"It is easier to hate those we love, than love those whom we have hated."
~Norman MacDonald Maxims
Grace was sure that this whole thing was a mistake, but there she was skin-clad in a black strappy laced short dress.
The dress was new and fit her perfectly, just like Shawn said it would when he bought it.
She didn't even test the dress, he just took it and added it to the pile of other clothes that he would be buying for her.
In the end he was right, it was a perfect fit and she loved it.
She topped it off with the silver chained onyx tear drop pendant and black and white addidas superstar kicks, all of which Shawn had bought for her the previous day.
For her makeup, her eyeshadow was an alluring smoky eye.
She had on a tuanting nude lipstick that matched perfectly with her skin tone.
She had her curly hair tied up, in a high bonytail but had bangs that barely hovered over her eyes.
In short, she was stunning and her family agreed to that.
"My baby girl's all grown up now." Commented Mr Grayson as Grace joined her parents in the living room.
"Wow Grace! You're so pretty!" Cheered Elizabeth, who jumped to her feet to patter over to Grace and wrap her arms around Grace's legs.
"Thanks Liz." Grace grinned, patting her little sister's head.
"Ready to go?" Asked Grace's mother, who was dressed in a flawless shimmering purple evening gown that matched her purple purse.
"Yup!" Grace cheered with a grin, forcing herself to appear happy and excited.
"Let's go then!" Exclaimed the father of the house, the two ladies following after him as he led the way.
They got to the venue, Grace being greeted by a doorman that led her into the grand hall.
"Thank you." Grace nodded her head at the man, walking further into the hall of formally dressed people.
They were all extravagantly gorgeous, moving with class and a pompous bounce in their step.
"Grace? A pleasure seeing you here." A familiar voice got her attention, making her light up in excitement.
"Ryan? What are you doing here?" She interrogated the boy, pulling him aside.
"Well, it is my cousin's party. Plus my dad is a one of the many business men that were invited." The boy radiated with pure happiness, his eyes scanning over the beauty in front of him.
"You're telling me that you are related to Shawn? Ha! Who would've guessed." Grace smirked, placing her hands on either side of her hip.
The two were so different, Shawn was rude and impulsive while Ryan was friendly and well calculated.
Shawn was invincible and showed no signs of friendliness or approachability, while Ryan wore a radiant smile on his face that showed just how friendly and approachable he was.
"You know Shawn? Interesting. Not many people know he exists." Smiled the boy in a perfect black tuxedo.
"So you're Italian too, I'm guessing?" Grace arched an eyebrow.
"Hell no. I'm related to him on his mother's side. I can't imagine myself being a Stryker." Ryan shuddered, shaking away such imaginations.
"Right. Those people are monsters." Ryan agreed with her immediately, he too shared a similar dislike towards the Stryker family.
"You look ravishingly exquisite." Ryan gushed, eyes still roaming over Grace's figure.
"As do you, my kind Sir." Grace curtseyed slightly, both of them laughing at her silly antics.
"Here comes my cousin now." Ryan stated as they sobered up, Grace turning to face this cousin of his.
He was dressed in a smashing navy tux. The first few buttons of his shirt were undone and his hair was slick back.
He cleaned up nicely, according to Grace, but he still looked rough.
"Shawn." Ryan acknowledged Shawn's presence, who stood right in front of Grace without sparing him a single glance.
"Ryan." Acknowledge the Stryker, his eyes still very much fixed on Grace.
He felt like grabbing the cloth off the snack table and using it to wrap Grace up.
"You look nice." He said as he tapped the pendant that sat low on her chest, his eyes staring deep into hers.
"You're not too shabby yourself." She gave a small smile in response to his sharp-edged smirk.
"That dress is quite revealing, don't you think?" He pointed out, doing the unthinkable by tugging down on the hem of her dress.
"Hey! You're the one who bought it for me!" She countered, slapping his hand away and taking a small step back.
"I didn't force you to wear it, now did I?" He rolled his eyes, digging his hands back into his pockets.
"Unbelievable." Grace mumbled as she began pulling down on the hem of her dress, suddenly feeling insecure about how short it was.
Shawn's smirk didn't fade once. Watching her fret was just so amusing to him.
"Watch yourself Grayson, there are many dogs here looking for a meal." He used his head to gesture at the men eyeing her out, eyes filled with lustful desire.
