Beneath the Glitter: A Novel (Sophia and Ava London) (8 page)

It was just like being back at college, when she’d try to do her own thing and forget about Clay, only to have one of her sorority sisters pass along the latest piece of gossip. That he’d been spotted at a party making out with so-and-so, or hitting on a group of girls at the campus bar.

But seeing these pictures for herself hurt all over again.

“Sophia, I just thought of something else Liam said to me that was so cute!” Ava gushed from the doorway of Sophia’s room.

Sophia turned to her, her eyes dark and sad.

Ava said, “Oh my gosh, what’s wrong?”

Sophia gestured at the monitor and as Ava glanced over her shoulder, she said, “Looks like Clay has a new girlfriend.”

“I thought he didn’t want to be tied down. Wanted to play the field and all that?”

Sophia shut down her computer so she wouldn’t have to look at him anymore. She turned to her sister and shrugged. “I guess he found The One.”

“Ouch,” said Ava.

“Yeah, super ouch,” said Sophia.

And with that Ava wrapped her arms around her sister and gave her the world’s biggest, longest hug.

When Ava finally took a step back, she said, “I think I have an idea. You know how they say the best way to forget an old love is to find a new one?”

“But I’m still doing a boytox, remember?”

Ava nodded knowingly. “Just trust the doctor—and get some rest. You’ll need it for our early morning adventure tomorrow.”

LonDOs

Valet parking with attitude

Liam Carlson’s ankles

Doughnut holes for breakfast

Liam Carlson’s wrists

Secret morning adventures with the ones you love

Liam Carlson’s ears

LonDONT’s

Ex-boyfriends’ new girlfriends

Liam Carlson’s name written on every surface in the house with hearts around it

7

glossed and found

Sophia wasn’t sure she would ever forgive Ava for waking her up at the crack of dawn, bundling her out of bed and into the car. Even with her second coffee in her hand it seemed like a grievous offense, especially since the place Ava had gotten her up to visit was both ugly and completely locked up.

“What can possibly take place in a windowless building at eight
A.M
. that requires my attention?” she asked, peering at the squat cinder-block building they were parked near.

“I don’t understand why there’s no one here,” Ava said, drumming her fingers on the steering wheel but not answering Sophia’s question. “Online it clearly said they open at eight and it’s eight-oh-seven now.”

“Really? It feels later than that. Eight-oh-nine at least,” Sophia said. “It’s so nice to be seeing the underside of the morning.”

“Isn’t it?” Ava agreed.

Sophia laughed. “I was being sarcastic.”

“And I was purposely misunderstanding,” Ava told her brightly. “That way we both win.”

Sophia made a sound that was like a groan and rested her forehead on the top of her pink-and-silver personalized coffee tumbler.

A battered gold Ford Bronco with a surfboard hanging out the back swung into the parking lot and creaked to a stop near them.

“Great!” Ava said brightly. “That must be them now.”

Sophia took in the battered truck and looked quizzically at her sister. “When I asked if you had hired someone to fake my kidnapping and you said ‘yes’ I assumed you were only kidding.”

“That’s not what we’re doing. At least not today. Come on.”

It took Ava a moment to recognize the guy who got out of the Bronco. At the Pet Paradise event his hair had been combed back and he’d been wearing sunglasses. This morning his hair was windblown and he was wearing dark-framed glasses with clear lenses. He had on jeans, Vans, and a T-shirt that said
I
♥
TV
. But there was no question it was the guy who had rescued Popcorn from traffic. The guy who had been so mean.

Of course,
Ava thought.
It would have to be him.

She was not going to let that get to her though, she thought as she and Sophia got out of their car and followed him toward the front door of the cinder-block building. Maybe he’d just been having an off day when they met. Probably he was really nice. Even more likely, he wouldn’t remember her at all.

Alternately, he’d remember perfectly and greet her by saying, “Have you come to put more animals in harm’s way?”

Ava felt her cheeks get hot. “I didn’t put my dog in harm’s way. That was an accident.”

“Careless,” he murmured under his breath.

