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Chapter Two: The Breakfast
Lily lie in bed, watching her newest husband sleep. It didn't seem like that long ago she was lying in bed, watching Rufus sleep. True, they hadn't been sleeping together for a while, even before their marriage had been annulled, but it still didn't seem like that long ago.
She sighed. She sometimes missed Rufus. She missed the way his hair used to fall into his eyes when he had it longer. She'd push the strands of hair out of his face, and take in how beautiful of a man he was. Then, when he'd wake up, he'd give her the sexiest smile, pull her closer, and kiss her like no man had ever kissed her before.
She smiled to herself as she remembered how they'd make love, then he'd be hungry for his morning waffles. He'd make them a wonderful breakfast, they'd eat, then shower together, which of course led to more lovemaking.
Bart was... Well, Bart was much different from Rufus. He was more serious, and he didn't even like waffles. Heck, half the time, he didn't even eat breakfast, and when he did, it was just a cup of coffee, and a bagel with cream cheese. Then, he'd kiss her, and be out the door for some important business meeting or other office related things.
She reached out, and gently stroked Bart's cheek. Still, he did love her. She knew he did. He'd buy her expensive things. He'd sometimes come home for lunch so that he could take her out some place special. They'd also always eat dinner together, whether it be at home, or at some high class restaurant that was the kind of restaurant Rufus would always make fun of.
It wasn't that she didn't love Bart. She did a lot. It was just that, well, Rufus was fun, and Bart could be stuffy at times. Bart didn't like to watch TV, he only liked classical music, and he didn't like to sit still long enough for movies. He was good in bed, but... She didn't know. She just didn't feel his love for her as strongly as she had felt Rufus' love for her. She didn't doubt that Bart loved her. It was just that, again, she just didn't feel his love as strongly as she had felt Rufus' love for her.
But Rufus had betrayed her by supporting Ivy, and lying to her about it. Now, he was embarrassing her by dating Ivy. Ivy was nothing but a lying, manipulative, tramp, and though he hadn't slept with Ivy until after his and Lily's marriage was annulled, Lily still couldn't get over the fact that he had slept with Ivy Dickens even after she had lied to and manipulated their family. After all Ivy had done to them, he still fell for her like a dog in heat.
Lily smiled at Bart, and rubbed his chest. That was one of the things she loved best about Bart. He wasn't fooled by anyone, and he had zero tolerance for lying, manipulating bitches like Ivy. He wasn't blind. Unlike Rufus, he had been around the block a few times, and he could easily spot a scammer a mile away. This was good for her, because, just as much as she hated lying, scheming, manipulating whores, she hated men who were stupid enough to fall for them.
Bart stirred then, and opened his eyes. He smiled over at her. "Good morning, my beautiful Love." He stroked her hair.
She smiled at him. "Good morning, my handsome Darling!"
They kissed.
Lily moaned as their kisses intensified. She tried to pull him on top of her, but he broke the kiss, and shook his head.
"I'm sorry, my Love, but I have a really important meeting at the office today. I don't have the time. I have to shower, and dress, and—"
Lily cut him off. "Say no more. I'll go make you some breakfast while you're in the shower."
He quickly kissed her lips. "That would be wonderful, thank you."
She smiled, and pulled him in for an even deeper kiss.
He kissed her passionately back just briefly. Then, he broke the kiss again. "You're going to make me late!" he said with a grin. He then got out of bed, grabbed some clean clothes, and headed off to the bathroom to take his shower.
Lily smiled. She loved making breakfast for her husband. Rufus had really let her. He preferred to do the cooking himself. He never flat our said she couldn't cook, but she always had suspicions that that is why he hardly ever let her cook.
She slipped on her robe, and padded down the stairs to the kitchen.
Over the next half hour, she made a delicious meal of French Toast, scrambled eggs, bacons, sausage links, coffee, and orange juice.
She had just finished setting it all up on the table when Bart came down the stairs, all dressed and ready for work.
Lily smiled at him. "You're just in time, my Darling! I have breakfast ready and waiting for you." She motioned to the table. "I cooked a man's breakfast too. None of the yoghurt and oatmeal 'woman's breakfast,' you always tease me about." She grinned and winked at him.
Bart came over, and looked over the breakfast spread out on the table. "It looks lovely, my Love, but I haven't got the time. I'm going to be late as it is!" He kissed her cheek, then grabbed his jacket, and slipped it on. He then slipped his shoes on, and grabbed his keys. "I'll call you at noon. Maybe we can do lunch together."
"You don't have time to eat anything? What will you do for breakfast?" Lily asked with a pout.