"Grayson? Doesn't the Stryker and Grayson rivalry still exist? Or has it died down?" Ryan asked out of curiousity, referring to the feud between Shawn's family and Grace's family.
"Oh it is still very much alive." Grace glared at Shawn, him sending her a glare of his own.
"You don't hate each other do you?" Ryan sighed at their foolery, clearly seeing through their fake glares.
"Hn." Shawn eyed Grace top to bottom, he could understand why these men were looking at her the way they did.
Still, could they at least have some dignity to hide their erections?
Shawn fumed at how undignified these men were, oogling a young lady as though she were a piece of meat waiting to be eaten.
"Nice shoes." Ryan commented as he noticed Grace's superstars.
"Thank- We're wearing the same shoes!" Grace exclaimed as she noticed that Ryan too was wearing black and white Adidas superstars.
"Cool right?" He grinned boyishly, folding his arms over his chest and raising his chin a little.
"Yeah!" She awed, flexing her shoes beside Ryan's.
How did he manage to pull of a tux with Adidas? She didn't know, but he pulled it off and he looked absolutely amazing doing it.
Shawn finally got tired of glaring at the men that still had their perverted eyes on Grace.
"Let's get a snack or something." He grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the snack table.
Grace tried taking her hand back from Shawn but he simply tightened his hold and kept pulling her along with him.
She eventually gave up with a defeated sigh, which made Ryan chuckle as he followed after them.
There were actually many kids their age, but neither Shawn, nor Grace, nor Ryan wanted to accociate with anyone outside of the small group of three.
Even though that was the whole reason Shawn was there.
"I'm still yet to see your dad Shawn." Grace folded her arms as soon as he let go of her hand.
"Please don't go around looking for my dad. It's creepy, no?" He arched an eyebrow at her, shifting his attention from her to the table.
"I should find him! Then give I can give him a damn good taste of my right hook!" Declared the fired up black girl, partially scaring Ryan in the process.
"So many sweets." Shawn grimaced with his nose scrunched up, having been ignoring Grace the whole time.
"Sweets?" Grace perked up, turning her attention to the table.
Indeed the table was full of many pastries and foods that only a sweettooth would love, a sweettooth like Grace.
She got herself a dish and started filling it with such sugary goodness.
All the while Shawn watched her with a disgusted look, wondering how she could even dream of poisoning such a perfect little body with those toxins.
Her body was too magnificent to be fed with foods that would ultimately destroy her perfect figure.
Did she not know how truly spectacular her body was?
All her curves were properly situated, and she looked like something delicate he could hold in his arms-
"Shawn, hey, wake up!" Grace snapped her fingers in his face, bringing him back to reality.
Had he just been pondering on her body this whole time?
He scolded himself for thinking such thoughts.
"What do you want?" He moved her hand away from his face, scowling at her.
"Well, there's a dance floor and I'm bored. Ryan is already dancing, so come on!" She put away her almost empty plate, dragging Shawn towards the dance for.
He groaned internally.
There they were, back to square one. She was reverting from her angelic self to a misquito once again.
"Grace, I don't want to dance with you." He said, halting in his steps and forcing Grace to a stop.
"Okay." She poked his forehead then turned and walked away, dancing with Ryan who danced amongst other teens their age.
"Wait, what?" Shawn was shocked by what had just transpired between him and Grace.
She didn't even try. She didn't plead for him to join, nor did she even give him a second look.
She just walked away.
"What the hell?" Shawn shook his head in exasperation, walking away with arms folded.
"Why the long face?" Tiffany asked as Shawn took a stand by her, a scowl pulling his lips downward.
He had never been put off before, and Grace did it so easily.
He liked that, it affected his ego but still, he really liked that.
A smirk grew on his face, "Hey Tiff, care to dance?"
She nodded her head vehemently and took the hand that Shawn had extended to her.
He pulled her towards the dance floor and twirled her around before they began to move their bodies to the beat.
This part of the hall was specifically for the teens that were forced to come to the party.
The adults that were there were just simply judging the teens with their poshy know-it-all attitude.
Tiff cheered and grinned as she finally got to dance with Shawn, watching him made her face heat up and her heart race.
He looked so comfortable in his own skin, just having a one on one with the music and dancing as such.
Grace accidentally bumped into someone and quickly turned around to apologize.
