Beneath the Glitter: A Novel (Sophia and Ava London) (17 page)

Of course she wasn’t jealous of anything because she was on a boytox.

That’s when Hunter had appeared and whisked her away, saying he had someone to introduce her to. It turned out to be an artist’s agent who was mounting a show of young photographers. “Would you like to submit some pieces?” he asked. “If I see something I like, I’ll see if I can get it in for you. It will have to be soon though; the show goes up in a month.”

Sophia was stunned. “Being with you is like being with a genie who makes all your wishes come true,” she told Hunter.

“A genie?” Hunter looked skeptical. “To be honest, I’ve always thought of myself more as Prince Charming.” He lowered his voice. “And you are certainly a princess.” Clearing his throat he said, “Speaking as one royal to another, are you, ah, seeing anyone?”

She nervously told him about the boytox, but he seemed more intrigued than annoyed.

“I get it.” He nodded enthusiastically. “And I like it. I can work with that. To tell you the truth, I’m not sure I’m even ready for a relationship right now. My last one—” He gave a shudder. “But I could absolutely use a friend. So, as a friend, is there any chance I could take you somewhere and buy you dinner?”

“Yes,” Sophia said. “That would be—that would be great. I just need to find Ava. She and I have a Come Together, Leave Together policy.”

“I’ve got that covered,” Hunter said. “I just saw Liam at the bar and told him we were taking off. He promised to tell your sister.”

“Wait, you told Liam before you asked me?”

Hunter shrugged. “I’m an optimist.”

Sophia laughed, a little nervously. As though sensing he may have overstepped, Hunter said, “Look, if it’s really important, we can spend the next hour saying our good-byes and working our way out of here. No problem. On the other hand”—he pointed to a large mirror—“that’s a secret exit that goes right to where my car is parked and—”

Sophia had gazed across the packed room toward Ava. Liam had his arm around her and they were both animatedly talking to the circle of admirers that ringed them.

Ava looked blissful. She would be fine—maybe even happier—without Sophia.

“Let’s go,” Sophia said to Hunter.

“I’m really glad we’re doing this,” Hunter said to Sophia now.

“Me too,” she told him. Looking down she realized she was still clutching Giovanni’s handkerchief in her hand.

LonDOs

Costume parties

Secret entrances

Boytox

Men with white linen handkerchiefs

Driving up Pacific Coast Highway in a convertible Porsche

Moroccanoil hairspray

Men with good-for-crying-on shoulders

Miniature ice cream sandwiches

Being just friends

BEING LIAM CARLSON’S GIRLFRIEND

LonDON’Ts

Hundred-hour weeks

Finger waves

Bringing weapons to parties

People who think that miniature ice cream sandwiches are not dinner

Trying to eat miniature ice cream sandwiches with over-the-elbow gloves on

Boytox

Sisters who don’t call or come home all night

15

damsel in a dress

This might possibly have been the best night of Ava’s life.

Sure her hand was a little sore, but it was in a good way. Because Liam had been holding it
THE ENTIRE TIME
. It was his party, but he’d wanted her—
HER AVA LONDON HER HER HER
—by his side.

And the party was amazing. Pretty much anyone she’d ever bought a poster of or
thought
of buying a poster of was there, along with magicians walking around doing tricks using cards or the gold-wrapped chocolate coins with Liam’s face on them that the producers had made for the party. But the best part was how nice everyone had been to her. They’d asked some embarrassing questions about her and Liam but mostly they’d wanted to know about her and what she was working on and London Calling and how she and Sophia got started. A few people asked about Whitney Frost, but Liam stepped in and waved those questions off like it was no big deal.

She’d wished Sophia could have seen him do that, could have been part of all of it with her. But the first time she’d looked for her she was still at the bar with Lily and the next time she couldn’t find her anywhere. Ava was glad she was having a good time but—

No but. She was glad. She
was
.

