Sorry that this is the worst excuse for a one-shot ever. It's based on the Taylor Swift song "I'd Lie." I thought this'd go in a different direction, but it is what it is. Tell me what you honestly think; just try not to be too mean. I can be rather sensitive. (;

I really, really hope that you guys like it. I just decided to write a whole bunch of Zevie one-shots and this is what resulted.

Please read / review / favorite! It really means a lot to me, I promise. Especially when you're nice! Love you guys! Again, sorry this is so long.

I strongly encourage that you listen to the song 'I'd Lie' before [or perhaps during?] the reading of this. It stands alone too, though.

And yeah. Sorry for the long author's note and the insane out-of-character-ness of my story. I just… I don't know. I'm not fully confident with this.

Posting it anyways. Love you guys! (:

"Hop in!" Zander smiles widely at me from his blue two-door Jeep Wrangler. He has just gotten his license not two hours ago, and he's come to pick me up since I called shotgun on our first ice cream run.

"You didn't tell me how your date went last night," I say, climbing into the front seat. "How was Penelope?"

"No," he shakes his head. "Penelope was Monday night. Last night was Lindsay. Or was it Jenny?"

"You're bad!" I smack his arm gently, with hidden satisfaction that he couldn't remember his date's name.

"Anyway, we went out to dinner at some restaurant and then went to some dumb nightclub that she liked."

"Glad you had fun."

"The food tasted like crap and the nightclub played terrible music."

"What restaurant?" I ask, curious. Zander is a typical guy; he eats almost anything.

"That new French restaurant that opened near our burger joint."

I fight a smile. He called it our burger joint. Which it is. Technically, it's not. But we've been there so many times together that… I don't know. It's just cute he called it that.

I guess I took a long time to respond, because I turn to see him staring at me while he rambles about the music they played at the club or something. I can't help but notice that his eyes aren't just brown; they're a mixture of about ten or so different shades of brown. Just like his father's.

Staring into his eyes feels amazing, the best thing I've felt in a while, but I look away. "Keep your eyes on the road, Zander. You just got your license. The last thing I need is you to lose your license."

"The last thing you need?" he jokes.

"Yes, me. My birthday's in February and you need to chauffer me around until then!"

"Is that how it works?"

"Yeah. That's exactly how it works."

He smirks at me, turning again towards me and meeting my eyes.

"Did you make eye contact with whoever this much last night?" I question him.

He laughs. "Are you kidding? She got a piece of lettuce wedged between her teeth for half the night. I couldn't look into her eyes; I was distracted by her teeth!"

We both laugh, and I wonder if he's being honest with me or if he's just joking.

"Aw! You don't think it's love this time?" I ask nonchalantly, trying to make it seem like I'm rooting for this girl.

"Nope. Can I be honest with you, Steves?"

"Of course." Is he going to tell me he loves me too? I've been waiting for this moment my whole life.

"I don't think I'll ever fall in love."

"You don't know that for sure."

He runs his fingers through his short, curly hair as we pull up to a red light. "Nah. I swear. I'm never going to fall in love."

"Why not?"

"It's too much for me to handle. The girl is so needy, and she whines all the time. Imagine how many girls guys that are in love miss out on."

I laugh at him, and he joins me. But we're laughing for different reasons. I want him to be mistaken, and he thinks that he's being funny.

"Zander, if you're in love with one person, you don't want to be with anyone else."

"Is that why you turned down Justin Cole earlier today?" Zander wiggles his eyebrows at me. "Because you're in love? With someone else?" He holds the 'o' in 'love' as though he's mocking me, and I fake smile at him.

"No," I shake my head, my cheeks blushing. I fight the urge to say, "I turned Justin Cole down because I am madly in love with you," and instead say, "I turned Justin Cole down because he's not my type."

"He was your type not too long ago, am I right?"

"I'm ignoring you," I say, turning up the music. Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepson blasts through the car. "Oh my gosh, Zander! You love this song!"

Instantly, he begins singing along. At the conclusion of the song, I laugh.

"If you ever tell anybody I like that song, Baskara, you're dead!"

"If you ever tell anybody that I encourage you to sing it, you're dead."

"So it's a deal," he winks at me, and I melt. I shouldn't like my best friend as much as I do. I shouldn't like my best friend at all.

"Why'd you get a blue car when your favorite color is green?" I question Zander, breaking the comfortable silence that follows.

"You know my favorite color?" he cocks his head, eyes still on the road. "I'm impressed."

