Disclaimer: I do not own Austin & Ally, nor any of the characters within the show. I'm just a lowly writer trying my hand at fanfiction. Enjoy!

Trish rolled over in bed for the millionth time that night. She couldn't sleep. It was a hot and muggy summer night, and her overhead fan wasn't enough to cool her sweltering bedroom. Time to shed another layer of clothing, I guess. She peeled off her oversized t-shirt so she was curled under her sheet in just a sports bra and shorts. She tucked her arm back under her pillow and tried to fall back asleep.

After five more restless minutes she sat up and looked for a way to cool down some more. Maybe a cold glass of water will help, she thought. She trudged downstairs to the kitchen and rummaged around in the cabinet for a large tumbler. After plopping in a few ice cubes, she filled it to the brim with water from the faucet. "Ahhhhh, that hits the spot," she said to herself. She carried her full cup of water back up to her room. Well, I don't think I'll be falling back to sleep anytime soon, so maybe I could read that new magazine that came in the mail yesterday.

Just as she got settled in her bed with her glass of water and grabbed her phone to check her Tweeter account for any funny late night Twits. She had just started scrolling through her feed when a text message popped up, blocking her view of the screen.

Hey, I couldn't sleep. Are you up? It was Dez. They had been talking more and more often outside of Team Austin meetings lately. It had surprised her at first when he had started texting her just to talk, but now that she had gotten over the weirdness of it, she kind of liked talking to him.

Yeah, I'm up. It's too hot tonight. Not even my fan is cooling me down :( What's keeping you up? She typed a quick reply and took another swig of her water. His response came back almost immediately.

Same. Except I don't even have a fan. My nana borrowed it last week to put in her dog house.

Wait, didn't you tell me Bruiser died a couple months ago…?

Yeah.

Okaaayyyy….. Sometimes she did not understand that boy. Or his crazy family. They were all a bunch of whack-a-doodles.

So do you wanna do something since we're both awake?

Dez, it's 3am! There's nothing to do!

You could come over and watch a movie. Or we could take a walk. I'll do anything to get out of this sweaty bed for a while!

My parents would flip if they found out I left in the middle of the night. And there's no way I'm waking them up to ask permission. Sorry :( Honestly, what was he thinking?! No one in their right mind wandered around outside at this time of night. But then again, no one ever said Dez was in his right mind. Or his left mind, for that matter…

After a few minutes of uninterrupted Tweeter trolling, Trish decided that Dez must have finally fallen asleep. Time for me to get some shut-eye as well, I guess. She put her phone back on her bedside table, slid under her one lonely sheet, and was trying to get comfortable when she suddenly heard a tapping on her window. When she looked up, she saw a familiar redhead waving enthusiastically at her from outside. She scurried across the room to open the window so he could climb in.

Trish felt Dez's eyes boring into her as she heaved the window open. He was staring fixedly at her bare stomach. Remembering that she was still only in her sports bra and skimpy shorts, she immediately busied herself searching her bedroom floor for a clean shirt. She knew it would make her feel even hotter to put another layer of clothing on, but she was definitely not comfortable talking to Dez with her entire midriff exposed. Behind her she could hear Dez grunting as he hoisted himself up through the window

"What are you doing here?!" she hissed, tugging a wrinkled t-shirt over her head and turning around to face him again.

"I'm hanging out with my best friend since it's nine million degrees out and neither of us can sleep. What else would I be doing at this time of night?" he replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Dez never ceased to amaze her. And the word amaze wasn't always a good thing. "You said you didn't want to leave your house so I came to you instead!"

"And you thought that would be a good idea, why?" she shot back. "If my parents find out you're here, I'm gonna be in a boatload of trouble!"

"I don't see what the big deal is," Dez shrugged. He dropped a giant backpack on the floor with a loud thunk.

"What do you mean, you don't see what the big deal is?! If my parents walk in here and see I have a boy over in the middle of the night, they're not going to believe that our intentions were completely innocent. Do you catch my drift?" Sometimes he really had no concept of the consequences that could result from his spontaneous actions.

"Oh," he muttered, blushing. "I never thought of that. Sorry. I'll just go."

He walked dejectedly back towards her open window and began to throw one of his long legs over the sill. Trish hesitated for only a moment before whisper-shouting after him,"Dez, wait… You walked all the way over here. You might as well stay for a little while. It won't hurt anything as long as we're quiet." Dez's face lit up and he sprinted back across the room to engulf her in a hug.

