#kitty. reply

kitty had never been the best at thinking through her actions—when anyone was involved. and it wasn’t just in public places. no, she was impulsive in all areas of her life and, somehow, no matter how many times she regretted something she did (like being overly affectionate with sean) she just couldn’t seem to learn. still, in her drunken state, kitty couldn’t even bring herself to be thankful sean didn’t have enough energy to execute her general tack and tick in response to her kiss (kitty really hated being tickled). instead, she just grinned as sean dramatically swiped her hand across where kitty had kissed her. "oh, don’t act like you don’t love it, seanie. and, i mean, can you really blame them for shipping us? we’d be, like, a really hot endgame." truly, it was sometimes kitty’s biggest disappointment that she couldn’t see sean as anything other than her best friend. because sean was absolutely her soulmate. just, unfortunately, in a purely platonic way. nodding, kitty stifled a grin as sean almost dropped the phone on her face—they were both still drunk. and, if they were responsible humans, they should think about water and ibuprofen and sleep. but responsibility had really never been the name of the game in their friendship. so, instead, kitty was more than content to stay right here—especially given that sean was actually amenable to her cuddles at the moment. she sighed a little at sean’s response to how quickly the profiles were being swiped to the left. "it’s hard to see any of it when you’re going so fast! you aren’t even spending two seconds on most of these!" she protested lightly, not overly concerned with it all—the app was more of a way to distract herself than anything. especially now that milo was back on set. as sean found a profile she deemed worthy of longer than a glance, kitty perked up just a bit, resting her chin on sean’s shoulder as she looked. kitty would be the first to admit that sean had been accurate in her assessment—he looked just like the type of guy she might be drawn to. in fact, kitty would have probably gone as far as to say he appeared to be exactly what she was looking for: a little older than her, but not old; a decent job; a wonderful smile with eyes that looked like there might just be a hint of mystery there… yes, she was pretty sure that he’d be someone that she could see accompanying her at premieres, but also dancing in a public fountain just because it seemed like a good idea at the time. but—as she’d been trying to explain to sean—there were often things in the larger profile that tipped a guy over the edge, one way or another. and one certain thing just happened to put the man out of the running. "sean," kitty leveled a glance at her best friend. "there is one glaring thing that you’ve neglected to see that negates any of his other wonderful qualities." a slight pause to see if sean would pick up on what she was indicating. "his name! did you seriously not notice?" she nearly squealed, attempting to keep a giggle from her voice as she pointed at the phone screen. "shawn? really?! i can’t have my best friend and my boyfriend have the same name!!!" losing the battle against the giggles, she rolled slightly away from sean on the floor. "can you even imagine?! everyone would be so confused! including me! it’d be a farce!"

kitty couldn’t help the giggle that bubbled forth at sean’s teasing words. for years (likely ever since kitty had gained enough of a following that the tabloids even registered who she was) rumours and speculation had abounded as to the nature of her and sean’s relationship—were they friends? dating? something else entirely? by and large, kitty didn’t let the noise get to her. she went about her life just as she might have if there hadn’t occasionally been a paparazzo waiting for her outside of the gym or thrilled to see which club she’d frequent on a given night. and her friendship with sean was no different—kitty had never even paused to blink an eye before grabbing her best friend’s hand on a red carpet or draping herself over sean in a manner that would have been significantly less than platonic if it’d been anyone else. kitty thrived on physical touch, needed it as a complement to the attention she so craved. so, generally speaking, kitty was perfectly happy to let the tabloids talk and to pay them no mind. (of course, sometimes she found it fun to stir up a bit of the speculation. but that was only sometimes.) "well, i couldn’t tell you if it was! that’d ruin my whole plan, love," she retorted, planting a swift kiss on sean’s cheek to punctuate her point. the grin left her face, however, as sean attempted to help her adapt her profile to attract the sort of man kitty might actually be interested in. because her suggestion wasn’t all that helpful. "but how do i make it less whimisical while still capturing my faerie princess-ness and sounding like i want to go to a magical castle? because i want that to stay…" she wrinkled her nose, thinking. "but i also don’t want it to sound like i want a beast or anything…" a slight pause. "see! this is why i didn’t have a profile yet. it’s hard. and i’m definitely not sober enough to fix it right now…" because even if she felt relatively grounded lying on the floor (no pun intended), the world was still spinning a bit if she moved her head too quickly. kitty bristled just a little at sean’s mention of the 'pet name' she’d bestowed upon milo. it was still a sore spot for kitty—their split a large part of the reason she hadn’t dated in so long. after all, it was hard to spring back when your boyfriend cheated with his best friend (and one of your friends). she’d wanted to mend things between them, but he hadn’t stuck around long enough for that to happen. and kitty knew that sean had been forced to pick up the pieces. so kitty didn’t exactly blame sean for how she felt—and, on the surface at least, kitty agreed. "okay, but, was he really such a bad choice from the start?" she asked, knowing that even as she said it, there wasn’t a good argument—even if he was fine at the beginning, the fact they’d split meant that sean was right: he hadn’t been worth her time. she nestled a little closer to sean so that she could better see the phone screen as sean flipped through so incredibly quickly. "hey! but what if there’s a gem somewhere in there?! you aren’t even looking at their full profile!" she protested as sean swiped left on the fifteenth guy in a row.

