)

“Thanks for coming out tonight! You guys are
great!” Liam shouted over his shoulder as Rose physically dragged
him onto the bus, slamming the door shut behind them and rushing to
turn on the television.

“Hurry up! Hurry up! It's starting!” Rose
exclaimed, bouncing up and down excitedly on the bed.

Liam rushed over to sit next to his
girlfriend, wrapping an arm around her waist.

“There it is! That's my design! That's a
model wearing my design! Oh my god I can't believe this is actually
happening!” Rose exclaimed.

Rose had finally caved and sent a few of her
designs to a famous fashion designer shortly after graduation,
hoping the designer would feature some of her clothes in his summer
collection. Sure enough, a week later, Rose had received a phone
call saying that the designer wanted to use all of her designs. And
now, the runway show was being aired on TV, and Rose's designs were
there, in the flesh, being strutted down the runway for the world
to see.

Rose had made it as a designer. This was the
first step, along with her and Liam wearing her designs at every
show on the tour. She was sure that in no time at all, she would be
having her own runway shows, consisting entirely of her own
designs.

“I am so proud of you, baby. You've worked so
hard for this. You deserve it. And your designs look gorgeous,”
Liam said, pressing a kiss to Rose's cheek.

“I just can't believe that this is my life
right now. Everything that has happened to me this year has just
been completely and utterly unbelievable. How did I get so
lucky?”

“I ask myself that same question every single
day. Especially when I'm with you,” Liam responded, pulling Rose
closer to him.

“I love you so much.”

“I love you, too, Liam.”

The rest of the tour went on in much the same
fashion. Rose and Liam made their way through Atlanta, Birmingham,
and Austin, then back up north through Minneapolis and Milwaukee,
enjoying the sights and scenery of each new city they found. Liam
always made sure they did things that Rose would love, spoiling his
girlfriend rotten.

They went to a lot of cities that they didn't
stop at on the first tour, so they enjoyed all the new things to
explore. In between each city, they spent their time doing movie
marathons and singing Disney songs together on the tour bus, and
Rose took charge of the kitchen, determined to finally teach Liam
how to cook.

Before they knew it, the month long tour was
coming to an end. Rose and Liam were sad to see it come to a close,
but they still had two months of summer left, and were looking
forward to just sleeping the next week away before starting work on
their next album and going back to talk shows and red carpet events
every day.

“Liam, I still don't understand why we're
finishing the tour in Colby, of all places. Isn't that a bit
anti-climatic? I mean... it's Colby,” Rose said, as the bus passed
into Kansas.

“Yeah, but our friends and family are in
Colby,” Liam responded, trying to play it off as if it made perfect
sense. He had a surprise up his sleeves, and he hoped he would be
able to keep it from Rose. It would be difficult, but he'd just
have to do his best.

“So...? We just saw them at Christmas. And
while I always love seeing them, I don't see why they factor into
our finishing the tour here.”

“You'll see, Rose. I have a method to my
madness. I promise.”

“Whatever you say, Liam. Whatever you say....
crazy.”

Rose mumbled that last part under her breath,
but Liam still heard her and chuckled.

“Speaking of seeing our friends, I got a call
from Mason yesterday and he wants to kidnap you for a while today,
to spend time with him and Lillian,” Liam lied, knowing full well
that he had been the one to call Mason in hopes that he could
distract Rose long enough for Liam to do something top secret.

“Great! What time are we meeting up with
them?”

“Oh, well, the thing is, I was planning on
meeting up with some of my old friends while you did your thing.
Then we can meet back at the arena an hour before the show.”

“Oh... well... okay then. I guess that works.
Sure. Okay. That will be fun!”

“Great! Well go call Mason and he'll pick you
up!”

What Rose didn't know was that Liam had no
intention of seeing his old friends. Of course, he had told them
that he was in town and they were all planning on going to the show
that night, but, for now, Liam had to visit one Christopher
Moore.

“Hi, Christopher. Thank you so much for
meeting me here!” Liam said, walking up to Rose's dad who was
meeting him at a small diner. Christopher was already there and
waiting at a table.

“It's good to see you again, son. How are you
and Rose doing?” Christopher asked, standing up to shake Liam's
hand before they both sat down again.

“Well, that's actually why I wanted to see
you...”

“I figured as much,” Christopher said, taking
his baseball cap off and rubbing his head.

“I want to marry her. I am asking your
permission to marry her.”

“Isn't this all a little fast? You two are
still quite young.”

“Christopher... I love your daughter more
than I've ever loved anyone or anything in my entire life. She is
my everything. We've been together a year now... and, while I know
that's not long, I also know that she is all I'll ever want. I will
never do better than her. She is the greatest person I've ever met.
Everything that has happened between us has been fast, but it's all
worked out so far. I don't see why this would be any
different.”

“You know, Liam... I should have seen this
coming a long time ago. Even before you two were actually together,
I could tell that you cared deeply for one another. When Rose
called and told me that you were moving to New York to be with her,
I wasn't surprised at all. In fact, I had kind of been expecting
it. And then when you came home with her for Christmas, I could
tell that you two had only gotten closer and more in love. So, I
give you my consent. Take care of her. You've done a great job so
far. I trust you to keep on loving her for the rest of your
life.”