"Thanks Trish! You're the best! We're gonna have so much fun. I brought snacks and all the Zaliens movies. We could turn this shindig into an all-day marathon if you want." He was rambling a mile a minute, and his childlike excitement was hard to resist. Sometimes he was just so darn cute. Wait.. Cute? What am I thinking?! Dez is not cute. Ever. He's Dez! But, I mean, he does have a nice smile. And his hair is a great shade of red… And we do actually have a lot in common. We like a lot of the same movies, we have the same friends, we both have a very distinct taste in clothing... Wait! No, no, no. Don't even go there Trish. This is just the two of you hanging out as friends cuz you were both too hot to sleep. Nothing else.

"Trish. Trish? Earth to Trish." She started as Dez waved his hand in front of her face.

"What do you want, bozo?" she asked harshly.

"Sorry," said Dez, flinching at her irritable tone. "You just totally zoned out and weren't listening to a single thing I said. I asked if you wanted spicy popcorn or traditional cheese and you were just staring at me."

"Oh," she said, feeling color rise to her cheeks. She turned away from him quickly so he wouldn't see. "Let's just go with cheese for now."

"My thoughts exactly!" Dez reached into his pack and pulled out a giant bag of cheesy popcorn. "And let's start with the first Zaliens movie. That way if we do decide to do the full marathon we won't be watching them out of order!"

"Sounds good," Trish replied. She took the DVD from him and popped it into her DVD player. When she turned back around Dez was standing awkwardly next to her bed looking around. "What's wrong with you?" she asked.

"Ummmmm, well… I just… I'm not really sure where to sit," Dez mumbled.

"Oh… well I guess we'll just sit on my bed. No big deal. Let me grab you a pillow to lean against." Trish got on her hands and knees and searched under her bed for a minute until she pulled a slightly dusty pillow out from underneath with a triumphant look on her face. "Found one!" she said, tossing it to Dez. It bounced off his face.

"Ouch!" he cried. "What did you do that for?"

"Shhhhhhhh!" Trish hushed him. "Not so loud! And how was I supposed to know you wouldn't be paying attention. Just sit down and watch the movie." She pushed her pillow to one side of the bed to give him room to slide on next to her. Dez fluffed his pillow carefully and propped it up against her headboard. Then he smiled at her as he hopped onto the bed, bouncing slightly to get comfortable.

"You're such a goof," she said rolling her eyes.

"You like it and you know it," Dez replied with a spark in his eye.

"Yeah, whatever, Freckles." He had been getting cheeky with her lately, and she wasn't sure if she liked it. He had also been sending her really sweet text messages during their conversations saying that she was beautiful or funny or incredible. It was really flattering, actually. She didn't know what to think of his different behavior. Was he trying to flirt with her? If he was, he was doing a pretty good job. His cute texts and cheeky comebacks never failed to make her blush and smile.

After a minute she peeked at him out of the corner of her eye, but he was already fully engaged in the movie. The first Zaliens movie was such a classic. It wasn't the best in the series but was still definitely worth watching again and again. This was at least their fifth time watching it together. It just never got old.

When it came time for the most intense part of the movie, Dez was super jumpy. He had a tendency to get too involved in every movie he watched, no matter how many times he had seen it. The tension on screen carried over to real life for him and he almost covered his eyes a few times, fearful for his favorite characters. She had watched so many movies with him by now, whether romantic love stories or violent alien flicks, that she found it quite endearing that he got so caught up in the action. It wasn't long before she realized she had been staring at him and had missed her favorite part of the movie!

Snap out of it, Trish! she chastised herself. You have got to stop having these silly thoughts about Dez. He's an immature dimwit who drives you up the wall. Stop thinking nice things about him. She settled back into her pillow and finished the movie without another glance in his direction.

"Well that was great!" Dez exclaimed once the credits started rolling.

"Shhhhhh!" Trish shushed him again. "We don't want to wake my parents, remember."

"Oh yeah," he whispered. "Sorry. I'm really bad at this whole 'being quiet' thing."

"I've noticed," Trish mumbled to herself.

"So what now?" Dez asked. He looked at her expectantly, as if it were her turn to choose what to do.

"I don't know. I'm not really in the mood to watch another movie right now. And I'm still burning up. It hasn't cooled down in here at all!"

