Paper Flowers.

Summary: AU Soap Opera Style. In the wealthy town of Paradise Falls, an elite circle of youth control it all. On the surface they have everything. But once you start to dig a little deeper, there's a whole other world of lies, deceit, sex and more. Enjoy your stay.

Disclaimer: The recognizable characters and character traits of any of Disney's Newsies belong to Disney. Any other character is the property of either me or the author that I am borrowing them from.

Author's Note: Wow, that was a good seven months in between chapters. And, can you believe, I'm ending chapter 5 with a cliffhanger. Yes, I am that cruel ;)

Chapter 005.

As she watched Oscar hail a taxi at the nearby corner, Julie slowly ceased her giggles before she reached for the glass of water that had been placed on the table only moments before she had been joined by Oscar. Once she had taken a sip, though, she found herself spitting it all over the front of her floral sundress as a hand grabbed her shoulder from behind.

"Oh no, Julie, I'm so sorry. Here, let me clean you up," stuttered a dark haired man wearing a simple pink shirt and grass-stained jeans as he reached over her for a few napkins and raced around the table to face Julie. "I didn't mean to scare you."

Julie stood up and allowed the man to blot the top of her dress before giving him a quick peck on the cheek. "No problem, Michael, darling. It was my fault, anyway. I was expecting you to come from the front of the cafe, so I was startled to feel the touch of a person from behind -- and why is your shirt pink?"

As Michael helped Julie into her seat before sitting across from her, he gestured to his shirt. "You mean this? Well, I tried to combine two of my loads of laundry the other night. Seems like one of my red socks get mixed in with my gardening shirts, and this lovely shade of pink is the result," he said, barely hiding a scowl at Julie's obvious amusement.

"Well, it is rather lovely," she said soothingly, smiling to herself when Michael's scowl evaporated. "By the by, Michael, what took you so long?"

A slight blush colored his tanned cheeks as Michael looked anywhere but at Julie. "I was busy."

"'Busy'? What do you mean, 'busy'?" Julie asked, a little alarmed at the distance he was creating between the two of them.

"Just busy, Jules," he answered a bit quickly, a bit grumpily. But, as he looked up and across the table, he grinned sheepishly. "Don't worry, dear. It's nothing bad, just had a run in with a Delancey."

"Oscar?" Julie questioned off handedly while suppressing a gulp. Through all of her precautions, had he seen Michael approaching the restaurant?

"Oscar? No, it was Morris," Michael answered just as a waiter arrived with a pair of menus. As he received his and began to busy himself with reading it, Julie sighed. She would get the truth out of him later.

"Oscar, where have you been? I thought I told you to be here at seven thirty?" hissed Luke as he approached Oscar upon entering the foyer of Chez Maurice.

Oscar paused for a moment before peeking at the gold Rolex around his wrist. "But, Luke, it's only seven thirty-four."

"Yes, and that's four minutes later than when you were supposed to be here," countered Luke as he rested his hand against his head. "Honestly, Delancey, I don't know why I bother with you."

Oscar looked at Luke for a moment as he frowned. Here he was, all set to tell Luke how his sister was running around meeting their gardener for lunch while covering her tracks, and Luke wants to put him down. Shrugging his shoulders, Oscar decided to keep that bit of information to himself -- it might come in handy at a later time. "Sorry, Luke. It's just that I went down to Tibby's at five to meet you there, but I ran into Julie. She said she was meeting Rae down there for dinner since her friend Jess would surely be spending her time with Kelly now that he's back. By the way, Luke, did you hear that he was back in town?"

Luke dropped his hand and stared vacantly at Oscar. "Yes, actually. I had the great fortune to pick ol' Cowboy up at the airport yesterday."

"Why would you go pick him up?" Oscar asked, looking confused. "I thought you've been sore at him since he landed that internship with the governor during our senior year at PFP."

Luke shrugged. "That's ancient history, Oscar. Besides, it was a favor to my sister and Jessica. Jessica needed a ride up to the airport and Julie was busy with one of her friends yesterday, so they asked me if I could do it. I know that the girls aren't too fond of the new chauffeur, Swifty, because he drives like an old Manhattan cab driver, so I said I would do it. Not a great way to spend the afternoon but it got me out of a few boring board meetings."

"Oh, well, anyway, after I left Tibby's, I decided to head home to get a change of clothes. I know what a ritzy place Chez Maurice is, so I grabbed one of my Uncle Weisel's ties --"

"You borrowed a tie from 'Weas'?" Luke asked, as he raised one of his eyebrows. Weisel Delancey, nicknamed 'Weasel' by most of the Paradise Falls youth due to the runty look about his face, was the brother of Oscar's software tycoon father. He was also the well known and respected laidback business teacher of Paradise Falls Prepatory; though he looked like nothing more than a bum, and had the fashion sense to rival one, Weisel was responsible for installing the business ethics that Luke, Jack and many other PFP graduates in the business world shared.

Again Oscar shrugged. "Yeah, why not?"

Luke shook his head -- this was not the time to get into petty squabbles about Oscar's taste and lack thereof. "Never mind, Oscar. Besides, now that you are here, we can sit down and enjoy a nice meal."

Oscar nodded as he turned and followed Luke inside the front of Chez Maurice. He was just about to request that they sat down in the back of the restaurant when he saw that Luke bypassed the maitre'd and began to head where he saw a pair of people standing around a two person table off to the right. "Is that Lucky Pulitzer standing over there with Rae Kelly? And isn't that your sister's friend with Cowboy?" Oscar asked as he followed Luke over the table.

Luke did not answer him; instead, he strolled over to Lucky's left side. "My, my, isn't this cozy. A right little reunion, this is," he smirked, nodding his salutations towards the group.

"Luke," nodded Jack as he pulled the jewelry box closer to him. Luke barely hid a smile when he saw the expression that his presence caused to form on hid adversary's face.

"Luke, Oscar, how are you? Jack and I were just greeting Lucky and Rae and now you're here. Chez Maurice must be the spot tonight, no?" asked Jessica, a dangerous glint in her golden eyes.

"Any spot that I'm at is the spot, Jessica," replied Luke as he ignored the snort that came from Rae's direction.

Jack smiled graciously at his cousin before standing up once more, the ring box back in his hand. "Well, I didn't really want to have an audience when I did this, but now I believe that the present situation could not have been more perfect if I had planned it." Taking a deep breath, Jack smiled down at Jessica. "Jessica, my dear," he began before walking to her side and bending down onto one knee, "will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

It was hard to tell whose gasp was louder: Luke's, Lucky's or Jessica's.