Beautiful Disaster (Privilege 2)

"You got a new phone," Soomie said instantly, staring at Ariana's shopping bag.

"Yes, I did," Ariana said. She reached into the bag and pulled out the heavier of the two boxes inside. "And so did you."

Soomie' s eyes widened and Lexa's jaw dropped. "The one with the new touch screen! This is for me?" Soomie asked, jumping up and grabbing the box out of Ariana's hands.

Ariana shrugged blithely while her heart swelled with glee at a job well done. "This way you don't have to wait for it to be shipped. I know how important it is for you to be organized."

"She bought you a new BlackBerry?" Maria asked from inside one of the dressing rooms.

"That's so sweet!" Brigit added, her voice coming from behind another

door.

"Ana, you really didn't have to do this," Soomie said.

112

"But it was so thoughtful of you," Lexa added, placing her hand on Ariana's back. They both watched as Soomie tore into the box and pulled the phone from its plastic wrapper.

"I think I'm in love," she said happily, hugging it to her shoulder.

"So much for Landon!" Brigit joked.

Soomie beamed at Ariana, her expression completely open for the first time since they'd met. "Thank you so much, Ana. Really. I'm going to call right now and activate it. This is going to make my year!"

"You're welcome," Ariana replied. Apparently she had played her cards right with this one. Soomie had officially been won over.

"You're just in time," Lexa said, grabbing Ariana's hand as Soomie walked off to call her wireless company. "We're trying to decide which dress Brigit should wear when she goes to Princess Tori's birthday-slash-slumber party next month."

"I still think the red," Maria said, stepping out of one of the dressing rooms in a shapeless, mustard-colored dress straight out of the seventies that did nothing for her skin tone and made her skinny frame look absolutely scrawny. Her hipbones jutted out at unpleasant angles and her collarbones and shoulder bones looked like chicken wings. Ariana revised her stance on Maria's effortless beauty--this was plain unhealthy.

"I do too. You haven't taken it off yet, have you?" Lexa asked the ceiling.

"No! I'm coming out," Brigit replied from behind a grape-colored door.

"Wow," Ariana said as Brigit emerged.

113

The dress was full-skirted and apple red, with a gold belt and wide neckline, all of which helped to balance out Brigit's slight pear shape. It made her blond hair pop and brought out her rosy cheeks and blue eyes.

"You look positively Scarjo in that," Ariana said, bringing a pleased smile to Brigit's face.

"See? We told you," Soomie said, holding the phone away from her ear.

"There's just one thing," Ariana added, settling herself onto a turquoise leather bench. "Isn't Princess Tori the one from Spain? The one who's known for being . . . slightly less attractive than the rest of the royal family?"

Maria snorted a laugh as Brigit's face fell. "I guess. Kind of," Brigit said.

"Well, then, since it is her birthday, maybe you want to avoid looking that good," Ariana said. "It's like wearing white to a wedding. You don't want to outshine the girl who's supposed to be sucking up the spotlight."

Maria glanced at Lexa. "She's good."

Ariana tried not to beam. It was the first outright nice thing Maria had said about her or to her since she'd arrived.

"Yes. She is," Lexa replied with an almost proud tone.

Okay, what that was about? Was Lexa taking some sort of responsibility for her because she used to know Briana Leigh? But she didn't dwell on it. Instead she focused on the positive. They appreciated her input.