7th september 2012,
At the penthouse, 7:56PM
Everything is fully prepared. Lily nervously checking the guest list to prevent unexpected complications. The elevator rings. Lily expects the first guests to arrive.
"Mom! There you are, you look so great!" Serena comes in, hugging her mother, who wears her hair down, she doesn't do that often even though she looks way better like this, and a kneelong black dress with sparkling details, which is typical for her.
"Hey darling, you too!" she answers.
"What are you doing, mom?" Serena glances down at the table, looking kinda confused.
"Oh uhm honey, I was checking the guest list, I just saw Bart's name on there, I didn't know he is going to come"
"So did I.. how has he got invited?" Serena turns her eyes back to her mother, who looks just as confused as her.
"Oh wait, I know.. THE Bart Bass invited himself.. ugh, he probably got the info that Rufus is coming too and sees that as a risk to HIS marriage with you and as a chance to disturb Rufus' marriage with you. Oh mom how could you ever fall in love with such an.. asshole!" Serena adds, having a wailing tone in her last phrase.
"Serena! You're overreacting!.. fuck, no you're right. I'm sorry for yelling so loud, I wasn't supposed to, Bart is just a man with no heart, but with a passion for woman, I guess.." Lily sighs realizing how stupid it was to marry that man "Well, Rufus has his flaws too so as it seems right now, I'm gonna cancel both of these sucking marriages. Excuse me." Lily says, leaving her daughter alone.
Serena receives the guests, while her mother sips at her 4th glass of champagne. Serena doesn't like her mom drinking, especially right now, at the day Lily and Rufus will finally meet again. She goes over to her mom, convincing her to lay the alcohol consume down for at least a few hours. As all the guests walk in, they both mingle themself with the crowd. But there's one person who stands out of the crowd: Rufus Humphrey. "He looks.. even better than anytime before" Lily thinks, while she starts to blush. She quickly looks away from him, because she isn't ready to catch eyecontact with him yet. Her hands start shaking and she starts feeling extremely warm, almost hot. Her eyes search through the crowd, looking for Serena now.
"Serena, darling, I am so sorry how we left off, I didn't want to sound mean towards you, but I really need your help now.." Lily says while hurrying over to her daughter, she has no idea on how to start a conversation with Rufus, all she wants is him right now and she feels a love she has barely felt before, she is in love, just like a little teenager.
"Sure mom, you don't even need to explain anything I know EXACTLY what you're talking about, so here's my idea: tell him the truth, tell him about the way you feel and also about the things you regret and that you want to do better. But don't go too fast, and remember, be yourself and don't say anything untrue." Serena glances at her mother, who looks painfully nervous but also excited, in a happy way.
"Thank you, it means the world, and again, you are right. Absolutely. I should be myself. So asking you for help was actually not the right thing to do right now BUT now I know what to do, we'll see later" Lily kisses her daughter on the cheek and heads over to Rufus.
"Hi Rufus! It is so nice t- to see you here!" Lily smiles bright and blushes a lot. They both look into eachothers eyes with a sparkle, that only they have. They keep standing there just appreciating eachother's appearance, and to be near around eachother.
"Lily, I thought maybe we could go somewhere else for a second, to talk. We really need this, we both know that." A smile from him makes Lily's eyes brighten up even more. "Wait a second, I'll get my coat, that'll be the best place to talk, outside of this gala."
While Lily searches for a coat in her wardrobe, a man touches her shoulder. Lily flinches and turns around, only to see Bart Bass. She really can't cope with this man right now. As she is about to tell him her decision, to cancel their marriage, he does something she hasn't expected, absolutely not. He puts his hand at the back of her head, so that he is in control of her, presses their lips together and forces her to kiss him.
Right at this moment, Rufus turns around because it takes untypically long for her to get a coat. What he sees doesn't really surprise him. Lily would always choose Bart over him, he thinks. Seeing them kiss, seeing Lily, the woman he loves more than he has ever loved someone before, kiss fucking Bart Bass- that hurted him. He almost runs over to the elevator cause he needed to leave this situation ASAP. As he steps in the elevator, Lily is finally able to stop what Bart is doing.
"SCREW YOU, YOU FUCKING IDIOT" Lily screams so loud, that everyone at the gala was able to hear it, except the person, the only person that was supposed to. It was too late. Rufus already left. Lily gets heavily angry.. so many things flash through her mind. She looks at her own hand and slaps it right into Bart's face, so much, that it caused her pain and that Bart's face turned red immediately. "I-.. no, YOU, you fucked EVERYTHING up! You better leave, NOW!" Bart is in absolute shock. He loves Lily, and till this moment, he thought that she loves him too. He doesn't want to get her any more angry, so he just leaves.
Everyone at the gala noticed what just happened. Lily felt incredibly embarrased. Serena, as always, saw what was going on in her mother's head and leads everyone out of the penthouse. As soon as all the guests left, Lily and Serena sit down at the couch.
"Mom, I am SO sorry about what has just happened to you. You deserve better than this. Better than those man." Serena takes her mothers hand.
"Nonono, Serena darling, please don't feel sorry, it wasn't your fault, at ALL. And also, it wasn't Rufus' fault. We wanted to leave and go outside, to talk. I wanted to get my coat but than Bart just forces me to kiss him, which was disgusting, totally. I don't remember how I could fall in love with this man. Rufus saw that and left, and I think that was completely understandable."
"Oh god, mom.. I think we should get Rufus here.. he must be so mad at you, but that will change after you explained it to him, he's going to believe you for sure! Please call him mom." "Yeah I believe that you're right.. thanks SO much, you really help me so much in this weird situation!" Lily sends a bright smile up to Serena, she's so grateful for her.
"I'll call him right now."..
