Beneath the Glitter: A Novel (Sophia and Ava London) (19 page)

“What’s—you had these with you all night?” he said, staring at the three rolls of film lying in his palm.

Sophia nodded. “I told myself I didn’t have to give them to you. And I was going to chicken out. But I realized that I trust you. I want you to get them developed. Please.”

“You are likely to make me crazy, Sophia London,” Hunter told her. He jiggled the rolls of film together in his hand like dice then said, “I have some tickets for a charity benefit tomorrow night. It’s a forty-five-course champagne tasting.”

“Forty-five courses?”

“Some of them are very small. And you don’t have to taste it all. Just take a sip here and there of the brands that intrigue you. Anyway, would you and Ava want to come? Liam will be there and there will be lots of Hollywood types—actors, stylists—the kind of people whose support could really help take London Calling to the next level. Especially with your launch around the corner.”

Sophia felt like Hunter just kept offering her the keys to the kingdom. The kind of personal access he was offering to celebrities and especially stylists would be invaluable. But she had to say no. “That sounds amazing, truly, but Ava isn’t legal to drink. I’m not sure I’m legal to drink forty-five courses of champagne. Even just a sip here and there.”

“What about your friend Lily? Either she’s legal or it’s not stopping her.”

Sophia nodded slowly. It really was an opportunity too good to pass up. “I’ll ask her. I bet she would enjoy it.”

“And I would enjoy having you around. As a friend.” He pointed to his cheek. “Plant one of those on here and then get upstairs to bed. Not that you need the beauty rest.”

Sophia was still wearing the warm-up suit and carrying her dress in a garment bag Hunter had given her as she tiptoed up the stairs to the apartment. It was 6
A.M
. That meant she could still get three hours of sleep and be ready before they had to leave for the video shoot.

She couldn’t believe she’d stayed out all night the night before something as important as the video shoot. She was tired, but she also felt exhilarated. And lighter than she had in ages.

Determined not to wake Ava she slid her key into the lock and turned it as slowly as possible to make the minimum sound. She had the doorknob in her hand when it was wrenched away from her. The door was flung open and Ava, wild-eyed and holding a pen and a slipper over her head like she was poised to attack, yelled, “Don’t even think about it!”

After Sophia’s heart started beating and Ava lowered her weaponry to her side, Sophia said, “So your plan just now was—”

“To attack whoever was trying to break in.”

“With a pen and a slipper.”

“We don’t exactly have an arsenal in the living room. Besides, I also had the element of surprise on my side.”

“That you did,” Sophia said. Ava backed up and Sophia followed her in. Glimpsing the pile of blankets on the couch, she said, “Why were you sleeping in the living room?”

“Because someone didn’t come home last night and I got tired of listening for the sound of someone’s keys from my bedroom.” Ava set the slipper and pen down.

“Popcorn has a set of keys? Since when?” Sophia asked, purposely misunderstanding.

“That is really not funny,” Ava told her, and Sophia had the sense that Ava was close to tears. “Where were you? Whose clothes are those? Why did you leave the party without telling me?”

Sophia decided to take the last question first. “I tried to get your attention but you were distracted.”

“Would you like me to introduce you to a neat little device called an iPhone?”

“There wasn’t any service at the Magic Castle,” Sophia pointed out.

“What about after? Were you on an airplane? Because I’m pretty sure there is service in most of
CALIFORNIA.
”

“I didn’t think I needed to. Hunter told Liam we were going to dinner.”

“Well, Liam didn’t tell me.”

“That’s not my fault.”

Ava said, “How do you know Hunter really told him? Maybe it’s your boyfriend who’s not a good guy, not mine.”

“I never said Liam wasn’t a good guy,” Sophia protested. “And Hunter isn’t my boyfriend.”

“Ah. He’s just a guy you spend all night with and come home wearing his pajamas.”

“They’re his stepmother’s.”

“Was she there?”

“No, but—”

Ava crossed her arms.

“We just stayed up talking.” When Ava’s expression didn’t change, Sophia felt her face getting hot with frustration. She picked up the bag with her dress in it and turned toward her room. “You know what? I don’t care if you believe me.”

