Grace sipped her first drink of the night as she surveyed the room. The sound system was blaring old school party tunes, guests were merry and well on their way to being plastered and the horderves were being circulated by the black and white uniformed waiters. But most importantly, Amelia and Liam were happy.

Their pre-wedding party was in full swing and although Grace did not have to flit around making sure that everything was in order, she was happy to take charge and let Amelia relax for the night.

They had decided to do a small party before the wedding so that their friends and families could mix and mingle. They knew each other well, but Liam's grandparents on his Dad's side had moved back to Ireland over twenty years ago and so a lot of international guests were present.

Grace had made sure to arrive extra early to supervise the set up and had spent the first hour of the party making dreaded small talk, which she tolerated for her two friends. She also made sure the music would be just right, the drinks were plentiful and the buffet dinner later in the night would be served on time.

Jesus, she would need at least two days of peace and quiet to recover from tonight. And once she left Langley she would need a vacation from her vacation. Good thing she had tacked on two weeks at the end to unwind before clocking back into work.

"Gracie!" Amelia rushed towards her, engulfing her in a hug. "Thank you so much for helping out tonight. Best Maid of Honor ever!"

Grace laughed as she returned her embrace. Her friend's eyes were already glassy and since the night was early still, she subtly signalled one of the waiters to bring over their platter.

After taking a couple of bacon wrapped jalapeno poppers and passing them on, Grace took a sip of the bubbly champagne and sighed in delight. Yum!

"You look so gorgeous, Gracie. I've never seen this dress before, it looks stunning on you!"

Grace smiled as she smoothed down her navy blue lace dress. It was sleeveless and high necked, ending just above the knee. Conservative yet sexy, her Mom had complimented.

Before she could reply a deep voice interrupted their conversation.

"I agree, Ameila, she looks absolutely gorgeous."

Grace froze while Amelia gave a pleased, if not secretive, looking smile.

"Oh, Uncle George seems to be stuck in a conversation with Mabel. You know how she likes to badger him. Must go!" And with that, her former best friend scurried away, leaving her with the last person she wanted to talk to.

She had seen Harrison when he arrived. I mean, he wasn't hard to miss in his tight fitted navy blue polo t-shirt and stone washed pants with a brown belt.

His biceps were cut and defined, his hair long and styled fashionably. She saw him working the room, flashing that fake dimpled smile and chatting with everyone amicably.

The smug bastard.

She had seen him glancing at her a few times, his eyes following her as she moved about the room. She was keenly aware of him, even when she could not see him. But she purposely kept busy and avoided him wherever possible. She knew it would only be a matter of time before she would be forced to talk to him.

She took another big gulp of her champagne, the bubbly taste turning to ash in her mouth. Great, now he's ruined Champagne for her.

"Harrison," she smiled up at him with what she hoped looked genuine. "When did you get here?" She knew down to the minute when he arrived and by the look on his face, he knew it too.

"About an hour ago," he murmured. He glanced down at her, head to toe. "You look fantastic, Grace. But you always did."

"Really?" she arched a brow up, "even when you called me an ugly nerd girl who would die alone?" She couldn't resist goading him.

Harrison stared into her icy blue eyes unflinchingly. "Yes," he simply stated.

Well.

She took another large gulp of her drink. "Nice turn out," she changed the subject. If she wanted to be cordial to Harrison, she had to stop bringing up the past.

Harrison obligingly turned to look at the crowd of party goers. "Yeah, Liam and Amelia sure know how to throw a good party. We have the bachelor party and wedding rehearsal to go."

"Yeah, Melia's having a bachelorette party and a bridal shower," she laughed. "It's not the best role for an introvert like me but I'm gonna fake it til I make it. Plus, Amelia deserves the best. And Liam," she added.

Harrison laughed, "C'mon we both know this is all for Amelia," he joked.

She giggled along with him. "She has turned into a bit of a belle of the ball, hasn't she?"

She glanced up at Harrison and they both smiled warmly into each other's eyes. She felt the air between them fizzle and saw his pupils dilate. He took a deep breath, not breaking eye contact with her until she blinked and looked away.

