Beneath the Glitter: A Novel (Sophia and Ava London) (6 page)

Ava paused and looked at Sophia. “She was your age when she got the whole company. Maybe that’s another reason she picked us, because she sees herself in us.” Ava went back to skimming the Wikipedia entry. “It sounds like she toured the globe going to parties and being the face of the brand for a while,” Ava summarized, then went back to reading. “‘In 1978, ten years after the death of her parents, Rexford abruptly disappeared from both LuxeLife advertising campaigns and the high-stakes social scene she’d been the center of. Rumors abound about what caused her withdrawal but the most likely suggest a thwarted love affair. Rexford now lives a reclusive existence attended by a handful of servants in her childhood home atop Mulholland Drive and is rarely seen in public.’”

Ava looked up from her phone. “There’s a photo of her here from when she was the center of the social scene holding Cuddles.”

“It can’t be Cuddles,” Sophia pointed out.

“Maybe she’s a vampire and she’s found a way to preserve Cuddles and she needs our youth to keep him perpetually young.”

“That’s as good an explanation of why she picked us as any of the others,” Sophia said with a laugh.

They’d texted Lily from the car to tell her the news and she was waiting for them in front of their door when they got home. “I’ve got it all planned,” she announced after hugging them. “There’s a big party at Mr. C tonight and I got us on the list. It’s the new 3S hotspot in Beverly Hills so the scenery will be good, and since it’s a party the drinks will be free.”

Ava looked up from her phone, which was still Liam–text free. “Three S?”

“See and be Seen Scene. It’s like 4H for the Hollywood set,” Lily explained.

Now Ava was even more puzzled. “It teaches them to raise livestock and vegetables?”

“It teaches them to network and schmooze,” Lily answered. “Which is how people here put food on their tables.”

It wasn’t clear what you were supposed to wear to a 3S spot—when they’d asked Lily she’d said, “Oh anything. Can I borrow your new kitchen tablecloth?”—so after making a quick “Thank you!!!” vlog for their viewers, Sophia, Ava, and Popcorn retreated to the closet for a wardrobe session.

They had converted the spare bedroom in their apartment into a shared closet, which Sophia had spent days organizing. “Putting all your pants together just shows you pants. Putting all your pinks together shows you
possibilities,
” she’d said. In the middle of the closet there was a white fur chaise they could sit on to better appreciate those
possibilities
.

Ava sank onto it now with Popcorn in her lap, while Sophia walked around the closet, thoughtfully eyeing the selection. The great thing about having a sister the same size as you was being able to share all of their clothes. Sophia held up a dusty-pink long-sleeve baby doll dress and a silver maxi dress and turned to Ava. “Which do you—”

Seeing that Ava was just sitting there absently stroking Popcorn’s head, Sophia said, “Have you given any thought to what you’re going to wear?”

Ava curled one of Popcorn’s tawny ears around her finger. “I don’t know. I’m thinking maybe I won’t go. Just let you and Lily go on your own.”

Sophia hung the two dresses on a hook and put her hands on her hips. “Hmm, let me think about that.” Sophia rested her index finger on her cheek and rolled her eyes upward in an exaggerated pantomime of thinking, then abruptly leveled her head. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”

“I’m just not in the mood and—”

Sophia stopped her with an upraised palm. “You know the rule. The worse you feel, the better you have to look. Besides, we’re celebrating. I know you’re upset because you haven’t heard from Liam, but this is bigger than any guy.”

“I’m not upset because Liam hasn’t called,” Ava protested unconvincingly.

Ignoring her, Sophia bent and addressed Popcorn. “What would Popcorn do? Would you stay home and mope or would you get up and—”

She wasn’t even finished when he leaped onto his feet on Ava’s lap and started turning in circles, wagging his whole body excitedly.

Ava looked at him, and then nodded and said, “You’re right.” She stood up, showing the resilience that Sophia admired so much about her. “I’m being ridiculous. This is our night. I’m not going to let him ruin it.”

“And just in case you feel yourself backsliding”—Sophia said, handing Ava a blue razorback minidress that she knew from experience made her sister look both adorable and alluring at once—“wear this. You always have a good time when you wear it.”