“But we always go and come together,” Ava said, her voice quiet and soft and—sad. She evened up the sides of the two magazines on the coffee table. “That’s the rule. You can’t just change the rule. I’m not some mitten you can just pick up and put down at will.”

“Mitten?” Sophia was genuinely confused. “The other day you accused me of smothering you and now you’re accusing me of not paying enough attention? What do you want me to do?”

“Nothing,” Ava said, carefully lining up the pen and the slipper with the magazines on the coffee table. “Just do what you want and I’ll do what I want.”

Sophia heard an echo of Hunter saying “I think you’re a
want
trapped in the life of a
should
.” “Perfect,” she said to her sister. “Look, I’m tired and I want to get a few hours of sleep before we have to leave for the LuxeLife video shoot. Can we do this later?”

“There’s nothing to do,” Ava said. “We are totally done.”

LonDOs

Blue crab cakes

Beach houses designed like Roman baths

Cashmere warm-up suits

Boys who are just friends

Watching the sunrise over the ocean

Being invited to a forty-five-course champagne tasting dinner

Using a pen and a slipper as weapons

Doing your own thing

Wants

LonDON’Ts

Relying on boys to relay messages

Forgetting to take advantage of our unlimited texting plan

Come together, leave together

Sleeping on the couch

Discovering chocolate coins with your boyfriend’s face on them in your evening purse

Shoulds

LonDOs addendum

Our LuxeLife video shoot

17

knight fever

Sophia had said it casually, like it didn’t matter at all. “Oops, I’m so sorry, I totally forgot. I have to go to this dinner tonight.”

Until that moment, when they’d just come home from their video shoot, the day had gone great. Despite their rocky morning, the shoot had gone well. Really well. The art director was thrilled with the images.

“If he could only see us now,” Ava muttered under her breath. She and Popcorn were sitting on the couch scrutinizing her eyebrows in a hand mirror. Ava was very tempted to get out the tweezers and have her way with them but she knew better than to Tweeze when Tense.

“What?” Sophia asked, coming into the living room in a red-and-purple color-block minidress. “Can you zip this for me?”

“Of course, madame.” The subservient tone in Ava’s voice was only half humor.

Sophia didn’t notice. “I really am sorry to be missing pizza night.” She turned and was facing Ava now. “But I think it’s important for me to go to this. Hunter just read me a partial list of the guests and pretty much every stylist you’ve ever heard of is on it, as well as every celebutant. If I can build a bridge between even one of them and London Calling, it will be huge.”

“I know,” Ava told her, annoyed by the marketing lesson. “I said I understand.” And she did. She understood why Sophia was going, and why she couldn’t go too.

But that didn’t mean she liked it.

Sophia disappeared into her room but came out again a moment later as though she’d been shot out of a cannon. “Max Houck is going to be there too. Isn’t that amazing?”

“Who’s Max Houck?” Ava asked.

Sophia frowned. “I thought I told you but I must have told Lily instead.” Ava wasn’t sure if she was glad or mad that Sophia was too preoccupied to notice the hurt expression she didn’t quite manage to keep off her face. “Max Houck has a gallery in Santa Monica that specializes in photography and their next show is new LA photographers. Hunter introduced me to an art agent who might be able to get me in, but even if I don’t, getting to meet Max Houck in person…” Her voice trailed off like she didn’t have the words to describe it.

“Good luck then,” Ava said, mustering all her enthusiasm. And trying to squash the jealousy she felt when Sophia had so blithely forgotten which of the people closest to her she’d mentioned this amazing opportunity to, the insane woman who lived down the hall
OR HER SISTER
.

“Thank you,” Sophia said, coming over and kissing Ava on the cheek. She moved back and did a pivot so Ava could take in the dress, the black platform sandals, black motorcycle jacket, and yellow patent-leather clutch. The dress had a sort of mod feel so Sophia had pulled the top of her hair back into a high ponytail. “Am I okay?”

“You look fantastic,” Ava said, meaning it. “I can’t imagine a better brand ambassador for London Calling.” There was a knock at the door and Ava went to get it as Sophia touched up her lipstick.

