Emotions Are Overrated

“Ellen, what are you doing?” Kaitlyn whined as her best friend darted around her, flinging clothes in every direction.

“You can’t go to Justin’s Christmas party looking like that!” Ellen cried, her eyebrows raised in high arcs.

“Whose Justin?” Kaitlyn questioned her, narrowing her eyes.

“Just some guy I met.”

“Well it’s good to know I’m getting dolled up to go to ‘some guy’s’ party.” She replied, her
voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Oh shut up, Kaitlyn. You’re acting like you haven’t know me your whole life.”
She pouted. Ellen was right. This was classic Ellen behaviour. Kaitlyn had known her her whole life, well since high school at least, but it felt like a lifetime.

“Sorry, okay, so what have you picked for me?” Kaitlyn asked, trying to get more in a party mood. Ellen whipped out a short, black and white, vertically stripped, strapless dress. It had two sets of gold buttons running down the middle, a thin chain connecting each pair. It was totally sexy.

“Shit Ellen, I don’t know if I can pull that off…” Kaitlyn said, unsure.

Ellen looked her up and down and replied, “Kaitlyn, some days I want to punch you.”

“Fine, give it to me.” she said rolling her eyes and holding out her hand. Ellen threw it at her, being careful to make sure it landed on her head. Kaitlyn quickly stripped down and slipped into the dress.

“Zip me up?” she asked, turning her back to Ellen. Swiftly she did up the zipper and turned Kaitlyn around. She let out a loud wolf whistle.

“Reow. Look out boys!” she cried, winking.

“Shoes?” Kaitlyn asked, laughing. Ellen hurled a pair of black shiny closed toe heels at her and Kaitlyn shielded her face, she didn’t want to lose an eye to the heel of a shoe. Kaitlyn put them on and stood in front of the mirror. The dress fit her petite figure nicely and the shoes gave some hight to her tiny five foot three.

“See, you look fine, amazing in fact.” crooned Ellen, coming to stand beside her.

Ellen was wearing a short, flowing dress. It was a deep red and made of thin, wispy material. On her feet were a pair of glittery black peep toe heels. Her long black hair was down, hanging in silky waves down her back.

“Trade hair?” Kaitlyn asked, looking longingly at Ellen’s long tresses.

“Hey, I’d be happy to, this is a pain to brush in the morning.” She replied, twisting a piece of hair around her finger. “Now what are we going to do about this mop?” Ellen asked, looking pointedly at Kaitlyn’s chocolate brown hair.

“Um, leave it?” Kaitlyn replied.

“Oh lord, that’s your answer to everything. I was thinking a nice stylish up do, what do you reckon?”

“Whatever you thinks best,” said Kaitlyn, “my hair is at your mercy.”

“Oh yay!” squealed Ellen, rushing off to find her needed hair tools. Soon she was back yielding a hair straightener, hair spray, a brush and enough bobby pins to last you your whole life. “Now hold still…” muttered Ellen, running her fingers through Kaitlyn’s hair.

Soon she was finished and as the clouds of hair spray cleared Kaitlyn peered in the mirror at her transformed hair. It was pinned up with a few curls flowing out. Little wavy curls framed her face and the brown of her hair brought out the deepness of her brown eyes.

“Oh my God, thank you Ellen! It’s perfect!” she cried and hugged her friend.

“Settle yourself,” said Ellen, hugging her back, “now c’mon, I think our taxi’s here.”

* * *

The cab pulled up at a large one story house, placed neatly across the road from the beach. People gathered in cliquey groups in the front yard, their conversation and laughter mingled with the music pouring out of the front door. Fairy lights and lanterns lit up the windows and a giant blow up Santa Clause rested on the roof. Together, Ellen and Kaitlyn made their way to the front door, squeezing themselves through massive amounts of people.

“God, how many people does this Justin guy know?” asked Kaitlyn, yelling to be heard over the music.

“A lot, by the looks of it.” Replied Ellen, yelling just as loud.

“Well it’s not all surprising considering he invites people he’s only just met.” Kaitlyn said, giving Ellen an accusing look.

“I’m a magnet for boys and parties, Kaitlyn, you should know that by now.” Ellen laughed, pulling her friend through the crowd. Soon they were inside being tossed around by throngs of people.

“So where are we supposed to find this Justin?” Kaitlyn asked, her eyes scanning the room.

“Did somebody call?” a deep booming voice questioned.

The girls turned to see a rather short guy standing behind them. He had shaggy blonde hair and wasn’t wearing a shirt, nicely showing off his hot body. He had a big toothy grin plastered on his face and cute little dimples, fit for a six year old.

“Justin!” Ellen squealed, hugging him.

“Hey Ellen, glad you could make it!” he exclaimed, hugging her back.