"How about that walk I mentioned earlier? At least if we get outside there might be a little breeze. What do you say?"

A walk could be a good idea, Trish thought. Mom and Dad won't be up for work for at least another hour and a half. We'd be back in plenty of time. "Okay, let's do it."

Dez looked surprised that she had agreed so easily, but just gathered his things into his pack and placed it carefully right inside her window before slipping outside. Trish maneuvered herself carefully through the open space and gripped the window ledge tightly. She wasn't one for heights, and she had never climbed out her window before. She was kindof scared.

"Dez, I don't think I can make it," she moaned, groping blindly for a foothold. "I feel like I'm going to lose my grip!"

"Don't worry. I'll catch you. Just reach your left foot down another few inches and you'll feel the top of the brick wall in your garden. Once you have a stable foothold there let go of the ledge and I'll catch you. I promise."

"Are you sure? I'm afraid I'll crush you by flailing around or something. I'm going back in. I can't do this."

"Trish, do you trust me?" Dez sounded completely sincere.

"Well, yeah, but you do have a reputation as a bumbler. And you have broken quite a lot of instruments in Ally's store. Why should I believe you would be able to take care of me any better?"

"Because you're much more important than any instrument, Trish. Please just trust me. Put your foot on the brick wall and then let go of the ledge. Everything will be fine."

"Okaayyy…" Trish replied. She waved her left foot around until she found the foothold he was talking about and let go of the ledge. For a moment it felt like freedom, floating through the air. And then she remembered that she was plummeting towards the ground. She started panicking and waving her arms and legs in all directions, frantically trying to stop herself from falling, but to no avail. Suddenly she felt herself impact with something solid. At first she thought it was the ground, but then she realized it was just Dez. Apparently her flailing had knocked him over, but he had still saved her from any injuries from the fall. He seemed to have taken the brunt of the damage for himself.

She rolled off of him quickly, apologizing for falling on top of him. He winced a bit as he got up, but said, "Trish, I'm fine. Quit freaking out and keep your voice down or you're going to wake your parents after all that work we did to get out of your house unheard." She immediately fell silent and smiled at him gratefully. He really was turning out to be a great friend.

"Let's go to the park on 3rd street," he suggested. "The view of the sunrise is incredible there." Trish just nodded and followed him as he led the way to their destination.

They walked to the park in a comfortable silence, enjoying the fresh air and the peace and quiet that only the morning could bring.

When they reached the park Dez grabbed her hand and dragged her over to the playground.

"Dez, what are you doing?" she cried, giggling as she ran with him to the swings.

"I'm going to push you on the swings!" he said. He led her to the best of the four swings and proceeded to push her higher and higher until she felt as though she were flying higher than the birds.

"Dez, you get on one too! This is so much fun!" He did as she said, and once he began swinging it took him mere seconds to reach the same height as her. They flew past each other again and again with enormous grins plastered on their faces.

"Look!" Dez exclaimed. Trish tore her eyes away from his and drew a sharp intake a breath as she saw the top of the sun break the horizon. This sunrise really was as incredible as he had said it would be. Orange light bathed the clouds and awakened the sky. "Wow" was all she could manage to say to describe the sight before her.

After staring at the skyline for a few more minutes, she turned her gaze back to Dez, but he was no longer looking at the sunrise. It seemed that he had been staring at her, rather than the sky, because he looked away suddenly and turned red around the ears when she caught him.

That's odd, she thought. Why would Dez be staring at me? He was the one who wanted to come here to watch the sunrise. Why would he be watching me instead of the sky? You know what, it doesn't even matter. Trying to reason why Dez does anything is more complicated than solving a Rubik's cube.

When he finally looked back at her again, she smiled at him. He grinned back.

"So, what did you think? Pretty great, right?!"

"It was amazing!" Trish replied. "I've never seen anything so beautiful."

"Neither have I," Dez said softly. Somehow Trish didn't think he was talking about the sunrise anymore.

"So….. What now? Should we head back?"

"Yeah, probably. I need to get my pack from your house before heading back to my place. And I guess we better hurry if we don't want either of our parents to find out we were gone."

"You're right. But maybe we could come back down here later today. I had a lot of fun on those swings! It's been years since I played at a park."

"Trish, sometimes I think you need to let loose more often. You need to get back in touch with your inner child!" Dez knew all about his 'inner child.' Trish was sure he could teach her all about it.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, Freckles. Whatever you say."