She stared at him with curiousity, "I thought you didn't want to dance."
"With you, Grayson, pay attention." He added, making sure she heard him over the music this time.
Grace fisted his collar and pulled him down to her level, gushing out a list of profanities that she would never utter to anyone else.
Shawn had to admit how much he enjoyed hearing her curse, it amused him just like a lot of things she did.
"You know, it's easier to say 'I love you' rather than pointlessly cursing me." Shawn smirk slightly, having is hands on her hips as she kept his collar fisted in her hand.
She glared at him. His face was absolutely gorgeous, that much she had to admit, but she wasn't about to let that distract her from the task at hand.
"Oh dream on Shawn." She pushed him away, the both of them resuming their dancing away from each other.
Soon the dancing was stopped and everyone's eyes went towards the stage, the reason behind this whole party stepping up on stage.
Grace had to admit, all the Stryker boys looked the same.
Darius looked just like Shawn, except he had outstanding blue eyes and was more defined- broader. He obviously looked older as well.
"Good evening everyone. As most of you may or may not know, I'm Darius Stryker the founder and CEO of DCS Corporation. We do boring things like trading." He grinned, watching as all the teens agreed that such was indeed a boring task.
"The reason behind this party is to celebrate a new shareholder of DCS Co. He's a very close friend of mine, and I'm glad that not only is he a shareholder, but also a manager that will be helping me run things in DCS Co as it becomes a bigger business." Concluded the eldest Stryker son, more and more people gathering around to witness who this new shareholder was.
Darius snickered within himself, feeling somewhat diabolical for what he was about to drop on these people.
"Without further delay, I'd like to introduce to you, my very best friend Andre Grayson!" People clapped and welcomed the new manager, all but those with the name Stryker or Grayson.
"I'm honestly so thrilled I don't even know what to say." Chuckled the eldest Grayson son.
Grace recognised his voice, it was a little deeper than the last time she had heard him speak, but she still could recognise that voice.
"I'm happy to be working along side my best friend, who really made all of this possible for me." He grinned.
He looked more mature, the same, but more defined.
Tears welled up in the corner of Grace's eyes. "Andre?" She whispered to herself.
"One of the great things about parties like these, is that it gives business men the opportunity to create rivalries that force them to better themselves and their business. Or to create friendships, that build businesses and make them even stronger." Said the Grayson boy, who ignored the heart eyes he was getting from the teen girls.
"So have fun and enjoy the rest of the party." Just as he finished his sentence the music started playing, and his eyes met Grace's.
He quickly got off the stage and bolted his way to her, the Stryker kid following after him at a much slower pace.
He stood right in front of her, his eyes examining the woman his little sister had grown to become.
"I hate you so much." She announced softly, with a croaky and brittle voice.
Tears rolled down her cheeks as he chuckled and pulled her into an embrace, which she returned immediately.
After a while he slightly pulled away from her, looking over her shoulder at a kid he watched grow up.
"Shawn, you're a big boy now." Chuckled the older male.
"I hate you." Shawn spat venomously, growling like a wild dog.
"I know. You won't let me forget." Andre sighed, still holding tightly onto his sister.
"Shawn." Breathed said boy's older brother, standing beside his best friend.
"I hate you more." Shawn glared at his brother, folding his arms over his chest.
"You're so stubborn. You know what I did was sensible, and you know you would love to do the same." Darius rolled his eyes, not amused by his brother's chant.
"Darius." Came the eldest Stryker in the room, his voice made Grace jump out of her brother's arms and stumble her way to Shawn.
She dried her face and glared at the face behind the voice, indeed all the Stryker males looked identical with one looking older than the other.
"Father." Darius said nonchalantly, turning round to face his father.
"What is the meaning of this? You can't be serious! This man is part of The Grayson family, our rivals, you can't just befriend him! How many times do I have to tell you this?" Shouted Mr Stryker, his nostils flaring to show just how angry he was.
"Shawn and I are friends too, so I don't get why you're such a dick head about it." Grace folded her arms, having Shawn's hand around her waist as a reassurance.
The eldest Stryker look at Grace briefly, a blank look on his face. Then he turned to his son, Shawn, eyes narrowed into a glare.
Shawn shrugged and smirked, "Darius was right, the rivalry is stupid."
Darius looked over his shoulder at his brother, a smirk of his own playing on his lips.