It took Rose a moment to comprehend what Liam was saying.
“Wait... movers? What? Liam, are you saying...” Rose was at a loss for words.
“Yes, Rose. I'm moving to New York City. Four blocks from NYU, to be exact. I'm a singer. I can do that from anywhere. I don't know why I didn't realize that earlier. I guess I just thought LA was my home... but I was wrong. You are my home now, Rose. Wherever you are is where I want to be.”
Rose was crying tears of happiness now. Liam pulled her into a tight hug, and Rose rested her head on Liam's chest, not letting go as he finished explaining.
“I called my manager when you were in the shower in LA and asked him to do me a few favors. He helped me move out of my apartment and find a new one here in the city. He also okay'd me recording my next album here. Besides, there are tons of little venues for me to perform at here, too, so it's kind of perfect. And when I told them that my new fashion designer and singing partner lived here, he was all for the move.”
Rose was speechless.
“Say something, Rose. I love you. I hope that me doing all of this is okay with you.”
And yep, that got Rose talking.
“Are you kidding me?! Of course I'm okay with this! I'm more than okay with this! I'm ecstatic! You're moving here! You are going to live here! We can be together! And I'm going to be your fashion designer. And you want me to sing with you? I'm so happy, Liam, I don't even know what else to say! I love you!”
And now they were kissing again, but much more passionate than the kiss they shared a moment before. But Liam and Rose didn't care who was watching anymore. The whole world could be watching them and they wouldn't care. They were totally and completely happy.
This was all more than Rose could have ever dreamed of. Rose thought when she set out on her adventure at the beginning of summer that she would have a fun time following her idol around the country. She never could have guessed that she would end up finding her one true love.
Liam was thinking the same thing as he and Rose made their way up to Rose's room to catch up for a few hours before heading to Liam's new apartment.
Liam couldn't believe his luck, finding the love of his life and having the most incredible summer he could ever remember having. And now, his whole life would be better than ever, because he had Rose. Liam had made the right decision in moving to New York. He had no regrets. And he knew he would never have any regrets as long as Rose was by his side.
Epilogue
One Year Later...
“Well now... doesn't this look familiar?” Rose joked, stepping onto the tour bus for the first time for the summer tour. She had graduated from NYU early, five months before, worked on an album with Liam, and was now setting off on her first official tour with him.
“I'll bet,” Liam said, following his girlfriend, carrying their luggage on with him.
“It's a bit different this time, though, considering you'll be here from the start. And you are actually supposed to be on the tour bus with me this time,” Liam laughed, placing his and Rose's bags in the bedroom on the bus. It would be a bit cramped, but he didn't mind. If it was anything like last summer, it would be great just spending the summer with Rose, with no other distractions from the outside world.
For the next month, it would just be Rose, Liam, and the stage, along with a few random interviews along the way. Needless to say, both were extremely excited to finally have this time together. Time together that they hadn't had since the last tour ended.
Sure, they lived right down the block from one another now, and then lived together once Rose graduated, but they had been busy all year. This was like a huge vacation compared to what they had been living.
“So, where's the first stop, again?” Rose asked, settling onto the bed, wanting nothing more than to just take a nap, considering they had gotten up at four in the morning to make it to the tour bus on time to leave New York.
“Washington, D.C, I believe. Want to tour the White House while we're there?”
“Oh my god that would be so much fun! Can we please?”
“Anything for you, babe. This summer is going to be amazing.”
Little did Rose know, Liam had a plan. He was going to spoil his girlfriend all summer long, as much as he possibly could, then, hopefully, end the tour with a bang.
But for now, Liam was tired too, so he settled into the bed beside Rose and snuggled close to her, deciding a nap would be a good idea before they had their first interview of the tour later that day.
The first show of the tour went flawlessly. Before they even stepped on stage, fans began chanting their names. Yes, people were chanting Rose's name as well, much to her surprise. Rose wasn't sure why this still surprised her. She figured she should be used to it by now, nearly two months after Liam released his latest album, featuring her on it. But it still seemed surreal to her.
Rose and Liam's chemistry on stage was incredible, and they made sure the fans knew it was real. They had decided before the tour started to include a short monologue to the fans during the show, describing how they had met. But they didn't have to tell the story for everyone to recognize that the two were completely in love. The songs and their body language said that for them. So they always saved the story for right before the last song of the show, which was the song they had written together on the last day of tour a year ago, except, now, it was sung as a solo by Liam.
The show ended with a standing ovation and two encores, before Rose hurriedly dragged Liam off-stage.
“Liam, hurry up! We have to make it back to the bus in ten minutes or we'll miss it!”
“I'm coming, I'm coming!” Liam responded, nodding graciously at his fans who had hurried to the back doors to meet them.
“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 so
ngs 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.”
Across the Miles Page 12
