A few weeks have passed since the lovely day at the beach. Since then Jack and Rose's relationship had been full steam ahead with them spending more passionate moments at Rose's house when Ruth was at work and once in Jack's room when they had been alone in the house. Everything seemed to be going great. They were in love and loved nothing more than spending as much time together as they possibly could.

Rose had thought that there would be nothing in the world that could come between them. That no matter what, she and Jack would make time for each other.

She was wrong.

It was Saturday when Jack called her, disappointment in his voice.

"Rose, I won't be able to see you this weekend. Some family stuff had come up and I have to concentrate on home for a few days. You'll be alright, won't you?" Jack asked.

Rose just giggled. Jack was so cute, wanting to make sure that she'll be okay without him around. Of course she would be. She wasn't one of those cling girlfriends that needed their boyfriends around 24/7. She could spend a few days without Jack. "I'll be fine. I'll just hang out with Trudy and Anna. I'll see you Monday."

"I miss you already."

"I miss you too. But maybe it'll be good for us. Give us time to recover from yesterday afternoon...," Rose blushed, remembering the last time that she and Jack had made love. It had been right in her room and her mother had gone to another meeting and Rose's desire for her handsome boyfriend was just too overwhelming.

Jack's blush was evident in his voice. "You're probably right. Well, I'll see you Monday, baby."

"See you," Rose hung up, already missing Jack, unaware that for the first time since they had begun to see each other, Jack had lied to her.

Back at the Dawson house, Jack hung up the phone, trying to ignore his cousin's glare. He shook his head and then turned around to glare at Julie, wishing that she would take her judgmental opinions somewhere else and leave him alone.

"What is it now?" He gritted his teeth in annoyance.

"You just lied to Rose," Was her tight reply. She may not have liked Rose at first, but once it became obvious that the girl really did love her cousin, she let up on her dislike and had fully accepted the girl as part of the group.

Jack sighed and stood up from the bed. "I already told you. I had to. It's not like I like it or plan to make it a habit."

"You lied to her to meet up with that bitch you used to date."

"Julie..."

"I just don't understand! You love Rose more than anything and you're risking messing everything up for a girl that told you that you were beneath her! I don't get it!"

To be honest, he didn't get it either. That morning, he had received a tear-filled call from Meghan, begging to see him. She was in town and needed to talk to him and what she had to say, it was going to take a while. At first, Jack had refused, not wanting anything to do with the girl. But she had sounded so devastated, so desperate to see him, that he finally relented.

Julie had been in the same room listening and couldn't believe that Jack had agreed to waste a weekend with his ex girlfriend when he had a perfectly good girlfriend to spend his time with and then reminded Jack that Rose would not be happy when she found out. At first, he had ignored Julie's warning, but when on the phone to tell Rose he wouldn't be with her over the weekend, he began to think. Rose would be hurt if she knew. Hurt and maybe even worried and Jack didn't want to put her through that. She's been through enough as it is. She didn't need to worry about him, so he had lied. It was a spur of the moment decision and now he regretted it. But it was too late to turn back now.

"Look, what's done is done and really, it's none of your business," Jack sighed, picking up his portfolio, not wanting to talk or even think about it anymore.

"If Rose finds out..."

"And how will she find out, Julie? Huh? Are you going to tell her?"

"Of course not. But if you were smart, and I think you are, you'd get back on that phone and tell her the real reason you won't be seeing her this weekend," Julie gave him a pointed look before leaving the room.

Jack sighed and stared at the phone. Julie was right. He should call Rose back and tell her the truth. But then she'll want to know why he had lied in the first place and when he thought of the reason now, it seemed silly and he just didn't have the courage to look silly in front of Rose right now. It was bad enough that he was going to spend his weekend with his ex, who had made it clear that she thought that he was lower in station than her. Rose wouldn't understand. He just knew she wouldn't, especially when he didn't understand himself.

…..

Rose had indeed decided to spend the Saturday with Annabelle and Trudy. She wanted to call Helga also, but Helga had plans with Fabrizio and since Jack was busy with family stuff, they assumed that Julie would be busy with the same as well. So it was just the three girls, spending the day at the mall.

"Helga has the cruise booked, so I was thinking we should do some cruise shopping. What do you girls think?" Rose asked, walking between her two friends.

"Am I even allowed to go? I mean, this is a senior class trip," Annabelle wondered.

"I would think so. You are Tommy's girlfriend," Rose chewed on her bottom lip. "It's probably best to check that with Helga. She'd know. What would we pack for a cruise anyway?"

"Bathing suits, evening wear, sun dresses, sun tan lotion...," Trudy counted off the list with her fingers.

