I am frankly amazed at myself for churning these little fics out as quickly as I am now. Wonder how long this writing binge would last? Anyway, this is a sequel to chapter 2, 082 Fan. Read on to watch how Tomoyo deals with the aftermath of the concert and the bespectacled rocker!Eriol.

xxx

015. Early

Tomoyo moaned piteously into her hands as sunlight streamed through the window in the corner coffee shop she was presently sitting in. Checking her watch, she sighed at the time. 8 o'clock in the morning. She looked around, not surprised to find that she was at present the only customer. It was so early the morning rush hour hadn't even come in yet. She suppose though that she only herself to blame for the present state of matters. She really shouldn't have had that third beer, or the fourth, or the fifth, or the sixth, wait, how many did she have again that night?

Groaning, she buried her face in her hands, recalling that she had woken up the day after the concert with a dreadful hangover, convinced that the world was about to end. Her dear cousin then cheerfully filled her in on her drunken shenanigans, which included getting lost backstage, invading the band's dressing room and telling the lead singer that he sucked. Tomoyo felt almost bad. Sure, she was a bit of a music snob and she honestly disliked the band, but she was never rude. Especially to someone's face. Ah wells, there was nothing else to be done. She would never ever see the man again.

Imagine her horror then, when Sakura's phone rang and it turned out to be the lead singer who had apparently found her purse in the dressing room. Tomoyo hadn't even realised it was missing.

"Oh yes Mr. Eriol, Tomoyo would be glad to meet you tomorrow to retrieve her purse...I'm afraid she can't quite come to the phone right now...Oh no, she's fine, a little hungover, but fine...Tomorrow at 8? In the morning? Oh yea, that'll be okay...Right sure. Thank you...Oh tell Mr. Syaoran I said hello back...Right, okay. Bye! And thanks again!"

Sighing, she aimed her glare at her watch. 8:05. Why couldn't the degenerate rocker pick a more agreeable time? Like maybe 8 at night? Then again, Tomoyo reasoned that he probably made their meeting early so as to avoid the crowds who would probably recognise him and start snapping photos and accosting him for autographs or something. Tomoyo felt a sudden stab of pity for the poor guy.

Just then, the coffee shop doors swung open to admit the lead singer of She Dreams in Ink. Spotting Tomoyo easily in the empty shop, he strode over to her and sat down opposite her with an altogether too cheerful "Good morning!"

"Er, good morning." Tomoyo greeted, wondering if he had always worn glasses. She didn't seem to recall him looking like this from the concert.

"Coffee for you?"

"Oh, no thanks." Tomoyo gestured to her coffee, "I already got mine. Thanks...Mr. Eriol?"

Eriol smiled, "Just Eriol will be fine, Tomoyo."

Tomoyo wondered at how her name seemed to roll so familiarly off her tongue. She dearly hoped all she did that night at the concert was to insult him. "Right." Tomoyo shifted nervously, "Um, first of all, I would like to apologise. I really shouldn't have barged into your dressing room and in addition to that, insult you and your band. I understand that while I might be free to think what I want, I really should not have been so rude as to actually tell you my honest opinions. So, I'm sorry." She winced inwardly, that apology sounded a lot better in her head. She really couldn't function so early in the morning.

Eriol, for his part, looked amused and adjusting his glasses, nodded, "No harm done Tomoyo."

There he went again. Saying her name in that way like...like he actually knew her!

"Here," Eriol said suddenly, passing her her purse.

"Oh, thank you!" Tomoyo said, shifting through her purse for her mobile phone, checking for any missed calls. "You didn't have to return it personally, I'm sure one of your entourage would have done the job admirably."

Eriol shook his head in response, "That's fine, I wanted to pass you this too anyway." Saying so, he lifted a paper bag onto the table.

"What's that?" Tomoyo questioned, as she pulled the paper bag gingerly towards her.

"It's all the CDs our band has ever put out," Eriol replied as he fiddled with his glasses.

Tomoyo blinked and with a weak smile, pushed the paper bag back towards Eriol again, "I appreciate the thought Mr. Eriol but my cousin is a big fan of you guys and I'm pretty sure we have the band's entire collection in our living room already."

"Oh but these are different!" Eriol said, brightening up, "I wrote post its to point out my favourite songs on each album," He picked out one CD out of the bag and opening it, pulled out the lyric booklet and pointed out, "And I made some notes in here for every song about what we wanted to convey through the music and lyrics!"

Tomoyo swallowed, "Every song?"

Eriol nodded enthusiastically, "Yes!"

Tomoyo had to laugh, perhaps she had misjudged the rocker after all. Noticing the coffee shop was beginning to fill with people, she picked up the paper bag and started towards the door, Eriol close on her heels. He opened the door and gestured her to exit first. Manners, interesting.

"Well, thank you Mr. Eriol," Tomoyo said as she turned towards him, "I don't know why you seem so insistent on changing my mind about your band since you've already sold millions anyway. But it's appreciated."

Eriol grinned, "I just wanted you to know that we're serious musicians too! We just happen to perform shirtless sometimes!"

Tomoyo chuckled, and lifted up her paper bag, "Alright sure, I'm positive Sakura would enjoy these at the very least."

Eriol started walking away backwards into the rush hour crowd, "Let me know whether you changed your mind after listening!"

"I don't think we'll ever see each other again Mr. Eriol!" Tomoyo called back as she waved goodbye.

He didn't seem to hear her as he disappeared amidst the rush of people.

Turning around, Tomoyo sighed. Eriol seemed to be quite different from what she originally pegged him out to be. Recalling his glasses (and her fondness of them), she reminded herself that it'll do her good not to be so judgemental in the future.

Suddenly, she felt her phone vibrate in her purse. Fishing it out, her eyes widened at the caller ID. Taking a moment to compose herself, she answered the call.

"I hope you don't think I would have finished listening to the CDs by now, we only just left the coffee shop 5 minutes ago!"

Tomoyo smiled as she heard his laughter from the other end of the line.

xxx

No plans as yet to take rocker!Eriol fics any further. I'll have to see how the prompts work for me. But anyway, expect another new chapter featuring fisherman!Eriol and rivernymph!Tomoyo soon. A review would be much appreciated, thank you!