Friday, June 1 2012
Detroit, MI

Brittany never left the One Direction bus that night.

The whole night, she was with Harry in his bunk (and those weren’t big bunks, mind you) giggling, talking and making noises that left little to the imagination. Noises that made Niall forever thankful that Harry’s bunk wasn’t above his.

After a little while he grew frustrated and drowned them out using his headphones and mass amounts of Bon Jovi. Eventually Brittany and Harry stopped, once Liam so eloquently shouted at them to “Knock it off!”

But the damage had already been done, and the dreams Niall continued to have about Brittany were more vivid and realistic than ever before. So he did manage to sleep, yes, but it just wasn’t very restful.

“Oh my God, Charlotte, you have no idea…”

The next morning, Niall rubbed his eyes as he was awoken by (who else but) Brittany’s voice. He poked his head out of the curtain of his bunk. Her back was turned to him as she sat at the kitchen table, chatting on the phone.

“It’s ridiculous! It feels like a dream…” he heard her laugh. That laugh of hers was infectious, but for Niall it was far too early.

“You should be jealous! I’m not just spending the summer with them, I spent the night on their bus. I’m literally calling you from their kitchen right now.”

Niall quickly pulled a t-shirt over his head before exiting his bunk. He knew far too well what girls talked about on the phone with each other. He didn’t want to overhear any details about the night’s events. Especially straight from Brittany’s mouth.

He walked into the kitchen, giving Brittany a quick wave. He looked through the fridge, pulled out the orange juice and poured himself a drink.

“Char? I’ve got to go. One of them just walked into the kitchen…” she glanced over at Niall and motioned to the phone apologetically. Niall just waved it off as though it wasn’t a big deal at all. As though her clear excitement over spending the night on the bus wasn’t driving him insane.

Brittany giggled. “Yes, Niall. Oh, shut up Char! I’ve really got to go, okay? I’ll call you later. Bye.” Brittany shook her head as she tapped the screen of her phone to end the call. She sheepishly turned to Niall , who was now sitting at the table across from her. “Sorry about that, did I wake you up?”

Niall ignored her question. Of course she woke him up. She was always waking him up, one way or another. He raised an eyebrow at her. “Squealing over us? Really Brittany?”

She just shrugged and blushed slightly. “Well, what can I say? I am a nineteen year old girl, you know.”

“I hadn’t noticed,” he deadpanned.

Brittany rolled her eyes. “Oh, shut up,” she giggled.

There was an awkward silence for a minute. Brittany fiddled with her phone, Niall traced the pattern of the mug in his hands.

He glanced up at her. What was he doing sitting there? Seeking her out for a conversation like this wasn’t helping his situation any. In fact, he was sure it was only serving to make it worse. The more he talked to her and learned about her, the more he wanted her.

“Do you miss being at home?” she asked suddenly.

He wasn’t sure how to answer that. Of course he missed being at home, and the tour certainly wasn’t shaping up to be how he had expected. Still, he loved his career, he loved being around the other boys, and he loved getting to visit all the different places he never would have been able to otherwise see.

“I do sometimes, but this is what I love to do. It’s a sacrifice, but it’s worth it,” he said finally.

Brittany nodded.

“Why?” he pressed, even though he knew he should have just left it alone. “Do you miss being at home?”

She shrugged. “I didn’t really before, but talking to Charlotte on the phone just now… I dunno. I just miss my friends, I guess.”

Niall nodded. That was hard for him to sympathize with. He had friends at home, sure, but he also got to travel and work with four of his closest friends. Though he’d intended to go into the music business as a solo artist, now he couldn’t imagine it any other way.

Before he had a chance to say anything, Brittany smiled at him. “Oh well. We’ll be making a stop in my city partway through the tour. I’ll get to see everyone then.”

“Where do you live?” he asked, suddenly realizing she’d just shown up on the tour out of seemingly nowhere. He had no idea where home actually was for her.

“Houston, Texas,” she grinned.

Niall gave her a knowing nod. “Oh, I see. That’s why you’ve got that little accent.”

Brittany cocked her head to the side. “I wasn’t even born in Texas. I lived in New York until just a few years ago. So, I don’t have an accent. And you’re one to talk, anyway.”

“I don’t have an accent,” Niall said with a look of fake shock.

Brittany just giggled. “Whatever you say, dude.”

Their mildly flirtatious conversation was interrupted by Liam walking into the kitchen area. “Good morning,” he muttered, looking through the fridge. “Do we have any more of those iced coffees?” he asked.

Niall and Brittany glanced at each other and shrugged. “I don’t know,” Niall replied. “I just had the orange juice that’s in there.”

Liam sighed, but conceded to the fact that there was only orange juice left on the bus. He poured himself a glass and sat beside Niall. “So Brittany,” he said, taking a sip. “I think I speak for the entire bus when I say please, please get a room.”

Brittany blushed furiously. Niall just laughed and thanked God for Liam. There was no way he was going to say anything to Brittany about it himself.

But Brittany quickly recovered from her embarrassment. “Oh quiet,” she said, waving him off. “I’m sure if your girlfriend was here with you, you’d do the same. You do have a girlfriend, right?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Liam replied. “And no, we wouldn’t.”

Brittany just rolled her eyes and looked over at Niall.

“What?” he asked.

“Same question. You have a girlfriend back home, right?”

“Nope,” Niall said shortly, finishing the rest of his drink in one gulp. No girlfriend. He was all too aware of that fact these days. How nice of Brittany to bring it up.

“Yes,” Liam said, putting his arm around poor Niall. “Lucky Nialler doesn’t have a girlfriend and has his pick of all the lovely ladies who chase us around. But you know what he doesn’t do?” he asked, eyeing Brittany.

Brittany raised her eyebrow. “What?”

“He doesn’t have sex on the bus!”

Niall looked down at the table. “Well…” he said slowly, knowing that Liam was well aware he wasn’t telling the complete truth.

“Okay, okay,” Liam backtracked. “He doesn’t have sex on the bus while the rest of us are trying to sleep.”

Brittany just laughed. “Okay, okay, next time we’ll go on my own bus, how about that?”

Liam nodded, pretending to be overly serious and distraught about the whole situation. “I think that would be best.”

“Okay,” Brittany said, getting up and presumably heading back to Harry’s bunk. “But just so you know, if your girlfriend comes here,” she looked at Liam, then over to Niall, “or you pick up any groupies, and I hear about any late night bus hanky panky, we will be back here so fast… and I promise, it’ll be loud,” she winked, and sauntered off.

Liam rolled his eyes and gave Niall a look. Niall attempted to laugh off Brittany’s ridiculous comment, but again, he couldn’t stop imagining Harry and Brittany alone on his bus.

Being loud.

“She’s so weird,” Liam muttered, looking into his cup.

“Tell me about it,” Niall laughed.

“A good match for Harry then, I guess,” Liam chuckled, standing up and going back over to the fridge.

Niall sighed. He completely disagreed with that. Brittany and Harry were not a good match at all. “Yeah,” he said simply, not particularly feeling the need to spill his guts to Liam. What would be the point? Liam would probably comfort him, tell him that the situation sucked, but that he’d have to suck it up, because there was nothing he could do about it now.

Nothing.