there was a part of kitty that admired just how casual sean tended to be in her dating adventures. as someone who got attached easily and with surprising speed and intensity, the fact that sean didn’t really pause before jumping into bed with someone (and also didn’t seem to be bothered if that night was all it ended up being) fascinated kitty. because she couldn’t imagine a scenario in which she could feel a similar lack of attachment. almost simply on instinct, kitty mirrored sean, sticking her tongue out, too. "okay. but, still, there’s such a thing as being too forward. a little bit of intrigue is always good." as far as kitty was concerned, there was such a thing as being too forward. no matter how much everyone seemed to gripe about people playing games when it came to romance, kitty was of the opinion that a little bit of a game was fun. otherwise, life was just too boring. a small frown found kitty’s face as sean moved beside her and doubled-down on what kitty’s profile seemed to be looking for. "i like the magical kingdom component," she said, moving slightly to rest her head against sean’s shoulder. "but how do i fix it so it seems more like i’m looking for a not-soft boi?" because she didn’t want that. …she was pretty sure. truthfully, kitty wasn’t entirely certain what a soft boi was. but it didn’t sound like someone who would be able to hold their own with her. "hey! pre-screens aren’t necessary! i’m more than capable of picking a decent guy on my own!" kitty half-protested. in truth, sean’s opinion mattered far more than she was making out. after all, sean had been her best friend—and would continue to be—for far longer than any man might be in her life. kitty often joked that they were platonic life partners, but as far as she was concerned, sean was a far more important fixture in her life than any man might ever be—regardless of how good of a fit for kitty he might make. but, despite the fact that sean’s opinion did matter to kitty, kitty had never been especially good at taking it into consideration before she was already far too invested in a relationship. and, though kitty would likely never admit it, sean’s instincts typically turned out to be right.

as much as kitty was able to recognize that not everyone wanted the same things she did—which had been a difficult thing for her to accept at all, so the fact she had gotten to the point of being able to acknowledge different people wanted different things was big—there was a small part of her that would continue to maintain that sean was worth more than the fleeting relationships she spent her time on. still, for sean’s sake, she tried to bite her tongue about it (tried being the operative word). however, that didn’t mean there wasn’t a little loving judgement placed on sean’s current "dating" practices. her eyebrows raised a little. "five?! jesus, sean. i dunno how you keep track of them all, sometimes!" she exclaimed, somewhat torn between being alarmed and impressed. if only she’d known how many there actually were—open-minded as she was, kitty might not have been able to handle it. she gave a little nod at the reminder to let sean know if rian responded, though kitty rolled her eyes and reached a little to poke sean’s side at her comment. "please. if she wasn’t playing coy, you’d say she was being too thirsty to be interesting." oh, the perils of dating. truly, it’d been a while since kitty had made an effort to date. most of the time, she preferred to meet guys more organically—through her work, or just out and about on the town. granted, that didn’t work out all that well. and despite the fact that she was never lacking in admirers when she’d go for a night out, there was typically something she was looking for that just didn’t seem to be there—whether that was due to the drinking or the prevalence of easy hookups or kitty herself, she didn’t know. but that was one of the reasons why after a few years of swearing off dating apps, she had found herself downloading tinder again tonight. kitty had thought it would be rather straightforward—and she was even pleased with her bio. at least, she was before sean started poking fun at it. "i wouldn’t say no to being a fae princess! and i’m all about being whisked off to some magical land." she paused, a bit of a frown forming. "but i don’t know that i want a soft boi. i think i’m probably too much for that…"