“Justin, this is my best friend Kaitlyn.” Ellen informed him, gesturing to Kaitlyn.

“Hi.” Kaitlyn said, feeling the familiar shyness come over her.

“Ellen, why did you not tell me you had such a pretty girl for a best friend? I’m appalled you would keep such information from me!” he cried, pretending to be overly shocked and devastated.

“Oh shut up, Justin. Is there any girl you won’t hit on?” laughed Ellen. “Hey Kaitlyn,” she said , turning her attention to her friend, “Why don’t you get us some drinks, I saw the drinks table over there.” She vaguely pointed in the general direction.

“Okay,” said Kaitlyn smiling, “I’ll meet you back here.” She turned away from the two of them and headed towards where Ellen had directed her. She tried to make her way through the crowd as quickly as possible without knocking someone or something over. Justin seemed to have a vast array of mismatched furniture and knickknacks strewn around the place. She was walking through a clear area of the house, taking in a particularly frightening tiki statue, when suddenly she collided straight into someone. She stepped back and almost toppled over when the person grabbed her arm and steadied her. Rubbing her forehead she looked up to see who she had just ran head first into.

It was a guy, she knew that straight away, but there was something else about him, something that sent little bursts of electricity buzzing up her spine. His eyes were a gorgeous green with splashes of blue. She couldn’t help but look directly into them. Shaggy brown hair hung around his head in a ‘I’m to cool to care’ kinda way. His face was chiselled and tough, but as she looked closer, she could almost see a softness to it. Their eyes met for a second, but he quickly looked away, bending down to pick up something.

“I think you dropped this.” He said, handing Kaitlyn her purse.

“Oh, thanks.” She said, blushing. “I’m sorry for running into you.”

“I’m not.” He said, flashing her a smile and ducking into the crowd.

She stood there for a moment, forgetting what she was supposed to be doing. Then her mind clicked back into gear. Drinks. She continued on her way to the drinks table, grabbed one for herself and Ellen and made her way back to where she and Justin stood. She handed one drink to Ellen and took a big swig from the other.

“I see you met Tyler.” Said Justin, the faintest smile playing on his lips.

“Huh?” said Kaitlyn, forgetting where she was.

“I see you met Tyler.” Repeated Justin, laughing.

“You know him?” asked Kaitlyn.

“Kaitlyn, I practically am him. He’s my best friend.”

“Oh…does he have a girlfriend?” she asked.

“Ha, I like this girl, straight to the point!” laughed Justin, nudging Ellen. “No, he doesn’t have a girlfriend. No girl I know can tame him or just plain old deal with him.”

“Kaitlyn can put up with almost anybody,” piped up Ellen, “she sees the good in everyone.”

“Well Kaitlyn my dear, go right ahead, you have my blessing.” Said Justin, going into a sweeping bow.

But Kaitlyn wasn’t listening, her head was full of possibility.

* * *

As the night wore on, the crowd didn’t seem to lessen at all, but Kaitlyn and Ellen’s intoxicated states seemed to worsen.

“I need some fresh air!” yelled Kaitlyn, across the room.

“M’kay!” replied Ellen, too busy dancing with Justin.

Quickly Kaitlyn stumbled her way outside and plonked herself down on the curb. She removed her heels after some insistent tugging, then continued to cross the road, making her way towards the beach. She sighed in relief as her aching feet touched the silky sand.

Lightly she padded further along and finally sat herself down and collapsed backwards onto the cool sandy beach. She closed her eyes and allowed her head to be filled with the rushing sound of the ocean. A smile crept across her lips as she let sand slip through her fingers.

“A beach person aye?” she heard a voice say. Kaitlyn shot up into a sitting position letting out a small squeak. “Sorry, did I scare you?” It was Tyler who spoke, standing above her, his arms folded, a sly grin playing on his mouth.

“A little bit,” she replied laughing nervously.

“I’m sorry.” He said, smiling and sitting next to her.

I’m not, she thought to herself. “So what’re you doing out here?” she asked, peering at him.

"I saw you come out and I thought I’d introduce myself properly. I’m-”

“Wait,” Kaitlyn said before he could continued, “this is the perfect time to test out my abilities!” He raised a questioning eyebrow. “I consider myself a pretty good psychic.” She informed him, winking.

“Oh?”

“Let me see,” she said mysteriously, closing her eyes and holding her fingers to her temples, “the Other Side is in a bit of a blur today…but wait, the clouds of knowledge seem to be parting for me! Whisper the name to me, Spirits of the Other Side!” She reopened her eyes and placed a finger on the middle of his forehead. “You’re name is Tyler.” She announced giving him a knowing look.

“Wow,” he laughed, clapping, “I’d say ‘mystical psychic’ is a pretty good skill to put down on your résumé.”