“You’re not Hunter,” she said to Lily who was standing there in what looked like a gray leather dress but could have been a bunch of garbage bags she stapled together.

“No,” Lily said, batting her eyes, “but I’m cuter.” She looked beyond Ava. “We better go, Sophia. Hunter’s limo is downstairs waiting for us.”

“I’m on my way.”

“You didn’t tell me Lily was going too,” Ava said as Sophia stopped to give her a kiss on the cheek.

“I didn’t? I guess I didn’t think it would matter.” Sophia frowned. “Does it matter?”

“No,” Ava lied. “Absolutely not.”

When they left Ava marched straight to the bathroom and pulled out her tweezers. With Sophia and her new
BFF
Lily at the Very Important Champagne Tasting, Liam busy at some kind of “command performance,” and MM and Sven still on a yoga retreat, she had all night to work on her brows. She held the tweezers up to the light and said, “It’s just you and me, babe.”

From the door of the bathroom there was a low growl and Ava looked up to see the kitten and Popcorn standing there, staring at her.

“What?” she said to them, gesturing with the tweezers.

Both Popcorn and the kitten’s eyes followed it, then returned to her. The kitten gave another little growl.

“Are you saying you don’t think I should tweeze?” As a test, Ava made a gesture like she was putting the tweezers away.

Popcorn started wagging his whole body. “Okay,” Ava said. “Sure.”

She talked to Popcorn a lot but she never really expected him to reply. And certainly not on a topic like—

That’s when she looked at the clock and realized she hadn’t taken Popcorn out all day. So much for attaining a new level in human-animal bonding.

Still, he’d probably saved her from making a very grave mistake. “Just for that we can walk anywhere you want,” she told him as she hooked his leash on.

Anywhere he wanted turned out to be down Third Street. Ava didn’t usually take him there because it was so busy, but the smells must have been phenomenal because it was always the direction in which he pulled.

They’d only gone two blocks when there was a honk and a familiar-looking beat-up gold Ford Bronco swerved to the curb beside her.

“Hey good looking,” Dalton said, clearly addressing Popcorn. To Ava he added, “I saw neat pictures of you in a magazine.”

The way he said it, it was absolutely not a compliment. “Thanks.”

He frowned. “What, no snappy comeback? No jazzy name for me?”

Ava felt like a flower that someone had pressed between pages of a book. And then stomped on. “I’m not in the mood.”

Dalton’s frown deepened. “That is not the Ava London I know. I think you’ve been keeping the wrong company. No offense, buddy,” he said quickly to Popcorn. He looked up at the sky like he was trying to make up his mind about something, and let out a long breath. “I know I’m going to regret this but some friends of mine are having a kind of happening tonight at a loft downtown.”

“A happening?”

“It’s like a party, but more artsy. You can come if you want.”

A happening,
Ava repeated to herself. “I’d love to! What should I wear?”

“What you’re wearing now is fine.”

Ava looked down at the cream crochet top she was wearing over her flowered denim-shorts romper and beige suede platform sandals, then back at him. “I can’t go to a party like this.”

Dalton shook his head. “I knew I was going to regret this. I have to run an errand. Go home and change. I’ll pick you up in half an hour. And if your sister’s there, feel free to invite her too. There’s room in the car.”

“She’s busy,” Ava said, a pang of sorrow hitting her straight in the gut. Fortunately, she didn’t have time to dwell on it. She’d never gotten dressed in half an hour before in her life, and there wasn’t time to focus on anything except making herself look cute.

She rushed it, but the doorbell was still ringing before she was done. She answered it and couldn’t figure out why Dalton was looking at her funny. “Is something the matter?”

“No, you just look really pretty,” he said. “You and your sister must have some gorgeous parents to have gotten such good genes.”

“Right,” she said brushing the comment off. “I just need to go finish my lipstick. Give me one more minute.”

As Ava perfected her lipstick, it rolled through her brain that Dalton had mentioned Sophia twice. First inviting her to the party, and then complimenting their shared genetics. She had to wonder if he was just being friendly, or if he might be a little interested in Sophia. Or maybe a lot interested.

When she came out he was sitting on the floor with Popcorn and the kitten in his lap going through her iPod. And sneezing.