First Love | James Hetfield

Don't Push It

James lay in bed that night wondering why Anneliese acted so weirdly when he bumped into her. Was it because of the camera? Did he break it?

Still, she was quiet about it. After they finished unpacking her stuff, she stayed in her room until it came time for the guys to leave. She said a quick goodbye and thank you to Kirk, Lars, and Cliff, and he thought she'd atleast scowl at him or bump into him before he left, but she didn't. She kept her eyes down and walked back upstairs.

It was around two in the morning and he kept tossing and turning in his sheets, groaning out loud when his brain couldn't seem to shut up about the girl already. He didn't care about the camera. So what if he broke it?

But he just couldn't stop wondering about the damn thing.

He stopped his rambling thoughts and flipped around to face his wall, ending with a quick 'I hate her' confirmation to settle it.

The next day, Bea decided to have a 'small gathering' down at the beach. By small, she apparently meant inviting the whole neighborhood.

"What is there to celebrate?" James grumbled into the telephone. The other line was silent for a moment. "Exactly, you can't think of-"

"Anneliese!" Bea's chirpy voice interrupted. "We can celebrate Annie's... arrival..." she said, sounding unsure.

He grumbled again. "Thats not anything to celebrate."

Bea sighed. "Just 'cause you two hate each other's guts doesn't mean you can ruin everyone else's fun. Just tell the guys what's goin' on, come down to the beach.. have some beers..." she trailed off.

"Whatever, bye." He said as he pulled the phone away from his ear. He was about to click it into the receiver when Bea's voice came through again. "See you laterrrrr!" She sang before he cut her off with the receiver.

James' sleeping schedule was all wrong, so when he got out of bed it was already around four o' clock. He took a shower after making sure all the guys were awake and aware of the party.

On the short drive to the girls' house, he decided he'd apologize to Annie about the camera. Something just told him he should.

When they arrived, the front doors were open and some familiar faces were there to greet them before they headed for the backyard. They were met with more familiar- and already drunk faces with beers in their outstretched hands.

"Thanks, man." James nodded and took the beer. The man almost stumbled when he nodded back. Lars took the other beer before he could drop it.

Lars and Cliff stopped to talk to some people while Kirk bolted straight to the beach to greet the girls. James looked over the deck at the beach and spotted Beatrice and Annie spinning around in circles, laughing with each other. He thought it was good that she seemed to be in good spirits so she wouldn't snap at him when he tried to speak to her.

He went down the wooden steps to the beach and greeted the girls while Annie was off to the side, digging into her bag for something.

"Hey Bea, Rory." He nodded. "Hey, wanna play ring around the rosie?" Aurora leaned lazily on Bea's shoulder. James could tell she was already buzzed. "Actually, we called it ring around the Rory-" Bea hiccuped. "..cause Rory was sitting in the middle." She added. James' slow nod turned into a head shake. "No, I'm good... thanks."

He turned his head to a flash in the corner of his eye.

"Ow, why is the flash on?" Kirk ducked his head and rubbed his eyes. "I don't know, I'm sorry!" Annie defended quickly, messing with the small knobs on the camera.

James was about to snap at whoever flashed a light right in his eye before he realized it was Kirk and Anneliese.

"I see you fixed your camera." James approached her and tried to start off with some light hearted humor, but she only looked at him weirdly and took a step back. "Yeah..." she muttered, looking back into the camera. James took his chance while she wasn't looking to shoo Kirk off. Clearly he didn't get the memo when he loudly said "What?" with a confused tone. "Fucking go." James hissed quietly. Kirk got the wrong idea that he was trying to make a move on Anneliese when he smirked and walked away.

"Okay, I got-" Anneliese looked up where Kirk once stood. "Where'd he go?" She asked no one in particular, scanning her eyes around the beach.

"He went to get drinks." James said. She turned her head in his direction. "Okay..?" She said, pretending to be focused on the camera again, hoping he'd give up and walk away.

He stood awkwardly quiet for a moment.

"Sorry." He mumbled, looking at the ground. "What?" She looked up. "M'sorry."

"For?" She blinked at him with furrowed brows.

"The camera, it was kinda my fault, so.. I'm sorry." He gestured to the polaroid in her hand. "Oh, nah- it's fine. I fixed it anyway." She shook it off.

He nodded. She looked up after a moment. "But could you say that last part one more time for me?" The corners of her lips curled into a mischievous smile.

"Don't fuckin' push it, Buckley." He shook his head and hid his smile.

"But yeah, s'all good. I only reacted weird 'cause
like- my grandma gave this to me 'fore she passed." She said. "It's cheesy, but it's special to me. She was the only one who was really there for me." She bit her cheek to stop herself from bursting out in laughter.

He nodded in understanding. "Sorry."

"Knew I'd get you to say it again." She laughed loudly. "Fuck off." James chuckled and walked away. It wasn't until then that he realized how weird that whole interaction was. They got through a decent conversation without it turning into an argument.

Annie also felt that way, and she found herself giving the polaroid a dirty look as if it was the camera's fault. She looked over her shoulder and caught James eyes as he was looking at her too. They shared a weird look and turned away. That's better, she thought.

James and Annie didn't speak for the rest of the night, but it wasn't awkward or tense. James would still stare at her from the back of the crowd, but immediately look away when she'd look back.

Lars ended up introducing James to some dude named Richie who turned out to be Dave Mustaine's friend who had it out for James.

James had no idea though, as he started chatting with the guy.

Annie was distracted with making a flower crown for Aurora out of leaves she found on nearby trees. She was poking a stick through a leaf when she heard a manly voice boom across the beach. It wasn't just any voice. It was James, and she knew immediately because that was the voice he used when they first met.

She turned her head up at the sound of the crowd cheering and shouting James' name. She would've normally rolled her eyes and shook it off, but when she saw a fist connect with James' jaw, there was no way she'd miss it.

Vote, comment, follow 🤍