“Thank you, thank you.” She said, doing little bows. “Most employers find it useful, like when they need to know whose been stealing staplers from the office supply closet.”

He chuckled. “I’m sure there are better things you could do with a skill like that. Like solving murders, you could be like Alison Dubois from that show Medium.”

“Hmm, that would be awesome, but psychics aren’t in demand as much as skilful detectives. Unfortunately we’re a dying breed.” She replied, looking into the ocean with a forlorn expression.

“Don’t worry,” he reassured her, “in the crazy world we live in, anything is possible.”

She smiled, “you give us mind readers hope.”

They sat there in a comfortable silence, listening to the waves lap against the shore.

“So do you live around here?” Tyler asked, looking at her.

“Yeah, I got to the university here.”

“Wow, nice. Is it close to the beach?”

“About a five minute walk,” she replied, smiling, “it’s awesome.”

“So what do you do at uni?”

“I’m studying to be a high school English teacher, so I’m doing a Bachelor of Arts, yadda, yadda, yadda.” She said, waving her hand dismissively.

“Why high school and why English?”

“High school because, primary school would be too routine. High school would give me more of an opportunity to have a more mature relationship with the students. I want to be that cool teacher that you hope your younger sibling gets. And English because it’s my passion, well writing mainly. I just love the possibilities of it all. Math just does my head in because it’s all so one answered, whereas in English a majority of it you can interpret in your own unique way.”

“Deep,” he replied, smiling, “so have you always wanted to be an English teacher?”

“Not always. For a while I wanted to be a forensic detective, like in the lab and stuff, but then I discovered you have to be good at math and science and that quickly got crossed off the list. After that it was psychologist, but I rejected that because I knew I would probably get too emotionally involved in the people’s problems. So finally I settled on English teacher because it incorporates both my love of English and my love of kids. But the main dream since I was a little girl till right this second, is to be an author.”

“An author?” he questioned, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes,” she said, a little defensively, “I know I can do it, I have a half written manuscript, but I can’t work on it a lot with uni and all.” She pursed her lips, feeling stupid.

“That’s really…amazing.” Said Tyler, grinning.

“It is?” she asked, looking at him doubtfully.

“Yeah, I mean, it’s not everyday you meet someone whose really into literature. Most girls today are all about reading Facebook statuses, not novels.” He said, looking at her intensely.

“Well, I’d much prefer a good Stephen King book to something written by a Gossip Girl star.” She laughed, feeling more comfortable.

“You read Stephen King?” Tyler asked, his eyes wide.

“Yeah, my dad has all his books, well more like every horror novel ever written. I guess that’s why it’s my favourite genre. When I was young he used to have these roof high shelfs packed with books upon books. I used to stand there and look at the covers and the names and scare myself silly, but at the same time they fascinated me.”

“Wow, that’s awesome. So do you write horror themed stuff?”

“Yeah, I find it the easiest, as creepy as that sounds. I find it easy to set the scene of a thrilling story rather than a clichéd one. I love things that have twists in them, where you read it and you’re like: “I was not expecting that!” Those are the best.”

“So do you know where you want your writing to take you?”

“Hopefully New York, I am obsessed with that place, even though I’ve never been there. I would love to teach over there, anywhere in America actually, that would be amazing.”

“You’re an ambitious thing aren’t you.” Tyler said, laughing.

“I guess I am.” She replied, turning to face him.

“Mmhmm,” was all he said as he leaned his face towards hers. Her heart skipped a beat but just as she was tilting her face to meet his, she heard someone calling.

“Tyler!” It was Justin. They pulled away and turned to look behind them. There they saw
Justin standing in the middle of the road calling for his friend.

“I better go,” he said, disappointment mingled in his voice. She followed his lead as he stood up. “Hope to see you around.” He said, flashing her his winning smile.

“Me too.” She replied lamely. He turned and began to walk back up the beach when she remembered something. “My names Kaitlyn, by the way.” She called.

“Kaitlyn,” he said, letting the name roll off his tongue, “I like it.” And then he was gone.

With a sigh she collapsed back down into the sand. She frowned in disappointment, she hadn’t even gotten his number. At this thought she let herself fall backwards onto the sand. She flung one arm over her face and allowed herself this time to have a small tantrum at her own stupidity.

* * *

The cab came to a screeching halt outside Kaitlyn and Ellen’s apartment block. Ellen drunkenly shoved the cab driver a wad of money as she and Kaitlyn stumbled out into the lamp lit street. As they stepped onto the sidewalk and began trudging up the stairs they heard the cab pull away and squeal off down the street. In a stupor, they managed to drag themselves, giggling and tripping, to their apartment door. Ellen fumbled around with the keys until finally she unlocked the door and both girls fell in the dark living room, Ellen pushing the door shut behind her. Kaitlyn clumsily felt around for the light switch. Soon she found it and flicked it on filling the room with an almost blinding light which caused both girls to squint. With a sigh they both collapsed onto their colourful patchwork couch. Kaitlyn allowed her head to loll over the armrest and Ellen kicked her feet up onto the scratched second hand coffee table. Just then a shrill jingling filled the air.