"We shouldn't overburden ourselves. We have plenty of time before the cruise, right? I say we just concentrate on evening wear...," Rose suggested, feeling overwhelmed.

They were approaching the food court and Rose blushed to hear her stomach rumble. "I'm hungry, do you guys want to stop somewhere to eat?"

Annabelle was about to answer when something caught her eyes, stopping her in her tracks. Trudy too caught sight of what had stopped Annabelle and gasped in shock.

"Is that Jack? I thought he had some family stuff to take care of today," Trudy frowned, spotting Jack at one of the tables, listening to a girl that she had never seen before. A girl that definitely wasn't Rose!

Rose frowned and gasped in shock to see her boyfriend, who was supposed to be at home since he couldn't spend time with her, in the food court talking to his ex-girlfriend. He had obviously lied to her and Rose couldn't figure out why. She had thought that he was happy with her. That he trusted her more than anyone else, the way she trusted him. That he'd never lie to her!

Well obviously he had lied to her, and if he had lied about this weekend,what else had he lied to her about? Had he ever been truthful with her?

"Who is that he's talking to?" Annabelle asked, with a frown, not liking this at all. The fact that Rose looked as if she's been hit with a bus didn't bode well.

"His ex-girlfriend. They had broke up before he moved here," Rose answered, her voice flat and void of emotion. She stood in that one spot, just staring at them, wondering what she was supposed to do now. Confront them? Ignore them and wait for Jack to come out and tell her the truth? She honestly didn't know, since she's never been in this situation before. "He lied to me. He told me that he was going to be working on some family issues, not spending the day with his ex..."

"He doesn't look too happy, if that's any consolation," Annabelle frowned.

Rose couldn't take it. She had to find out what was going on. She was furious and hurt. She had trusted Jack more than anyone and he had broken that trust. Threw it away as if it was nothing! She didn't get it! What did he think he was doing?

Leaving her two friends behind, Rose entered the eating area of the food court and approached Jack's table. Meghan seemed to be talking about something while Jack looked rather bored to be honest.

Rose walked up behind him, her arms crossed and her face void of all emotion. "So this is the family stuff you're working on over the weekend? Funny, it looks like your ex-girlfriend."

Jack turned around, his eyes widen in alarm and quickly filling with guilt, knowing that he had been caught in a lie. If Julie had been there, she would have been happy to gloat about being right.

"Rose? What are you doing here?" Jack stammered, not knowing what to say.

"I'm here spending time with my friends while my boyfriend had family matters to take care of, just to find that he lied to me so he can take his ex-girlfriend to the mall!"

Anger was quickly overcoming hurt. Jack had lied to her. He had lied to her so he could be with his former girlfriend! What was this? Was she about to be dumped? If so, why not just break up with her? Even though she couldn't think of a reason why he'd go back to the girl that had looked down on him.

"Rose, I can explain..." Jack got up to face his girlfriend, forgetting about Meghan and her problems at the moment.

"Really? I'd like to hear the explanation of why you felt the need to lie to me."

"I just didn't want you to spend your time brooding and jumping to the wrong conclusions..."

"So lying to me makes you look innocent? I hate to tell you this Jack, but it just makes you look shady! What are you doing with her anyway? What else have you lied to me about?"

"She was having some problems that she needed my help with and like I said, I lied because I didn't want you to waste your time brooding over something that doesn't mean anything! I was just helping her, I swear! And I promise, this was the only lie I've ever told you and I feel horrible about it," Jack wanted to get down on his knees and beg for forgiveness. He was wrong, he knew that he was wrong, but he had done it anyway. He could only hope that it didn't cost him the woman he loved.

Rose wanted to believe him, but just looking at Meghan, who looked rather smug, it made her temper rise. She couldn't do this right now. Not in front of her.

"I...I can't deal with this right now...I just can't. I have to get out of here," she turned around and did the one thing she had thought she'd never do, not in a million years. She ran away from Jack, not wanting to see or talk to him at the moment. She needed time away from him to think about things. About their relationship, that she had thought had been so strong, about him, about herself, and about whether she could trust him enough to continue on.

Right now, she just didn't know. She just knew that she was hurt that Jack didn't trust her to tell her the truth. That he had lied. How could she be with someone if they weren't honest with her?

"Rose wait!" Jack moved to go after her, but a slender hand grabbed his arm.

"It's probably best to let her cool off," Meghan advised, not really feeling bad. She didn't want Jack back per say, but that didn't mean that she would regret coming between him and his current girlfriend.

Jack watched as Rose grabbed Trudy and Annabelle, who both gave him dirty looks and headed for the exit. Maybe Meghan was right. Maybe it was best to let Rose calm down and then talk to her. Surely they could iron out this wrinkle in their relationship.