Part 1: Stuck

I can't take it

What am I waiting for?

My heart's still breaking

I miss you even more

And I can't fake it

The way I could before

I hate you but I love you

I can't stop thinking of you

Its true

I'm stuck on you

In the five months since his separation and divorce from his wife, Rufus Humphrey had

developed a daily routine which he followed almost every day. He woke up, made breakfast for himself, Dan, and Jenny, went to work, had coffee with one Lily Van der Woodsen as his lunch break, worked a lot more, and had band practice. After practice, he had the rest of the night to do whatever he pleased, as he had noone to come home to but Dan and Jenny, and they were normally too caught up in their own affairs to ask about where he went. They were, however, adept enough to notice that their father was in a rut, and although they were well acquainted with their mother's boyfriend in Hudson, they had never heard of their father going on a date, except for one instance in which they came home early and saw a woman, hurriedly introduced to them as Bex as she dressed and was shoved out the door. As much as they hated the thought of Rufus dating Lily, the mental scarring that would come from their relationship had to be better than seeing Rufus just like he had been when Allison had first left them. And the two children, especially Dan, knew enough about the breakdown of their parents' marriage to know that his current state had little or nothing to do with their mother.

"So, how is Bart?"Rufus asked Lily over a large bowl of pasta as they lounged casually in the back room of his art gallery, unable to keep a bit of hostility out of his voice.

Lily shifted uncomfortably, her hand resting over the pocket of her jeans. "He's okay, I guess."

Rufus pounced on her uncertainty. "You two having problems?"

She shook her head. "No." She paused. "Don't look too disappointed."

He grinned apologetically. "Can't help it."

She took a sip of wine, sighing. "He's a great guy-"

Rufus scoffed, and she promptly reached out and hit him sharply with her purse. "What are you, 12?"

He rubbed his arm, feigning hurt and offense. "No, of course not. Jesus, Lily."

She sent a self-satisfied smirk in his direction. "As I was saying, while he is a great guy, our relationship is..lacking something."

"You mean..." Rufus trailed off, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Lily narrowed her eyes at him. "No, that area of our relationship is spectacular. But feel free to ask any overly personal question that pops into that small brain of yours."

Rufus shrugged. "I told you he wouldn't be able to keep up with you."

"He's more adept than you might think." she teased.

Rufus cringed, covering his eyes with his hands and groaning in an overly exaggerated manner. "Now there's an image I did not want in my head."

Lily laughed softly, noticing the small spark of intensity in his eyes indicating that he was only half-joking. She raised the glass to her lips with an intentional slowness, taking advantage of the fact that she could tell he was jealous.

"Well..."he amended, watching her lips encircle the glass and swallow the wine in that slightly seductive manner only some women were able to pull off, "Half of that image anyway." He paused, smiling mockingly at her. "Although that Bart Bass...pretty hot stuff."

She picked up the purse again and began swinging it at him in a series of successive motion, her grin wide as he ducked out of the way, arms over his face, laughing and yelling "Not the purse! Not the purse!"

In an unexpected move, Lily tackled him, lightly punching him as he continued to laugh. He grabbed her arms and pulled them toward him forcefully, making her lose her balance and fall on top of him, her blonde hair covering their faces. By this time, she was hyperventilating because of the spasms of laughter that were overwhelming her. Rufus took advantage at her distraction, easily flipping her slender form over so that he was pinning her to the ground.

"Surrender." he whispered. "I win."

Her blue eyes sparkled with the thrill of a challenge. "Never, Humphrey."

"You're in a very compromising position right now. You wouldn't want Bart to see any evidence of this, would you?"

Lily's eyes widened as she noticed her own cell phone open, the camera grinning at her triumphantly.

"Rufus..."she warned, and that was all the encouragement he needed. Lily saw the incriminating flash inside of her eyes, which were shut tight as Rufus tickled her, and she could not resist giggling.

"Rufus, stop it! Seriously, that tickles!" she squealed, hating how much he seemed to enjoy making her squirm underneath him. "Alright, alright, you win!" she exclaimed, holding her hands up in a gesture of surrender.

He raised his own arms in triumph, freeing her enough to escape his grip and pin him to the ground in the same positing where she just was.

"Poor, sad little Humphrey. Don't you ever learn? Van der Woodsens' play to win."

