Hey everyone, this is my first Gossip Girl fanfiction and I hope you all like it. It's mostly Lily and Rufus fluff and romantic, a little story on their break up and their lives in California! This is planned to be a 2 part fic and I'll be updating as soon as possible.

Oh and I know Lily's maiden surname is Rodhes, but I always prefer to think it was Van Der Woodsen, it sounds better to me. Please don't kill me haha but I'll always see Lily as a VDW of nature so for this story this is her father's last name alright? Can we pretend?

Please read and enjoy!

Alright, enough with author's note, now to the story:

Love at first picture

Chapter 1By Érica

It all started on a summer morning. Little did she know, that day her life would be changed forever. Was it a good sort of change?Or perhaps a bad one? She couldn't quite figure out which path her life would take.

Lily Van Der Woodsen was being pressured by her family to leave her musician boyfriend Rufus. Oh Rufus, she loved him so much, she couldn't even bear it. They certainly weren't the perfect couple. They were anything but perfect. They fought sometimes(ok, a lot). They were completely the opposite. But I heard somewhere that opposites are attracted right?

She slowly got out of bed as she took a glance at her nightstand, there he was with all his glory. There sat a picture of Rufus Humphrey taken by Lily herself when Lincoln Hawk was playing one night.

The Van Der Woodsen household wasn't a very morning friendly place. It went against nature, it was dead silence at 7am but 4am was just dinner time. Noticing the quietness around, the younger VDW tiptoed out of her room in search of a glass of water. When reaching the kitchen, she noticed the balcony lights on. Mom must have left them on by mistake, she thought. She turned them off and pondered wheter to go back to sleep or not. She decided for the latter. There was a lot she could do if she started to wake up earlier, that's what Humphrey always told her. She took the phone from the kitchen counter and quickly dialed Rufus' home number.

"Hello" a groggy, sleepy voice answered

"Hey you" Lily answered with a little chuckle

"Lil! Hi!" Suddenly, he did not sound so tired. Surprised? "You up?Is it midday already?" He added

"No, you silly. It's seven thirty. FYI I can totally wake up early! See?I was up while you were still lazing in your bed!

" It's because I had to perform until 3am yesterday, I mean today. Or yesterday. Whatever."

" I was there too, don't you remember?"

"Oh yeah, you're the paparazzi" He knew how much she hated when he referred to her as a paparazzi

"Excuse me, I'm the band official photographer" she said trying to hide that she was indeed a bit offended

"As you'd like to call it Lil" He teased.

"Also known as the guitarrist's amazing, gorgeous, perfect girlfriend"

"I'd have to agree with that." He gave in.

"Oh really? What do you say you go pick her up right now, she's a bit bored"

"Come on Lily, I'm so tired" He resisted but he knew there was no way he could say no to her.

"You can sleep later! Come on! I'll be at the door in 20 minutes" With that, she quckly hang up before he could protest again.

Lily directed herself to her closet, picking an outfit she settled with a charming jumpsuit and a yellow headband. After applying a touch of make up and making sure her mother was still asleep she wrote a little note "Went out with a friend, I'm sorry about yesterday, we'll fix everything when I get back, love, Lil" friend,she used the word friend, not boyfriend, friend.

Then, she was out the door to find a familiar blue fusca. Waving, she got inside the car and greeted him with a warm kiss.

"Good morning!" She said smiling from ear to ear, just like she always did when he was around.

"Greatmorning!" He corrected her flirtly "So what's with that smile? I thought you hated waking up so early"

"I do!" She grinned

"Let me guess than!" He playfully said while pulling off the car. "You made peace with your mom!"

Lily hesitated but was cut off before a word came out of her mouth.

"Oh wait I know! Your family decided to accept me! Oh Lil, that's so great!" He got so happy, she couldn't take this happiness from him

"Yeah, yeah that's it" She lied, she would convince Cici Rufus was the guy for her that night, it wouldn't make that much difference anyway, plus he was grinning like a 5 five year old child inside a candy store.