"Why are you impressed?"

"No reason. Do you know Justin Cole's favorite color?"

I roll my eyes. "No."

"And why is that?"

"Because I am the farthest thing from interested in him."

"Nah. You like him. Or you like somebody. Is it Tony Cardella?"

"No."

"You like Justin. You're playing hard to get."

"I'm really not."

"You think Justin's hot."

"You think anything with a pulse it hot."

"Are you picking a fight with me, Stevana Baskara?"

"No. I think it's the other way around."

"I hate fighting."

"You love fighting."

He shakes his head, his eyes still on the road. "No I don't!"

"Remember when we were at the grocery store buying those little pizza bagel things and you picked a fight with the woman in front of us on line because you didn't like her political views?"

Zander smirks a bit, before saying, "That was one time…"

"Or when you argued with the lady at the nail salon that she was Chinese when she was really Korean?"

"She didn't look…"

"She would know, Zander."

He sighs heavily. "Fine. You win. But only this one time."

Another comfortable silence follows.

"Stevie?"

"Yeah?"

"When's my birthday?"

Is he seriously asking me this? I'm his best friend. Of course I know his birthday. "October 17th."

"You know my birthday!"

"Of course I know your birthday."

"Yours is February 8th."

I give him a puzzled look.

"That's right. I know it's right."

"But why did you…"

He cuts me off. "I wanted to make sure you knew mine, that it wasn't weird that I knew yours."

"You're crazy."

"But you love me anyway!"

"Maybe," I lie. "Maybe not."

"Come on! You love me! Mallory always tells me we're meant to be."

Mallory is Zander's one-year-older sister. She's largely into fate and things like that. There's nothing that I wish more than for her to be completely correct. "Ah, Mallory. How is she, anyway?"

"She misses you!"

"I love your sister. It's not even funny. She's beautiful!"

"Wow. I should set you two up some time. You're both clearly obsessed with each other."

"You know, that'd be great. She's the only reason I hang out with you, anyway."

"Next time you want ice cream, call her," Zander pouts, pretending to be angry at me as we pull into a Baskin Robbins parking lot.

"Zander Robbins?" I ask.

"Stevie Baskara?"

"Are you related to Baskin Robbins?" I say, trying to hold in my laughter.

He rolls his eyes at me, before breaking a smile, and finally cracking up with me. "You're so strange."

"I know."

"It's okay. That's why I love you."

Every Friday night, Gravity 5 has movie night, in which a specific band member chooses a movie for us all to rent. Zander sits on the floor in front of the television, scrolling through the movie choices. It's his turn to pick the movie.

"Shutter Island?" he asks.

"I loved it," I tell him. "But I think it's a bit too scary for Nelson and Kevin." I motion towards the two boys, who sit on beanbag chairs, playing their stupid Furious Pigeons game. I hate that game, but it keeps them entertained.

"Did we see that together?" he raises an eyebrow at me.

"You saw it on one of your dates, but you barely paid attention to the movie because you were doing… other activities. So you made me go back with you that night. At midnight. And we skipped school the next day, because of course it was a Thursday."

He chuckles. "We've had some awesome times, Baskara."

You have no idea. I think. Because even standing as far apart as we are, all I can think about is how you're in the room, and how I can barely breathe.

I watch the back of his head as he flips through the movies. There are endless titles, and he is completely mesmerized. He knows every movie; he knows pop culture better than anyone I've ever met.

I notice his ears, the way they twitch just slightly as he indubitably bites his lip. I pay special attention to his arms, as he flexes to scratch his head. And I…

"You love Zander?" Kacey whispers to me as we sit on the couch, clearly watching me watch Zander pick a movie. He's awfully indecisive.

"No, I do not love Zander," I lie. At this point, I'm sure Kacey can tell. But maybe she's too absorbed with herself to notice. "And can we not? He's sitting right there."

"I can see Zander. I'm not blind."

Zander, sure he's heard something, turns around, searching the room. "I swear, I heard my name… You heard it, Stevie, didn't you?"

"You're crazy," I roll my eyes, knowing exactly how to play him so that he turns back to what he's doing, and not pay attention to what we're saying. "I didn't hear anything."

He turns back around, and I smirk. How can he not tell that I'm in love with him, that I have been since we met?

Zander chose "The Champ". We've both never seen it. Kacey, Nelson and Kevin had all fallen asleep, bored at the old plotline. Zander and I, however, were both instantly intrigued.

Hearing sniffles to my right, I tear myself from the movie.