They talked quietly the entire walk back to her house, and he gave her a boost back into her bedroom before scaling the wall again himself. Once they were both safely back inside, he reached for his pack, preparing to leave.

"Thanks for the late night company," he said. "I had a lot of fun."

"Me too," Trish replied. All of a sudden she was feeling shy and had no idea what to say to him. She didn't really want him to leave but didn't know how to tell him that without being awkward.

He was almost completely out the window again when she leaned over and touched the hand that still grasped her window sill.

"Dez?"

"Yeah Trish?"

"Do you wanna stay a little while longer? I do kind of want to have that Zaliens marathon."

"But what about your parents?"

"You could always hide in the closet until they leave for work. My little brother's staying at Gramma's this week, so once my parents are gone, it would just be the two of us. We could chill and pig out on popcorn and watch as much Zaliens as we wanted with no interruptions all day." She was really hoping her offer was tempting him to stay.

"Hmmmmm…" he considered her proposal carefully, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "I think I could live with that. My parents never check up on me before they leave for work anyway. They'll never know I'm gone." He hoisted himself back into her bedroom yet again and proceeded to walk directly towards her closet. "I'll just get settled in now. It can't be too long before they wake up."

"Yeah, they'll probably be gone within an hour or so. Maybe we could each get some rest until then." She launched his dusty pillow toward him, and this time he caught it.

"Thanks, I'll need this. I'm not sure propping myself up against your collection of stilettos would be very comfortable." He winked at her, and she chuckled at his joke. She could tell he liked it when he made her laugh.

"I'll see you in an hour," she said before closing the closet door behind him. It was still pretty hot in her room so she divested herself of her shirt again, crawling under her single sheet for a few minutes of rest.

"Trish, wake up! Rise and shine! Wakey wakey!"

"Gahhhhh.." she moaned, rolling over to see who was so rudely interrupting her sleep. Dez? What was he doing here?

"Wake up, wake up! You've been asleep for over two hours! It's time to start the second installment of our movie marathon!" Oh yeah, they had been hanging out last night. If he was awake then her parents must have already left for work.

"Leave me alone. I'm trying to get my beauty rest," she mumbled.

"You already look beautiful. It's time to get up. And I'm not going to leave you alone until you're sitting up in bed ready to watch hours and hours of Zalien gore with me."

"Mmmhmmmfff." Trish moaned again, mashing her face into her pillow.

"Sorry, I didn't catch that," Dez said brightly. He was much too chipper in the morning, the complete opposite of her. "I have more popcorn!"

The smell of a fresh bag of spicy popcorn finally reached her nose and she inhaled deeply. If there was one thing that could wake her up from a dead sleep, it was the smell of good food.

"Okay fine. You win. I'll get up and watch more Zaliens with you, but only if I get to eat from the popcorn bowl first."

"Deal!" Dez shouted. "Let the Zalien brain sucking begin!"

Once Trish had sat up and settled herself comfortably into her bed Dez handed her the giant bowl of popcorn and plopped down beside her. It felt like he was sitting closer to her now than he had been the night before, but she didn't mind. She actually felt herself scooting closer to him every once in a while until there was barely a gap between their bodies.

Even though she was burning up from the early morning heat, she self-consciously pulled her sheet up to cover her exposed stomach. She really should have put her tank top back on as soon as she had woken up. Now it would just be awkward and distracting if she scurried around looking for her shirt.

Oh well, Trish thought. It's not like Bozo's never seen me in a swimming suit. This is pretty much the same thing… Kinda… She pushed her nervous thoughts from her mind and tried to focus on the movie. But with only a few hours' worth of sleep the night before and the muggy heat, Trish was starting to get sleepy again. The movie had barely been playing for 10 minutes when Dez felt a small weight lean against his shoulder. Trish had fallen back to sleep and her head was now resting quite comfortably in the crook of his shoulder. He tucked some stray hairs behind her ear and shifted so that his arm was around her. That had to be more comfortable. He watched the rest of the movie alone but didn't shift Trish off of him when it was over. Instead, he leaned back against her headboard and settled in for a nap of his own.

When Trish reawakened, the first thing she noticed was that she was snuggling with something very warm and very comfortable. She had been having a really nice dream about cuddling with…

"Dez?"

