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Niall never came back that night.

And as the hours went by, Brittany grew more and more frustrated with him. She wasn't the type to fill up his voicemail, and there was no use anyway. His phone was probably dead, since it didn't even ring when she called it anymore. She'd tried texting him and even direct messaging him on twitter, but with no avail.

She kept flipping between being furious with him, wondering where he was, and being worried about him. She'd already been to see Danielle and Liam once, and she didn't want to disturb them again.

She scrolled through the contacts on her phone, but gave up and tossed it onto the bed beside her. She didn't really have anyone she could call and talk to about the situation. Besides, it would likely only serve to make her feel worse and over-analyze the situation again.

So, she put the TV on, closed her eyes and managed to fall asleep for a couple of hours. When she woke up, there was light streaming into the room, but she was still alone. She sat up and put her head in her hands.

If he was still alive, she was quite certain she was going to kill him.

With a sigh, she had a quick shower, got dressed and went down to the hotel restaurant to get something to eat. She gave a small wave to Danielle, Liam, Harry and Louis who were already sitting at a table.

“Morning,” she said, pulling out a chair and sitting down beside Danielle.

“Morning,” Danielle said, giving her a look. “What're you doing up so early? I thought you and Nialler would still be sleeping after your long night,” she laughed suggestively.

Brittany gave her friend a look. “Maybe he's still sleeping. I have no idea,” she said, holding up her coffee mug for the waitress to fill.

Danielle furrowed her eyebrows. “What? He still hasn't come back?”

Brittany took a sip of her coffee, not bothering to put any milk or sugar in it. “Nope.”

There was an awkward silence after that.

“Well, don't everyone speak up at once,” Brittany said bitterly. She was taking her frustration and exhaustion out on them, but at the moment she really didn't care.

“Where do you think he went?” Louis asked, directing his question more at Liam than at everyone else.

But Liam just shrugged. “I don't know. I really don't know what to think, actually,”

“Do you think he's gone out and got himself hurt?” Danielle asked quietly. “For all we know, he took off with no security, something could have happened to him.”

Harry just rolled his eyes. “He's probably fine. I bet he just went out and got himself drunk and...” he looked over at Brittany and cocked his head a little, allowing her to mentally fill in the rest.

Brittany didn't say anything in response. Even years later, things were still a little awkward between her and Harry, so she tried not to much stock into his words. Still, that was what she'd been worried about.

Everyone went back to eating their food after that. Brittany just sipped on her coffee, eyeing the entrance of the restaurant, hoping that Niall would show up.

And eventually, he did. He was wearing the same clothes as he had been the night before, his hair was a mess and simply put, he didn't look good. He rushed over to her.

“You weren't in the room,” he said quickly.

“Neither were you,” Brittany shot back, looking up at him.

Everyone else at the table tried to make small talk during the couple's tense moment, but it was difficult. Of course they all were curious as to where he'd been as well.

“I'm sorry,” he said, leaning down and hugging her tightly.

“Where were you?” she asked. She didn't hug him back, because she had a sneaking suspicion she knew exactly where he'd been. The very thought of it was beginning to make her feel sick.

“I'm sorry,” he repeated, clinging to her tighter. “I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry...”

“Get off me,” she said, not caring to hear his meaningless apologies. He obliged and she stood up, giving him a look. “I'm going back up to the room,” she said.

“But Britt-” he started, desperation apparent in his voice.

“Stop it,” she said quietly, but sternly. “Do you want this to be all over Sugarscape tomorrow? Because it will be if we do this here. I'm going back up to the room, you're coming with me, and you're going to tell me everything.”

She held out her and hand he grabbed it, lacing his fingers with hers. They walked down the halls in silence, but as soon as they were inside the elevator, Brittany jerked away from him.

Niall sighed, but didn't say anything. Like Brittany said, it was best to wait until they were back in the room. And once the door was closed behind them, Brittany turned to look at him.

“Where were you?” she spat.

“I went out,” he said dumbly. “I was really upset with you, and I just needed some time to cool off.”

“I knew that already. Tell me where you went.”

Niall sighed and bit his lip. “I went to a club with Haz.”

Brittany rolled her eyes. That made perfect sense. Harry hated her, and had probably jumped at the chance to take Niall out after their fight. He was such an enabler, and it also explained his passive attitude at breakfast. “And?”

Niall shrugged. “I don't know. We were drinking because... well, you know Haz,”

Brittany continued to stare at him, but didn't say a word.

“Anyway he left, but I stayed there, and there were girls there...” he looked down, avoiding her eyes. “Britt, I'm really sorry, you have to know that I never meant to hurt you and that I was really drunk and upset.”

