Across the Miles (6 page)

It was happening all over again.

The headline read: “Superstar Liam Walker's
Not-So-Secret Romance”

There were pictures, too. Pictures of Liam's
arm wrapped tightly around Rose's shoulder outside of the movie
theater. Pictures taken by the same paparazzi who had attacked them
last night. Those jerks had bombarded them, put him in a hospital,
then still sold their pictures to the newspaper? Seriously?

But that wasn't even what made Liam most
angry. It was the fact that Rose was in the newspaper. Rose, his
friend of only a few weeks, was already being dragged into all of
his drama. Rose was going to be famous now. And that's what hurt
the most.

Liam was discharged from the hospital just an
hour later, and rode the tour bus in silence, ignoring any and all
text messages he got from Rose. When he performed the show that
night, he was off-pitch and in a bit of a funk. The fans in
attendance had read the newspaper article, so they just attributed
his bad performance to him having suffered a concussion. It looked
like he was getting off easy this time.

Liam watched from the stage as people swarmed
Rose in the crowd. Everyone was questioning her about her
relationship with Liam and asking her for autographs and pictures.
And she was just standing there smiling, talking politely to the
audience members. This was enough proof for Liam to confirm his
suspicions about Rose's fame.

When the show ended that night, he got no
cheers for an encore. But, of course, he wasn't expecting that. It
had been a horrible show and he knew it.

Liam also wasn't expecting Rose to be waiting
for him in his dressing room after the show, either. But, there she
was, sitting on his couch.

“Are you mad at me? You didn't answer any of
my texts,” Rose questioned, looking confused and hurt as Liam
entered the room.

“Did you see the newspaper this morning?”
Liam asked, ignoring her question.

“I haven't seen it for myself, but I assumed
the paparazzi published the pictures they took of us last night,
considering how the crowd reacted to me tonight. They seem to think
we're in a relationship,” Rose explained, still not understanding
why Liam seemed upset.

“So then why are you still here? Go ahead.
Run away, then. You got what you wanted. You're famous now. I've
served my purpose in helping your rise to fame! You've used me, so
you can just leave,” Liam shouted, turning away from Rose, not
wanting her to see him so upset.

He didn't understand why he was so upset.
It's not like this was the first time this had happened to him...
but, then again, Rose had seemed different from the other people
who had used him before. He thought he could trust her. He thought
she actually cared about him.

Rose had no idea where any of this was coming
from. The only thing that she could figure was that he found out
about her dropping his name to the nurse.

“Liam, is this about me using my connection
to you to get to your hospital room last night? Because I didn't
think you'd find out about that. I'm so sorry. I just had to see
you, and I couldn't think of any other way to convince the nurse to
let me back,” Rose pleaded.

Now Liam was even more upset.

“I didn't know about that, but it just
further proves my point. You're just using me.”

Rose was in shock. And she was seriously
confused.

“Liam. What are you-?”

But Liam cut her off.

“No, it's fine. I understand. No one ever
really wants to be with me. Especially once the newspapers get wind
of it. So just go ahead and disappear. Here, I'll even give you
money so you can make it back to New York,” Liam said, fumbling
through his jean pockets, pulling out any cash that he had on
him.

Liam froze when Rose's hand made its way on
to his, stopping his movement.

“Liam. Listen to me. I don't want to run
away. And I'm not going to lie. Yes, I would like to be famous one
day! But not by using you. I want to be famous on my own time for
being a fashion designer, or maybe even a singer. I only used you
last night so I could get to you because I care about you. But that
is the only thing I've ever used you for. And yeah... it's weird
knowing that my face is in a newspaper somewhere. And misinformed,
since we're not having a secret affair. But I'm not going to run. I
like being with you, Liam. You're my friend. I'm not like those
girls in your past.”

Liam was openly crying now. No one had ever
stuck with him through something like this before. Usually, once
someone got publicity from being with him, they would either run
away, wanting out of the spotlight, or they would run away, taking
advantage of the fame that had been brought to them. Either way,
Liam always had to go through this alone.

“You're sure you can handle it?” Liam
questioned, still not believing that he could be so lucky.

“I think so. I think you're worth it, at
least,” Rose responded honestly, pulling Liam in for a hug, just
wanting to hold him close to her to reassure him that she wasn't
going anywhere.

“Thank you. That's the nicest thing anyone
has ever said or done for me.”

“You deserve better, Liam. And I hope I can
give that to you.”

Rose was putting her heart on the line, but,
then again, so was Liam. They knew nothing could come of it. Their
friendship would probably only be able to last as long as the
summer tour. There was too much distance between them during the
year, and Liam had a job to do, while Rose had school. But all they
knew, in that moment, was that they shared something special. There
was something there between them. The potential for something more
than just friendship. They could both feel it. And they could try
to ignore it, but they knew one of them would break eventually. It
was just a matter of who would break first, and when.

Chapter 9

At the next show, Rose wasn't there.

Rose wasn't there.

Liam had been wrong to trust her. She had
abandoned him, and now his heart was breaking. He couldn't believe
she would do this to him.

Meanwhile, in Montgomery, a city five hours
away from New Orleans, where Liam currently was for his next show,
Rose was grabbing her phone and looking up the closest car repair
shop. She knew absolutely nothing about cars, but what she did know
was that her car was broken. It wouldn't start, and there was smoke
coming out of the hood, and she just knew that this would not be
cheap to fix. It looked like her summer would be ending a lot
sooner than she thought.