"I'll take some coffee with me." He grabbed his pre-filled coffee mug. "Mm, black! Just the way I like it." He gave Lily's lips a quick peck. "I'll call you later!" He then disappeared into the elevator, the doors closing, and therefore shutting him off from Lily's view.
"Well, you could have at least had a sausage link or two," she grumbled to herself.
With a sigh, Lily sat down at the table to have breakfast by herself. She didn't know why she was surprised. After all, it had never really been Bart's M.O. to have breakfast together.
It was times like these, she really missed Rufus. But she knew she had made the right decision. After all, anyone who was dumb enough to pick Ivy Dickens over her was no man for her.
~Xoxo, Gossip Girl~
Lily had finished her bacon, and was reading the paper while eating a sausage link when she heard the elevator doors open.
She smiled. "Did you change your mind about breakfast?"
"It depends. Did you make waffles?"
Lily whipped her head toward the elevator doors at the sound of Rufus' voice. "Rufus? What are you doing here? How'd you get in? Vanya didn't tell me you were coming up."
Rufus smiled. "You should know by now, Vanya doesn't make me get permission to come up here. After all, I used to be married to you. I lived here."
Lily scrunched her nose in disgust. "The key words being 'used to' and 'lived' as in the past tense. And, technically, we were never really married."
Rufus shrugged. "Still, he knows it's fine to send me on up."
"I'll have to talk to him about that," Lily said, pushing her reading glasses back up her nose, and turning back to her paper. "What do you want, Rufus?"
"Now, is that any way to treat your ex-husband?" Rufus asked.
Lily heard a sound as if he had tossed his jacket somewhere. Sure enough, when he took a seat next to her in the seat that should have been Bart's, he was without his jacket.
Lily set the paper aside, and rolled her eyes. She looked at him. "Why are you here, Rufus?" she asked again.
"I wanted to talk to you." Rufus nodded at the breakfast in front of him. "Where's the bastard you call a husband? And I do mean, Bass." Rufus winked ay Lily, then took a sausage link, and popped it all into his mouth at once.
Lily narrowed her eyes at him. "He's working. And who said you could have that?"
Rufus shrugged. "No one else is going to eat it, apparently. There's no use in it going to waste."
"How do you know I don't have someone coming over?" Lily asked.
Rufus raised an eyebrow at her. "Do you?"
Lily looked away. "No."
"Let me guess, you went all out and made this breakfast for your husband, only to have him go off to work without eating a single bite?" Rufus asked.
Lily sighed. She was so sick of Rufus knowing it all. Well, he didn't know it all about Ivy. That was for sure. "He took some coffee," she said, knowing herself that it was a weak response, but not knowing what else to say.
Rufus whistled. "Wow! How noble of him." He began to nibble on one of the bacon pieces.
"He was running late for work. It wasn't his fault," Lily said, only defending Bart because Rufus made her absolutely furious.
"Sure. Whatever you say," Rufus said, downing the other piece of bacon now that he had finished the first. "Mm, this is good bacon."
Lily rolled her eyes. "What did you want to talk to me about, Rufus?" She took her other sausage link off her own plate, and ate it. The bacon really had been good. She'd give Rufus that at least.
"Well, I'm just going to come out and say it. I want you back. You are the one great love of my life, and I don't care how much you might try to deny it, I am yours as well," Rufus said simply. He popped his other sausage link into his mouth.
Lily laughed bitterly. "You're right. I am going to deny it. The one great love of my life wouldn't leave me for Ivy."
Rufus swallowed the sausage link, then took a sip of his orange juice before responding. "I only dated Ivy after yours and my marriage was annulled and you were back with Bart."
Lily glared at him. "But, while we were still married, you were helping her out behind my back when you knew I wouldn't approve."
"I thought at the time, I was doing the right thing," Rufus said calmly. He started on his eggs.
"Since when is going behind your wife's back the right thing?" Lily snapped. "My mother died, and I needed you. All the while, you were helping Ivy Dickens out behind my back!"
Rufus sighed. "Lil—"
"Don't call me that!" Lily snapped.
Rufus held his hands out in defense. "Lily, I just didn't think it was right the way you were putting her out on the streets after we thought for a while that she was family," he explained calmly. He took another sip of his juice, then went back to his eggs.
"She lied to us all, Rufus, and then she swindled money from my mother, who was on her death bed!" Lily could hardly believe he was still standing up for Ivy! She began to furiously eat her eggs.
Rufus sighed, and looked ay Lily. "She didn't swindle the money, Lil! Well, at least, at the time I didn't think she did. Your mother knew exactly who Ivy was, and she still gave her the money. That is why I didn't think Ivy was in the wrong."
