Sweet Little Lies: An LA Candy Novel

It was two days after Christmas, and Jane and Madison were still not back. Which was why Trevor and Dana were (obviously) continuing to scrape the bottom of the barrel and force Scarlett and Gaby into social situations just so they had something to tape. She knew they were desperate for material, since the season finale was coming up in a month or so—and season finales were supposed to be full of drama and cliff-hangers, not scenes of faux friends eating crepes or getting mani-pedis. But that wasn’t Scarlett’s problem.

If only Jane would come home already. Then everything would return to normal. Well, sort of normal. How long did she plan on staying in Santa Barbara (or wherever she was these days)? How long did she plan on not picking up her phone or answering her emails?

“Scar?”

Scarlett muted her TV. Jane? She jumped to her feet and ran into the hallway. “Janie?” she called out.

“Yeah, it’s me!” Jane’s voice came from somewhere in the front of the apartment.

Scarlett ran down the hall and found Jane in the living room. She had obviously just walked through the door. Dressed in a pale yellow top and skinny jeans, her hair tied back in a messy knot, she was holding an overnight bag in one hand and a big shopping bag in the other filled to the brim with what appeared to be Christmas presents and Tupperware containers of homemade cookies. She looked kind of lost, like a little girl all alone at a train station.

“Janie! Ohmigod!” Scarlett rushed up to her and gave her a big hug. “Where the hell have you been? I’ve been so worried about you! Ohmigod, I am so happy to see you!” She hugged her again.

Jane hugged her back. “I’m glad to see you, too! Did you have a good Christmas?”

“What? No, it was lame. I’ll tell you later. First, what about you? Are you all right?” Scarlett had a million questions to ask her; she didn’t know where to begin.

Jane shrugged wearily. “I guess.” She set her bags on the floor and walked over to the couch, sinking down.

Scarlett was right behind her. “Where did that psycho take you in Mexico? What did she say to you? Did she—”

Jane pulled back, her blue eyes wide. “Uh, Scar?” she said slowly. “I know you don’t like Madison, and I respect that, even though I don’t really understand it. But she’s been a really good friend to me. So I’d appreciate it if—”

“Friend?” Scarlett cut in, practically shouting. She took a deep breath and forced herself to lower the volume. “Janie? Listen carefully to me, okay? I’m really, really sorry to have to tell you this, but Madison is the one who gave those pictures of you and Braden to Gossip.”

There. She had said it. She sat back, waiting for Jane’s reaction. Would Jane burst into tears? Start screaming? Pick up her phone and call Madison and end their friendship right then and there?

But Jane did none of those things. Instead, she gave Scarlett an icy smile. “Oh, really? You know what’s funny? Madison said the same thing about you. I’m getting tired of your stupid feud. You’re two of my best friends. Can’t you at least try to get along? It’s getting old, Scar.”

You’re two of my best friends? Scarlett heard the words but couldn’t quite process them. When had Madison become one of Jane’s best friends? She, Scarlett, was Jane’s best friend. Madison was the enemy.

Scarlett took another deep breath. She had to get Jane to believe her. “I can prove to you that Madison did this.”

“You can prove it?”

“Yes! See, right before you guys took off for Mexico, she told me that Jesse gave the photos to Gossip. So I went over to his house to confront him, right? But when I got there, he told me that Madison was the one who did it. He said she showed him the pictures earlier and tried to get him to deliver them to some woman at the magazine—you know, what’s-her-name, D’s boss. Veronica.”

Jane was silent for a moment. “Why would he say that?” she said finally.

“Um, because it’s the truth? Why would he lie about something like that?”

“I don’t know. Because he wasn’t thinking straight after those pictures came out? Because he was drunk…or on something? Because he doesn’t like Madison? Or maybe because I just cheated on him with his best friend in the world and he wanted me to feel the same betrayal? There are a million reasons he would say that.” Jane let out a frustrated yell. “I just want to forget about the pictures and get on with my life. I’m the one who messed up here. Not Jesse. And definitely not Madison. She pretty much saved my life, do you know that? If she hadn’t gotten me out of here and taken me to her parents’ condo in Cabo, I don’t know what I would’ve done.”

