First Love | James Hetfield

Ladybug

1984

"Anneliese, some blond dude out there's refusing to give me his order.. he's asking for you." Daphne walked into the back room with wide eyes and flushed cheeks.

Annie rolled her eyes. "I got it." she laughed softly, patting the flustered girl on the shoulder and preparing her notepad to take his order as she left the lockers.

James lifted his head, smiling at her. "Hello, miss." he greeted, bowing his head.

She scoffed, shaking her head at his antics. "You wanna stop terrorizing Daphne? Poor thing was shaking."

James looked away, scratching his neck.

"What do you want?" she sighed, clicking her pen. James glanced up at her again. "Oh, nothing. I actually came to ask you something."

She scoffed. "And it couldn't wait 'till after my shift?  You're wasting my time." she walked away, and James scrambled out of the booth to follow her.

She heard his heavy footsteps behind her as she maneuvered around tables. "Hey, watch the attitude." he tugged on a strand of her hair. "What's a guy gotta do to take his woman to dinner around here, huh?" he spoke loudly, holding his hands up and glancing around the diner.

"Amen.." a few male voices muttered, followed by quiet cheers. Annie planted her feet at a stop, sending him hard against her back.

She slowly turned to face him, looking up at his tall figure. "Dinner?"

"Hell yeah." he grinned, his blond curls bouncing as he nodded his head enthusiastically. She turned away and kept walking before he could see her cheeks flush red. He'd never actually invited her to an official dinner.

She played it cool, shrugging. "I'll have to check my schedule, but I'm sure I can get around to it." she joked.

James scoffed, unable to hold back his amused grin. Annie realized how strange it must look- him following her around the restaurant like a lost golden retriever. No one seemed to care, too lost in their dry conversations.

Annie's smile grew wider when she caught the eye of the raven haired woman from last Wednesday. "You're back!" she smiled.

She didn't notice the other figure sitting across the woman until she came all the way around.

"That's right."

Her heart plummeted out of her ass at the all too familiar scruffy voice.

"Dad." her voice was barely audible. James whipped his head around. He'd never heard her say that word before.

"Ladybug." the man finally met her gaze.

Her breathing immediately picked up, her throat felt like it was closing up. The notepad fell out of her shaky hands and she backed up, bumping into James' chest.

"No." her eyes blurred with tears. James furrowed his brows, but eventually understood when he noticed her fear. He hadn't seen her so afraid since her attack in The Bahamas.

"Annie, I just wanna-" he scooted across the booth, reaching a hand out toward her.

"No!" she cried, tripping over her own feet as she bolted over to the door, swinging it open and disappearing within a second.

James looked from the door to the man who was eyeing him. He had two choices.

One, to beat the shit out of this motherfucker on behalf of Annie and himself while had the chance,

Two, go find Annie before she made any rash decisions like flying across the country.

He went with the latter as he felt pain shoot through his heart for Annie. He ran outside, looking all around the busy sidewalks and streets.