"Gareth! Jeff? JEFF! GARETH? Dudessss I don't like thissss. Where the fuck are you guys?,"

Eddie called, his words slurring together. He had just stumbled out of the fifth bar of the evening and had finally lost track of his band mates.

He was a very cartoonish drunk and his alter ego "Tequila Tom" enjoyed running amuck in the streets playing a one-sided game of hide and seek with his band mates after 5 or 6 shots.

He had arrived to the Kings Street nightclub earlier that evening sober, a state of being he couldn't even remember as he tripped over his own feet down the sidewalk.

Being so many shots deep he had lost count, Eddie fumbled his way across the street and spotted an alley.

Tequila Tom must have thought the alley was a good hiding spot because the next thing he knew he had plopped himself on the ground behind a dumpster. Everything smelled like tequila and he couldn't tell if it was him or the trash.

He felt himself drifting in and out of consciousness and wondered if his band mates would actually find him this time when he heard heels coming down the ally and perked up a little. Survival mode was on as his eyes adjusted to the light and he saw a figure standing over him.

"The fuck'r you doingghere," he grunted.

"Oh shit. Thank god you're alive. I thought I was about to have a new headliner: amateur photographer finds dead rockstar."

Eddie blinked slowly and tried to focus his vision on the woman in front of him. He gave up after a few concentrated seconds and saluted her lazily, sliding down to the ground on his back.

"Damn straight I'm alive baby! Kingsstreet fuckin rulessss dude the drinks are like...soooo cheap!"

He couldn't see it on her face but he could sense the pity in her voice when she spoke again.

"Okay buddy that's enough of that. Let's get you out of the alley, yeah?"

He shrugged and clambered to his feet, gripping the mystery woman's arm tightly to steady himself.

"Eddie are you here with anyone? Like some friends or a manager maybe?"

As they made their way out of the alley it briefly crossed Eddie's mind to ask the woman questions like a normal and totally NOT plastered person.

"How'd you know my name?"

She laughed softly.

"Dude everyone knows your name. Maybe the alcohol made you forget but you're kind of a big deal around here. And everywhere else."

He felt a little more sober as her words sunk in.

"Oh shit. Benny's gonna kill me."

The woman finally stepped out into the streetlights and began walking him towards the bus stop bench so he could sit down. He dropped into the seat and put his head in his hands, cursing himself.

"Shit shit shit. The guys are gonna kill me too. Benny's gonna have a fuckin stroke if he knows I got this fucked up again," Eddie rambled.

The woman pulled out her phone and made a call, stepping a little ways off but keeping an eye on Eddie to make sure he didn't run off into the night.

"Hey Michelle, can I bail on dinner tonight? I would love to meet Daniel some other time but I can't swing it tonight and I'm so sorry. Something came up. Possibly something really big."

A few seconds of nodding and she smiled.

"Thank you so much and again I'm really sorry! Tell him I'm open next weekend so we can sit down and introduce ourselves. Great, bye!"

Eddie hadn't stopped muttering to himself when the woman tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey dude are you okay? I mean obviously not but you're kinda freakin me out with the whispering."

He looked up and squinted at her, once again failing to identify her face. He shook his head and leaned back on the bench, looking up at the sky and contemplating what to do next.

Finally an idea came to him.

"Hey can I use your phone?"

Her tone changed to surprise.

"I'm shocked you can remember anything right now but yeah of course. Call whoever you need."

He took her phone gingerly and held it up to his face so he could see the numbers through his blurry vision. It was useless, however, and he gave up after several failed attempts to punch in the right numbers.

"Okay this is sad dude just give it to me. What's the number? I'll dial for you."

He huffed and sprawled across the whole bench, his legs hanging off the arm rests as he concentrated on remembering his manager Benny's number.

"Uhhh okay I think it's 360...no no 316...fuck um no there's definitely a 4 in there-"

"You have no idea what this person's number is, do you?"

He sighed and shook his head.

"Guess not. Tequila Tom has no use for the numerical system apparently and I don't blame him."

The woman pushed his legs off the arm rest and made a space for herself by his feet.

"Dude what the hell are you talking about? Who's Tequila Tom? You remember your name is Eddie, right?"

He shook his head slowly and waved a hand at her.

"Tequila Tom is what I call myself when I get like this. He's a crazy guy, Tom. Love that son of a bitch but he's a messy boy."

She snorted and he felt a smile creep onto his own face though he wasn't sure why.

"Don't tell me you're one of those guys that talks about himself in the 3rd person."

He craned his neck up at her and shook his head wildly.

"No ma'am. Just messing around."

The woman's face came into focus for a brief moment as he looked up at her and he gasped.

She was beautiful.

Her smiling features quickly went out of focus again as he felt his head spinning. Eddie dropped his head against the bench, unable to hold it up any longer.

The pretty woman leaned over him and put a concerned hand on his shoulder.

"Oh god. Eddie? Eddie can you hear me? Hey hey hey you gotta stay awake man I don't know what to do with you..."

Her words melted away as Eddie's vision faded to black. All he could think of as he drifted off was how much he hoped that this beautiful stranger would be there when he woke up again.