Dez walks up to a random table of a small cafe where a girl sits reading a book.
Dez: Oooh, awesome book you've got there. I love the Zaliens Apocalypse trilogy. They've got to be up there with the movies. It's so epic at the end when the zaliens are ready to suck his brain and…"
Girl (annoyed): Stop right there. I don't want to know the ending. Go away. Can't you see that I'm reading?
Dez (smiling): You seem cool. Want to go out with me?
Girl: Why would I want to go out with you?
Dez (winking at her and flopping his hair to one side): Can't you see? I've got awesome hair.

Dez smiled as he finished writing the dialogue to a scene to for his web series Ginger Gaffes. His day job directing commercials for a denture company paid the bills, but it didn't satisfy his need for a creative outlet. So evenings and weekends found him working on his web series. He had posted the first video just for fun, but it had really taken off. Apparently, his off-the-wall sense of humor was good for something. Recently, he had been remembering his crazy antics during his first attempt to get a girlfriend when he was in high school and had thought that it would be the perfect material for his next video. Unfortunately, he didn't know where to go with the script after writing that one scene. He just felt bored and uninspired.

"Time for a break," he thought. He glanced over at his extremely messy desk. It was supposed to be the office space where he could work on his creative projects, but it ended up being more like a glorified file cabinet. Perhaps cleaning it off would help him feel more inspired. He began sorting through the papers stacked on it almost a foot high.

As he began working on his desk, the drawing hanging above it caught his eye. It was not any drawing, but "Red", a piece he had created during a very important moment of his life ten years ago. It never failed to capture his attention. Trish's beauty even in the imperfect form of a drawing was enough to take his breath away, but the rough pencil lines that made up her figure reminded him of something even more awe-inspiring than her beauty—the person she was on the inside. He felt his heartbeat quicken as the emotions of that moment of realization so long ago hit him again in full force.

He still believed that he needed Trish in his life, but his life otherwise looked way different from what he imagined during that life-changing moment so long ago. Instead of life by her side, he had experienced years of heartbreak and pain. It had been years since he had last seen her. He thought of her every single day wondering when he'd see her again. He'd never imagined missing her insults, but he found himself yearning to hear her call him doof again. Desperate to hear her voice, he watched the short films she'd acted in over and over until all of her short lines were written on his heart. And every night, he walked out to the parking lot of his apartment and wished on the North Star that someday Trish would be his girl. On the nights that clouds covered the sky, he found himself crying at the thought that the storms of life would always separate him from his shining star.

He felt something hard in the pile and lifted papers that covered it."Oh, there's the team Austin scrapbook," he thought as he pulled a small book from the pile. He opened it and glanced through the worn pages. Picture after picture, page after page telling the story of a time he now looked back on as the happiest one of his life—the time he'd spent with the woman he loved.

Even more than the past, he missed a future that looked more uncertain every day. He could just picture himself standing up at the front of a large cathedral in his orange tux watching Trish walk towards him in a beautiful lace dress. He almost felt like he knew the little girl they would name Esmeralda. He could see her shiny curls and chocolate brown eyes as deep and passionate as her mother's. He could imagine teaching her to dance and sing, draw and paint. Best of all, she'd be his little princess. More than once, he had tried to draw the picture in his head of the cathedral day, but he always ended up with nothing more than picturesque cathedral scene with an empty spot in the middle. Perhaps he would never see it outside his head.

A loud electronic ping interrupted Dez from the quietness of his swirling thoughts. It took him a minute to come to his senses and realize what in the world made that sound. He walked over to his phone and picked it up. He stared at it in shock when he read the sender's name—Trish.

The message simply said Are you busy this weekend? I want to call.

"Yeah, that clears the waters a lot!" he thought to himself. He honestly didn't know what to think. All he knew was that she didn't call for no reason. Without a doubt, she had big news to share. As thrilled as he was that she wanted to share her news with him, he was scared about what that news might be.

During their last year of high school, Dez thought for sure that their shared single status meant that he and Trish would finally become a couple. For a time, it seemed that he was right. They had both ended up attending college in LA and had gotten quite close. Dez slowly began working up to asking her out, moving cautiously in fear of permanently getting on her bad side. Sophomore year, he thought that the time had finally come to tell her what had been on his heart for so long. Before he could do that, she had come to him with some big news. He been convinced that she was going to tell him the words that would make his confession easy. Instead, she announced that she had met a guy—Jackson Bronsky. Dez had thought for sure that the relationship wouldn't work; it just couldn't. Unlike what Dez had imagined, though, Jackson was not a creepy serial killer. He was actually a nice guy who was everything Dez would never be—both intelligent and tall, dark and handsome. Dez couldn't see how a nerdy premed student could be impressed by someone as relaxed as Trish, but somehow it worked. Maybe her smile broke up the drudgery of his intense studies or something. Whatever the reason, the relationship had lasted—six years now.

