Summary: The history of Lily & Rufus. Lily and Rufus meet in LA by coincidence. Will faith bring them together again?
Note: Okay, so I'm probably the last mid-twentier who hasn't seen the Gossip Girl show in it's entirety… I remember watching season one, then totally forgetting about it's existence. Until, about 3 days ago, when I noticed it on Netflix and I was bored and felt the urge to watch it. I. Was. Hooked. Like, instantly, watching season one in three days despite having to work every day as well. Yes, I don't know how I did that either. Were I remember being a huge Serena fan back in the day, I kinda had to admit to myself that I totally found myself loving Lily and Rufus. Like. For real. I decided to start writing about their past, because, well, I figured it'd be fun. If there are any errors occuring because I haven't been watching the entire show and miss out on details; sorry 'bout that. Let's just say this is written with only the first season in mind. Thanks for reading this note which has gotten way too long, and, well, I hope you enjoy.

Queen of the East

Prologue

Lily Rhodes was never the one to admit she was feeling at least a bit insecure about what she was doing. Being in a LA nightclub at seventeen though definitely did make her feel quite self concious, not that she would ever admit to it. The place was quite fab. It was luxurious, but not in the stif, obnoxious way she was used to from back home. This was luxury, mixed with just a hint of sexual details the made the place feel extremely…. Hot? In a good way, of course.

Lily gladly accepted the Cosmopolitan her new-found friend Kirsten handed her.

"Cheers! To you, to me, to us…" Kirsten ended her sentence with a big smile before taking a gulp of her drink. Lily did the same. God, she already felt like dancing, and she hadn't even finished her first drink.

It took Lily and Kirsten less then an hour to completely forget their surrounding and thourouhly enjoy themselves. They were dancing like there was no tomorrow, and Lily was aware of the amount of men staring at them. She didn't really care though. She didn't want to feel cocky, but this happened a lot. Her and Kirsten were complete opposites; she was blonde, tall, slim, with the longest legs ever and her dark brown eyes. Kirsten was a brunette, petite, with the brightest blue eyes in the world. They were both gorgeous. Lily wasn't really trying to find herself a man though. Quite frankly, she ws quite tired of men. They somehow always made her feel as if she was nothing more then a good piece of meat that needed to be eaten. Lily simply wanted someone who loved her, but that seemed hard to find those days. Kirsten however seemed hungry that night; she'd been eyeing a tall, blonde and handsome guy for a while know. He'd seem to take the bait though, as he was coming over to them at the very moment. Luckily, Lily had always been good in entertaining herself. Besides, dancing was something she could do on her own perfectly fine as well.

Three hours and a good amount on drinks later though, Lily had had enough of dancing on her own. Kirsten had been in the arms of the blonde guy pretty much ever since she'd met him. His name was Jim… Or James. Lily had already forgotten about that. She tried to find her friend, telling her she was leaving, but Kirsten was no were in sight. Lily sighed; they always had this thing where they would never, never leave without telling the other. Perhaps the amount of cosmo's had blurred Kirsten's mind a little. A little irritated, Lily walked out of the club, annoyed about the fact that she now had to walk her way home all alone.

"Hey… Hey!" Lily wasn't sure if the shouting behind her was meant for her, but she decided to ignore it. Men usually weren't to bright anymore this hour of the night.

The footsteps behind her started getting faster though, and although Lily wasn't easily scared, she had to admit she hated that her heels prevented her from walking a bit faster.

"Hey!" When someone grabbed her arm though, she was quick to respond. "Keep your hands off of me." She turned around, ready to hit the person the hand was attached to.

"Wow wow, easy…" The guy kept his hands above his head, a small smile forming on his face. "I didn't mean to scare you. I just… I don't think it's smart for a pretty blonde to walk here on her own at this hour."

Lily raised her eyebrow. "Oh, and you want to be the hero that gets me home safe?"

"Well, if you'd let me…"

Lily looked at the guy for a second. He was handsome; dark hair, dark eyes, leather jacket… But still. "I'm sorry, but I don't think a flat out drunk guy would be able to protect me if anything happened. I think I'll be able to handle things just fine but thanks."

She turned around and was about to continue when she heard him say: "I'm not drunk. I'm actually very sober."

Lily turned around again, eyeing him suspiciously. "Who on earth is sober at this time?"

He chuckled. "I was performing, I just finished a couple of minutes ago. No need to drink before that."

"What are you, a stripper?"

He again chuckled. "Well no, but thank you very much for the compliment. I'm a singer, actually. I'm in a band."

"Oh, really? What is your name?"

"Rufus. Rufus Humphrey."