“I was—” Ava stopped. “It wasn’t—” She stopped again. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Sophia perking up considerably, apparently enjoying this, which made her even more annoyed. “You have no right to make me feel bad about that. You don’t know what happened and you don’t know me. I care about animals as much as you do. I’m a super-serious animal lover.”

He said, “Wow, that’s a nice little speech.”

“It’s not a speech, it’s a fact.”

“Really?” His eyes behind the glasses got wide and Ava noticed that she’d been wrong, they weren’t brown but instead a really dark green. “Then you should sign up to volunteer here at the shelter. They’re really short staffed and can use all the super-serious animal lovers they can get.”

Too bad such nice eyes were wasted on such a jerk. “That’s an excellent idea,” she said. “I will.”

“Sure,” he sneered, giving her an I’ll-believe-it-when-I-see-it kind of look.

She gave him a just-watch-me kind of look back. They stayed like that, staring at one another for a few moments.

If he hadn’t been so annoying he might even have been cute, she thought. Or would be if you were into surfer hipster types who looked hot in glasses and filled out their
I
♥
TV
T-shirts like underwear models. But that wasn’t her type and he was annoying so she barely noticed how well defined his chest was, or the way the muscles in his forearm rippled when he held out his hand to Sophia.

“I’m Dalton.” He smiled at her as they shook.

“Sophia.” She smiled back at him.

“Are you two—?” he asked, tipping his head toward Ava.

“Sisters,” Sophia told him.

He nodded. “So it’s like good cop–bad cop, only good sister–bad sister.”

“I’m not a bad sister,” Ava insisted.

“I didn’t say you were,” Dalton said.

“You implied it. You made it sound like I—”

He stood there impassively watching her as though she were an alien species. “Go on.”

Ava’s hands curled into fists as she searched for words.
“Grrr.”

“Did you just grunt?” He looked at Sophia. “Did she just grunt?”

Sophia was laughing so hard she couldn’t answer.

“You are very frustrating,” Ava told him.

“Me? I’m just standing here.” He glanced at his watch, an old Timex on a Velcro band that had been patched with duct tape. “By the way, you’ve been here nearly ten minutes and you still haven’t signed up to volunteer.”

Ava made another noise that was not exactly a word but he ignored it, turning to Sophia instead. “Why did you come here this morning?” he asked Sophia. “Since it clearly wasn’t to volunteer.”

“Show me where to sign up!” Ava said.
“Show me.”

Dalton kept his attention on Sophia who was laughing openly now. “I don’t know,” she told him. “It was Ava’s idea.”

“But it was
for
you,” Ava said. Then to Dalton: “We came because Sophia needs a kitten.”

Sophia stopped laughing completely. “No I don’t.”

“Yes,” Ava said definitively. “You do. Because it will cheer you up. You can do as much boytoxing as you want but I know your heart is still mending and a kitten will help.”

“I’m not getting a kitten.”

“We’re not leaving here without one.”

Dalton cleared his throat. “May I make a suggestion?”

Both London sisters turned to look at him. “What?” Ava demanded.

“I’m going to open the door of the shelter and leave you two on your own. You can come in and see the kittens we have, or not, it’s up to you. The volunteer sign-up sheet is on the front desk.”

He jiggled the key in the lock and was just pushing the door open when he stopped and faced them again. “You know, we did just get a new tiny kitten who could really use a loving home. I know you’re not interested”—he said that to Sophia—“but maybe you know someone who would be? He’s only a few weeks old, but he’s partially deaf so the people who originally took him decided to just throw him away. One of our volunteers rescued him from a Dumpster—”

Sophia swallowed hard. “Maybe we should see him. In case we know someone who might want him.”

Dalton held the door open. Sophia went first, then Ava. “Did you do that on purpose?” she whispered.

He gave her a deadpan look. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Thank you,” she said. She smiled. “Really.”

“Don’t thank me.” He followed her in. “Sign up—”

“Give me the forms,” she said, nearly ripping the clipboard out of his hand.

She’d barely finished filling in the sign-up form when Sophia emerged from the back of the shelter, cradling a little white puffball of a kitten no bigger than her hand in the crook of her arm. She looked up at Ava and there were tears in her eyes. “Isn’t he wonderful?” she said.