She scowled down at her almost empty glass. What the fuck was she doing? She could not be feeling attracted to Harrison. Her mortal enemy.

Harrison cleared his throat and took a sip of his beer. "So, ah," he cleared his throat again, "that's not the only event that's on, you know. Our reunion is coming up a week before the wedding."

Grace groaned. "Don't remind me. At least with that one I can just pop my head in for ten minutes."

"I thought you said at least half an hour?" he queried.

Grace shrugged. "I don't think it matters, Amelia is going to be so wrapped up in her wedding plans she'll probably forget to go to the thing."

When Harrison didn't respond she glanced up at him. He was frowning into his glass. "Harry?" she asked, "I mean, Harrison," she amended. Damnit.

He smiled, "I think you'll find that she'll probably attend. And I have a feeling you will be staying for a lot longer than thirty minutes."

Grace rolled her eyes, "Why? Are you guys going to name me "most improved" and then dump a bucket of pig's blood on me?"

Harrison's eyes widened in shock. "Why would we do that?"

"You know, like Carrie?" At Harrison's confused face she huffed in surprise. "Carrie?" she pressed again.

"Who's Carrie? I don't recall a Carrie in our year."

Grace laughed heartily. "No, Carrie is the name of a book by Stephen King. I mean, it was also made into a pretty popular movie - and then horribly remade again."

"Oh." He said. "And the pigs blood?"

"I can't believe you haven't seen it," she murmured.

She didn't bother saying "or read it" considering that he made it bluntly clear in high school that he thought reading for pleasure was for losers like her.

"Carrie was horribly bullied throughout highschool by a group of popular students. One of the popular kids asked her to Prom and she won Prom queen but it was all a horrible joke. When she was on stage accepting her crown, they dumped a bucket of pig's blood on her from above."

"Jesus," he jerked in surprise.

Grace shrugged, "It's okay, she ended up setting the school on fire and killing most of them."

"Ahh.. okay," Harrison stuttered. He had visibly paled and she internally sniggered at the thought of him thinking that she would set fire to the school.

"Look, Grace," he turned to her. "I know we have a lot to discuss," he held his hand up when she started to interrupt, "but I would never do or say anything ever again to hurt you."

At her dubious glance he reached out and cupped her cheek causing her to freeze in shock. "Ever." he stressed. He rubbed his thumb against her soft cheek before removing his hand. Her cheek flamed and she resisted the urge to rub the spot that he had just touched.

Grace felt tears spring into her eyes but all she could do was nod and glance down at her pink painted toes.

"Please come to the reunion." He held his hands up in mock defense, "the only red that will get splashed on you will probably be a few splashes of Merlot,"

"Because someone will dump a glass on me?" She held her hand up and laughed when he went to comment. "I was just joking, O'Connor."

He smiled in amusement. "So you'll come?"

"Ahh.." she glanced up at the ceiling, stalling for time. "Look, I'm sure you can appreciate that high school was a terrible time for me,"

Harrison looked away, shamefaced. "I know," he interrupted, "and I really need to speak to you privately about that."

She nodded. That wasn't going to happen but she would play along.

"Sure, tonight's not the night," she said, "but even still," she paused, "I just don't want to go and pretend to reminisce with people that treated me abysmally for four years. I had no happy or even fond memories of high school. To be honest, I would probably go to a teacher's reunion more than a student one considering I talked to them more," she joked.

"You understand, right?" she asked. She didn't care if he didn't, to be honest.

"Yeah," he nodded slowly. "I guess,"

He glanced around before his gaze zeroed in on Amelia and Liam canoodling in the corner. "I'm gonna get another glass of beer and have a chat to Liam about the bachelor do."

He turned back to smile at her and if he wasn't Harrison fucking O'Connor she would be melting into a pile of goo right about now. Talk about a panty dropping smile. "I'll talk to you later?"

"Sure," she gave a small smile even though she planned on avoiding him again for the rest of the night.

He nodded and strolled off towards the direction of their friends. She frowned in confusion as she watched him tap Amelia on the shoulder and whisper something in her ear. She watched as her friend nodded before whispering something to Liam, pecking him on the cheek and then following Harison through the throng of people.

Hmmm, she thought. Weird.