“I will, Christopher. I promise. Nothing
could ever stop me from loving her. She's just... everything.”

Later that night, Rose and Liam met back up
at the venue for the concert. Rose was on a high from being with
her friends all day, and Liam was nervous as ever about what he was
planning.

“How are your friends doing?” Rose
questioned, right before they went on stage.

“What? OH! They're great. Yeah.”

“Liam... you're being really weird today. Are
you okay? Do you need extra rest tonight?” Rose questioned out of
concern for her boyfriend's odd behavior.

“Yeah... I mean... no... I mean... I'm fine.
I'll be fine. Just nervous.”

“Nervous? Are you serious? This is the last
show, and you decide to be nervous
now?
You've never been
nervous before...”

But Liam didn't have time to answer, thank
god, because it was time for them to go on stage.

The show went flawlessly. All of their
friends and family were there, plus a huge number of fans, and the
energy in the room was great. There was only one song left to sing.
The same song they ended with every night. Their song.

Liam stepped up to the microphone to
introduce it.

“Thanks again for coming out here tonight! We
have one song left for you guys. It's a love song that Rose and I
wrote together a year ago, and, normally, I sing it by myself. But
I think this song describes perfectly our journey as a couple, and
how much we love each other. So, tonight, I'd like for Rose to sing
it with me.”

Well that was odd, Rose thought. Normally
Liam took this song as a solo. But, Rose knew better than to argue,
so she came back out onstage, ready to sing the song with Liam.

The song sounded beautiful, like always, and
the crowd loved it. A few times Rose glanced over at Liam while
singing and realized that he was staring at her the whole time,
tears in his eyes. She smiled at him, and reached out to take his
hand.

At the end of the song, Rose bowed to the
audience, but Liam nervously began to reach into his pocket,
grabbing the small velvet box and holding it tightly in his hand.
Rose began to tug on Liam's hand so they could walk off stage
together, but Liam resisted, keeping them both on the stage.

Rose gave Liam a questioning look, wondering
what her boyfriend was up to, when Liam began to speak.

“Hey, again. Thank you for coming out here
tonight. Especially Christopher and Jennifer Moore, and all of our
friends. If you don't mind, though, I'd like to take up a few extra
minutes of your time.”

Now Rose was really confused. Liam hadn't
mentioned doing anything extra tonight. Rose inwardly hoped that
Liam wasn't going to spring another surprise encore on her. Liam
used to do that all the time, before Rose had sat him down one
evening and forced her boyfriend to come up with a consistent set
list that they would stick to, tired of being caught off guard with
random songs she had never practiced.

But then Liam turned to her and went down on
one knee and- OH! Liam was on one knee. Oh my god. Oh my god, oh my
god, oh my god. Liam was proposing. On stage. In Colby, Kansas. In
front of all of their friends and family. Oh my god. Needless to
say, the crowd went wild. When they finally settled down a bit,
Liam began,

“Rose, we met for the first time just over a
year ago, on my last summer tour. You were just a nervous fan who
wanted her chance at meeting me. But what you didn't realize was
that meeting you was just as big of an experience for me as it was
for you. You moved me, Rose. From the first moment that I saw you,
I needed more. So I went after you. I found you. And then, by sheer
dumb luck... or maybe fate, whatever you want to believe, you ended
up on my tour bus. And we fell in love. I moved to New York to be
with you, and that is something that I have yet to regret. I never
will regret it. I love you today more than ever before. You have
changed my life for the better, and I never want to let you go. So,
I propose something new to you, Rose. We met on tour, we fell in
love on tour, and now, I'm proposing that we get engaged on tour. I
love you, Rose Moore, and I would love nothing more than for you to
be my wife.”

And with that, Liam opened the box to reveal
a simple, yet beautiful, engagement ring. Rose gasped. She couldn't
believe this was happening. It was everything she had ever dreamed
it would be, and then so much more. Rose found that she couldn't
even speak, so she just nodded her head frantically, pulling Liam
up off the ground and into her arms, finally finding her voice and
whispering a soft “yes” in Liam's ear.

Liam choked back a sob, before pulling Rose
up into the air and spinning her around in a hug.

“She said yes! She said yes!” Liam exclaimed
to the crowd, giggling in joy.

The crowd erupted into cheers once again, and
Liam and Rose's friends rushed the stage, enveloping them in hugs
and pats on the back.

It was another hour before Rose and Liam even
made it back to the tour bus.

“I can't believe you. How long have you been
planning this?” Rose questioned once they were in bed that
night.

“Basically since Christmas... so for quite a
while.”

“Oh my god! I can't believe it! This is just
so surreal. We're getting a pent house in New York, by the way.

Liam laughed.

“Deal, fiancé.”

“Fiancé... I like that. But you know what
I'll like even more than that?”

“What?”

“Husband,” Rose answered simply.

“I think I like the sound of that.”

Connect with me online:

Website:
http://www.kristendickerson.com

Twitter:
@mskristenleah

Tumblr:
mskristenleah.tumblr.com

About the Author:

Kristen Dickerson is a 20 year old author
from Florida and is currently enrolled at Birmingham Southern
College where she is majoring in Media and Film studies with a
minor in Literature.