Thursday, June 28 2012
Charlotte, NC

1DUpdates: Guys, please don’t wait outside the hospital in North Carolina. It’s dangerous for the other people there.

MrsNiallJamesHoran: did niall actually pass out after the concert yesterday? whats going on?

Lovelove1D: niall looked really sick on stage yesterday… not surprised he passed out. Get well soon Nialler! Xx

Brittany woke up early the next morning and couldn’t get back to sleep. There were still a couple of hours to go before she would be able to go down to the hospital with the others. So, she grabbed her phone and started scrolling through twitter.

The first thing she noticed was that Niall was trending. Naturally, she couldn’t help being curious as to what the fans were saying. There were messages of support, speculation, and even photos of him on stage the night before that showcased how sick and unenergetic he had looked.

It was no surprise that the fans had caught wind of what had happened. There were tons of people outside the hospital, and loads more outside the hotel. As Brittany scrolled through the trend, she noticed that the other guys were getting bombarded with questions as to how Niall was doing.

She shook her head. It was pointless for the fans to ask the others – they were under strict orders from their management not to say anything about it on twitter. Of course, that had upset them, as they wanted to let the fans know Niall was fine, and there was no need to worry.

Curious, she scrolled through her own mentions to see what the fans were saying to her.

It was a lot of the same.

HLLNZ1D: @BrittCooperMusic is niall okay? Do u know?

1DSuperFan: @BrittCooperMusic: did niall really faint after the show? Is he in a coma?!

Brittany rolled her eyes. If Niall was in a coma, she was sure that it would already have been on Perez Hilton.

DirectionerBelieber: @BittCooperMusic: niall’s in the hospital? I bet you could kiss him better! Xx

She pouted. She really wished she could kiss him and make it all better.

supraniall: @BittCooperMusic: is Niall going to be okay? PLEASE TELL US! Directioners are so worried!

Brittany sighed to herself. The other boys weren’t supposed to talk about what had happened, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t. She knew she probably shouldn’t… but the panic from the fans broke her heart a little.

BrittCooperMusic: @supraniall Please don’t worry. He’s going to be fine! xoxo Britt

It only took minutes for her mentions to blow up after that. People asked her for specifics, which she wasn’t about to give out. They also asked her for confirmation on if she was dating Niall or not.

She switched her phone off and decided not to answer any further. She’d given them the information that was important – that Niall was going to be fine and there was no reason to worry.

Though she wasn’t about to tweet anyone regarding the current status of her relationship with Niall, she wasn’t even sure what she would say. She supposed they were still not together, but before he’d gone and landed himself in the hospital for the night, she had been about to go to his room, tell him she loved him and hopefully get it all sorted out.

She looked over at the clock. It was just over an hour until it was time to go visit Niall. She got out of bed and figured she may as well shower and get ready for the day.

***

Once again, Brittany, Liam, Louis, Zayn and Harry were sitting in the waiting room at the hospital with Paul. This time, however, everyone looked much more rested and put together. They were all silent as they waited, just as they had been on the car ride from the hotel.

Brittany fiddled with her dress as she looked at the ground. She didn’t even know what she was going to say to Niall when she did see him, and she supposed that she should have gone over that before. Now, she was sure she was going to blurt out the first thing that came to her mind.

She wasn’t even sure that Niall would want to see her. Though Liam had already reassured her that he would, Brittany still felt apprehensive. She didn’t think this was the best place for them to talk, but she couldn’t wait any longer. No matter what Paul or the doctors said, she needed to see for herself that he was okay.

Paul left briefly to go talk to one of the nurses, and returned a few minutes later. Everyone looked up at him eagerly. “We can see him now,” he said. “One at a time.”

Brittany stood up eagerly, and looked back at the others.

“Go on,” Liam said, giving her a slight nod.

She smiled at him with gratitude and followed the nurse down the hall. She drew in a shaky breath as she stepped into Niall’s room and saw him.

When Niall saw Brittany, he sat up a little, and his tired eyes grew wide. “Brittany,” he breathed.

Her heart broke, and she did everything in her power not to throw her arms around him. She glanced around the room at all the machines and the bland colours. She decided at that moment that she really hated hospitals. Now that she’d seen Niall was indeed okay, she felt annoyed with him for putting himself in such a situation in the first place.

“You’re really dumb,” she stated, sitting down on the chair beside his bed.

