Monday June 11, 2012
Los Angeles, CA

An early morning wake up call coupled with Niall’s confusion from the night before didn’t make for a great flight.

First of all, they’d hit a bunch of turbulence, and while it made for a nice excuse, Niall was sure that it wasn’t the only cause of the nauseating feeling in the pit of his stomach.

He also kept stealing glances at Harry, who was seated beside him. Harry was absentmindedly flipping through a magazine, and was occasionally looking at his phone with annoyance. For once, they weren’t on a plane that had WiFi, and Niall was sure it was killing him to go this long without talking to Brittany.

He knew the feeling well.

The worst part of it was that he knew the truth now. Brittany would have gladly been with him had he asked. He glanced over at Harry again, and wondered if he knew that. Surely if Harry had known that he hadn’t been her first choice, he wouldn’t have bothered.

Or perhaps he would have, Harry was always up for a challenge after all.

Niall considered telling Harry that Brittany had actually wanted him first, but wasn’t sure that would do any good. Even if he just brought it up in jest, Harry probably wouldn’t take kindly to that information. He’d ask Niall how he could possibly know something like that, and then Niall would have to recount everything to him.

It wasn’t a good idea no matter which way you looked at it.

So Niall sat silently through the flight, leaning his head against the window and trying to will himself not to throw up.

It was a difficult task, but somehow he managed. The plane eventually landed in LA, and soon enough, the group was back in the same hotel they’d been in for the week during their last visit.

Again, there was no time to do much of anything. A quick trip to the hotel to drop off their things, and the boys were whisked off to the recording studio for much of the day.

Niall scrolled through the tweets on his phone while Liam recorded his piece. Normally he tried to pay as much attention as he could and soak up knowledge while in the studio, but that day his heart just wasn’t in it. It was, in fact, in New York.

He posted a quick update.

@NiallOfficial: Back in LA for a couple a days! Next album’s gonna be sick…

From there he continued looking through his timeline. He figured there wouldn’t be that much interesting, and for the most part he was right. Only a couple managed to catch his eye.

@Harry_Styles: back in LA to record… but missing @BrittCooperMusic while she launches her album in new york! Good luck babes! x

@BrittCooperMusic: SO EXCITED to be in NYC to launch my album! Can’t wait to see you all at my today show performance today! Will u be watching? xoxo britt

@BrittCooperMusic:@Harry_Styles awwwe, miss u too!! wish u were here!

Niall rolled his eyes. Brittany was beginning to annoy him. All he felt about her relationship with Harry was that it was fake, he couldn’t take anything about it seriously anymore. Not after what she’d said to him.

Try as he might to not think about it, the events of the night before kept creeping into his mind. Though he knew he’d done the right thing by telling her to leave and go back to Harry, he still mentally berated himself for it. He wished he wasn’t such a good person and that she could have stayed with him for the night.

His phone buzzed and he looked at it. He didn’t have a new tweet, but rather, a text message.

Brittany Cooper: We’re going to eat at Nando’s for lunch. I know you’re jealous!

Niall looked down at his phone in disbelief. Was she actually texting him like nothing had happened? He was really beginning to hate how she did that. Furthermore, this was the first thing she’d said to him since she’d left his room.

And what was she doing texting him? Shouldn’t she have been texting Harry instead?

Niall looked up at Harry. He was sitting there with his arms crossed, watching Liam in the booth. “Haz?” Niall asked.

Harry looked over at him. “Yeah?”

“Has Brittany texted you at all?”

Harry gave him a weird look. “On twitter a bit, yeah. I think she’s been really busy though. Why?”

Niall shook his head. “Nothing, just wondering.” He didn’t even know why he’d asked Harry that question, but now that he had the answer, things were even more strange. She found time to text him, but couldn’t find the time to text her boyfriend?

Although, Brittany had made it quite clear to him who it was she really wanted to be with. And yet, she hadn’t been willing to break it off with Harry. Niall figured it should be over and done with.

Or maybe she was just trying to be friends, like they had been up until a few days prior.

He glanced back down at his phone and hovered over the keyboard, unsure if he should reply to her. He typed in a quick reply and sent it off before he had a chance to second guess himself. If she was going to play little games with him, he was going to play right back.

Niall Horan: I am jealous. Like you wouldn’t believe.

But of course, Brittany was on to him.

Brittany Cooper: Don’t play that game. You’re the one who told me to leave last night.

Niall Horan: Because you said you couldn’t break up with Harry. I’m not going to do that to him.

Brittany Cooper: You already are. I’m not texting him, am I?

Niall Horan: Maybe you should be.

Brittany Cooper: I don’t want to, I want to text you. And I texted you about lunch, thank you very much. You’re the one who started talking about other things.

Niall Horan: Sure, Brittany. Put it all on me.

Brittany Cooper: I don’t know what you want me to do! I can’t break up with him, Niall. I CAN’T. You don’t understand… everyone knows about us and if we broke up and I started seeing you it would ruin everything I have worked so hard for. I can’t. I’m sorry. I don’t understand why we can’t still be friends.

Niall shook his head at how ridiculous he thought she was being. After all that, she didn’t understand why they couldn’t just be platonic friends? Especially the next day!

Niall Horan: Really?

Brittany Cooper: You don’t want to be my friend? You’d rather be nothing?

Niall sighed. No, he didn’t want to be nothing to her. Being her friend was painful, but what choice did he have? Even if he said he wanted nothing to do with her, she was still on their tour, and he’d still have to see her everywhere he went. Especially since she was apparently still keen on dating Harry.

Besides, he’d gone through much worse with her. At least now, he figured, things were out in the open. Perhaps she’d be more mindful of flaunting her relationship with Harry in front of him from now on.

Brittany Cooper: Well?

Niall Horan: We can be friends, I guess.

“Your turn in the booth, Nialler,” Liam said, stepping out and walking towards him. Niall looked up from his phone and nodded slightly.

“Right, thanks,” he said, welcoming the distraction. He slipped his phone back into his pocket and walked towards the booth.

“Who were you texting?” Zayn asked, giving him a look. “You looked really into it.”

Niall sighed before putting the headphones on. “Just a friend.”