Across the Miles by Kristen Dickerson

time to watch the young woman sleep. Rose
was laying half on top of him, so Liam adjusted himself so that he
could look down and see her face. Rose looked like an angel when
she slept. But then again, Rose looked like an angel all the time.
Liam was so in love with her. He didn't care that he had only known
Rose for that summer. He didn't care that they were so young. He
didn't care about anything in that moment except for Rose. He would
definitely find a way to be with her for as long as possible, no
matter the cost.
     
    Rose began to stir in her sleep, gradually
waking up. Slowly, she opened her eyes, only to see Liam looking
down at her with a loving expression on his face.
     
    “I like waking up to your face,” Rose said
smiling up at him.
     
    Liam smiled back down at her, placing a kiss
to the top of her head. “Good morning, sleepy head. You haven't
changed your mind since we talked last night, have you?”
     
    Rose had to think for a minute about what
they had discussed the previous night. She was still pretty out of
it from being asleep. But then it all came rushing back. They had
kissed. And told each other that they loved one another. They had
basically said “screw it” to the future and decided to live in the
here and now. And Rose had never felt so happy.
     
    Rose leaned up and pressed a passionate kiss
onto Liam's lips. She could feel Liam smiling into the kiss.
     
    “I'll take that as a no,” Liam joked, after
they both finally pulled away from each other.
     
    Rose snuggled her head back into Liam's
neck.
     
    “Can we just stay like this forever?” Rose
mumbled into Liam's neck.
     
    Liam smiled. So Rose was in this just as deep
as he was.
     
    “You know, I was just thinking that. I'm
pretty sure that can be arranged.”
     
    And with that, they fell back to sleep,
content to spend the entire day just laying in each others
arms.
     

Chapter 14
     
    And now they were in the final countdown.
There was less than a week left on the tour. The end was fast
approaching
     
    But Rose and Liam had decided to stop trying
to figure out a way to be together after all of this ended and just
enjoy the here and now. They just wanted to enjoy whatever time
they had left together. So neither of them spared a single thought
about what would happen when the tour ended. They figured that if
an idea struck them on how to be together, it would just happen.
Until then, they were just completely consumed with thoughts for
one another.
     
    They had the day off after Liam's performance
in Portland, Oregon the night before. They didn't have to travel
again for two more days, when they would go to Los Angeles to
finish off the tour with one final performance.
     
    Now, Rose and Liam were walking around in the
downtown area of San Francisco, hand in hand, following the sound
of the music in the park that they could hear pounding from a few
blocks away, enjoying their day off in the warm sunshine. The music
surrounded them, as did the people and culture of they city, and
they instantly fell in love with the place, not even knowing where
to start first.
     
    “Let's shop around a bit before we go to the
park to listen to the music,” Rose suggested.
     
    So they spent the afternoon going into
various shops, most of them filled with old rock and roll vinyls
and tourist t-shirts. They took turns trying on crazy hats that
they found in stores, and taking pictures of one another on their
cell phones, documenting their date.
     
    The couple loved spending time together,
regardless of what they were doing, but the thing they loved most
was taking in each new city they traveled to together. The company
they found in one another was just an added bonus. And San
Francisco was no exception. They loved the vibe and the music and
buildings and shops. Rose was in paradise from all of the
boutiques, and Liam found at least ten vinyl records that he ended
up buying. They wandered into a few museums and ate lunch at a
small cafe that