I thought about it and decided that it wasn't horrible. I didn't want to ruin anybody's party, but I wasn't letting Darcy think for a moment that he had gotten away with what he had done. No way.

"No, it's not. You're right. I'll behave, I will just stay away from Darcy at the party so nothing will happen," I said and stood up from the couch.

I passed my mother and picked up the blue dress from the back of the lounge chair and smiled. "I like this one." I walked down to my bedroom to get ready for the party when my mother's words halted my steps.

"Just so you know, sweetheart, I'm always in your corner. Always."

I smiled as I entered my room, and closed the door behind me.

I would do as mine and Darcy's mother wished - I would stay away from Darcy and I wouldn't cause trouble with him. I smirked to myself then as an evil thought entered my mind.

I didn't need to be near him to mess with him.

I was suddenly excited about the engagement party tonight, very excited.

"Neala!"

I looked around for the source of the voice calling my name and when I found Jessica Waters, my soon-to-be sister-in-law walking toward me I smiled wide.

"Jess, hey, you look gorgeous!"

She has on a knee length whine coloured lace dress. It was stunning and her figure of never ending curves did wonders for her and the dress. She looked sexy as sin.

"Me? Look at you! God, I'd bloody kill for your legs!" she gushed as she crashed into me and hugged me tightly.

I laughed and hugged her tightly back and kissed her cheek for good measure.

I didn't do the friend thing very well. Darcy made sure to ruin that for me at a young age, but Jess was a friend of mine and even though I couldn't fully trust anyone enough in order to tell them my deepest and darkest secrets, I could trust her enough to lightly vent to.

"So, you and Darcy… What the hell happened? Sean told me he may not live long enough to see our wedding if you get your hands on him anytime soon."

It wasn't something to laugh about, especially because Jess looked genuinely concerned, but I couldn't help it. It was funny.

"I shouldn't be laughing because I'm seriously pissed off at both Darcy and Sean, but it's nothing that payback can't wait a few days for... for Sean anyway." I smirked.

Jess widened her eyes. "You plan on getting Darcy back for whatever he did... tonight?"

Shite.

She looked worried.

"Yes, but I promise it won't cause a scene or put a dent on your engagement party."

Jess waved me off. "I don't mean that. I mean Darcy got to you so much that you want to seek revenge right away, you usually wait until he isn't on Neala alert."

Neala alert was a two worded code Darcy made up when we were eight. He used it to let people know not to distract him because he was completely focused on his surroundings and on the look out for me. Neala alert usually happened to Darcy after he pulled a prank on me or if he just pissed me off.

I shrugged my shoulders. "He crossed a line this time."

Jess stared at me and waited for me to explain.

I sighed. "It may sound stupid, but he stole a doll from me that I bought for Charli for Christmas a few days ago at Smyths, and your soon-to-be husband helped him. I'm sort of mad about it."

Sort of… Okay, I was livid.

"This is all over a doll?" Jess asked and her tone now amused.

No.

I huffed. "It's not about the bloody doll. It's about the fact that he stole something from me that was mine, and I don't plan on letting him get away with it."

Jess frowned. "You seem… upset?"

"I am," I said.

"No." Jess shook her head. "I mean you seem upset, like really upset, not just annoyed."

I shrugged my shoulders. "He went too far this time, he tried to trick me into thinking he wanted to be me friend again."

Jess blinked her big blue eyes. "I'm sorry, babe."

I didn't want to lose my cool and dwell on my silly feelings so I forced a smile and waved the conversation off.

"It's nothing a bit of payback won't fix."

Jess grinned. "You're hard-core, babe."

"In all aspects of me life," I teased.

Jess laughed and pulled me into another hug. When we separated Darcy's mother, Marie, was in front of us with a very large camera in her hands pointed directly at us.

"Smile, lovelies." She beamed.

Jess and I straightened up and put an arm around one another's waist and smiled wide into the camera lens. The flash that went off was bright and spotted my vision for a few moments. When my eyes refocused I instantly narrowed them when I saw him.

"You," I growled.

Darcy was standing behind his mother as he knowingly grinned at me. The pussy, he was actually using his mother, the women who carried him for nine months and birthed him, as a human shield. He was a bloody wimp!

"You both promised you wouldn't start any fights tonight," Marie said as she turned to her side and looked back and forth between Darcy and myself.

I continued to glare at Darcy as I said, "I know, and I'm not going to start anything."

Darcy winked at me and said, "Me either."

I clasped my hands together to try and kill the slap-Darcy-itch that gathered on both of my palms.

"Is it too much to ask for a picture? The last one we have of you both together is from when you're both kids."

Lie.

"We're in tons of pictures-"

"They are family pictures," Marie cut me off. "Not any of just the two of you both in a picture on your own... not smiling anyway."

I swallowed down the rejection I planned when I saw Marie's face, she looked so hopeful that I couldn't say no to her even though I really wanted to. She was like a mother to me and I hated seeing her upset.

"Okay, fine."

Marie's gasped and quickly grabbed a reluctant Darcy's arm and all but threw him at me.

"Arm over her shoulder, Darcy, and arm around his waist, Neala. Somebody get Clare, she needs to witness this, it might never happen again!"

I rolled my eyes.

We weren't a bloody comet that only passed by the Earth once in a millennium.

I wanted to get the picture done, but Marie wouldn't move until Clare, my meddling mother, was next to her.

"Why do you want me Ma?" I asked as I sharply put my arm around Darcy's waist and left it hover there, making sure to barely touch him.

I refused to look at Darcy as the side of his body moulded against mine. This was horrible and he would no doubt make me break my promise to our mother's if I looked at him so I kept my gaze on Marie's bright one.

"Because we haven't seen this type of picture in nearly a decade!" Marie stated making Jess, who came up beside her, laugh.

"You both look great together," Jess commented just as my mother appeared.

My flesh and blood aka my cow of a mother squealed, "Oh, don't they just."

To which I growled, "Don't."

Jess smirked, my mother ignored me, and Marie pretended the camera suddenly wasn't working just so Darcy and I would be stood next to one another for longer. She thought she was being clever, but she was just being obvious. Well, to me she was anyway.

"Come on, Ma, you turned it off. So just turn the fecking thing back on," Darcy suddenly grunted.

I mentally snorted.