Although Sophia insisted on holding him in her lap, Dalton carried a box for the kitten out to the car. “What are you going to call him?” he asked.

“I don’t know yet,” Sophia said, tickling him under his chin. “Maybe Winter since he’s white. Or Marshmallow.”

“Or Magic,” Ava suggested, looking at how her sister was glowing.

Dalton shrugged. “You could always name him after me.”

“It wouldn’t be fair to name him Trouble,” Ava said, turning on the engine. “He seems too nice for that.”

“Maybe your sister should name it after you then.”

“What? Smarty Pants?” Ava said.

“That’s not what I had in mind.” Dalton put his hand through the window and caressed the kitten on the head. “Be good.”

“What did you have in mind?” Ava asked.

Dalton backed away from the car and slid his hands into the back pockets of his jeans. “You’ll figure it out. Nice meeting you, Sophia.”

“You too.”

“Could he be any more annoying?” Ava demanded as they drove home. “What do you think he meant?”

“I don’t know. Bossy. Nosy. Sneaky.” Sophia looked up. “No wait, I’ve got it. Best little sister in the world.”

Ava’s chest suddenly went tight and her eyes welled up.

“Thank you,” Sophia said. “For taking such good care of me.”

LonDOs

Sophia’s new kitten (even if she can’t decide what to call it)

LIAM CARLSON!

Guys with long eyelashes

LIKE LIAM CARLSON!

Guys with nice forearms

Little sisters

Big sisters

Getting home and learning we’ve been invited to the Tastemakers Dance!!!!

LIAM CARLSON’S TEXTS

LonDON’Ts

Boys who wear I
♥
TV T-shirts

Surfers

People who deface other people’s writing

White fur mysteriously showing up on black BCBG minidresses

Bashing into the coffee table while making up a celebratory We Are Teen Tastemakers!!! dance

Sisters who instead of leaping up to get the first aid kit, sit on the couch saying to their new kitten, “Look how silly Ava is,” and laughing so hard they get the hiccups when people bash into coffee tables

Sisters who should be working but instead are distracted all afternoon by texting boys

What?

(That is not funny)

(Really? Because I kind of thought—excuse me, gotta go)

8

slapaccino

Sophia might not have been able to decide on a name for her kitten but Popcorn clearly had a few ideas of his own. Based on his behavior those included “Get away from me,” “Why would someone do this to me,” “The imposition,” “The unwelcome visitor,” and “Don’t forget to take this out with the trash.”

Naturally, the kitten adored him.

“There’s probably a lesson here for us,” Sophia observed a few days later, watching Munchkin tag along at Popcorn’s heels despite Popcorn’s indifference.

“The lesson would be—”

“The more you give someone the cold shoulder, the more they’ll follow you around. It’s about being aloof.”

“Or in Popcorn’s case, awoof,” Ava offered.

Sophia nodded but didn’t seem to be getting the joke. “And less available. Like I bet Popcorn wouldn’t text all the time.”

“Oh, I get it. You think I spend too much time texting Liam.”

“No,” Sophia corrected. “I think you spend
all
your time texting Liam.”

“Are you jealous?” Ava asked her playfully.

Sophia picked up Ava’s phone and read aloud, “‘
LIAM CARLSON
: Just had carrot ginger smoothie. Yummy. What r u doing?’” Sophia put the phone down. “Um, no.”

It was Thursday, which meant pizza night, and since their call for the Tastemakers’ photo shoot wasn’t until three the next day, they’d stayed up late watching old episodes of
Are You Afraid of the Dark?
So when the phone rang a little before eight the next morning, even Ava was a bit groggy when she went to answer it.

She listened for a minute, then stumbled toward Sophia’s door. “It’s Katie. The person in charge of the Tastemaker’s shoot called and they want to know if there’s any chance we could be there by nine thirty. Someone had a scheduling conflict.”

“Do we have to?” Sophia asked with her head still buried in her pillows.

“She says we don’t but it would generate a lot of goodwill.”

“How far is it?”

“Half an hour. We’d need to leave in about an hour.”