Race (3 page)

"You all right?" Noah asked him.

"Yeah, just feeling a bit tired out because of yesterday," Ronan replied.

"Hmmm ... right. Is it just that or is there something else bothering you?" Noah asked, as Leonardo walked into the room with the water on his tray.

"Here you go, Sir," Leonardo smiled, handing over the cup to Ronan.

"What the hell is this?" Ronan cursed. 

Noah took the cup from Leonardo and Leonardo departed from the room.

"This is the perfect cure to a hangover," Noah said, putting one hand in his trouser pocket and holding the glass firmly in the other.

Ronan sighed, scoffing, bothered, and took the glass from his brother in a frustrated manner.

Noah sought this as an opportunity to sit down next to Ronan. "Do you remember what you said to me yesterday?" he asked.

"What did I say?" Ronan questioned, slightly confused.

"You said that if Chantelle comes into your life, then you'll stop drinking alcohol," Noah reminded him, remembering what happened last night.

Ronan chuckled. "I had so much alcohol that I was probably just reciting some dream that will never come true," Ronan tried to make an excuse, as he could never imagine his life without alcohol.

"And when someone's drunk, then they often tell the truth, too," Noah stated, his voice firm and serious. He was tired of Ronan's stupid jokes. Noah was getting too old for them now.

"But I'm a chronic alcoholic. How could she ever come into my life?" Ronan enquired, still smiling.

"And if she does come into your life, then?" Noah tried.

"She can't, bro. She can't," Ronan denied.

"If she did come into your life, then?" Noah repeated, his voice more firm than it was before.

Ronan looked at his brother in the eye. "Then I'll leave alcohol forever."

"Okay, let's give this a shot. If  you want to have lunch with Chantelle, then remember to come to the club today at night time. One o'clock exactly. Dress in some decent clothes and don't be late." Noah grinned, and got up from the bed.

"Lunch with Chantelle?" Ronan repeated excitedly, unable to believe his ears.

"Yes, sir!" Noah called, equally happy for his younger brother. He closed the door behind him and strode into the main room. "Leonardo!" Noah called. "My keys!"

Leonardo handed them over.

"Thank you, Leonardo," Noah said in appreciation, happy he had such a helpful little house keeper. "Oh, and Leonardo, phone me at my phone number at fifteen past one exactly." Noah had a plan in his mind.

"All right, Sir," Leonardo confirmed.

Noah left the room.

CHAPTER EIGHT

THE PHONE CALL THAT BROKE HER HEART

Chantelle was wearing a beautiful and very revealing white lace dress, and playing with her lustrous hair that shone in the sunlight as she walked down the pathway. She lay down on her sun bed, picked up a
Heat
magazine, and then saw Ronan and Noah strolling up to her, wearing their best formal attire, and had their hands in their pockets, Ronan the one with more swag in his steps.

"Well, this is a pleasant surprise," Noah grinned at Chantelle.

"Oh, hi guys!"  Chantelle exclaimed. "What are you both doing here?"

"Well, I was just walking back from the business but then we both saw you in our eyes," Noah said modestly. "Do you mind if we join you?"

"Come sit," Chantelle smiled. The brothers took a seat next to her.

"You're looking great," Ronan commented, pushing his sunglasses down a little to meet her eyes.

"And you're looking very fresh today!" Chantelle complimented Ronan. Ronan chuckled, pleased that he'd made a good impression for once. "Ronan, at the party yesterday, because of you there was a drinks shortage. Are you really-"

"Oh, mate," Ronan interrupted her, trying to laugh it off. "Look, drinking alcohol always has two reasons. Those reasons are happiness and sadness. I drank for happiness yesterday because I met you. I had never been so happy in my life. I drank in sadness because I thought, why haven't we met before?"

Chantelle laughed in appreciation. "Come on, stop now," she said modestly, blushing at the compliments Ronan gave her, but she still couldn't stop smiling. Noah grinned along with them.

"Hey, Chantelle, what's your plan for today then?" Noah asked her, quickly pushing the conversation forward. The quicker he was gone, the better.

"Nothing great," Chantelle shrugged. "I don't have anything planned to be honest."

"Well then, let's make your day great," Noah grinned. "I think we should all have lunch together."

"Sure," Chantelle nodded, relieved that she had something to do for the day.

Then, Noah's phone began to ring. "Excuse me," Noah said, nodding at them both and turning away from them purposefully, taking the phone out of his pocket. It was Leonardo. "Oh ... damn," Noah began his acting. "Hi  Polly," he said down the phone, in a dreamy, dashing and irresistibly manly tone.

Leonardo was shocked at why Noah was calling him Polly. Not a word escaped from his lips. That's what Noah exactly wanted him to do.

"Oh, sweetheart, look, I'm so sorry I'm late," Noah said dramatically, his voice slow and beautiful.

"Sweetheart?" Leonardo repeated, frowning, creasing his forehead and pulling his eyebrows together, wondering why on Earth Noah was calling him his sweetheart.