“But—”

Jane held up her hand. “Let it go, Scarlett.”

“Seriously—”

“No more.” Jane took a deep breath and smiled the icy smile again. “Now, tell me about Christmas in Aspen.”

Scarlett opened her mouth, then closed it. She could see that Jane didn’t want to hear the truth about Madison. She would have to find another way to get through to her…to prove to her that Madison had manipulated her and lied to her from day one.

“Yeah. Right. So Trevor actually sent cameras to film our Christmas Eve dinner, can you believe it?” Scarlett said, figuring she should go along with Jane’s attempt to change the subject.

“Seriously?” Jane glanced at her nails, distracted.

“Yeah. And I’m pretty sure Dana was texting my parents during the shoot…”

Scarlett went on, describing the crazy Harp Christmas Eve dinner. But she could tell that Jane’s mind was elsewhere. She knew her best friend—loyal to a fault. Scarlett had totally alienated her by going off on Madison.

Scarlett tried to bite back the sadness welling up in her—the sadness over this distance in their friendship that she couldn’t seem to bridge. Sure, Scarlett hadn’t told Jane about her noncrush on Liam…yet. Not that there was anything to tell, because nothing had actually happened between her and Liam. Still, Scarlett wasn’t used to keeping secrets from Jane, big or small. Keeping secrets felt too much like telling lies.

How am I gonna fix this? Scarlett wondered miserably. And for once, the girl with all the answers didn’t have a clue.

9 CRAZY GIRL (#ulink_e387edcd-d6f8-575d-b65d-316df2f68c88)

Just before 9 a.m. on Monday morning, Jane pulled into her usual parking spot behind Fiona Chen’s building. She turned off the engine and carefully searched the entire lot through the window. Good—no photographers. She’d had to fend off two of them outside the apartment earlier. They were so obnoxious, shouting questions at her about Braden and Jesse—“Jane, why did Braden move to New York?” “Jane, what do you think of Jesse’s new girlfriend?”—and snapping picture after picture of her while she gritted her teeth and tried to ignore them. She hadn’t heard anything about Braden going to New York or Jesse having a new girlfriend. But she knew better than to talk to paparazzi.

Still…the thought of Braden and Jesse moving on without her, and so quickly, made her heart feel heavy. Neither had tried to contact her since the Gossip story broke. She knew she had to reach out to them at some point. She owed Braden an apology—for hooking up with him when she was so mixed-up about everything, and for inadvertently getting him involved in this whole mess. And she owed Jesse an even bigger apology. She had no idea how she could possibly make things right after cheating on him, and in front of the whole world, too.

There was one guy she didn’t owe anything—and he seemed to have no problem getting in touch with her: Caleb. He had texted her yesterday, from Vail—something about the awesome powder, and did she remember when they went to Tahoe during her senior year, and she wiped out on her new snowboard, like, twenty times? A few minutes later, he had texted her a photo of her lying in a pile of snow and laughing hysterically. Jane had no idea why he was sending her this stuff. It was nice that he was thinking about her. But confusing. And she didn’t need “confusing” right now, on top of everything else.

Riding up to her office in the crowded elevator, Jane felt butterflies in her stomach. And not the good kind. She hadn’t been to work in over a week, and she was really nervous about facing Fiona. She had sent her boss a quick email yesterday, saying that she would be back in the office on Monday. Fiona had responded right away, writing simply: See you tomorrow at 9 sharp.

So what was in store for Jane at 9 sharp? A furious Fiona waiting with a long lecture? A pink slip, telling her that she had two weeks to find new employment? Maybe one followed by the other. Can’t wait.

To make things worse, the L.A. Candy cameras were up there already, prepared to shoot Jane’s return to work. When Trevor had called Jane yesterday, Jane had felt compelled to pick up after ignoring him for so long. He asked her if it would be okay for them to shoot her at work the following day. After going MIA on him, what could she say but yes?

Much to her surprise, Trevor had been really sweet on the phone and didn’t sound angry at all about the Gossip