Wednesday June 6, 2012
Los Angeles, CA

“This is really boring,” Harry complained as he sat slouched in one of the plush hotel room chairs. “I don’t understand why you can’t do this in your hotel room.”

Brittany and Niall ignored Harry’s whining.

After having talked with Liam, Niall was feeling slightly better about the situation. Slightly better in that, he didn’t feel like a horrible person any longer for what he was going through. He’d half expected Liam to tell him what a rotten friend he was being to Harry – but he didn’t. After all, it wasn’t really his fault.

He’d still spent the rest of the day before avoiding Brittany. She’d come round his room looking for him in the evening, as she had the past two days. He’d just quickly handed her his guitar and told her to practice on her own, stating he was really tired, felt like he was coming down with something and wanted to spend the evening resting to shake it off.

He’d felt bad for basically shutting the door in her face, but what else could he have done? A day without her was exactly what he’d needed.

Now at least he felt he could be in the same room with her again. Not his room… but a room. Her room, to be exact. Even though Harry was in it, driving him crazy.

“C,” Niall said, looking down at Brittany.

She grinned and played the chord.

“D,” he continued.

Again, she grinned an played the chord.

He continued naming chords, and Brittany continued to play them, just as they had been doing for the past hour.

“Well Brittany,” Niall smirked. “I have to say I’m impressed. You knew so many of them.”

“Of course she did,” Harry muttered before Brittany had a chance to thank Niall for the praise. “It was all she did last night, which, like now, was very boring.”

Brittany shook her head with a laugh. “Thanks Niall,” she simply said.

Niall, on the other hand, rolled his eyes and gave Harry a look. “You were the one who suggested I teach her in the first place. I’m teaching her, aren’t I?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Harry said with a sigh. “I just don’t see why you couldn’t go into your room so I could watch TV.”

“My room’s a mess,” Niall said, repeating the same excuse he’d told them earlier. It was a weak one, but it had worked.

“Why don’t you go do something with the others?” Brittany suggested, looking over at Harry.

“Because then I wouldn’t get to spend time with you,” Harry said sweetly, reaching over and rubbing Brittany’s arm a little.

“You wouldn’t get to spend time with her anyway if we were in my room,” Niall said shortly. If Harry’s presence wasn’t already annoying him, the fact that he was sitting there complaining about it certainly was.

“Wow, Nialler,” Harry said, standing up. “I get the hint okay?” he said with a laugh. “I’ll be downstairs looking for something to eat.”

He began to walk away, but Brittany cleared her throat. “Aren’t you forgetting something?” she asked, a smirk playing on her lips.

Niall suddenly became very interested in the drapery. He could do without watching Brittany and Harry share a goodbye kiss, especially with his guitar in between the two of them.

Harry turned around and gave her that grin he was so famous for. He leaned over and kissed her softly. “Better?” he whispered.

Brittany just nodded, her eyes still half closed. “Much,” she replied. “See you later.”

Niall gave Harry a slight nod as he left. He was happy to see him gone, not just for the fact that now he would get to spend some time alone with Brittany, but simply because he was sick to death of hearing his whining. Lately it seemed that everything Harry did annoyed him.

“Where were we?” Niall asked, turning his attention back to her.

For a little while longer, Niall sat with Brittany and continued to quiz her on different chords and patterns. He took Harry’s place in the plush chair and watched her as she continually looked pleased with herself and all the hard work she had clearly put in the evening before.

Eventually, there was a lull. Brittany looked over at Niall and handed him the guitar. “You play something,” she instructed.

He glanced down at the chair he was sitting in. It was far too awkward shaped for him to ever have a hope of being able to play something while he sat there. He took the instrument from her, and proceeded to sit on the floor.

“What are you doing?” she asked, giving him a weird look.

“I can’t sit in the chair,” he explained, motioning towards it. “The arms of it are too weird.”

Brittany continued to look at him oddly. “Yeah… I know. Just sit up here with me,” she patted the bed. “There’s a lot of space.”

