question...?

did you ever have someone kiss you in a crowded room?

"Can I ask you a question? Did you ever have someone kiss you in a crowded room?" -Taylor Swift

currently listening to midnights (and writing this at midnight bc ofc) and rewatching gossip girl, and "question...?" kinda reminded me of those few scenes in s1e6 (everything they say here was said on the show lmao, i'm just adding the thinking) and overall, just the whole thing kinda fit. read to find out about my crazy rufly obsession.

#bartbassslander

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"You still spying on him?" Rufus asked, actually wondering if she did. Not that he would mind. Something about the whole situation just felt off to him. He did feel used, but used by Lily. So it wasn't as bad.

Of course he was married, of course he had a wife and a family to take care of, but there he was, standing in a crowded room of a some sort of high-society event, looking deeply into Lily Van der Woodsen's eyes and asking her a genuine question.

"I'm not spying. I'm just... keeping track of his whereabouts." She answered, in her little funny manner. As one expected, she was spying on someone. Clearly. But Lily had to confess to herself, that not for a single second she had thought about Rufus and his emotional state under those circumstances, or rather completely neglected him.

"Well, so long as you're watching, he's winning. If you really want to make a man jealous, there's only one thing to do." He said, alluding to something pretty specific. Not that he expected Lily to get it, right after the first mention.

"Rufus, I invited you here for many reasons, but knowledge of romance is not-" She said, trying to stop him from giving her advice. Meanwhile, he had stopped her from talking any further.

That kiss was full of nostalgia, even if one party may would try to deny that. It had both of them reminisced about the past. The wild, extraordinary, beautiful past they had, together. That was definitely something that held them together. Even now, after round about 20 years, they could still relate the most to each other and feel what the other one felt. Subconsciously, of course, because if you were to ask Lily Van der Woodsen about that, she'd most definitely act as if she doesn't even know who you're talking about.

Lily herself was already preoccupied with something else, or rather someone else. Bart Bass. That rich NYC entrepreneur whose face no one knew but whose name always seemed familiar. Money was his strength, not attractiveness.

But that's subjective. Because Lily certainly was attracted to Bart.

Speaking of Bart Bass. Naturally, he was present in that room too. And in this moment something very noticeable caught his eyes. He was disgusted. He didn't know that man and could tell that something was weird about Rufus.

Bart did care about it though. He cared about Lily and he had feelings for her, sort of. He wasn't quite sure yet, but he saw something in her. Her elegance had always fascinated him and he was more than glad when he finally got her to go out with him, or rather meet up with him.

Although it may didn't seem like it, Bart was the main point in this situation. He was the reason it happened.

Every single one of Lily's so called friends was staring at them, which seemed to be turning into making fun of them. But after a few seconds, everyone appeared to be rather stunned, impressed even. Two attractive people showing signs of loving each other - like that - in public - was impressive.

"That was, um... unexpected." Lily said, quite awkwardly. She did feel awkward, just being put in the spotlight like that clearly wasn't an everyday-thing for her. Not that she didn't like that aspect, but to know with who she was standing there, was ruining it all for her. Why did it have to be Rufus? Every other man could've done the exact same thing. But with Rufus, it didn't mean the exact same thing to her.