"Mmmmmm… yeah, Trish?" Dez moved his arm from around her so he could stretch and rub the sleep out of his eyes.

"What happened? I thought we were watching Zaliens 2."

"We were," Dez reassured her. "But you fell asleep. So I finished the movie and then settled down for a nap of my own. We'll start number 3 after we get something to eat. I'm starving!"

"Man, I can't believe I slept through the whole movie! There are so many good parts in the second one!"

"You snooze, you lose," Dez joked. He climbed out of her bed to get something out of his bag. Following his example she slid out from under her sheet and made her way to the closet to find something to wear that sufficiently covered her and didn't qualify as pajamas. She struggled to find something that balanced coverage with coolness. Giving up her search in the closet, she bent down to grab fresh pair of shorts and a cami from the floor. It would have to do. It was too hot to wear anything more.

When she turned back around to ask Dez to leave so she could change, she found him staring at her again with wide, glazed eyes and a slightly opened mouth.

"Can I help you?" she asked him rudely.

Dez just opened and closed his mouth wordlessly a few times before saying, "Uhhhh… hmmm… uh… I'm just gonna go make breakfast." And with that, he darted out of her bedroom and shut the door noisily behind him.

"What a whack-a-doodle," she muttered under her breath. "I really need to stop spending so much time with him. He's gonna start rubbing off on me."

She changed into her new outfit quickly then ventured into the bathroom to start her daily beautification ritual. She took special care doing her hair and makeup, wanting to look especially pretty. She wasn't really sure why she was so concerned with her appearance when she wasn't planning on leaving the house all day. Dez and her family were the only ones who would see her. But for some reason it felt really important to look her best. She flicked the mascara wand over her eyelashes one last time before exiting the bathroom.

When she opened the door she was immediately met by the smell of a delicious breakfast cooking. Following her nose, she found Dez frying eggs and flipping pancakes in the middle of her kitchen.

"You're just in time!" Dez said sliding another batch of pancakes onto the already towering pile on a plate next to the stove. "The food is almost done. I hope you're hungry!"

"Oh, I'm hungry alright! Everything looks and smells amazing! I didn't know you cooked."

"Breakfast is my specialty. You know how much Austin likes pancakes. Whenever we would hang out he would always make pancakes but I wanted to make something too. So I started experimenting on how to make the most delicious eggs. And I think I've finally got it. An over-easy egg served on a piece of butter toast."

"Sounds yummy! I'm excited to try your masterpiece." She giggled at the thought of all of Dez's failed egg experiments. She was glad she only had to taste the final product.

She poured them each a tall glass of orange juice to accompany their hearty breakfast while Dez slid two plates piled high with food onto the table. "Dig in!" he said.

They both started shoveling food into their mouths. Trish almost moaned with delight as she took her first bite of the pancakes. "Is this your own pancake recipe too, Dez?"

"Nahh," Dez said through a mouthful of egg. "It's Austin's. He's been perfecting the pancake for a long time. I wouldn't try to best his recipe."

They finished off the rest of their food in silence, too hungry to talk. Once he had finished, Dez piled his plate high with seconds and returned to the table to continue eating. Trish was stuffed, so she began to clean up the mess Dez had made while cooking. As she placed the last few items into the dishwasher she felt someone come up close behind her. Dez reached around her to place his dirty plate on the bottom rack of the machine with the others, his arm brushing up against hers as he did so. She stiffened and shivered at the contact. She felt her face heat up at the idea of Dez being so close to her. And she was sure she had felt sparks when his chest had pressed up against her back. What was going on?! Was she attracted to Dez? That would be insane!

"Thanks for cleaning up," he whispered into her ear. She was a puddle of jelly inside. His voice was so soft and low. And he was still so close behind her.

"N-n-no problem," she stuttered. What was she going to do? She couldn't be falling for Dez and his floppy red hair and goofy grin and wacky sense of humor, could she?

Just when she thought she was going to explode from their contact and her overstimulated emotions, he moved from behind her and picked up the new edition of Cheetah Beat lying on the counter.

"I think there's a new article about Austin and Ally in there," she said softly. "I think Megan has been trying to dig up some dirt on them."