“Yeah, I know,” he said sheepishly, still looking at her intently.

“What were you thinking going out on stage after not sleeping for two days and not eating anything?” she asked him harshly, then instantly felt guilty. “Sorry…” she took his hand and squeezed it tightly. “Just whenever I think about the fact that something worse could have happened to you…”

“Hey,” he said, looking at her reassuringly. “I’m fine. And I know it was dumb. I was under a lot of stress.”

“Yeah,” she replied, shaking her head. “I know. I’m sorry.”

“It wasn’t just your fault. I was fighting with Haz too. I should have got the situation more under control. I guess it doesn’t really matter now, does it?” he laughed a little.

“It matters,” she said slowly, lightly brushing his hair with her fingers. “I love you so much, Nialler. I can’t be without you. And I know Harry said -”

“I don’t care what Harry said,” Niall cut her off quickly, sitting up. “I love you.”

Brittany smiled and leaned over, kissing him softly on the lips. She sighed with content as she looked up at him. “So everything’s okay now?”

“It’s perfect,” Niall said, leaning in to kiss her again.

“Except for the fact that Harry’s probably going to be mad at us all over again,” Brittany said with a sigh when she pulled away from him.

“Yeah.” Brittany and Niall glanced upward to see Harry standing in the doorway, eyeing them. He didn’t look particularly angry. He just looked as though he was watching them. “Brittany, do you think I can have my turn with him now?”

“Uh, yeah, sure,” Brittany said, looking back over at Niall. “I’ll see you later,” she said, kissing him on the cheek before standing up from her seat.

“Bye,” Niall said as he watched her leave. Then, he turned his attention to Harry, who was now sitting in the very same place Brittany had been only moments ago. “Haz,” he said, rubbing his eyes a little. “I’ve had a shitty night. Don’t make this harder.”

Harry ignored what Niall said. “You really love her, don’t you?”

Niall gave Harry a look. “Yeah,” he said, as though it was obvious. Because really, it was.

Harry sighed as he looked around the room. “Sorry,” he said finally. “I never wanted you to get hurt.”

Niall rolled his eyes a little. “Funny, because that’s what I’ve been trying to say to you this whole time.”

“I know,” Harry said slowly.

The two boys were silent for a couple of minutes. Neither of them really knew what to say. The air was thick and awkward as Harry glanced around the room and Niall blinked his eyes, trying his best not to fall asleep. Finally, he broke the silence. “I mean it though,” he said, looking at Harry. “I never meant for it to happen the way it did. I should have told you, but I was afraid, and I thought it would just go away if I didn’t. It got too out of control and you know I don’t know how to deal with stuff like that.”

“Neither do I,” Harry admitted. “I wish you would have told me you loved her.”

“Sorry,” Niall said again.

Harry shrugged. “Not much we can do about it now, I suppose. She loves you… you should have seen it last night. Liam texted her that you were here, and it seemed like five minutes later she was running through the doors demanding to see you.”

Niall laughed a little. He could definitely picture Brittany doing something like that. “I’m sure that went over well.”

Harry shrugged. “It annoyed me a bit,” he admitted. “But I thought about it afterwards. I was worried about you too… but she really was. She kept talking to Liam and asking him questions. She even put up a bit of a fight with Paul when he said we had to go back to the hotel. She really loves you… and you deserve that.”

Niall smiled at him. “Thanks, Haz.”

“So… are we cool?” he asked awkwardly.

Niall grinned, feeling relieved that he and Harry were finally past their issues. “Yeah, we’re cool.”

Harry leaned over and the two boys hugged tightly for a good minute before breaking apart. They looked at each other and laughed a little, happy that the air had finally been cleared between them.

***

Niall was released from the hospital later that afternoon, just in time for the group to begin their drive over to Tampa for their show the next day. The doctors had said he was fine to perform, so long as he made sure to take care of himself and stay hydrated before going on stage.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Brittany frowned, as she snuggled up to him on the couch on her bus.

“I’m fine,” he said with a yawn. “Just please let me sleep.”

But she kept her eyes firmly planted on him. “The doctors said that if you were concussed you couldn’t go to sleep.”

Niall closed his eyes and shook his head. “It’s a good thing they said I was fine, then.”

