Trust is a must: sure, he can be as trusty as your black lab and you could still get your heart flattened. But ...

A relationship without trust doesn't account for much. Granted, trust alone isn't a guarantee of relationship bliss but, without it, you're left with mere hollow words spouting from a cute face. These five easy-to-spot signs might help you figure out if he's on the level.

HE TELLS HIS FRIENDS ABOUT YOU

When a guy is talking about you to his people, he's for-real about his feelings. On the other hand, if he acts nice around you but then morphs into Mr. What's-Your-Name-Again? when his friends are around, he's telling you one thing and his crew another. Yeah, some guys like to keep crushes private, but you shouldn't be anonymous if you're his girlfriend. If his buds don't know you're an item, that's a keep-on-your-toes clue.

HE KEEPS YOUR SECRETS

Trusting a guy with personal info is a terrific test of his word. If you were to tell him you sleep with a nightlight, you would never expect to show up at school the next day with the new nickname "Sarah Scaredy-cat." If that happens? His loyalty is on the line. Not cool. When he respects your secrets, you can trust that he respects you.

HE'S A STRAIGHT SHOOTER 

An honest guy is a guy who, straight up, walks his talk. When a guy pulls crooked stuff, like cutting classes under the guise of a "splitting migraine," that's a sign that his values are skewed--or that he's very immature. You want someone with integrity, a guy who handles life on the up and up. If he's the kind of person who can take care of business morally and ethically, that's i fairly sure sign he's not going to run any plays on you.

HE DOESN'T LIE ABOUT LITTLE STUFF

Honesty is a policy. A good person signs on a virtual dotted line that says you promise to always tell the truth, to always be your true self. A crush or BF who says he can't hang out because he's got track practice had better have track practice. If you hear that he was at the mall with a girl he introduced as his cousin, then he's certainly not to be trusted. Some people like to qualify deception into acceptable categories: a tiny fib or a little white lie. But when it comes to your heart, a lie is a lie. There is nothing OK about it.

HE'S GOT YOUR BACK

When a guy is into you, he wants to be with you. It really is that simple. When it's on, there's no putting forth a whole ton of effort to be together. He calls; you two hang out. He learns what's important to you and wants to be a part of it. You have a huge history test and, whether he's good at remembering important dates or not, he helps you study. Or if you're going out for a play, he rehearses lines with you. A trustworthy guy's attention is not on the condition that he loves everything you do. The difference is he knows you love it, so he's there for you.

Still not sure if you can trust the guy? Trust your instincts instead. You know better than anyone what you want and need out of a relationship. The right guy makes a girl feel happy and valued. If you feel those things, trust yourself that it's real. If not, trust yourself to do the right thing. Next!