This was confirmed upon arriving at the
repair shop after a tow truck showed up to take her car away. The
mechanic surveyed the damage and informed her that the radiator had
burst. Then, the car had overheated. And, in the process of towing
the car, one of her tires had been punctured. Over all, the repairs
would cost a little over a thousand dollars. Yep, it looked like
Rose would be spending the last of her money on fixing her car,
then getting back to New York.

Now she just had to call Liam to let him
know. She wasn't even sure if he would really care. She hoped that
he would, but there was really only one way to be sure.

She grabbed her phone to call him, only to
realize that her phone had died since getting to the repair shop.
Great. She couldn't even charge it with her car charger because her
car was dead. She'd have to wait until she got to a hotel to charge
her phone and call Liam to tell him that it's all over.

Maybe this was for the better. She was kind
of hesitant to say goodbye. And she was scared of how he would
react. She just wished she could have let him know that she
wouldn't be at his show so he didn't think she had abandoned
him.

In the mean time, she should find a hotel to
stay the night in. The repairs probably wouldn't be done until
tomorrow afternoon.

Once in the hotel and settled in, Rose
finally was able to plug her phone into a charger, only to realize
that Liam would be in the middle of his show right now. She
wondered if Liam would realize that she wasn't at the show yet.
Maybe he just thought that she was in the back of the venue, out of
sight. Or maybe he knew that she wasn't there and thought she had
abandoned him after getting fame after all. It had only been one
day since the newspaper scandal, so she knew the thought of her
betraying him would still be fresh in his mind. She hoped that she
wasn't too late in reassuring him that she would be there if she
could have been. She hoped that he would believe her.

Finally, the show was over, and she was able
to call Liam. She dialed his number, her nerves kicking into high
gear. She was trying her best not to cry. She hated that her
amazing summer had to be over so soon. Especially after all the
drama that had happened yesterday. She felt closer to Liam now more
than ever, and she didn't want to see it end. But now, the tour was
over for Rose. Liam was over for Rose. She would never get to
confront Liam about what exactly was going on between them. Liam
would move on and never think about her ever again. Rose would be
forgotten.

Well... it was fun while it lasted.

Liam answered his phone almost
immediately.

“So where were you?” Liam questioned. Rose
detected annoyance in his voice, but she could also hear the hurt
and frustration there too. She had wondered deep down if he would
even care that she wasn't there. It looked like she had her answer.
She had obviously really upset him by not being there.

“My car broke. I can't come to any more of
your shows. I'm sorry.”

“What? Why not? You said you would be at all
of my shows. You can get the car fixed and just drive to the next
stop on the tour.”

“I would if I could. But the radiator in my
car burst, and then the car overheated, and then I got a flat
ti-”

“There's no way,” Liam cut her off. “There is
no way all of that happened to your car. You are totally making
that all up.”

“I'm not making it up, Liam. It's going to
take all of my money to fix it, so I'll need to go back to New York
City tomorrow once they fix my car. It's been fun, but-”

Liam cut her off again. “I'll come get you.
Where are you?”

Wait. Woah. Well, that was unexpected.

“Liam, don't be stupid. You have a show to
perform. I'll be fine,” Rose lied about the last part. She was
anything but fine right now. She was completely heart broken.

“I have an extra day off tomorrow, to allow
for travel time, so I can come get you and still make it to my next
show on time.”

“Well, what would I do after you came to get
me? I have no money for gas and food. And I can't just leave my car
here.”

“You would ride with me,” Liam said with
absolutely no hesitance. “On the tour bus. I mean. I'm seriously
bored out of my mind on this bus, so I would love the company.
Please say you'll ride with me! I'll pay someone to take your car
back to New York City for you when they're done fixing it,” Liam
was desperate at this point. He wasn't ready to say goodbye to Rose
yet.

Rose was torn. She wanted so desperately to
spend the rest of the summer riding around the tour bus with Liam,
but she felt wrong asking so much of him.

“Are you sure it won't be too much
trouble?”

“NO! I mean, yes. I'm sure,” Liam responded
instantly, finality in his voice. “It's settled. I'll tell the
driver to start heading your way. Just, stay put till then. Are you
in a hotel?”

Rose confirmed that she was, telling Liam
where she was and the name of her hotel so he would know where to
find her, then ended up staying up on the phone with him, catching
up with Liam about random things, just enjoying talking to the man.
They had only been apart for one day, but it felt like so much
longer.

They talked on the phone during the entire
five hour drive to her hotel, in fact. They never ran out of things
to talk about. It was absolutely crazy how at ease Liam felt
talking to Rose. And now they would be together for another month
and a half. When Liam saw Rose this time, they wouldn't have to
leave each other at the end of the night. A whole month and a half
of them traveling around the country together. Liam was ecstatic.
He quickly told the driver to hurry up, eager to see Rose
again.

What did Liam see in her, Rose wondered. Liam
had to have met thousands of fans by now, so why did she stand out
as different? Rose just blamed good old-fashioned luck for this. It
was luck that Liam had decided to talk to Rose for longer than he
usually did with other fans on that first night of the tour. It was
luck that Rose had rescued Liam from that massive crowd the night
Liam ventured out without security in order to find her. It was
luck that the man Rose admired for so long before even meeting him
just happened to have almost everything in common with her and that
they could talk to one another effortlessly. And, apparently, it
was luck that her car had broken down and Liam had come to the
rescue.

A month ago, Rose never would have believed
that she'd have her idol's phone number, let alone that she'd be
riding around the country with him. Rose would have laughed in your
face if you had told her that. But lo and behold... it was
happening. As fate would have it, Rose's car broke down and Liam
decided that he just couldn't do the rest of the tour without
her.