Indeed there was, but Niall really couldn’t bring himself to join her. It wasn’t so much being on a bed with Brittany, it was that he was well aware of what she and Harry had probably done in it.

Brittany must have noticed him wrinkling his nose slightly because she simply rolled her eyes. “Don’t even think it,” she said. “The sheets are clean, I promise.”

With a sigh, Niall got up and joined her on the bed. There was still a lot of space between them with him sitting with his back against the headboard, and her on the edge. “What do you want me to play?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Something you wrote. Be my inspiration,” she said, crossing her legs and looking at him with a grin.

Niall nodded and began to play lightly. In hindsight, his song choice probably wasn’t great, but if there was any way for him to express himself to her, it was through music, wasn’t it? After all, he was just playing one of his songs. Even if it happened to describe his situation, it wasn’t like he’d written it with her in mind or anything.

Of course now, as he played it, she was the only person who sprung to mind.

“I stare at your face, into your eyes, outside there’s so much passing us by. All of the sounds, all of the sights, over the earth and under the sky. Too much cold and too much rain, too much heartache to explain,” he sang, looking up at Brittany slightly.

She just watched him intently.

“Who needs the world when I’ve got you, switch of the sun, the stars and the moon. I’ve all I need inside of this room. Who needs the world when I’ve got you…”

He looked up at her, still playing, and wondered what she was thinking. She was just watching him.. but surely she had to have some thoughts, didn’t she? He began to second guess himself and the song he was playing. But he couldn’t very well stop now.

“I walk on the street, talk in the dark, I see people’s dreams just falling apart. I opened my arms, tried to be true, seems like my only truth is you. Am I wrong or am I right? All I want is you tonight…”

She kept watching him, and Niall noticed the expression on her face change slightly. He kept playing, but Brittany broke her silence.

“Niall…” she began softly, but was interrupted by a loud knocking at the door.

Niall breathed a sigh of relief as he stopped playing. He really should have chosen something a little less obvious. Brittany rolled her eyes irritably, but hopped off the bed and answered the door. “Louis? What are you doing here?”

“You guys love me,” he said, waltzing into the room and not even taking notice of the fact that Niall was sitting on the bed, giving him a dirty look.

Brittany laughed. “Yeah… I guess… but why?”

“Just come to my room and see,” he said, ushering them towards the door.

Niall sighed, hopped off the bed and followed the two of them to Louis’ room. When he opened the door, they were greeted with cheers from Harry, Liam and Zayn. All of whom were looking quite happy with themselves. It probably had something to do the with the fact that they all had bottles in their hands.

“How did you get your hands on this?” Niall laughed as he looked over at the room’s desk. Atop it sat a multitude of beverages.

Louis just gave Niall a grin. “I have my ways,” he said simply, walking over to the drinks. “I even got Guinness for you,” he said, handing one to Niall.

Niall grinned. Maybe this night wouldn’t shape up to be so bad after all. “Thanks, mate.”

“And for the lovely Brittany,” Louis said, handing her a girly strawberry daiquiri cooler. “Because for once our One Direction drinking nights aren’t a total sausage fest!”

“Thanks,” Brittany giggled, took the drink from Louis and went to join Harry and Zayn on the bed. As she sat in her boyfriend’s lap, she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

Niall took a big swig of his beer. At least for once he had alcohol to help him cope with the situation.

“Well lads, I think we should have a toast!” Louis said, holding his beer high above his head. “To the American tour!”

“Yeah!” they all cheered, taking a sip and then mimicking Louis with their drinks in the air.

“To all of our beautiful fans!”

“Yeah!”

Louis started to laugh before his next toast. “To the fact that, even though it’s no surprise to anyone, Harry’s banging the opening act!”

“Yeah!”

Niall stayed silent and Liam glanced down at him sympathetically. No one seemed to take notice of this.

Harry grinned, finished his drink, reached for another and gave Brittany a big kiss on the cheek.

“Hey!” Brittany shouted irritably. “I’m sitting right here!”

“I know, baby,” Harry said seductively, wrapping his arms around her waist and began kissing her neck.