“Playing What Would Popcorn Do was low,” Ava said as she slipped into the dress and a pair of black ankle boots.

“It worked.” Sophia grinned, stepping into the sandy-pink baby doll dress. She cinched her waist artfully with a caramel-colored belt, and slid into the pair of caramel-colored high-heeled sandals that
MM
had convinced her to get when they went on sale despite them still costing a dizzying amount. “It works because they make your legs look about a thousand light-years long. That’s less than a dollar a light-year!”

Ava watched Sophia glance at herself in the mirror quickly, not seeming to notice how perfect she looked. Sophia always looked perfect. She knew exactly how to dress, how to smile, how to flirt. It was an ongoing joke between them that Sophia could make any guy fall in love with her, which was why it frustrated Ava that Sophia was single. Ava had watched guy after guy fall in love with Sophia, only to get ignored by her because they weren’t Clay.

Maybe if I paid more attention to how she does it I wouldn’t be waiting now for a text from Liam,
Ava thought.

When they were dressed, Sophia balanced her phone between two platform boots and activated the timer. “I want us to remember this night, this moment, forever,” she said.

She’d set the camera to keep taking pictures so they did over a dozen, smiling, laughing, one of them making scary faces, one with Popcorn trying to lick off their makeup. They were a little late to meet Lily but they were both grinning, and Ava kept smiling even after checking her messages when they arrived at Mr. C and seeing there weren’t any from Liam.

“He’ll get in touch by tomorrow,” Sophia reassured her as they left the car with a valet.

They walked through the lobby, past an all-glass pool table, toward the restaurant which was being guarded by two men in suits with clipboards who greeted Lily by name and jumped up to remove the velvet ropes from their path. “Unless he was hit by a bus and is in the hospital barely clinging to his life or something,” Lily added, as they were ushered into the restaurant.

Ava started to say, “Lily, that’s horrible,” but stopped abruptly. Her knees went weak and she reached for Sophia’s arm.

“I think it’s ‘or something,’” she said quietly, staring across the floor to the spot where Liam was sitting at a table with his arms around gorgeous twin blondes. “Or maybe make that some
things.
”

LonDOs

Waterproof mascara

A shared closet the size of a bedroom, with a sister the same size as you so you can wear all of her new clothing before she can

Sisters who are so free-spirited they can fall in love with any guy

LonDON’Ts

Liam Carlson

Crying over any boy, ever

The voice in your head that says flushing your phone down the toilet is a good idea

Sisters who are perfect and can make any guy fall in love with them

Gorgeous twin blondes

5

when you wish upon a bar

By the time Ava was done saying “stupid stupid stupid” to herself and messing up the toe of her boot by kicking the wall of the bathroom, Sophia had fixed her hair and Lily had sprayed her with something her Wiccan guide promised would turn bad energy good (apparently starting with having Lily catch her phone before it sailed into the toilet), and she was insisting they should stay rather than going home.

“Popcorn wouldn’t go home,” Ava said. “Popcorn would erase all memory of the disappointments of the past and go sniff around for new adventures.”

“Yes, but Popcorn can’t even remember if he’s had breakfast,” Sophia pointed out. “That gives him an advantage. Whereas you are always very clear on breakfast.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Ava said, chin up. “I said I wasn’t going to let a guy ruin our celebration and I’m not. Especially not a guy I’ve just met. Even if I did sleep with him on top of me all night between the ages of twelve and fifteen.”

“You’d be better off sticking with the poster of Liam Carlson and not the real thing if he’s anything like the other actors I know,” Lily advised. They left the bathroom and once again headed into the restaurant where the party was filling up. “I mean, they’re both two-dimensional, but one of them will never wake you up with morning breath.”

Ava laughed, a genuine laugh, and Sophia breathed a sigh of relief.

Lily’s friend or friend’s friend had reserved three stools for them at the already-getting-crowded bar, allowing them to keep their backs to the corner where He Who They Were Not Talking About And Absolutely Not Looking At was sitting.

“I also know someone who knows someone who could take care of him for you,” Lily went on.

Sophia gaped at her. “Are you offering to have him killed?”

“Of course not.” Lily’s hand came up to her chest in shock. “Just taught a lesson. How permanent that lesson is would be totally up to Ava.”

