Across the Miles by Kristen Dickerson Page A

soon, but it's true. I'm so happy I have you with me
the rest of the tour.”
     
    Rose blushed.
     
    “Thank you. It's not weird. I feel the
same.”
     
    Liam smiled at her, then quickly told the
chef their orders.
     
    Both secretly hoped that whatever they had
going on between them would last longer than the tour. They had
quickly grown to be best friends, and they knew it was only a
matter of time before those feelings developed into more. But they
both decided not to bring it up right then, and, instead, eased
back into comfortable conversation.
     
    Liam grabbed their omelets and made his way
to his bedroom, Rose following behind him silently. Liam popped in
his favorite Disney movie and the two settled onto his bed, sitting
side by side, enjoying movie after movie all day long until they
eventually drifted off to sleep, Rose resting her head on Liam's
shoulder, and Liam's head on top of hers.
     
    And they slept better than they ever had.
     

Chapter 10
     
    So, now that Rose had proven to Liam that she
would stick by his side, no matter how bad the paparazzi had it out
for them, things went back to normal for the new friends. Except,
everything was ten times better, because, now, they were together
all the time.
     
    You would think that, eventually, they would
have gotten tired of each other, but no. They just got closer and
closer with each passing day.
     
    After the article about them got out, Liam
decided that it might be best if Rose watched the shows from
backstage from then on. Rose had no problem complying with that. As
far as she was concerned, backstage was the greatest place to be.
From there, she had a great view of the show. And it made her feel
special compared to the other people who came to see Liam.
     
    The fans thought they knew who Liam was, but
they had no idea. They all screamed for him and chanted his name
and came up to him after the shows to tell him they loved him, but
they had no idea how spectacular the man they were meeting really
was.
     
    Rose knew, though. She could only say this
because, a month ago, she had been one of those fans. But now that
she had spent time with Liam, she realized that Liam was even
better than the press made him out to be. He was as close to
perfect as they came. I mean, sure, he had flaws, of course. But
when Rose said that Liam was perfect, she meant that Liam was
perfect for her. She encouraged his goofiness, she helped him paint
his nails, she sang songs with him for hours at a time, she put up
with all of his favorite disney movies, even if he did have an
unhealthy obsession with them. Rose understood Liam, and liked him
just the way he was.
     
    The only problem was, Rose didn't know if
Liam felt the same way. They still hadn't talked about what was
going on between them since Liam called Rose his best friend the
night he picked her up from the hotel, and it had been a whole week
since then.
     
    Liam had quite a few nights off that week,
because the travel time was pretty short from city to city, but he
still needed to rest every now and then between shows, which
resulted in Rose and Liam spending a lot of extra time together.
Especially since they were now traveling together. This meant that
they were growing closer and closer. Both refused to address the
issue of their growing feelings, though.
     
    That is, until one night right before his
show in Little Rock, when Liam pulled Rose aside backstage and
asked if he could sing her another song that he wrote for her. He
decided to ask her about it first, now that he had seen first-hand
the consequences of being seen with Rose in public. If he sang to
Rose, the news would get hold of it, which meant any decision Liam
made regarding Rose would now have a direct impact on how the media
portrayed her. So it was only fair to warn his friend what he had
planned.
     
    Rose blushed. She was completely caught off
guard by Liam's proposal. She thought that after Liam had last sung
to her, and then never brought