Niall finished his drink and Liam promptly handed him another. If he was going to have to witness Brittany and Harry practically have sex right in front of him, he’d much rather be drunk.

Luckily, Brittany pushed Harry’s advances away. She didn’t appear to be that annoyed, however. She just laughed it off. “I don’t think banging the opening act is such an accomplishment…” she said, raising her half finished drink above her head. “So how about… to the fact that I’m hot enough to be banging one of the headliners?”

Louis laughed again. He was obviously already drunk. “Oh Brittany,” he laughed. “You could have had any one of us.”

Niall rolled his eyes. Louis must have been drunk, because he never would have made a comment like that sober. “And what would Eleanor think of that?” he asked, raising his eyebrow.

Louis shook his head with a grin. “It was just a joke,” he nodded, before bursting into a fit of giggles. “Besides, you aren’t in a position to judge, now are you?”

Niall felt his heart stop. If Louis had figured it out and was about to spill it with everyone right there, he didn’t think he could be held responsible for his actions.

“You know, because of all the girls who’ve been in and out of your hotel rooms?” Louis added, and Niall inwardly sighed with relief. He hadn’t figured it out. He was just being drunk and stupid.

“What?!” Brittany shrieked, sitting up a little. “You guys, tell me groupie stories!”

A glance was shared between the five boys.

“Niall had sex during an intermission once,” Louis blurted out, and the others laughed uncontrollably.

“Oi!” Niall exclaimed, horrified that they’d mentioned that in Brittany’s presence. He certainly didn’t want her assuming he was some sex maniac who slept with everyone. She didn’t need to know every detail about his past.

Brittany giggled. “How long is an intermission? Like, five minutes? Buddy…”

Niall glared at her. “It was a long intermission. And I was really young… and inexperienced. Okay?”

Brittany pressed her lips together and smiled cheekily. “’Kay,” she shrugged and Niall rolled his eyes. He would gladly prove any assumptions she had about his performance wrong.

“I got a girl off just by lookin’ at her once,” Zayn laughed, changing the subject. Niall could have kissed him.

“What?!”

Liam nodded at Brittany. “Yeah, it’s true. We met this group of girls, they screamed, one of them ran off, came back a couple minutes later, looked at Zayn and told him she had an orgasm in the bathroom.”

“Ohmigod,” Brittany collapsed into a fit of giggles.

“There was a girl once that said she would only sleep with me if we had a threesome with Liam!” Louis said loudly, pointing in Liam’s direction.

Brittany’s jaw dropped. “Did you do it?!” she looked over at Liam.

“No,” Liam assured her. “I’d already started dating Danielle.”

At that point, Brittany turned to look at Harry. “And what about you?” she asked, inching her face closer to his.

“I don’t have any groupie stories,” he said, kissing her.

The room erupted with laughter.

“Rubbish!” Zayn laughed, punching Harry in the arm. “Absolute rubbish. Brittany, don’t listen to a word this guy says. What he meant to say was that he has the most groupie stories.”

“It’s because he’s the cute one!” Louis laughed. “Harry! I love you, Harry!” he shrieked loudly, and Harry threw a pillow at him.

Niall laughed, enjoying the fact that the conversation had moved on to the fact that Harry was a giant manwhore. Nevermind the fact that he had been one in the past as well, but that was beside the point.

He tried not to watch as Harry whispered something to Brittany, making her laugh.

“Here, mate,” Liam said, handing Niall another drink. “It’s going to be a long night,” he laughed.

Niall nodded, and tapped his bottle against Liam’s. He thanked God he had a friend like him. And while Harry and Brittany were insistent on being flirtatious and sickening the entire evening, Niall and the others ended up in a heated discussion about the impending Euro 2012.

It had been a good long while since he’d drank with his bandmates, and though Brittany and Harry were the first to drunkenly stumble out of Louis’ room, Niall was too buzzed to let it affect him.

It wasn’t a long term solution, but it had certainly helped. For the first night in ages, Niall slept soundly.