“What did you do?” Brittany asked through gritted teeth, though she was sure she already knew.

“I slept with one of them,” he said honestly, taking a deep breath afterwards. “But you have to know that it was bad, and it didn't last long, and I felt like crap as soon as I woke up and realized what had happened,” he rambled on, moving in to hug her.

Brittany shoved him away. “No,” she said firmly. “I can't believe you did that. We were together for two years and one little fight sends you right back off to one of your stupid fan groupies?”

“It wasn't a little fight,” he said, trying to stay calm. “I asked you to take our relationship to the next level, and you -”

“And I what?!” she shouted. “What? I didn't want to, because I already told you three months ago, when Eleanor and Louis got engaged, and everyone started making those stupid comments at us, and we had that talk about how we were fine how we were and that we were on the same page you sprung that on me?! Oh by the way, you're moving to London! Surprise, happy anniversary!” she continued to yell at him, wiping a few tears from her eyes.

“I'm sorry,” he muttered. “I probably could have gone about it a better way.”

Brittany took a deep breath in an effort to calm herself down, but it was no use. She was still fuming. “It doesn't matter now, does it? Because there's no fucking way I'm moving to London, or anywhere with you now. I'm done. We're done.”

He looked at her in horror. “You don't mean that,” he said shakily, reaching out to touch her.

She backed away from him. “I do mean that. I told you from day one that if you cheated on me, we'd be over. And you cheated on me. So it's over,” she said plainly, putting her hands on her hips.

He didn't know what to say. That was true, they'd made that agreement right at the beginning of their relationship since they'd known they'd be away from each other a lot. “Are you serious?” he asked, his voice bordering between sadness and anger. “After two years you're just going to throw it all away?”

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “You're the one who threw it all away. You should have just come back. We could have made up and you could have had sex with me, but you instead you decided to drunkenly fuck a gross bar chick.”

“It was stupid,” he said. “It was really stupid, and I'll never do it again.”

“And how am I supposed to believe that?!” she shouted, getting upset all over again. “How? You were the one person I never thought would never be capable of doing something like that. But you did it, and I can't even look at you the same anymore,” she continued on, walking over to her suitcase and stuffing the few belongings she'd taken out back in. “I'm done. It's over. You did this,” she said, grabbing her luggage and leaving the room in a huff.

Once the door slammed behind her, Niall fell back onto the bed. The sheets were tangled up and he pulled them tight against his chest. There was no use in following Brittany, that would only serve to make things worse.

Instead, he hoped that in a couple of days, she'd come to her senses and call him to work things out.

She had to.

***


The elevator doors opened, and Brittany was face to face with Harry and Louis.

“Where are you off to?” Harry asked as he looked down at her luggage. “Thought this was your big anniversary trip?”

“Shut up Harry,” Brittany muttered, attempting to shove past him and get on the elevator.

It didn't work.

“Tell me what happened,” he said firmly. “Tell me what he did that's so bad that you're leaving.”

Brittany took a deep breath and looked at him. “Why do you care?”

He shrugged. “Because doesn't it seem a bit hypocritical?” he asked, raising his eyebrow.

Brittany shook her head. She really wasn't in the mood to deal with any of this, and just wanted to get away from the entire situation. “You don't even know what happened.”

“I can guess,” he said knowingly. “Niall slept with someone else, you're upset about it, and you're leaving him.”

Brittany shrugged. She supposed it was pretty easy to figure out. “And can you blame me for that?”

“Actually,” Harry said with a laugh, “I can. Considering your entire relationship is based around the fact that you were cheating on me with him, it's pretty stupid that you're going to leave him for the same thing.”

Brittany rolled her eyes. “That's different.”

“Harry,” Louis said, touching his friend's arm in an effort to get him to stop.

Harry just brushed him off. “It's not different. But if you're just going to leave him over this, that's fine. Make your snap decision, but he won't wait around for you forever.”

“Just shut up Harry, I don't want to hear it,” she choked out, pushing past him and getting on the elevator.

She took steady breaths and tried to calm herself down. She didn't care what Harry had to say, and thought it was completely ridiculous of him to bring up the circumstances that had caused her and Niall to get together in the first place.

She knew she couldn't blame Harry for not being sympathetic to the situation, but that still didn't excuse Niall for what he'd done.

So, she went through all the motions of leaving without another thought. It was easy when she had simple steps to go through. First, she got into a cab, then she went to the airport. Once she arrived there she got her ticket changed, then it was just a matter of getting on the plane and flying back to the states.

It wasn't until she set foot back in her LA condo two days earlier than planned that she fell down on her bed and sobbed into her pillow.