“Shit,” mumbled Kaitlyn, fumbling around for her purse. She managed to claw it out from under herself and tip it’s contents out onto the coffee table. She picked up her phone and squinted at the screen.

“Oh my God, you idiot,” she laughed.

“What?” questioned Ellen, peering at her.

“You freaking called me by mistake!” Kaitlyn giggled, the alcohol making the situation all the more hilarious.

“Shut up,” grumbled Ellen. Suddenly her eyes grew wide. “What’s that?” she exclaimed pointing to a small piece of paper that had fallen out of Kaitlyn’s purse.

“I have no idea…” replied Kaitlyn picking up the paper and giving it a curious look.

“What does it say?” squealed Ellen, bouncing up and down with excitement.

“It says: call me… and there’s a number written underneath.”

“Call it now!” Ellen almost screeched.

“Sheesh, alright. Settle down.” Said Kaitlyn, typing the number into her phone. She pressed the call button and held it to her ear. Ellen stared at her wide eyed as Kaitlyn listen to the phone ring once, twice, three times-

“Hello?” a male voice answered.

“Um hello, this is Kaitlyn. I found your number on a piece of paper in my purse, but I don’t remember anyone giving me their number… but I did have a lot to drink so…” Kaitlyn stumbled over her words. The voice on the other end laughed. “So if you could please reveal your identity, that would be…” she looked for the right word. “Awesome.” She finished.

“Are your psychic abilities affected by alcohol Miss Kaitlyn?” the voice teased her.

“My psychic what?” she questioned, confused. The voice just laughed. Kaitlyn furrowed her
eyebrows trying to remember back, then it clicked. “Tyler?” she asked, her voice doubtful.

“Ah, I see they’ve kicked in again.” He replied and she could hear the smirk in his voice.

“How did your number get in my purse?” she asked, feeling stupid.

“I put it there.” He replied, as if it were obvious.

“Don’t mind my asking, but when in the hell did you do that?”

“You didn’t think your running into me was a coincidence, did you?” he said, and she could almost see him winking.

“Um I kinda did, yeah.” She said, feeling like the biggest idiot.

“I had my eye on you as soon as you walked through the door, I planned the whole thing.”

“You did?” she asked, feeling flattered and confused at the same time. “But still how did
you get your number into my purse?”

“When I was picking it up after you dropped it, I slipped it in and handed it back to you.” He replied.

“Well you sound awfully proud of yourself.” She said, laughing.

“Well I should be, it worked. I’m glad I did it too, seeing as we got rudely interrupted at the beach.” He grumbled, and she could almost see him glaring at Justin accusingly.

“You’re a sneaky bastard, getting the girl to call you.” She heard Justin say. “You can do better Kaitlyn!”

“Shut your mouth Justin or I’ll shut it for you!” Tyler called playfully.

“You guys are idiots.” She laughed.

“Don’t listen to him, if you hadn’t of called I would’ve gotten your number somehow. I don’t think I could’ve let you get away.” He said, his voice low.

Kaitlyn blushed scarlet. “So, do you want to do something sometime?” she asked, her cheeks deepening in colour.

“I would love to.” Replied Tyler, yawning. “I’ll call you tomorrow to organise something okay? Right now I’m going to collapse in bed and sleep till noon.”

“Sounds like a plan,” she said, smiling. “Bye.”

“Goodbye Kaitlyn.”

She grudgingly pressed the end call button and looked up at Ellen.

“You lucky thing!” she cried, winking at her friend. “He was absolutely smokin’!”

“You don’t have to tell me twice.” Said Kaitlyn, her voice trembling.

"Kaitlyn wants to root him, Kaitlyn wants to root him, Kaitlyn wants to root him!” Ellen teased.

“Fuck off Ellen,” laughed Kaitlyn, punching her on the shoulder. “I’m going to bed.”

“Yeah I bet you are,” giggled Ellen, winking like an idiot.

“Go to sleep Ellen.” Said Kaitlyn, pushing her friend into her room.

“Sweet dreams Katie!” Ellen called in a high pitched old woman’s voice.

“You too loser,” laughed Kaitlyn, shutting the door and going to her own room.

Closing the door behind her, she quickly stepped out of her dress and kicked off her heels. She slipped into bed, not bothering to put pyjamas on and allowed herself to fall into a blissful sleep, the sheets cool and comforting on her bare skin.