There was just this tiny nagging tension between her shoulder blades, like the dull ache of a toothache, hovering on the edge of her consciousness but inescapably there. She’d get the same feeling sometimes when she walked into the closet she shared with Sophia, a pricking awareness that something was out of place. When that happened, she would look around until she found the purse Sophia had put away crookedly or the dress that was in the wrong place and straighten it or move it and the feeling would go away. But real life was more complicated than any closet, even hers and Sophia’s, and people couldn’t be conveniently kept where you wanted them, when you wanted them.

Which was really too bad because Ava was pretty sure a lot of people would be happier if they did what she thought they should. It wasn’t that she was bossy, it was just that she knew what was right and wasn’t afraid to share that information in an authoritative tone. If people didn’t want to listen, that was their choice (also: mistake). Or, as Lucille Rexford had put it during a LuxeLife meeting that week: “My goodness, Miss London, you certainly know your own mind.”

Ava hadn’t been sure how to take that—she’d gotten a lot of lectures growing up about her “tendency to expect others to conform to her will” as her second grade teacher put it after Ava had rearranged the classroom and posted a set of rules (N
O CHEWING NOISES
EVER
! and A
LL PENCILS SHOULD LINE UP WITH THE EDGE OF THE DESK
) during one recess. But then Lucille Rexford added, “Be careful or people are likely to put you in charge of something,” and she’d realized it was a compliment.

And that was the trouble with her and Sophia. Sophia could be just as strong-minded and confident in her opinions. Usually this similarity gave them an even stronger bond, but every so often, like with Liam, it caused them to butt heads.

The ragtime music that had been playing during the early part of the party now changed to more current stuff, and around them people were starting to dance. Ava heard the first strains of the song she and Sophia and Lily had been singing at the top of their lungs in the car on their way to the party, “L.A. Sky,” and saw Lily moving toward the dance floor.

She turned to Liam to ask if he wanted to go join her but before she even opened her mouth Liam leaned toward her and said, “Let’s get out of here. Now.”

His tone was vehement, and the expression on his face looked like (very hot) fury. “Sure, okay. I just have to find Sophia. She and I have kind of a rule about that.”

“Can you make it quick? I hate this song.”

“Yes, of course.” She’d never seen him so … angry before. Letting go of his hand for the first time that night she pulled out her phone to text Sophia but discovered it had no service. She made a superfast circuit of all the rooms but couldn’t find her sister anywhere. Back in the main room she spotted Lily on the dance floor doing the tango with a man dressed in an old-fashioned policeman’s uniform and moved along in time with them.

“Come join us!” Lily said, holding out her arm.

Ava laughed. “I think three is a crowd for tango.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Lily confided in a shout-whisper as her partner spun her out, then back. “He has no strange scars, prison stories, or hobbies. A total dud.”

“Bummer,” Ava sympathized. “Have you seen Sophia?”

“She left like an hour ago.”

Ava shouldered her way past another couple to keep up with Lily and her Keystone Kop partner. “She left? Are you sure?”

“Positive,” she said from the bottom of a dip. “She waved at me before she and Hunter took off.”

Lily and her partner cha-cha’ed away, leaving Ava standing in place, hands at her sides, staring at nothing, the words “She waved at me before she and Hunter took off” blanketing out all other sound.

Sophia had left. Without her. Without telling her. But she’d taken the time to tell Lily.

Ava felt like she’d been punched.

She shivered, suddenly freezing despite the crush of bodies all around her. A hand closed on hers and Liam was beside her. “Hey babe, you ready?”

His frown was gone and he was smiling at her again and his smile warmed her almost all the way back up. “Am I ever!” she said, even managing to sound enthusiastic. “Let’s go.”

“I’m sorry about in there, with the song,” he said as they pulled away from the Magic Castle in what after a week of looking at color boards Ava now thought of not as black but rather his onyx Land Rover. “Sometimes I just get fixated on things, you know? That band is just so overhyped.”

“I completely agree,” Ava said, making a note to make sure Liam never saw her iTunes Most Played list.

He smiled over at her and took one hand off the steering wheel to hold hers. “This is our first time in a car together.”

Ava had the sensation of wishing there was someone she could look over at and mouth, “He just said this is our first time in a car together! How cute is that?!” It seemed like her entire relationship with him was one big
OMG
moment.