"Come on, baby, don't be angry with me," Noah smiled down the phone, even though Leonardo couldn't see him smiling, but Ronan and Chantelle sure could. as Chantelle stared at him, confused. She knew that there was something up because Noah's tone of voice was so sweet. Noah had never used that tone of voice when he spoke to her. She felt a slight pang of jealousy in her eyes. She knew it was a girl, since Noah had said the word Polly.

"Okay, we'll do one thing," Noah continued to talk down the phone. "We'll both have lunch tonight and we'll both be together. Happy? I love you baby.  So, so much.  I just wanna be with you right now, be there for you. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Bye." Noah dialled off the phone. He could see Ronan smirking, happy. He suddenly knew what Noah was doing.

"Who's Polly?" Chantelle asked, intrigued, secretly hoping that Noah would reply that this Polly was just a friend, or a sister, or a cousin or something like that. But he didn't.

"Polly's my girlfriend," Noah said hotly, not caring if he was hurting Chantelle's feelings.

Chantelle's face fell. Her eyes watered as she heard Noah say this. She was hardly able to believe what her ears were listening to. A slight gasp escaped from her lips, and she felt her heart pounding against her chest, each beat getting louder and louder, faster and faster as she felt her heart getting broken, shattered, hurt.

"We're going to be meeting after not seeing each other for three months," Noah continued. "Because of my work today,  I forgot that I was going to have lunch with her, bless her. I love her to bits. She's really upset, and I'm gonna have to go and make it up to her. After all, she means the world to me. More than the world. More than the universe." Noah was determined to split up with her, it was the least he could do for his brother. Noah didn't want to say these things, but he had to. He just had to for Ronan.

Chantelle bravely tried to fight back the tears that were building up in her eyes; her eye make up was all ready starting to smudge. "I'll come too, then," she said firmly, finding it too hard to get over that Noah was splitting up with her.

Ronan's head shot up in a split second. "Why? Do you have a problem of having lunch with me?" Ronan wasn't smirking anymore, he was furious. Furious that everybody chose his older brother over himself, furious that nothing he did or said was important to anybody, furious that nobody cared about him or how he felt.

"No, it's got nothing to do with that," Chantelle reassured. She didn't really want to have lunch with Ronan since they both barely knew each other, but tried her best to be kind to him.

"Then?" Ronan persisted, his cheeks flushing a deep red.

"Okay," Chantelle said regretfully, not wanting to hurt Ronan's feelings. She was too kind to do that.

"Good," Ronan said, his voice somewhat threatening.

"That's great then," Noah nodded, getting up from his seat. "I think it's time for me to go." He buttoned up his blazer jacket and smartened himself up.

"Have fun," Ronan grinned, saying this so that Noah would quickly depart.

Noah pat Ronan's shoulder. "You guys have fun," he confided, as if forcing them.

"We will," Ronan confirmed.

Noah departed from the scene, even though he wasn't going to meet any girl called Polly. It was all just a drama he'd created to split up with Chantelle for Ronan's sake. He touched up hos hair, put on his Gucci sunglasses and stepped into his state of the art racing car, ready to make his way back to the stud farm.

Chantelle looked down to the floor for a long moment, unable to process the feelings that were rushing through her mind, and that's when her tears started to roll down her cheeks, making small splashes on the grey marble tiles below her.

CHAPTER NINE

THE LUNCH PARTY

"Wow. Eating alone makes me feel great," Ronan commented, as he and Chantelle sat down at their dinner table. "Now you have to say that you're with me. But the truth is that the way you're acting with me, it kinda means that all of the customers are with me." Ronan knew that he wasn't making any sense. Chantelle sighed as she ate her food slowly. "You're not talking to me or laughing at any of my jokes," Ronan said sternly. "What has happened to you today?"

Chantelle looked down at the floor. She looked incredibly pretty, wearing a floaty orange top and she'd curled her hair.

"Why are you sitting so quietly?" Ronan asked.

"It's nothing, honestly," Chantelle shook her head, trying her best to sound enthusiastic, but she was failing.

"Won't you tell your friend?" Ronan said, indicating himself. "Every romance begins with friendship," he hinted, getting impatient because he wanted things to work so quickly.

"But not every friendship ends up with a romance," Chantelle corrected him, not wanting him to act so crazy about her, especially after what just happened. "Anyways, I think I'll go now. It's my fashion show tomorrow." They both got up from their chairs and Chantelle slung her bag over her shoulder.

"Won't you invite your friend?" Ronan asked.

"Sure, you can come along," Chantelle smiled. "Thanks for lunch."

"No problem!" Ronan exclaimed. "I'll drop you off."

"But I've brought my car," Chantelle replied.

"Fantastic! Then you can drop me off instead!" Ronan joked.

Chantelle began to giggle. Ronan's charms were beginning to pay off.

CHAPTER TEN

THE RIDE OF A LIFETIME

Chantelle walked to her balcony, yawning at the brand new day. Today, she saw wearing a stripy pink mini dress. She was about to walk back into her house, when she caught site of Ronan parked on the road, standing next to a beautiful orange racing car. They both waved at each other, and then Ronan called her down. She got ready and then walked to her doorstep to see a rose petal pathway. Ronan was standing, grinning at the other end. Chantelle smiled and then walked down the pathway, flattered. Ronan took her for  a ride in the car and then began to sing to her whilst they drove.