Thanks for the reviews everyone! This is the follow up to 054 Drugs. It's not how I originally envisioned the sequel to end up being but sometimes Eriol has a mind of his own.

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028. Succeed

It's really not like he is stalking her. Not really, he just happens to know her class schedule because, er, because he accidentally picked it up one day and may or may not have committed it to memory.

Eriol watches as Tomoyo stops at a vending machine and starts inserting coins. She is going to get a package of twizzlers because she likes to munch on something when she goes for her art history lecture. Just as he finishes this thought, Tomoyo bends down to retrieve her twizzlers. Seeing her hold up the snack, Eriol inwardly shudders. He realises that he is, indeed, a stalker.

Sighing, he leans on the pillar, thinking back on his pathetic behaviour ever since he met Tomoyo at that party 2 weeks ago and she threatened bodily harm on him.

xxx

So after getting the address from Syaoran, Eriol turned up bright and early at Sakura's door the day after the party. He was weirdly excited about meeting Sakura because it meant possibly finding out who that enchanting friend of hers was and getting said friend's number. In fact, he was so excited about it that he had got up extra early to buy some coffee and breakfast to take to Sakura's.

There was no harm in buttering Sakura up after all. He really, really needed that number.

Ringing the doorbell and feeling rather good about himself, Eriol waited patiently for the door to open.

It did just a few seconds later but it wasn't Sakura at the door.

He knew at that moment that there was somebody up there who really loved him, because the girl who answered the door was the very girl he couldn't stop thinking of since the night before.

His grin widened. This was perfect.

Unfortunately, the girl didn't seem to think so. In fact, she looked positively outraged.

Before Eriol could offer up his breakfast, she had landed a punch in his gut.

"Tomoyo!"

Sakura had appeared behind Tomoyo (it was a pretty name, he remembered thinking through the haze of pain), and looked positively aghast at what she had just witnessed.

"I warned him Sakura, that if he ever showed up near you again, I was going to hurt him." Tomoyo replied disdainfully as she watched Eriol crumple to the ground, clutching his middle.

"But why Tomoyo?" Sakura asked, puzzled and bending down to help poor Eriol.

"Why?" Tomoyo huffed and pulled Sakura away from Eriol. "Leave the coffee Sakura, it could be laced with drugs!"

Eriol winced as Tomoyo slammed the door in his face, leaving him outside the apartment.

That could have gone better.

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"I admit I was very surprised to hear from Syaoran that you wanted to meet me at this coffee shop." Eriol said in greeting as he sat down opposite Tomoyo.

Actually, surprised was probably the wrong word to describe his reaction when Syaoran had passed on the message from Sakura that Tomoyo had asked to see him at the coffee shop on campus. Ecstatic, was possibly the more accurate word. But Tomoyo didn't have to know that.

Tomoyo sniffed, and (was it possible?) actually looked kind of sheepish, "Yes, I wanted to apologise."

"Oh?" Eriol asked, with a brow raised. If she wasn't in the mood for more beat downs, then Eriol was definitely going to take advantage of it.

"I realised, I might have jumped to conclusions." Tomoyo continued.

Eriol actually snorted, "Might have?"

"Okay," Tomoyo conceded, "I jumped to conclusions. I tend to do that. But you can hardly blame me! Sakura came home smelling like weed! And babbled on and on about Syaoran and Eriol. What was I suppose to think?"

Eriol leaned back on his chair, "You're doing a horrible job at apologising."

Tomoyo sighed, "Right, you're right. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have assumed you were a drug dealer. Or punched you in the gut when you turned up at my door the next morning. Although I must say I was rather shocked when you slumped down like that. I didn't realise I punched so hard."

Apparently, Sakura had explained to Tomoyo after Eriol had left that she hadn't smoked weed, rather Eriol and Syaoran had offered her some questionable punch at the party, not realising it had been spiked.

"It wasn't that bad." Eriol hastily explained, in an effort to preserve some manliness, "You hit like a girl. I've had worse." (No, he hadn't.)

Tomoyo scoffed. "Yea well, so that's what I wanted to say. I'm sorry."

Eriol just stared blankly back at Tomoyo.

"Well, aren't you going to say something?" Tomoyo asked.

"Like what?" Eriol answered, "You were perfectly right to apologise."

"I mean, I don't know." Tomoyo threw her hands up, "Like, okay, I accept your apology or something!"