"Zander?" I question.

"Yeah?"

"Are you… are you crying?"

"No!" He pulls away from me as I move closer to him to look at his face.

"You are! You're crying!"

Hiding his face in his hands, he says, "No I'm not! You're seeing things!"

I smile widely, definitely going to use this against him. "You're crying! Zander Robbins is crying at a movie!"

"It's a sad movie!"

"So you admit you're crying?"

"Fine."

"It's nothing to be ashamed of. Kacey cries in almost every movie."

"Kacey is a girl."

"Oh, Zander," I smirk, pulling his hands from his face and looking into his tear-filled eyes. "You're kind of girly too."

"Am not!"

"Being sensitive isn't a bad thing, really. Lots of girls think it's really sexy."

"Well, what do you think?"

I give him a strange look. He's stopped crying now and is now smiling slightly at me. The movie still plays on in the background though I barely hear it.

"Do you think sensitivity is sexy?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Really?" He raises his eyebrows seductively at me. "Well, then…"

I shove him a little. "On anyone but you."

We both laugh a little and turn back to the screen. Not much has changed since I've turned away.

"Steves?"

"Yes, Zander?"

"Nobody's ever seen me cry before."

I turn towards him, not believing a word that he says. "No one? Not even your mom?"

"Not since I've turned five. I never cried in front of people after my fifth birthday."

"You haven't cried in eleven years?"

"Well," Zander admits, "I've cried, but it was alone in my bedroom."

"You're such a sap."

He winks. "And you love me for it!"

As I hang up my jacket in the band room closet one morning, Zander and Kevin walk in through the outside entrance. They appear to be in the middle of a seemingly important conversation. I don't make a sound, shoving myself into the closet and holding my breath so they don't hear me. I'm more than a little curious what they are talking about and I know they'll stop the conversation if I make my presence known.

Boys are dumb like that.

"You should just tell her," Kevin says.

"I can't tell her," Zander sighs, putting his hands behind his head and resting them there, something he does when he's deep in thought. "That'd ruin everything."

"Come on. She's… she's not like that. She won't hold it against you."

So they're not talking about Kacey since she holds EVERYTHING against you. I chuckle to myself, but am careful not to make any noise. But who could it be, then?

"I know, but then things get awkward and I don't even know if she…"

Before he could finish his statement, he stops.

"I think I heard something."

"What?" Kevin asks.

"A… a noise or something. Whatever. I'm going to go."

"We're continuing this conversation later. Don't think that making up an imaginary sound will make all this go away."

"It's not imaginary!" Zander sighs. "But fine. Whatever. I wish I just knew if she felt the same."

"Don't worry, kid. I got your back."

He looks down as his feet. "She… she thinks I'm heartless."

Kevin cackles, "I doubt she thinks that. She's always all over you."

"No… but I told her that… that…" He looks around suspiciously, still paranoid about the noise, then bends down and whispers something in Kevin's ear.

"I don't know why you'd say that. You l…"

But Zander's at the door. "I'll see you later."

"Bye."

Quietly, I leave the closet and walk out the door Zander left from. I wait a few seconds outside the door before strolling on in.

"Hey Kev," I smile.

"Hi Stevie."

"What's up?"

"Nothing," he shrugs. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Anything." My stomach turns; I hope he didn't see me leaving after hiding in the closet. I thought the coast was clear but…

"What's your opinion on Zander?"

"Kevin," I shoot him a look. "He's my best friend."

Kevin frowns slightly, awkwardly. He meets my eyes. "But, like… he's cute, right? He's an attractive guy."

"Do… do you want me to set up you and Zander?" I can't help but laugh. "I don't think you're his type, but, I mean, you never know."

"No…" Kevin bites his lip. "Do you find Zander… appealing?"

I cock my head to the side in complete confusion. "What are you trying to say?"

"Do you, Stevana Baskara, like Zander Robbins? Like, like-like. Not like as in friends."

I roll my eyes. "Goodbye, Kevin."

"But…"

I walk out the door and begin to walk away before he could finish, but I am almost certain I hear him mutter something. Maybe it's my head playing tricks on me, but I really hope I heard correctly.

"But… he's in love with you."

I spend Friday night at Zander's house, writing a song. As usual, Zander sits with his guitar in his lap, taking song writing very seriously, while I play around in his room, touching all his things and making him sincerely wish he didn't invite me.

"Where'd you get this?" I ask, holding up a little statue of a turtle playing guitar.