"Really?" he asked, running his hands up her legs so that they rested on her thighs. "Can I test that theory?"

This moment had suddenly become very intense, and Lily wasn't sure whether or not she liked it.

"I don't know, can you?" she responded, her breath catching in her throat as he pulled her close and, after a moment of hesitation, kissed her gently. Lily responded immediately, wrapping her arms around his neck for stability and wondering vaguely how she had survived so long without this.

Feeling her cell phone in Rufus's pocket as he pulled her even closer against him, she pulled out the phone and moved slightly away from him, smiling against his lips as he deepened the kiss, not reacting in the slightest to the absence of the phone. Rufus began to trail light kisses down her neck and across her collarbone, unable to get enough of her. She was so caught up in where his lips were going that she literally jumped a few inches in the air when her cell phone rang in her hand. Her entire body seemed to slump in frustration as she glanced at the Caller ID. Rufus followed her gaze, his stare darkening as the name "Bart" twinkled up at him from the blue screen. He pretended to be unaffected by this, turning her face away from the phone and recapturing her lips forcefully. She broke away almost immediately, moving to open the phone and breathing heavily as Rufus refused to stop kissing her.

"Don't answer it." he said, sounding somewhat desperate.

Lily looked almost guilty as she shook her head, bewildered that a phone could ring for so long. "I have to." she responded, pushing him lightly to make him stop as she opened her phone and nearly shouted "Hello?!" into the speaker. Rufus sighed, defeated as Lily stood up and attempted to smooth out her outfit. "No, no, no darling, I'm fine, just out shopping, you caught me by suprise." she lied, biting her lip. "What? An hour ag-its already three?!?!"

Rufus looked up at her curiously as she mouthed various swear words over and over again as she listened to whatever Bart was rambling about. If it had been anyone but Bart on the phone, he would have found her expression hilarious.

"No, no, of course. I am so sorry. I must have lost track of time..you know me and shopping..." she trailed off, laughing a laugh that was completely unfamiliar to him, it was nervous and vaguely fake. "No, it was fine to start without me..wait WHAT?! Four weeks, that's way too soon!" She closed her eyes in frustration. "I understand that, Bart, but it'll be nearly impossible to.." she stopped abruptly, her eyes darting over to Rufus and then back towards the opposite wall. "Give me 30 minutes and I'll be there. Feel free to make any other rash decisions while you're at it. Alright. Alright! You too, bye." Lily snapped the phone shut, gathering her things haphazardly without looking at Rufus.

"So, what was all that about?" he asked innocently.

She spared him a short glance. "Oh, nothing, nothing at all. I'm just really, really, colossally late." She walked briskly out the door of the back room and through the gallery, closing her eyes for the second time in a short time as she heard Rufus's footsteps clomping behind her.

"You're ditching me for him." he stated, sounding legitimately hurt.

"Rufus, I..." she sighed, seeming close to elaborating but deciding against it. "I can't do this now. Please. We'll have lunch, and we'll talk, I promise, but right now, I really have to go." she replied, turning away from him and practically sprinting out the door and down the street, leaving him standing completely still with a mixture of shock, hurt, and disappointment clouding his face.

Lily waited until she was on the subway heading safely back to the Upper East Side to sigh heavily and let her hand reach up to cover her face, not wanting to show any sign of weakness in front of Rufus. Keeping things from him was hard enough without the sweet comfort he was sure to give her the second she broke down in front of him. Her stop arrived after twenty minutes of agonizing thought and doubts about what she was about to do, about Rufus, and the kisses he had so recently bestowed upon her. Shoving these thoughts to the back corner of her mind for the time being, she hurried into the large brick building, easily locating the office in which she was supposed to meet Bart. She stopped just shy of the door, feeling like someone had stamped a bright red warning label reading "Emotionally Confused," across her forehead. Lily ran her fingers through her hair and reapplied her favorite lipstick(which, of course, she would deny wearing for the sole benefit of a certain attractive former rock star) before plunging her hand into the pocket of her jeans and pulling out a ring with a gold band and one large diamond in the middle. She slid it onto her left ring finger, and, regarding it warily, stepped into the office of Karen Smith, professional wedding planner.

So is it too cliche to continue? Feedback is great, as always. I feel like this part is missing something...