“Are you hungry?” he asked her.

“A little?” She didn’t want to admit how many Liam coins she’d eaten.

“We could hit the Redbury or Beacher’s Madhouse,” he said, naming two of LA’s most popular clubs. “Or—”

“Or?” Ava prompted.

They were at a stoplight. With his head against the headrest he turned to face her. “If I make a confession to you, will you promise not to judge?”

Ava put her hand over her heart. “Promise.”

Liam looked at her for a long beat. “I believe you. And maybe it’s better just to show you. Hold on.”

“Where are we
eeeeesh
—” Ava was pressed against the door as he made an illegal U-turn.

“Sorry about that,” he said, gunning it to the next light. He made a left just before it went red and then a quick right into a parking lot, roaring into a space in front of the 7-Eleven.

Ava was just starting to breathe again when he came around to open her door. “Wow,” she said. “You really, um, drive.”

“I had race lessons when I was prepping for my last movie, and once you’ve done that, it’s hard to go back.”

“Sure, I bet,” Ava said, hoping her legs would be steady when she stepped out of the car. She looked around, fully taking in their surroundings for the first time. “I’ve never been on a date to a convenience store before,” she said.

“I’ve never taken a date to a convenience store before,” Liam answered. He reached up and tucked in a piece of her hair that had flown out during the drive. “But then again, I’ve never dated anyone like you.”

HE SAID HE’S NEVER DATED ANYONE LIKE ME
!
Ava looked for a partner in
OMG
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but the only person there was a man dozing by the garbage can.

It was pretty quiet inside too. The guy behind the counter barely looked up from his copy of
Variety
when she and Liam came in, even though she was still wearing a floor-length gown and Liam was dressed as the young Jay Gatsby, his character from the movie. (Ava had heard him describe the movie that night as “A prequel to
The Great Gatsby
with a Sherlock Holmes element.”)

Seeming to know exactly where he was going he took her hand and led her to the back of the store. “Ta-da!” he said, pointing to the Slurpee machine. It was the largest, fanciest Slurpee machine Ava had ever seen. “This is my confession. I love Slurpees. And this place has the best ones in Los Angeles.”

“What flavor do you recommend?” Ava asked.

“I’ve got a magic formula. Step aside and let me work.”

Based on what Ava could see—before Liam made her cover her eyes so she wouldn’t give away his secrets—the magical formula involved using all eight of the Slurpee flavors to create a color that she would now describe as mud. But when she finally tried it, Liam hovering around her like a nervous parent teaching their child to ride a two-wheeler, she had to admit it was good. Although what she said to Liam was, “Completely and totally delicious. I hope you weren’t planning to share because this one is all mine.”

His smile lit up the convenience store. “You’re the best,” he sighed. “I’ve never known a girl I could take Slurpeeing before.”

Ava winked at him over the extra-wide red Slurpee straw. “You were dating the wrong kind of girls.”

“That’s for sure,” he agreed. “Tana says so too. She says you’re good for me.”

“Tana your publicist? You talk to her about us?” Ava shuddered a little from the Slurpee chill.

“Tana knows about everything going on in my life. She has to. She’s the only protection I have, the only thing between me and”—he made a wide gesture that took in the store but also the general population—“everyone.”

Ava couldn’t say if it was his tone or his expression, suddenly more somber, but she felt the same loneliness from him now that she’d felt the first day they met. Spontaneously she reached her hand to his cheek and said, “I’m so sorry.”

Liam cupped his hand over hers. “Thank you.” For a while he just looked at her. “I don’t think anyone has ever understood me the way that you do. You date another star or a singer, you’re just two lonely people together. But you—you’re so normal. So grounded.”

Ava looked away. “So boring.”

“No. Not boring. So—I’d really like to kiss you.”

She looked back at him. “Here? At the 7-Eleven?”

He nodded. And bent down. And ever so gently kissed her on the lips.

For four minutes.

“Oh wow,” she whispered breathlessly when they pulled away.