"When do you think those two are gonna own up to their feelings for each other?" Dez asked her. It was a really good question. It was obvious that the two liked each other. They were always hugging and being flirty at the piano. And yeah, they were best friends, but their relationship was much more than that. Austin had taken to telling Ally the kind of cheesy jokes she loved just to make her laugh until her sides hurt. And he was always trying out difficult new dance moves to try and impress her. And apparently all his flirting was working because Trish caught Ally staring at Austin all the time. She had even started to ditch Trish to hang out alone with Austin, and they weren't even dating yet! Dez must have noticed the situation as well.

"Hopefully soon!" Trish responded. "Has Austin been ditching you to hang out with Ally lately?"

"Yeah. And when we do actually hang out, she's pretty much the only thing he talks about. But when I confront him about it he always denies that he likes her. He's not in touch with his feelings. He just needs some help from 'The Love Whisperer.'"

"Nobody calls you that," Trish tried to reply with a straight face. It didn't work as well as she had hoped because she burst into a fit of giggles. His 'Love Whisperer' act never failed to make her laugh.

"You'll stop laughing about it when my counseling gets those two together," Dez said with a pout.

"Whatever you say, Freckles." She was still giggling when he addressed her again.

"Do you need any help from 'The Love Whisperer' Trish?" She just stared at him openmouthed. She wasn't sure how to respond to his prying question.

"Ummmmm…. What do you mean?" she asked apprehensively, already knowing what he was going to say.

"You know what I mean. Do you like anybody?"

Trish was really uncomfortable with the direction this conversation was going in. She wasn't going to discuss her non-existent love life with Dez. And she especially wasn't going to tell him who she did, or didn't, have a crush on. It was really none of his business… especially since she had the growing sensation that the guy she liked had just made her breakfast in her own house.

"Not really," she lied. She wasn't gonna let him know she was starting to have feelings for him. "I haven't really liked a guy since Trent. But why do you care anyway? And why would I tell you if I did like somebody?!"

"I don't know," he replied, "I just thought that since we're best friends you would want to tell me about your love life. And besides, I could help you out with him. Remember, 'Love Whisperer.'"

Trish couldn't help but smile at his silliness.

"Thanks for the offer Dez, but I don't need your advice on relationships."

"Well, can I ask for your advice about a girl then?" he asked shyly.

Trish was somewhat taken about by his question. She didn't even know he liked someone. Glamour Kitty was the only girl he had ever seemed to like and that was ages ago. This couldn't be about her, could it? Trish couldn't help it. She was curious. If Dez liked a girl, she wanted to know all about her. If she was honest with herself, she only wanted to know about this girl so she could size up her competition, not so she could help Dez.

"Sure, Dez. What do you want to know?"

"Weeellllll, I've kindof liked this one girl for a while now, but I don't think there's any way she could ever like me back. I mean, we've hung out a few times, but not like on dates or anything. And she's just so beautiful and full of life. And I never have as much fun with anyone else as I do with her. She's just so great, and I don't think she even knows it. But I wanna help her discover that about herself. That she's beautiful and fun and crazy. And that sometimes she takes my breath away. What should I do?"

It sounded like he was head over heels in love with this girl, and she couldn't help but feel a little sad inside. If he was already this passionate about this mystery girl she had no chance of gaining his affections. This was a huge blow to her already low self-confidence. She had been having a hard time feeling confident with guys after how Trent had treated her. Sometimes she felt like she had no qualities that guys wanted in a girlfriend. She was the kind of girl that boys used and then tossed away. She was loud and bossy and could sometimes come off as a little mean. She didn't mean to be that way. She had just developed a tough exterior at a young age and had a hard time letting her guard down to let people know that she was actually a sweet and caring person who just wanted someone to take care of her. She tried not to sound devastated in her response to Dez.

"Well, first of all, how long have you known this girl? Is she a longtime friend or someone you just met? And how did you meet? That could be important, especially if you just recently met her. What about her interests? Do you have anything in common or are you just in love with the idea of being with her? Because if you don't have anything in common the relationship probably won't last very long. Oh, and does Austin know that you like her?" Trish couldn't help it. She wanted so badly to know everything about this girl, to know why she wasn't the right girl for Dez.

"Wow," he said, taken aback by her rapid fire round of questions. "Ummmm… well, we met a while ago. She was the friend of a friend of a friend. And we have a TON in common. She can be just as wild and crazy as I am which can be pretty difficult. There aren't many girls who can handle my antics." He stopped for a moment to wink at her and then seemed to hesitate before answering her last question.