“That’s okay,” Ava assured her quickly. “It was my fault. I mean he must ask hundreds of girls for their number every day. I was stupid to think I could be diff—”

Ava felt hands on her shoulders and someone was spinning her around on her stool and suddenly she was facing Liam Carlson.

Who was saying, “Girl with the friendly dog! It
is
you. I’m so glad. I nearly fired my publicist when I found out she’d lost your number.”

At least that’s what Ava thought he was saying. It was hard to make out the individual words because his smile was doing that thing to her again where it scrambled her brains and her brains, what was left of them, were shouting
LIAM CARLSON IS TOUCHING MY SHOULDER
!

“You look fantastic,” he went on. “Who are you here with?”

It took Ava a moment to remember—“You?” Was “You” the right answer?—long enough for Sophia to say, “Hi, I’m Ava’s sister, Sophia. And this is our friend Lily.”

“Nice to meet you, Sophia,” Liam said politely. He turned to Lily and his head tilted to the side. “We’ve met, haven’t we?”

“Probably,” Lily told him sweetly. “I think you blew off a friend of mine.” She gave him a hundred-watt movie-star smile and said, “I’m a third level ninja master so I would suggest you don’t do it again if you like your arms where they are.”

Liam stared at her as though he was trying to decide if she was serious or not. Still watching her out of the corner of his eye his face turned toward Ava. “You roll with a tough crew.”

Ava, working hard to swallow back a giggle, said, “I’m lucky that way.”

Liam shook his head in wonder. “I’m afraid my posse will seem a bit tame after yours but would you come meet them? I was just asking their advice about how to find you.”

Ava turned to Sophia and whispered, “He was asking their advice about how to find me! What should I do?”

Sophia whispered back, “Go flirt with him! He likes you!”

Liam, who had been watching them like he was watching a tennis match, leaned toward Lily to whisper, “Is this some kind of girl thing or some kind of sister thing?”

“I don’t know,” Lily said earnestly, “but I do know three ways to make you plead for mercy using only this cocktail napkin if you hurt my friend.” She smiled at him again.

Liam took a step away from her, his mouth slightly open like he was searching in vain for the right thing to say.

He was spared by Sophia saying, “Ava, go on. Lily and I will hold down the bar. Have fun.”

“And be careful,” Lily added, carefully smoothing her cocktail napkin.

“What did you say to him?” Sophia’s eyes followed Ava and Liam across the room. “He keeps glancing back with the expression our canary at home used to get whenever my cat came into the room.”

“Nothing much,” Lily said a bit too innocently.

“Did he really stand up a friend of yours?”

Lily shrugged. “Or a friend of a friend. Or a godfriend of a friend. I’m sure he’s stood up
someone
I know at some time. I just wanted to make sure he treats Ava with the proper respect. Fear of mauling is really the only way to make an actor behave. But it’s thirsty work.” She raised herself slightly in her stool and said, “Where is that hot bartender?”

She wasn’t exaggerating,
Sophia thought as the guy came over. He had light brown hair parted on the s`ide, eyes a shade darker, and a crooked smile that emerged when Lily said, “Hello, sir. A double blueberry vodka on the rocks.”

But what really made an impression on Sophia was the adorable Italian accent with which the bartender said, “No no, this is not the drink for you. For you I make something special.”

Lily shrugged. “Whatever you say. But my trainer says I need more antioxidants so anything with berries is—” She broke off, glancing down at her phone which had started to buzz. “Excuse me, I have to go get someone past the velvet,” she said, using
LA
shorthand. “I’ll be back in a sec, save my seat.”

Sophia watched her go. Turning back she met the bartender’s eyes square on. She inhaled sharply.

She’d thought it was only in books that people’s eyes could twinkle with mischief but his toffee-brown ones seemed to be doing just that as they held hers. Sophia noticed that his cheeks bore the faintest shadow of a beard, the kind she imagined would be smooth at the start of a date and just the right amount rough by the end when he was kissing you good-bye in front of your door to send a tingle—

“I think not,” he said.

Sophia blinked herself back to the present. “What?” It was the accent that was doing it, she realized. She’d always been a sucker for men with accents and his was the audio version of thick hot chocolate with mini-marshmallows.