"Oh my gosh Lily! That makes me so happy" While still driving, he turned his head and engaged her in a passionate kiss. Losing control of the car and almost hitting an old lady, their kiss broke when they heard a loud buzz. They laughed while Lily still kept a hand on his cheek.

"Watch the road silly!" He did what he was told and she moved her hand to his thighs teasingly stroking it.

"Way to make me focus on driving huh?"

"I do what I can, by the way, where exactly are we going?"

"It's a surprise! And speaking of that, there's a scarf in the glove compartment, take it and blindfold yourself, as I said, it's a surprise!" He motioned to the small drawer in front of the passenger's seat.

"There's no way you're blindfolding me!" She protested

"Oh yes I am "

"No you're not" She told him giggling

"Yes I am, yes I am, yes I am" He said losing focus on the road once again. He pulled off the car to the coasting and began tickling her in her tummy. She couldn't stop laughing and for once in her life she felt in heaven. Her mother, college, worries and insecurities for once was all gone.

"Alright, I quit! you can blindfold me!"

"Thought so" He said wrapping the thin scarf around her head.

After awhile and Lily countless times asking 'are we there yet?' she could feel the car slowing down, whatever enviroment they were in, she could hear child laughter and an amusing smell of sugar.

"Where are we?" She was desperatly trying to find out their whereabouts.

"You will see" He misteriously whispered while guiding her out of the car and giving her a sweet forehead kiss.

He took her hand and helped her go through the crowd. Trying to make out words from people nearby she could hardly guess where she was. Everything she could realize was that kids and candy were around.

"Now you stand here, I'll be right back" She heard him say. Great, a crazy blindfolded person among a giant crowd filled with enfants, that's a thing you don't get to see everyday.

After a few minutes, Lily Van Der Woodsen was starting to get a bit worried. What if a pervert came out of nowhere? A young, attractive woman with a scarf covering her eyes would be a opportune target right?

"Mommy, why is that woman wearing a cloth around her face?" She could hear a little boy say. So, there were moms, she could cross local schools from her list.

She felt someone hugging her waist from behind, she instantly got startled but calmed down after hearing a conforting voice coming from the hugger.

"Hey beautiful, I'm sorry it took so long. Now we can procced."

Taking her hand, they walked quite a lot, Lily could tell, got in a line, through a metal detector and a body inspectation. Maybe they were in an airport? No, airplanes don't smell like candy.

"Alright now, you can take it off" He stopped her tracks

She promptly unwrapped the garnment and had the biggest surprise she could ever imagine. In front of her stood the magnificent Sleeping Beauty castle. She had been there before when she was around 8, her dad brought her there with Carol and they had the time of their lives.

"Thank you" Were the only words that came out of her mouth.

"What for?"

"Everything" She answered putting her arms around his shoulders.

"You deserve all and much more" She was amazed how he could make her heart melt with a few simple words. Thinking that didn't need a verbal answer she kissed him hard on the lips, which he responded by spinning her around while she giggled like a little girl. She decided that day was about enjoying Disneyland with the sweetest guy around. Sure, she'd told him a lie, a bad lie, but she'd rather think about that later, for now, she'd just say it's a white lie, it won't hurt him. She was planning on convincing her mom Rufus made her happier than she's ever been. Perhaps, he would gain her respect and they could life happily ever after. Most people don't believe in happily ever after, or soul mates, not even true love. But 20 year old Lily Van Der Woodsen wasn't one of them. She was in that phase of our early adulthood when we think everything is possible.

Even though Rufus had been a skeptical, things changed when Lily arrived. Things always change when you meet the love of your life, am I right? He seemed to look at life with a silver lining. His closest friends noticed it, his bandmates noticed it, it was visible to anyone how different his life has been since the day he spotted a young photographer at his show. It was love at first picture.

That's it folks, thanks for reading, please comment your opinion about it, it would mean the world to me.

You know you love me,

XOXO,

Gossip Girl