Lily slowed down on her eggs, and looked at Rufus. "'Didn't think' as in past tense?"
Rufus nodded. He finished his last bite of egg, and downed the rest of his orange juice. "Do you mind?" he asked, nodding toward the pitcher.
Lily shrugged. "Why ask? You helped yourself to everything else without asking."
Rufus ignored her snarky comment, and poured himself some more orange juice. He set the pitcher down, and took another sip before responding. "You'll be happy to know I finally saw Ivy's true colors last night."
Lily was intrigued to say the least. "Oh? What happened?" She finished her eggs, then took a sip of juice before starting on her French toast.
"She and I had dinner reservations. She called me and told me she cancelled them because her friend just broke up with her boyfriend, and she (Ivy) was going to go be with her friend for the night to comfort her," Rufus began.
Lily snorted. "Ivy having friends? Yeah, right!"
"I was still hungry, and wanted to eat there, so I called the restaurant to see if I could get the reservation back. I figured I could take Dan instead or something. However, when I called, they said that Ivy never cancelled our reservation like she had told me she had," Rufus continued.
"So, what did you do?" Lily took another sip of her orange juice.
Rufus swallowed the bite of French toast he had in his mouth. "I headed over to the restaurant. I had a feeling something was up, and I wanted to see what it was."
Lily finished her first slice of French toast, and moved onto the other one. "Knowing Ivy, something was most definitely up. What was it?"
"I caught her holding hands with William. They paused outside the restaurant and kissed. I waited for them to go inside and be seated, then I went in and confronted Ivy," Rufus explained.
Lily set her fork down, putting her full attention on Rufus now. "That little bitch! You know she's only going after him to try to get back at me. We both know that's why she went after you."
Rufus nodded. "At first, I expected her to lie about what she was doing there with William, and she looked like she was going to at first. Then, her expression suddenly turned cold as if she had changed her mind. After that, she flat out admitted she was just using me; that she was dating me to get back at you. Then she went on about how I'm not even that good in bed, and how I'm boring."
Lily couldn't help it. She burst into laughter. "Burn!"
Rufus grinned. "'Burn?' That doesn't sound like something Lily van der Woodsen would say."
Lily laughed. "Well, the situation calls for it, so I'm making an exception." She nodded at him. "Go on."
"I told William that she is only using him to get back at you like she did with me," Rufus answered.
"And what did he say?" Lily went back to work on her last slice of French toast.
"He said that, in so many words, he knew that, but she was young and hot, and it hurt me, so why not?" Rufus finished up the last of his French toast.
Lily nodded. "That sounds like William all right—and Ivy too for that matter."
"I told William he helped me, not hurt me. He helped me because I now see Ivy's true colors. Ivy said she was in love with William, and asked me to leave. I told them I hope they enjoy making each other miserable, and that she needs to get her stuff out of my apartment today, and be gone by the time I get home, or I'd call the police on her. She said she would, but we'll see," Rufus said, finishing the story. He went to work on finishing up his second glass of juice, the rest of his breakfast gone already.
"You calling the police of Ivy? Now that I'd like to see. She'd probably con the cops out of arresting her though. I swear that girl is like a bad rash that won't go away," Lily sighed. "I'm full," she had finished everything, including her juice.
"Everything was delicious!" Rufus said, licking his lips, and patting his stomach. "I would have preferred waffles, but the French toast hit the spot too. I guess you can cook after all. Except, next time, make waffles!"
Lily rolled her eyes. "So, bottom line, Rufus," she said as she set her empty glass back on the table. "What do you want?"
Rufus grabbed Lily's hands in his own, and gently squeezed them. "I already told you. I want you back, Lil." He looked deep into her eyes.
Lily looked in his eyes. They were pleading with her. She looked away. "Sure, now that Ivy showed you her true colors." She looked at him again, this time with annoyance. "I will not be your second choice, or the woman you go to when things don't work out with someone else! I'm not your backup plan, Rufus!"
Rufus shook his head. "It's not like that, Lil! I was going through that box of my things that you had sent back to me, and it made me realize how much I missed you, and how much I had been fooling myself by believing that I could ever live without you. I knew I wasn't in love with Ivy before I even knew what a backstabber she was! Lil, you gotta believe me when I tell you that you're the only woman for me, and you always will be! I was just hurt, and Ivy had me brainwashed. Then, you chose Bart over me, and I guess a part of me decided to date Ivy just go get back at you."
"So it's my fault for choosing Bart over you? And I told you not to call me Lil!" Lily pulled her hands out of Rufus' grasp.
Rufus sighed. "I'm not saying that. All I'm saying is that we've both made some mistakes. I made the most mistakes of all, trusting Ivy, and letting you go for the second time."
