First Love | James Hetfield

Lovesick

1983

"I can't fucking believe you." Annie said, stomping toward the staircase, her shoes thumping loudly on the hard floor. "I'm sorry! You can't just dump all that shit on me and expect me to keep it inside, I'm sorry!" Bea huffed, following her.

Annie stopped abruptly and turned to face her, catching a short glimpse of everybody watching them a few feet away. "If I wanted everybody to know, I'd tell Lars." She huffed. Her face was red with anger and intoxication.

"Hey, now wait a minute. Don't bring me into this." Lars said with his hands on his hips.

Bea swallowed thickly as she stared back at Annie. She was mad. Furious. She hadn't looked at Beatrice that way since the night she met James.

Bea's expression dropped when she saw the furious look on Annie's face as she sped toward her. "Beatrice." She barked.

"Annie? What happened? Are you okay?" She immediately started asking questions. "I'm fine." She said. "What happened to your dress?" Beatrice frowned.

"Oh, yeah. Funny story, actually."

"Can we fucking talk about this somewhere quieter?" Beatrice hissed through gritted teeth, bawling her eyes at the wide eyed bystanders a few feet away.

"No." Annie said firmly. "We're done talking." She said before turning back around and trudging up the stairs.

Beatrice didn't move as she felt everybody move their eyes onto her again. "Quit fucking staring."

"Yep, yeah." Everybody separated and immediately switched the topic. "Right."

Annie slammed her door shut and put her hands over her burning ears, then running her fingers through her hair out of irritation. "Fuck..." she sighed heavily.

She flopped onto her bed as she heard Beatrice stomp into the hallway and shut her own door quietly, just to spite her. She rolled her eyes as she heard Bea's voice in her head. "Don't slam my doors."

She lay on her bed in some sort of star position, listening to her own breathing and the rain that began coming down outside.

Soon her peace was interrupted by uneven footsteps and muffled voices outside her door.

"Let me talk to her."

"No, let me. I gotta make things right."

"No, you bafoons! She doesn't want to see either of you, I'll talk to her."

Then she heard the door knob jiggle followed by a few thuds.

"Kirk, fucking stop!"

"No asshole, you stop! You're the last person she wants to see!"

"Both of you shut the fuck up before I push you down the stairs."

Then the door finally opened, revealing Cliff. She turned her head to look at him, then behind his shoulder she caught a glimpse of blond waves and brunette curls bolting toward the staircase, out of her sight.

"Hey Annie." Cliff said, shutting the door gently behind him.

"Hi Cliff." She deadpanned, moving her eyes back to the ceiling.

Cliff stared at her for a minute before walking in further and sitting on her bed. "Uh... so Beatrice told me..."

"Really? I had no idea!" She faked a shocked expression, opening her mouth and putting her hands to the sides of her head.