Old Fashioned

Chapter 16

Dinner was quiet that night. Ryan didn't speak to Brendon at all. The entire time he had kept his head down, staring daggers at the food on his plate. He was the last to enter the dining room and the first to leave it.

Brendon wanted to talk to him about what had happened, but even before he had seen Ryan enter the dining room and completely blank him, he knew that he would not want the same. If he had learnt anything about Ryan in the last week it was that he was stubborn and occasionally acted like an insolent child, and so the idea of him wanting to actually discuss something so serious was laughable.

The next morning rolled around and Brendon didn't want to get out of bed. He was dreading the day that was to come. Francesca had been invited out by Mr Clarke to view the local races with him and once Lady Ross caught wind of this arrangement she thought it would be a great idea for her family and her special guests to also all take a trip out.

Brendon usually didn't mind racecourses. Horses were some of his favourite animals, and he had owned quite a few when he was younger. But the idea of sitting in a trapped space with Ryan close by as the other man refused to talk to him sounded absolutely dreadful. Dinner last night had been horrendous. How was Brendon supposed to deal with four hours of that?

Breakfast that morning had gone the same way dinner had the previous evening. Ryan was the last to enter and the first to leave the dining room. That morning Brendon had made a deal with himself to at least try and discuss what happened with Ryan, and so during breakfast he did indeed try. He greeted Ryan with a small 'hello', but Ryan didn't say anything back. He barely even blinked.

Brendon had felt so mad at that. Why did Ryan insist on acting like this? Could he really not so much as just listen as Brendon explained his side of the story?

He bad been stressed that evening. He had taken in a rather hefty amount of alcohol, and hadn't been thinking straight. Brendon knew that Ryan's situation had probably been the same, albeit with an added high, and so all he had to say was 'me too' and they would be fine and they could move past what happened.

What almost happened.

Brendon wanted so badly to move past it all. He figured if Ryan just gave up on this petty phase of ignoring him then the two of them could talk about it, bury it deep under the ground and Brendon could finally lose the tormenting image of Ryan's lips centimetres away from his.

He had been getting dressed when he made his decision. One way or another he was going to speak to Ryan about it all. Ryan was stubborn, but Brendon could see through him.

Brendon wrapped his necktie around his fingers, tucking it into his white waistcoat. He pulled his black tailcoat over his arms, looking himself over in the mirror. His hair was all fluffy, he loved when it looked like that. He wished the dress code for the races was not so strict, he hated the idea of covering it with his hat. Turning his back to the mirror, he placed the hat on top of his head, swiftly turning to leave the room without looking at back himself.

The carriage ride, for the most part, was silent. Francesca watched out of the window in silence, excited but also nervous for what was about to come. Grace watched after her in worry, her eyes flickering over to Brendon every so often with just as much worry in her face watching as he nervously bit down on his already suffering nails. The skin around them was his next victim if their carriage did not pick up the pace.

The Ross' were in the two carriages ahead, every single one of them. The snarky daughters, the rude son and Ryan. Brendon was surprised that he was even in attendance.

"Brendon, you must stop that." Grace eventually spoke up, gently pulling Brendon's hands away from his mouth. "They have suffered enough, no?"

He placed his hands behind his back, biting his lip and looking down.