Visionary and the Vampire Tracker

“Table 24, that’s you Zoey.” “Great.” I whispered under my breath. I looked up towards the table and knew it the first time I saw him. Single guy, business suit, frown burrowed on his face all meant that he was gonna order a coffee and probably stiff me on a tip. I tucked my hair behind my ear while I walked over. “I need this job,” kept replaying in my head, so I managed to plaster a smile on my face. “Welcome to Joe’s, how can I help you today?” I said, in what I hoped was a cheery disposition. The man looked up from his phone, which kept buzzing incessantly, and glanced me over. I glared back, even as usual as this behaviour was, it was still creepy in my books. “How about a coffee?” I said through gritted teeth. He finally looked me in the eyes and said, “Black. No sugar.” “Great, I’ll be right back,” I said, shuffling away. I hurried back to the station with all the coffee pots. Suddenly, a hurricane of blonde hair came barrelling towards me. “You’re stuck with 24?” Rachel asked me, clearly out of breath and tying up her blonde locks. My companion for almost every shift, Rachel always managed to be late somehow, and still draw the best section out of the diner.“Yeah, lucky me” I huffed out. “How do you always manage to get the worst sections?” She asked me, while tying her apron. She and I shared a look. We both knew I had a penchant for all things unlucky. And what made it worse was I had a freakish sense of intuition. Essentially I could pinpoint how a situation could go wrong, and how my unluckiness would manage to put me in the middle of it. “All I know is I get off in about,” I looked at my watch, checking the time, “3 and a half hours. And I’m headed straight to Jerry’s.” “Wait for me there? I get off in 4 hours,” Rachel sighed. I laughed, Rachel was always down for a drink. She never needed a reason. Just a when and where. “I better go before this guy bites my head off,” I told Rachel, glancing over at my expectant table. “But not before he gets a little repayment” I said, pouring the decaf coffee pot into his mug. “You’re bad,” Rachel giggled. “But always for a good reason.” I smiled and winked at her before turning around and arriving at Table 24. I set the coffee mug before him. He didn’t even make eye contact while he slid his hand out and took it to his mouth. As he took a sip I asked, “Is there anything else I can get for you?” while knowing he would probably just grunt a “No” and shoo me away. He set the mug on the table and sighed. I braced myself for the worst. There isn’t anything I haven’t heard in my 3 years of waitressing. I’ve seen the best and worst of people. Particularly men. He pushed the mug towards me. “Are you sure this isn’t decaf?” he said, startling me. I looked into his eyes, truly for the first time, and saw the green crystal pools of his eyes shimmer something cheeky back. Something about them disturbed and awed me. They seemed otherworldly. And the strange businessman looked more like a beautiful alien to me. A beautiful alien that had totally clocked me and called me out. “Crap” I muttered in my head. “I, uh, I, well maybe, uh you know what? I could have accidentally picked up the decaf pot instead of the caffeinated one,” I stuttered out. “I’m so sorry, let me sort that out for you.” I reached to grab the mug he had set aside, but his fingers took over the spot I was reaching for. “I actually think you saved me,” he said. “What?” I managed to whisper out. “One more coffee and I might have had a heart attack. I’ll finish this. Just the check would be great.” He was smiling now. Was I somehow endearing to him? He had humiliated me and thought it was funny. As I walked away to go grab him his check I realised that maybe that was a bit much, and maybe I had punished him for something that was undeserved. But gone was the furrow in his brow. And he was looking at me. Really looking at me. Piercing through my brown eyes. It was jarring. This job made me feel so invisible sometimes. Despite seeing new people every day, you don’t feel like you connect with anyone. You are simply a part of the diner, another centrepiece for others’ amusements. Joe’s Diner didn’t have many repeat customers. We were situated right outside a highway. Meant to simply be a stop along the way. The only familiar faces I saw were those of my co-workers, and sometimes Joe himself, when he decided to grace us with his presence. I wrote down his total on the checkbook that felt like it was a part of me, like a third arm or something, and did something I’d never done before. I wrote my name in the top section where it said ‘Server.’ I hadn’t thought to ever put my name down because I knew I would never see them again. But here I was now, hoping this beautiful, strange man would somehow come back to me. I blinked hard. How could I possibly be feeling this way? Had I not thought he was rude and almost creepy in the beginning? What changed in a mere 5 minutes and some pitiful exchange between the two of us? “His eyes,” I whispered out, just for me to hear. Something about the way he looked at me that second time, when he really looked at me, in my eyes, something changed. And then that cheeky exchange. He knew what I’d done but he seemed amused by it, rather than angry. I was still staring at the check when Rachel whizzed by me. “Earth to Zoey,” she said. I jumped slightly. Daydreaming was a great pastime if you didn’t have a waitressing job. I walked back over to him nervously, and put the check on his table. He took it from me, looked at it and said “Thanks.” I walked away slowly to the front desk. I didn’t want to stand waiting while he fished cash out of his wallet. Plus, I needed to not think about his eyes. So I would wipe down menus instead. Would he think it was weird that I put my name down? I could feel myself going into a spiral before I thought that it was fine. The checkbook said “Server” and I had simply put down my name. There’s no crime in that. And I wasn’t coming onto him by putting my name down. Besides, I would never see him again, as much as I wished I would. As I was wiping down another grimey menu, he walked up, unbeknownst to me. I looked up into his eyes as he slid money across the desk and said, “Goodbye Zoey.” He knew my name! I mean he read my name but at least he knew it now. I could only stare as he walked out of the restaurant, most likely never to be seen again. Rachel came up and broke my longing stare, “So did you manage to get a decent tip?” I rolled my eyes, “You know these guys never tip” I said. “Maybe not,” she said, “But this one could not stop staring at you. That’s gotta amount to some kind of tip.” She purred out. “Stop!” I whispered. “No, that’s not what that was. It was probably nothing. Besides, he totally clocked me with giving him the decaf. I don’t expect the full amount, let alone a measly tip.” I unfurled the money in my hands. The full amount was there. Along with a crisp 100 dollar note. I couldn’t believe it. Who tips 100 dollars on a coffee? A decaf coffee at that. Did this mean something? Did this mean he liked me, or did he just feel sorry for me? The latter was too pitiful to think about. “Oh my god!” Rachel screamed out. “First round is on you,” she winked. I laughed. Yes, it meant more drinks to buy today, but did it mean anything for tomorrow? It was hitting me harder than usual today. In this line of work, especially at this diner, it was hard to meet people. Okay, scratch that, it was hard to keep people. And I’d known that. That was part of the reason why I chose here specifically. No connections formed with anybody. Well, besides Rachel. I hadn’t wanted that. And if I’m being really honest, I had avoided it. Until now. He was the first person to know my name. The first one I’d wanted to tell it too. And now he was gone too. All that was left to do was buy another drink once my shift ended. One more to help dull the weird pain I was feeling in my head.