while both sean and kitty had a certain shared a similar thirst for life and excitement, there were so many things that also set them apart as individuals. the least of these wasn’t their approach to romantic encounters. while sean seemed to go for quantity over quality—always seeking someone to share a night (or even just a few hours) with, kitty was much more discerning. sure, she didn’t stop twice to consider making out with someone in a dark corner or, hell, even on the dance floor of one of the many clubs she frequented. but it was incredibly rare that it became anything more. if asked, kitty would say that she simply couldn’t risk something being splashed across the tabloids—at this point in her career there was such a thing as bad publicity. and while that was true to an extent, the real reason went a bit deeper. in a rare instance of introspection, kitty was able to recognize that when she fell in love—it was hard, fast, and intense. she wasn’t the sort of person who was content with casual encounters. and she didn’t do a good job of separating the physical from the emotional. which meant that sean had far more notches on her bedpost than kitty did (or ever wanted to. but that was a separate conversation). still, sean had been her best friend since she’d heard the australian transplant’s voice during their fourth grade year and had decided they were destined to be friends. luckily, sean had seemed amenable to the plan. and, given that they’d been besties for so long, it was without any hesitation that kitty handed over her phone as sean requested it. and she was happy enough to scroll through sean’s profile. "how many girls are you talking to, sean? jeez," she quipped as sean began to tease her about her own profile. she ignored her initially, choosing to just roll her eyes and peruse sean’s profile and current matches. at least, she did until the direct question. kitty’s eyebrows knitted as she lifted her head a bit to look at sean. "what do you mean? just because i have the unfortunate luck of being boring and straight doesn’t mean i can’t use rainbows! what even is a mushroom prince?!"

there was a large part of kitty that didn’t know exactly how they’d gotten here. the night had all sort of been a blur: drinks at her place while they got ready, an appearance at a few clubs who thought she was enough of a name that she and sean could get in for free, more drinks, and dancing. so much dancing—fast enough and with music loud enough that kitty thought she would legitimately feel the stress of the week leaving along with the sweat from her pores. and had there been singing, too? probably. kitty tended to burst into spontaneous song when she was drunk and having a good time. none of that was out of the ordinary. in fact, kitty would have gone so far as to say it had been a fairly typical saturday night—all the way down how they’d ended up back at her downtown apartment in the wee hours of the morning, with kitty lying on the floor (because the room spun less when she was on the ground. it was just a fact). there was an open bottle of wine on the table and various snacks strewn about. all of that was just par for the course. no, the notable thing was the fact that for the past little bit both she and sean had been working on their own tinder profiles. for the past few months, kitty hadn’t been on any dating apps. (she’d temporarily sworn off them after the disaster of her last date, when she’d met a guy for a casual drink and he’d spontaneously told her that he’d like to have her face for his face. she’d made her excuses as quickly as possible.) and part of her was fine with focusing on her career and choosing to believe that romance would come along and find her—but a bigger part of her was bored. and as much fun as she had helping sean look for girls, it didn’t have the same sort of gratification. and, so, there she was downloading the app again and filling in the required areas. kitty had been absentmindedly humming "somewhere over the rainbow" for a good five minutes by the time she looked up at sean and announced, "okay. i think i’m done. you wanna see?"