Since Trish and Jackson had gotten together, Dez had known that his dreams were hanging by a thread. Jackson was in it for the long game; sooner or later he would propose to the only girl Dez had truly wanted. That was it—it had to be why Trish wanted to call. What else could she have to say?

Trish and Jackson were engaged to be married. With that thought, Dez felt like the light of his life had turned off. Trish was marrying someone else. She'd never be his. She was gone, and he was…forever alone. The tears came to his eyes, and he crumbled to the ground. He felt like some invisible villain had struck him with a death blow. As he lay there on his bedroom floor, his entire life felt empty and pointless. Like he'd told everyone before he left Miami to be with Carrie, what was the point of everything without love? He sat up and found himself grabbing the Team Austin scrapbook. As he flipped through the pages, he remembered Trish—her passion for life, her confidence, her strength. But thinking of what she was just made everything worse. Grabbing the cover of the book, he had a sudden urge to tear it to shreds, but he found he couldn't bring himself to destroy something that she had made with her own hands. The book dropped out of his shaking hands to floor with a thud. He gave it a hard shove across the floor; he never wanted to see those pictures again.

"Trish, oh, Trish," he sobbed. "You might not know it, but I loved you. I love you."

He went over to his bed and collapsed onto it in a flood of tears. After what felt like years of agony, he dried up his tears and got up and wandered into the living room. He turned off the light and settled on the couch. Around him, everything was dark and still.

Dez opened his eyes and looked around. He must have fallen asleep while sitting in the dark living room the night before. He felt older than his twenty-six years and tired despite the long hours that sleep had claimed him. It was as if his heart and brain had been working frantically all night trying to process the idea of Trish's engagement. The bright morning light was familiar, but he felt so different. Instead of being excited about a new day, he felt calm and quiet. The silence of his apartment sounded to him like a million voices that were shouting and wouldn't shut up.

Everything just felt so muddled somehow. He felt confused rather than just hurt. Looking back on it now, he wondered why he had told himself that he needed her. By just ignoring his feelings, he could have avoided the years of pain and the agony that he felt right now. The truth was that he had lived without her for many years and could continue to do so. Why did he have to care so much? Why couldn't he just be an emotionless but stable robot?

To be honest, Dez couldn't remember a time when he hadn't been emotional and sensitive. His whole childhood been a series of highs and lows. He could still remember how elated he had felt when his drawing had won first place in an art contest at school. He never forgot the happiness he felt the day he had met Austin. Along with the happy times, he had also suffered grave disappointments. He could still remember the day that the frog that he caught in his backyard died. And then there was the time in first grade little Maddie S. put the love letter he wrote her back on his desk without reading it. After that blow, he had done what he always did—go running to his mom. They had a long talk, and she had reassured him that everything would be alright and that disappointments were just part of life. And he had always bounced back.

For the first time, he was doubting the wisdom of caring so much. Maybe he had always bounced back when he was boy, but would he now? It had been ten years of investment-wasted. He didn't know if he could handle that. How could he have been so stupid? If he became too disillusioned, he knew he would just quit his job and move back to Miami to live with his parents. That would make him feel so defeated that he would believe he could never make anything out his life. All that could have been avoided if he had only turned his back on his feelings for Trish.

Deep down though, he knew that he hadn't been wrong to care. Without investing his heart, he never would have been inspired to create the art that allowed him to share his life with others. He wouldn't be close to his sister, his parents, to Austin and Ally, and yes, to Trish. He knew that he was right in saying that without love life is pointless. But he could see now that it wasn't an issue of being with Trish or not being with her. The question was whether caring is worth the risk. As he sat there pondering the all important question, the words of the heroine from his favorite unrequited love movie came to his mind. No matter what the outcome, love is never to be regretted because to love is to be alive. Pain and sadness shouldn't make him change his mind. Caring is worth the risk. Maybe he did need Trish, maybe she wouldn't marry Jackson, maybe she would. But regardless of the consequences, he would chose to care-he would chose to live. And he would write that script because other people needed to hear it too. Investing your heart is worth the risk because when you hold back you can't truly live.

Author's Note: I honestly wasn't planning on continuing "Red", but then this happened. This story is my baby, so I spent a bit of time trying to get this chapter just right. I hope it is worth the wait and that you enjoy reading heartbroken Dez as much as I love writing him. I'd love to know what you think.