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Later this month I will be attending one of my best friend's dinner party, where she will be serving us a storm of new recipes she's been coming up with. There I will get the chance to meet her other friends and feast on delicious vegan meals. However, as much as I look forward to this being a fun and enjoyable time, an old enemy of mine might also attend. An old enemy who I used to consider my best friend. I have been dead set on going to this event since she invited me, but I'm feeling absolute ambivelance on how to deal with this former best friend being there. He was a good friend of mine for more than a decade, but we've always had some tension between us throughout our friendship. Without getting too much into detail about my history with him (which I will provide in spoilers below if you'd really like to know WHY I feel ambivelance towards him), I just want to say that he became an exploitive and psychologically daunting person to be around as the years went by--until ultimately, late last year I started avoiding contact with him, ignoring his calls and text, and then finally earlier this year I made it clear that I no longer wanted to be friends anymore. How am I supposed to go to this event, still have a good time, and possibly interact with this guy if he approaches me? I don't want to initiate any contact and act as if he's just another stranger at the party I may not get around talking to. I can feel my social anxiety coming already, remembering how he used to humiliate me around other people...I just don't want him to pull the same crap again around strangers. Not that their opinions of me matter, but out of principle that I've grown tired of his destructive ways. What can I do? Do I actively avoid all eye contact and ignore him when he tries to talk to me? Do I act all friendly and pretend to care about what he's been up to? Or, and I feel really uncomfortable about this but...do I ask my current best friend to uninvite him? I find that very manipulative, and although I may be happy with the outcome, I will be robbing her of another guest and him of a possible good time he might have. Now, as to why I hate this guy if you want my most recent history with him...