All Hope Is Gone

I strode down the sidewalk, bypassing all of the people bustling around me. Starbucks was a few buildings down. I remembered drinking coffee every day since I had turned fifteen. It was a shame that the stuff smelled like brewed shit to me now. I had loved it.
And there he was. Sitting down at one of the tables with a coffee in hand. He had sunglasses and the same black beanie on. I stared at him through the window, debating on whether or not to go in.
What the hell was going on? I felt a little attraction to him.
Jack had spoken about getting romantic with someone. He had assumed it would be another vampire though. Not a human guy that had more balls than brains. Apparently vampires mated for life, it was a binding thing, not something to be taken lightly.
Books on vampires had made us out to be sinful creatures, beings who wanted sex as much as we thirsted for blood. In my two years, I hadn't felt the smallest twinge of attraction to anyone beyond friendship. It showed how factual authors like Anne Rice were.
Except now I felt a throb in my heart again as I stared at him. 'God, I'm going off the deep end.', I thought.
He caught sight of me and waved.
'And so is he.', I thought dryly. I sighed and made my way to the door. A wave of herbal scent wafted over me. Yes, it was a shame I couldn't drink coffee anymore.
He stood up, walked around the table, and pulled out a chair for me. Hmm, so I had a gentlemen on my hands.
"Hey, I thought you were going to stand me up." He chuckled airily, sitting back down and taking off his sunglasses. I smiled cheekily, "I'm too nice of a person to do that."
He nodded in agreement. "You are."
I stared at him in shock. He had to be kidding me.
He overlooked my stunned expression. "So how are you today?"
I recovered and replied slowly, "I'm great, you?"
He shrugged. "Still getting over a bum ankle, but I've been worse." He smirked in good nature, blue eyes twinkling. Then there was silence. What the hell were we supposed to talk about?
I groped for a subject. "Um. . . so you said you were here with your band? Have I heard of you guys?"
He smile grew in amusement. "You might have. We've won a few awards including a Grammy. The name is Slipknot."
My eyes widened. I had listened to them before. A bunch of masked men with good tunes. I hadn't bothered to find out the names of the members of the band.
He took my expression as a way of saying yes. "I'm the lead vocalist." He stated proudly.
I raised my eyebrows, "The one with the dread locks and fleshy mask?" I remembered watching the music video for 'Wait and Bleed'.
He chuckled. "Yeah, I kinda changed it up though, looks more like a crash dummy now."
I leaned my arms on the table. "I guess I'll have to check it out, I haven't listened to you guys in a while."
"You should, we actually just put out a new album, 'All Hope is Gone'-" He stopped mid-sentence and shook his head, blushing. "Sorry, sorry, I'm talking too much about myself. What do you do for a living, if I may ask?"
It was my turn to grin in amusement. "It's alright ha-ha. I'm actually an artist."
He leaned forward in interest. "Oh really, what do you do? Painting, drawing. . .?"
"Painting.", I answered. "It doesn't pay well, but I get by. I don't have much of a living expense anyway." I chuckled a little at the dark joke. He gave me a weak grin. He knew what I was insinuating.
"Listen, wanna go somewhere?", he asked, suddenly serious. "I'd like to talk to you without worrying about who's going to overhear." He glanced around at the people surrounding us and I nodded.
We got up and left. He stayed by my side as we walked through the crowds. Various vendors shouted at us, telling us to buy their wares, but we ignored them.
"So. . . what's your favorite color?", he joked. I laughed, a full blown laugh. I couldn't remember the last time I laughed so carelessly.