Whole Wheat - Help needed!

Ok, so maybe I spoke too soon yesterday when I posted about how smoothly my Whole Wheat cardigan is going. I finished off the shoulder of the left front piece and have started on the right front piece, and the centre front edge of the button band is a MESS!!

The top piece pictured is the left front - lovely and neat. The bottom piece pictured is the right front that I've just started - a red hot mess!

And I definitely can't just leave it as it is, particularly as it's the right front that's on the outside when it's buttoned up.

...so HELP!! Please?

I don't think I'm doing anything differently, the only difference I can see is that on the left (neat one) I ended the row with a knit stitch and started again with a pearl on the next row, whereas with the right (messy one) I end the row with a pearl and start again with a knit on the next row (which is what the pattern says to do). Could this be causing my problem? If so, how should I fix it?

(For reference, the button band is 9 stitches wide single rib)

Again, Help?!