"Oh. Naya gave that to me last Sunday."

"It's cute," I say, disappointed that he still accepts gifts from his fan girls. I figure what I heard Kevin say a couple days ago was completely wrong.

"Eh, it's alright. I don't really want it. It's nothing compared to the socks you bought me." He pulls off his shoes to reveal that he is wearing the dorky yellow duck socks I bought him a couple months ago. I figured they were so entirely non-Zander that it's humorous.

"Then why do you keep the turtle if you don't like it?"

"Because," he explains. "It's funny."

"The fact that it's a turtle playing guitar is funny?"

"No! You must think I'm really stupid, huh? What's funny is that she has no idea that I play guitar."

"What?" I spit out. "Everyone knows you play guitar."

"Au contraire, Stevie-bear. Nobody really knows. I never tell anyone. In fact, you and Gravity 5, and well, people who've seen us play, are the only ones who know."

"What? You don't tell people?"

"Nope. Never."

"Wow. Okay. I'm surprised you don't go and brag about it."

"Do I seriously brag that much?"

"How do I answer that? Uhm, YES!"

"Oh," he chuckles. "Never knew."

"Now you know."

"So, Stevie, why haven't you suggested any inspiration for this song? Aren't you inspired to write with me?"

"Nah," I sigh. "I'm never inspired."

He gives me a look [I swear, he can see right through me] before putting his guitar down and patting the seat beside him. "Come on. Tell me what's wrong."

I sit down, frowning. "Nothing's wrong. I never help write."

"That's not true. You always help. You can help right now by making me a turkey sandwich."

I shoot him a look.

"Okay, okay. No need for the daggers. I was kidding."

"Sure."

"Okay, okay. I actually want a sandwich. But you don't have to make me one. I have a mother for a reason."

"You're actually a horrible person. How do girls like you?"

"They don't know me that well."

I smirk. "Clearly. Because I know you and half the time I want to throw a gigantic rock at you."

"What about the other half of the time?" He raises his eyebrows and smirks at me.

"Hmm. Good question. Maybe muzzle you?"

"This face is too pretty to be muzzled."

I sneer, "And this is why I thought you bragged about playing guitar."

"Stevie, honey?" Zander's mom is at his doorway, staring at her son and me as we attempted for the fourth hour to write a song. "Would you like to spend the night?"

"I'd love to, Mrs. R."

"Wonderful! Well, I'll leave you two at work." She winks at me before walking out the door.

Three hours later, it's almost two in the morning and we're both exhausted. We've made no progress in writing a new song and all of our current attempts are awful. Then again, anything you do when you're tired is pretty terrible.

I fell asleep at some point, and I wake up in the morning underneath the covers in Zander's room. He's beside me, sleeping on his stomach, his face towards me. I can't help but notice that he's beautiful.

Then again, that's my first thought every morning.

I make my way to his bathroom, which he shares with Mallory. She's in there when I stumble in, putting on her makeup.

"Can I borrow some face wash?" I ask her, barely functioning. It's early if Mallory is still here; she has work at eight.

"Sure you can, Stevie." She hands me something that I don't bother to read; Mallory's amazing at makeup.

Finished washing my face, I dry it off with a towel. I look up to see her staring at me.

"Try some of this," she tells me, handing me a bit of foundation. "It's too light for me, but it'll look perfect on you."

"Thanks Mal."

"Speaking of perfect…"

"God!" I throw my hands up in the air. "How sick am I of that word. Perfect. There's no such thing as perfect."

"There is so," Mallory tells me. "Think about you and Zander. You two are clearly perfect for each other."

"I want you as my sister-in-law more than anything, but I don't like Zander like that."

"Yes you do."

"No I don't."

Mallory gives me a knowing look, then waves goodbye. "I have to go to work, but I'll see you later, I hope. You're going to be my sister-in-law. I can feel it."

Winking at me, she leaves the room. I start putting on my makeup, and can't help but stare at my reflection.

"You're not Zander's type," I think to myself. "What I would give to be his type. Please, miracle. Please let a miracle come and let him fall in love with me."

Because I know his favorite color. I know his ways and his favorite song. I know that he loves arguing, and I know how to beat him in any fight. I know his sister, how beautiful and wonderful she is. I love her. I know his father, his job title, how he's the most amazing chef in the entire world. I know how much Zander resembles his father, from the curly hair to the striking brown eyes.

And I love him so much.

But I'll never tell anyone.

No. I'll never tell anyone.

Because we're best friends.