Truth Be Told

Songfic

I'd Lie - Taylor Swift

James walked into the Room of Requirements looking exhausted. I looked p at him with raised eyebrows and Fred was about to ask when he said "Don't," Which made me laugh.

I don't know whether it was because I laughed or he wanted the armchair, but I was kicked out of it by my dear cousin, and he would not give it back.

With a glare at him I looked at the other possible seats in the Room of Requirements. The couch was taken with Dell lying across it, her head in Fred's lap. Then there was the double seat (I will not call it a love seat! Bloody hell!) Where only Tyler sat. The Room seemed unwilling to conjure another seat, seeming to know deep down I didn't want it to.

After all, sitting right next to Tyler, so close, well... So, as being the only seat, I plopped down beside him, and as James, Tyler and Fred, propped my feet upon the table. There being little room they were on top of the three's, and so were pushed off.

I glared at Dell and she stopped mid-laugh.

Well, me being me, I wouldn't be the only one with my feet on the floor. So I propped them up on the only remaining thing – Tyler.

Thank the gods I'm not the type to blush or my face would have been beat red at that time, at the rate my heart was going.

Fred laughed, and Tyler tried to push them off, but I just dug my heels deeper into his legs. Eventually he got the hint and just shrugged.

We all went into a comfortable semi-silence. Dell and Fred were having a quiet conversation between them and James, well...

"You'll never guess...James?" Tyler said looking at James with a raised eyebrow.

"I think he's asleep," I commented, looking over at my cousin, and sure enough, two seconds later his head fell onto his shoulder. Tyler rolled his eyes.

"So what did you do tonight?" Tyler asked, the other three having left us two to ourselves.

"Nothing really, just did detention," I said with a shrug as though it were nothing.

"It's the second day back!" Tyler said shocked even though he himself had served many detentions in his lifetime.

"Your point?" I asked before changing the subject. "How about you?"

"Homework mostly. They're already piling it on, with it being sixth year and all. Though there was..." I watched Tyler as he talked, looking in his eyes. They may have been chocolate brown but if he turns a certain way and catches the light about a million colors reflect off his eyes. Kind of like a diamond.

"Hey, Roxanne, you listening?" Tyler asked, waving a hand in front of my face.

I'd zoned out, stupid, I shook my head thinking myself an arse before mumbling "Sorry."

"That's OK, I've zoned out before. I was talking to this girl, James girlfriend at the time, and I zoned out. That girl was such a ditz. I don't know why James goes out with half of those girls," Tyler was shaking his head at this point, and I was hanging on to every word. So maybe I've got it bad, OK? "I swear I'm never going to be like that. Sure, maybe I'll date one or two, but only a slight chance. It's just not worth it, falling in love," Tyler gave a shrug.

"I mean, look at the trouble Fred and Dell went through – last year was torture. I'm never going through that," Tyler finished running a hand through his hair though it just flopped back into place.

I laughed as I hoped dear gods he was wrong, and said, "I don't think you can control whether you fall in love or not."

He just raised an eyebrow and smirked before nodding once more over to Fred and Dell. "He never had a chance, she's had him on a leash since the moment I introduced them."

I just faked a smile at his joke, keeping up the facade I'd been using for years, still feeling the hurt in my heart from Tyler's statement.

We grow silent and the whispers between Fred and Dell across the room are filled by the radio. I can't help but smile as I see Tyler start to sing along quietly. I know for a fact it's his favourite song, the top of his list, for he has a list of top ten, and I could name them all in order, a fact I'd never admit to.

As the song ends Tyler glances around the room, over the sleeping James, over Dell and Fred giggling across the room, over the fire, and over me with my legs laid out over him, and all he seemed to see was my act of boredom. Did he not notice how I longed for him? How I'd somehow stupidly, the fierce Roxanne, fell for Tyler, the most sensible of the lot? Did he not see how I loved the way we sat at the moment? Was I really that good at acting?

I could no longer stand the silence and the unanswered questions that hung in the air.

"How's your sister?" I said thinking up a subject that I knew would make him smile.

As predicted his face lit up at the mere mention of Tori and he pulled out a picture of her and proudly showed me the young girl.