Lily sighed. He seemed sincere, but it was too little too late. He should have been by her side right from the beginning, and trusted her right from the beginning when she told him what a lying, manipulating bitch Ivy was.
She looked away, and crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, it's too late now. I'm very happily married to Bart."
"Are you?" Rufus asked.
"Yes, I am. What kind of question is that?" Lily asked, still not looking at him.
"I know what kind of a man Bart is, Lily. You were unhappy with him before he supposedly died, so why should now be any different? Especially after he lied to you, and made you believe he was dead!" Rufus sounded riled up.
Lily still refused to look at him. "He did it for Charles' and my own protection."
"He let you, his wife, and Chuck, his son, believe that their husband and father were dead. Who does that? He could have trusted you enough to tell you, but he didn't. He didn't trust you, and we both know you can't trust him," Rufus insisted.
Lily responded, still not looking at him. "I never gave mine and Bart's marriage a shot. I should have. And, as for him faking his death, he couldn't risk Charles or me knowing about it. Keeping us in the dark meant keeping us safe. He did what he had to do to protect his family."
"Oh for goodness sake, Lily, stop making excuses for him! I know you'r not happy with him!" Rufus snapped.
"I'm madly in love with him, and so happy with him I could burst," Lily said calmly.
"All right then, if that's so, you'll have no problem turning around and facing me, then looking right into my eyes and telling me so," Rufus challenged.
Lily sighed. She slowly turned around. Then, her eyes boring into Rufus' mainly from anger, she spoke. "Rufus, I am madly in love, and unbelievably happy with Bart."
Rufus snorted. "Unbelievably is right!"
Lily shrugged, and poured herself some more orange juice. "I can't help it if you don't believe me, but it's the truth, so you should."
Rufus sighed, then stood up. "Fine. I'll let it go for now. I can see I'm not going to get anywhere with you. But let me tell you, Lily, I don't give two shakes about some stupid annulment. I married you, and I loved you—I still do and always will. That wedding meant everything to me, and no stupid law or papers is going to tell me other wise. And, try as you might to deny it, I know it meant something to you as well."
"That was a long time ago, Rufus," Lily said, sipping her orange juice.
"Bottom line," Rufus said cooly, "I made the mistake of letting you go not once, but twice. I'm not going to let it happen again, and I will keep on fighting for you until I take my very last breath."
Lily did her best to remain cold. Oh how she wanted to believe Rufus! She really did! But after he chose Ivy over her, she just couldn't trust him anymore. She was still hurt, and she didn't know if she could ever forgive him. Especially after he slept with Ivy—sans hers and Rufus' annulment or not! So, instead, she said coldly, "Let's hope I don't need to take out a restraining order on you."
"Nice, Lil," Rufus said, emphasizing on the 'Lil.' He then pressed the elevator button, and got in once the doors opened. He faced her. "I know you're not happy with Bart, Lily. The sooner you admit it, the better."
The doors closed then, leaving Lily in peace once again.
Lily sighed. "I need something harder than orange juice!" she muttered to herself as she downed the rest of her second glass of orange juice in one gulp.
~Xoxo, Gossip Girl~
Bart arrived home for lunch, just as promised. He kissed her. "Want to go to your favorite cafe?"
Lily grinned. "You know I do!" They kissed again.
"So, what did you do today? Anything interesting?" Bart asked.
Lily had thought about it earlier, and decided not to tell him about Rufus coming over. There was no good in telling him. It would just make him start a war with Rufus.
She shook her head. "I did a little shopping, but didn't buy much. I just got a new pair of Christian Louboutins. Nothing too special." She latched onto his arm, and smiled.
Bart grinned. "'Nothing too special?' You better not tell Christian Louboutin that!"
Lily laughed.
Bart stroked her hair. "Well, I have an hour and a half before I have to get back, so let's go, shall we?"
Lily nodded. "Yes, we shall!"
They grinned at each other, and kissed once more before heading onto the elevator.
Lily held Bart close, resting her head on his shoulder. She had never given Bart a chance. She was intent on giving him a chance this time. Yes, she'd admit, her marriage to Rufus had been the happiest, best marriage she had ever had. Well, aside from the times they were on the outs. Still, Rufus had lied to her, and he had betrayed her. The only time Bart ever lied to her was to protect her. And Bart would never be so stupid as to fall for someone like Ivy Dickens. Also, unlike Rufus, Bart loved her for who she was, and would never try to change her. She and Bart were alike. She and Rufus were just too different. She would always love Rufus, but they just weren't meant to be. Bart was her life now, and Rufus was just going to have to accept that whether he liked it or not.