“But what if they missed something? It was so busy there, maybe they didn’t look over the test results in enough detail or -”

“Britt Britt, I really appreciate your concern, but I promise you that I’m fine. They did more than enough tests the entire night.” He opened his eyes slightly and gave her a look before closing them again. “And let’s not forget that not sleeping is part of the reason why I ended up there in the first place, so let’s not have a repeat and just take a little nap, alright?”

“Okay,” Brittany said, giving into him. He was clearly exhausted. He was also right – not sleeping had partly caused him to pass out in the first place. She gave him a quick kiss on the forehead before throwing the blanket over him and getting up.

“Where are you going?” he mumbled, nearly half asleep already.

“I’m just going to sit in the kitchenette for a bit, I’m not tired,” she explained.

“Mmmmhmm… okay…” Niall trailed off as he very quickly fell asleep.

Brittany sat down and glanced out the bus window at the scenery that was passing her by. For the first time the entire tour, she felt at peace, loved and happy all at the same time.

After taking a minute to collect her thoughts, she pulled out her phone and scrolled through her twitter feed. She giggled a little at Niall’s tweet.

NiallOfficial: whats this about me bein in a coma? Not true! didnt drink enough water and got a little bump on the head! I’m fine! On our way t tampa now!

She didn’t think she could love him any more if she tried.

She scrolled a little through her twitter mentions, and had to laugh at some of them.

allmyloving1D: @BrittCooperMusic thank u for telling us whats going on! The only member of 1D who ever updates us is apparently in a coma… lol

inzayn: @BrittCooperMusic soooo does this mean you and nialler are dating? #weknowitstrue

upallnight1997: @BrittCooperMusic ugh stay away from niall look what’s happened now that you’re around him!

Brittany rolled her eyes. Haters were gonna hate, she supposed. It still bothered her, but she figured if she was going to be with Niall she was going to have to put up with some of that. At least it seemed as though the tweets of support for the two of them were greater than the negative ones.

niallersprincess: @BrittCooperMusic if you and niall were dating you’d tell us right? Are you guys together? Why were you at the hospital?

Still, she found it a little ridiculous that they were using the fact that she’d gone to the hospital as proof she and Niall were dating. Even if he had just been a friend, she was sure she would have gone there. But it seemed as though Niall’s fans looked for any excuse to start some twitter drama.

iheartonedirection: @BrittCooperMusic @NiallOfficial are you guys dating?

It was obvious the fans were never going to let it go. And really, she loved Niall and didn’t exactly relish the thought of having a secret relationship with him.

BrittCooperMusic: @iheartonedirection yeah 🙂

After tweeting that, she knew her twitter feed was probably going to blow up, so she put her phone down, opened up her laptop and spent the next couple of hours watching DVDs.

Eventually, Niall came out of the entertainment area where he’d been sleeping. He rubbed his eyes a bit. “Morning,” he said, sitting down beside Brittany. “What’cha watchin’?”

“Gossip Girl,” Brittany said, before closing the window. “Did you have a nice nap?”

“Yeah,” Niall replied, giving her a kiss on the cheek. “My twitter’s blowing up like mad though.”

“Oh,” Brittany said, biting her lip. She’d nearly forgotten about that. “Yeah, I sort of confirmed to your fans that we were dating. Sorry, I probably should have asked you first.”

But Niall just shook his head. “It’s fine. They were probably going to find out anyway, and it’s better to let them know so they don’t get rumours and stuff going. Plus, management said I’m not allowed to talk about it, so you might as well.”

Brittany smiled, relieved that he wasn’t angry with her. She leaned her head on his shoulder. “So… are they really freaking out at you?”

Niall shrugged and pulled out his phone. “Nah. They’re mostly supportive. Some of them are saying mean things, but they send the same kinds of things to the other girls too. It’s nothing too bad. Besides, I don’t care what they think.”

Brittany kissed him softly on the lips. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” he said sweetly, looking down at her. “And please tell me you have something to eat on this bus.”

Brittany giggled. “Yeah, there’s probably chips or something in the cupboard over there.” She watched as he made a dash for the pantry and tore into a bag of chips like it was the first food he’d had in weeks. He held the open bag out to her, but she shook her head.

Niall sat back down beside her as he munched on his snack. “Put your show back on,” he said, motioning towards her computer screen. “Explain to me why you girls like it so much because I just don’t get it.”

Brittany laughed, but did as she was asked. She glanced over at Niall as she began explaining the plotline to him, and wondered how she’d been so lucky to get herself such a perfect boyfriend.