"And, no, I haven't told Austin that I like this girl yet, although I think he kindof suspects it. But like we were saying before, Austin and Ally have been so wrapped up in their own 'romance' lately that he hasn't really asked me about it. I just reeaaaallllllllly like this girl and want to tell her how I feel. But I don't want to mess things up between us either. I mean, I feel like she's been flirting with me lately when I've been trying to turn up the charm, but I never really can tell with her. She can be kindof guarded."

"Guarded, huh?" Trish paused for a moment, getting lost in her own thoughts. She was starting to reconsider her previous judgment that Dez wasn't talking about her. Maybe he did like her. She kept up with his wild lifestyle better than anyone else she knew. And she was guarded. And they'd been hanging out one-on-one a lot more lately. And she had thought that he had been flirting with her. And on top of all that, she was sure she would have noticed if Dez had been hanging out with another girl lately. Dez spent the majority of his day with Austin at Sonic Boom and much of the rest of his day was spent with Trish. Maybe she should try something to see how he reacted.

"Okay Dez, I have an idea. Why don't we role play a conversation you might have with this girl when you're telling her you have feelings for her. I could give typical girl replies to the different stuff you say. We'll practice until you feel confident in the way the conversation goes. Sound good?"

Dez looked at her apprehensively but nodded in agreement. "If you think this will really help me, then I'll do it. But if you make fun of me at all, I'm going to quit, alright?"

"Deal," Trish consented to his request immediately.

Dez rose out of his chair and approached her. He seemed extremely nervous. He kept wiping his hands on his pants as if drying sweaty palms. Her heart started beating faster the nearer he came to her.

Stop it, Trish, she berated herself. You can't let him know that being in close proximity to him gets you flustered.

He plopped down in chair next to her and looked straight into her eyes. He took a long, deep breath before saying clearly, "Trish, I think you're the most amazing girl I've ever met. You're absolutely gorgeous and even though sometimes you really do still scare me, you've managed to captivate me with your craziness. I've never met a girl so unafraid to speak her mind and do what she wants. I admire your spirit and your drive. Sometimes you take my breath away. And I know I've probably ruined our friendship now, and I totally understand if you don't want me around anymore because things will be awkward, but the time I spend alone with you is incredible and I don't know how my heart would ever heal after falling so hard for a girl like you."

He continued to gaze into her eyes, waiting for an answer. She was just staring back at him, trying to process what he had just said.

"So, am I the girl, or were you just using my name in our role-play, or what?" she asked awkwardly, ruining the romantic moment he had created.

"Gosh, Trish," Dez replied rising angrily from his chair and starting to pace the kitchen. "I was trying to tell you how I felt, and I thought you would understand that by using your name, I was confessing to you that YOU are the girl I like. I should have known you didn't like me back and would mock me for all of this. I just thought that lately you had been a little nicer to me and you've been laughing at my jokes and blushing at my compliments. I guess I misinterpreted everything. I'm gonna go upstairs and get my stuff and then I'll leave. Sorry for bothering you, and sorry for confessing all that stuff to you. I should have talked to Austin before I did anything."

Dez continued muttering to himself as he stormed up the stairs to gather his things. Trish was still sitting in the kitchen chair staring off into space.

Dez likes me. Dez likes me? Dez likes ME! Oh my gosh, why am I still sitting down here?! Trish jumped out of her chair, nearly knocking it over and sprinted up the stairs behind Dez.

"Dez! Dez, wait!" she called after him. She barged into her room and grabbed his hand so he would turn around and face her. "I like you too."

Her confession came out almost as a whisper, and Dez seemed to think he had imagined her saying it.

"Could you repeat that?" he asked quietly, a small smile starting to spread on his face.

"I like you too, Dez," she said a little bit louder.

Before Trish knew it Dez was leaning down towards her and had pressed his lips firmly against hers. She gasped in surprise but instantly kissed him back. Dez was kissing her, and she liked it. A lot. She laced her fingers in his hair as he cupped her cheeks. She felt her whole body flush with warmth in the already stifling summer heat of her bedroom, but she didn't care. She had finally found a guy who thought that she was wonderful and liked her despite all of her flaws.

Recipe:

1 loud, bossy girl

1 crazy, spastic boy

Mix well until a well-established friendship has been formed.

Add in a heaping spoonful of romantic feelings and a splash of summer heat.

After a few hours of "baking," you've got yourself the perfect couple.