"She's five now, March 17th," He told me though I could have finished his sentence. I recalled her birthday was exactly a month after his, February 17th.

I looked at the raven haired girl smiling happily in the picture. Unlike her brother and everybody in her family who had brown eyes, though his were chocolate brown like his fathers, his mothers being light brown, the little girl had bright green eyes. The only reason a Gryffindors favourite color would ever be green, as Tyler's was.

Was I hooked or what?

"She's beautiful," I murmured, with a smile towards him, and his smile only grew. He truly loved his baby sister, even with the major age difference.

"Do you ever read her some of your poetry?" I asked slyly with a smirk.

His face went beat red and he hissed under his breath, "You promised never to speak of that again!"

Dell glanced over at Tyler's red face but didn't say anything, obviously not having heard a word.

Once when I borrowed his notes (which I do half the time just to talk to him) I had found something else besides notes in there. Tyler apparently writes poetry – and nobody but me knows. I like that fact, and some is really good, some that I read actually make me swoon, and I'd wished he was writing it for me. Now I usually just borrow his notes to read it since there's usually a stray here and there, and I think he knows since I've started writing comments and he puts them in just to see my opinion.

"It's good Tyler," I hissed back shaking my head not knowing why he hid it but liking I held a secret with him.

"No, it's not, it sucks," Tyler said. Boy did that boy like to argue, and that's just another thing that draws me to him.

I sighed about to give up before another idea came to me. I looked at him and gave a smirk.

"What?" He asked warily, only seeing the dangerous Roxanne as he always did. He only ever saw me as Fred's little sister, never saw any more, which made me like my idea even more and my smirk grew.

I grab his arm and twist it behind his back. I see him wince in pain and though I want to let go I don't, knowing I wouldn't for any other.

"Admit it," I say seeing out of the corner of my eye Fred and Dell were watching. James was still fast asleep.

"No," Tyler said knowing I wanted for him to admit he was good. I pushed his arm even further back and see his eyes fill with water but he pushed them back. By now somebody would normally be crying in pain, but Tyler never let anybody see him cry, even when his mother died after his sister was born.

"Fine," Tyler finally said before pulling his feet off the table making James awake with a start.

"What? What happened?" James asked looking around while we all held back laughter and I let go of Tyler's arm.

"Well, you fell asleep while Dell and Fred talked about what they did this summer-"

"What? How'd you know what we were talking about?" Dell asked in surprise.

"It was pretty obvious," Tyler replied though the surprised look on my face told them it wasn't. Tyler always seemed to know stuff like that, he could look through people so easily, and especially Dell, but I seemed even too good of an actor for him.

"We should be going to bed – don't want to get caught by Lucy," At this all five of us rolled our eyes before laughing when we realized it.

Tyler must have forgotten I was on him, for I doubt he would have done it otherwise, and stood up, making me fall to the ground in the process. Hey, at least I know I'm light. His eyes opened wide when he realized what he did, and he quickly bolted for the door.

"Ha, you're afraid of my sister," Fred yells after him as Dell sits up.

"And like you're not, remember that time-" James said having gotten up and heading after Tyler. Fred eyes opened wide and he ran after James, all leaving the room.

I couldn't help but smile at this though I had to hold back a sigh. It seemed I had to keep waiting.

As I followed them out of the room, having much farther to go than the four, I felt a hand hold me back. I looked back, raising an eyebrow at Dell. Dell looked at me curiously he head held to the side. "Do you like Tyler?" She finally asked, her eyebrows furrowed.

After two, almost three years someone had finally noticed. After all the times of hiding it – sometimes actually trying to make him jealous, or even flirt with him, yet some other reason for it had come up, someone had finally noticed.

So what did I say?

"Tyler?" I laughed at her looking at her as though she were high. "Really Dell, Tyler?"

A smile formed on Dell's face as she shook her head, easily believing me. "Ya, what was I thinking?" She laughed before she left out the door telling the three boys to be quiet and she didn't care if Lucy was on the first floor.

I lied.

I've had this written for awhile, just couldn't post it until I had the 'Secrets in the Attic' chapter up for 'Insanity with a D'. As you can see I changed guitar with poetry, I didn't really think guitar fit much in here. Anyways, I thought this song fit Roxanne, so, ya, there you go.