Dedicated to my fellow Trez shippers:
Thank you for your encouragement to keep telling stories about things that matter to me. You're the best. May all of your Trez wishes and dreams come true.
She told him she was in it for the paycheck, but that was just a cover. It was a good cover—she knew he'd actually believe it. The truth was that she did it because she wanted him back.
She couldn't have told you when it all started. Maybe it was once upon a time. If she was honest, she would have pointed back to the inauspicious day they met in Austin's room. He wasn't the type of guy she usually fell for. He wasn't impressively strong or remarkably brave or stereotypically handsome. His biceps were like toothpicks; his smile was quirky; his scream was incredibly girlish. But she couldn't help liking him. He wasn't concerned about what others thought. He was deeply invested in every part of his life, and he was himself in every sense of the word.
One day, she had just known—she had a crush on Dez. It was the strangest experience of her life. She questioned her feelings again and again arriving at the same conclusion time after time. She liked Dez. Yes, she liked the wacky guy she always made fun of, the one who drove her crazy. She hadn't told anyone. What was she supposed to say? My heart doesn't listen to my brain? They'd laugh. Who crushes on someone they treat like she treated Dez? After that day, though, nothing had been the same. Her relationship with Jace hadn't worked. He wasn't her favorite guy in the world anymore, and she couldn't go on pretending that he was.
Time after time, she found herself wanting to say something to Dez, but she always stopped herself. Dez would never like her back. He liked models like Glamour Kitty and Carrie, not ordinary girls like her. She'd never be able to say how much it had meant on that magical day to hear him say that she was beautiful. His tone was light and carefree, but she knew he meant it. Whenever she was sad, she'd remember that he'd once called her beautiful.
Missing him was so impossible she thought she wouldn't survive. How could she, knowing he was growing every day closer to another girl? When she'd thought she would never see him again, he'd come back. She was so overjoyed. But he had changed. He wasn't the happy carefree guy she'd fallen in love with. His words were laced with sarcasm and pain, and his grief seemed at times dark as night. She thought she'd be happy that he was single, but she wasn't. His pain darkened her world and deepened her sorrow. He was barely surviving.
She had thought that if she could just turn his mind to her everything would turn out right. She dropped hints here and there. The shirt with boyfriend material—Dez had way more than than the boy with whom she was speaking. But it was no use. Dez wasn't one to pick up clues; his mind was closed to the world of the subtle. She tried to force herself to tell him, but she knew she couldn't. He didn't want her—he wanted Carrie.
She didn't want to do it, but there was only one option left. She couldn't see him suffering knowing she could ease his pain. She'd turn fairy godmother and make all of his dreams come true. Her magic was phone calls and threats and deals, but it worked just the same. Carrie came back. After she'd help them work through all of their problems, everything was right in his world again.
She felt so happy to have made a difference, thrilled to see him alive again until Dez leaned in close to Carrie. Her heart was shot with a million arrows of regret. What had she done? She didn't want to be the fairy godmother; she wanted to be the princess. Perhaps she'd never be. But, yes, she'd do it over again. He was happy and for now that had to be enough.