"That was a lousy apology." Eriol replied evenly, "I think I shall require the apology in a form of a dinner."

Tomoyo rolled her eyes, "In your dreams." (But was that a quirk of her lips he saw?)

"Okay, how about I pay for dinner?" Eriol asked again.

This time, Tomoyo definitely smiled, "Now you're just being obvious Eriol." Flicking her hair behind her as she stood to leave, she laughed and gave a little wave, "Bye!"

Eriol watched her leave the coffee shop until she disappeared round the corner.

That could have gone better, but he wasn't about to be picky now.

xxx

They bumped into each other a few days later. (Or rather, Eriol saw her leave the lecture theatre and instead of going into his class next door, he ran halfway across the courtyard so that he could 'accidentally' knock her books out of her hands.)

"Oops! I'm sorry, how clumsy of me!"

"Yes, that was clumsy of you Eriol." Tomoyo replied dryly as she bent down to pick her books.

Eriol grinned as he joined her on the floor, gathering up her notes. So he was being a little obvious, but to be honest, he couldn't quite care at the moment.

"Do you normally have classes here?" He asked as they straightened up.

Tomoyo laughed, a little amusedly, "Why do you want to know? Not planning on stalking me are you now?"

"Of course not!" Eriol replied, "I just haven't seen you in a while. I like to know what my friends have been up to."

Tomoyo arched an eyebrow, "I didn't realise we were even friends."

"We should be." His quiet reply seemed to freeze her movements for a second.

Tomoyo tucked a stray hair behind her ear, "Hmm."

That wasn't an agreement, Eriol realised. But not exactly a disagreement either. That was progress, he decided. Small progress, but progress nonetheless!

"I do normally have classes here." Tomoyo said suddenly.

Eriol nodded, "Me too."

She smiled at him, "But now, I have classes elsewhere, so..." She turned to walk away, "Maybe I'll see you around Eriol!"

"Oh you definitely will!" Eriol called back.

After Tomoyo disappeared from his sight, Eriol spied a piece of paper on the ground and realising it might have belonged to Tomoyo, he picked it up. Skimming over its contents, he grinned. Her class schedule. It was kind of perfect, like the universe actually wanted Eriol to succeed in this stalking business.

Could it have gone better?

xxx

Eriol decides that he was going to man up and ask Tomoyo out. He has been hearing Syaoran's voice in his head mocking him lately, especially since he had finally managed to get Sakura to agree to go out with him. Taking a deep breath, Eriol pushes off from the pillar and turns around the corner, preparing to catch up with Tomoyo before her art history lecture, when he suddenly finds himself face to face with the girl herself.

"Have you been following me Eriol?"

"What? No!" A little too defensive there Eriol. Eriol curses Syaoran's voice in his head.

"So you took my class schedule just for fun?" Tomoyo questions, her arms crossed across her chest.

Deny, deny, deny.

"What class schedule?"

"The one presently sticking out of your backpack." Tomoyo answers with a little smile playing at the corners of her lips.

"Oh, that class schedule." Eriol sighs, "Yea, you can have that back." Reaching behind him, he pulls the piece of paper out of his bag, "Here, I got it memorised anyway."

Tomoyo lets out an amused chuckle, "You're not doing too well trying to convince me you're not a stalker Eriol."

Eriol winces, "Yea, I kinda think I may be stalking you now."

Tomoyo throws her head back and laughs, and laughs, and laughs. Eriol tries not to feel too insulted at her lack of sympathy.

"Well," Tomoyo says after she finally stopped laughing, "What do you want then Eriol?"

"Can we have dinner together?" Eriol blurts out. Smooth Eriol, real smooth.

"Why you should have just asked Eriol! Instead of stalking me around campus." Tomoyo replies as she eyes him, looking like she's trying not to smile.

Eriol wants to point out that he did before, sort of.

Wisely, he refrains from voicing that thought and says instead, "Er, will you like to go out for dinner with me Tomoyo?"

Tomoyo smiles (he actually feels his heart skip a beat), "I would love to. It's the least I can do after you memorised my schedule." She couldn't help getting that jab in.

"Ha ha." Eriol rolls his eyes even as his heart starts doing backflips.

Maybe that could have gone better. But whatever, he was going to have dinner with Tomoyo. Score!

xxx

Please comment, would love to know what you thought about it!