Don't Tread On Me // Kirk Hammett

5. Fuck You

March 9th, 1996

-

I've been sitting here, downing shots like it's nobody's god damn business. All the 'Tallica guys had gone somewhere to go warm up before the show, leaving me alone with a large table of alcohol.

Luckily for me, working in a bar for the past five years had built up my alcohol tolerance. So I wasn't feeling much more than a slight buzz.

I soon realized I'd drank nearly half the bottle of Jack that was left on the table. My eyes quickly widened as I threw my cup behind me somewhere, and sped walked away from the scene like a guilty toddler.

I found a small beige couch in the room near the dressing room hallway. I propped my elbow on my knee, resting my chin in my palm. The show wasn't supposed to start for another hour and I was bored out of my mind.

After a moment of mindless staring I saw the guitar racks out of the corner of my eye. I looked at them for a moment, before getting up and walking towards the guitar tech!

"Hi!" I said smiling, forcing a cheerful tone.

He looked up from his clipboard and smiled at me.

"I'm Aurora-" I started before he interrupted me.

"Ah, Kirk mentioned you earlier! I'm john, nice to meet ya'!" He spoke cheerfully, sending me a warm smile.

What the fuck? Is everyone here playing some sort of Kirk-joke on me that I don't fucking know about, 'cause this shits getting weirder.

However I only continued keeping the forced smile on my face.

"Is there possibly any guitars I could use for a bit? Y'know, just to pass some time." I questioned.

"Uh-huh, I'll grab one for you." He smiled, before walking off somewhere.

I went to sit back down on the small beige sofa, smiling to myself. John momentarily came back, handing me a black Strat.

I smiled and thanked him, before beginning to quickly tune the guitar.

After I'd finished tuning it, I sat contently, playing whatever songs that came into my to mind, on it. It wasn't plugged in, so thankfully I wasn't disturbing anyone.

About 45 minutes later, while I was in the middle of attempting play Tornado Of Souls, I saw Kirk walk out and glare at me out of the corner of my eye.

Whoops, forgot it probably frowned upon to play Megadeth at a Metallica concert.

Whatever it's not like they could really even hear it anyways.

"Why the fuck do you have my fucking guitar?" He snapped walking over to me.

"It's yours?" I asked, turning my attention from the guitar to him.

"Well, you don't see James with fucking Strats do you?" He scoffed sarcastically.

I set the guitar down, and stood up, looking up towards him.

"Look dickhead, it's not like I fucking grabbed it on purpose, okay! I asked John if I could use one to pass some time, and he fucking handed it to me, I had no fucking control over which one he gave me!" I snapped.

"You could've been more fucking specific, and asked for one of James's!" He raised his voice even more.

"God, can you fucking get your head out of your ass!" I shouted frustratedly.

"Why don't you crawl up there and fucking get it! Since you're up my fucking ass half the time anyways!" He retaliated, throwing his arms up in irritation.

"I'm the one up your ass? Oh please." I scoffed.

"Fuck you." He muttered, as he looked away clenching his jaw.

"I fucking hate you!" I shouted.

Just as I did so, James had walked out of the same room Kirk previously exited.

"What the hell's going on?" He questioned loudly.

Kirk and I both snapped our head in James's direction. The second Kirk saw him, he scoffed and stormed off.

James watched as Kirk walked off, but only sighed and turned his attention towards me since I was the only one left standing there.

"What the fuck happened?" He asked quietly, letting out another heavy sigh.

"He got pissed 'cause John let me use one of his guitars." I mumbled, crossing my arms.

I truly don't know why, but something about this bothered me. Typically argument's don't phase me. Hell, I argue with people for fun sometimes, but this wasn't one of those times.

"I'm sorry, kid." He said sincerely, pulling me into a side hug.

"I don't know what his fucking deal is. I mean I messed with him a bit when I first met him, but I didn't think it was so far to where it'd make him hate my guts." I sighed.

I felt comfortable enough around James to actually talk, rather than just shrug it off.

"He's just... in a tough spot right now." James replied hesitantly.

"So, is he just a dick all the time then?" I asked, somewhat sarcastically.

James chuckled and shook his head, "No not around us usually, he's just got some stuff recently."

I nodded slowly, pressing my lips into a thin line.

"I gotta go get onstage, just try to enjoy the concert, alright? Don't let this ruin it." He smiled at me.

I smiled back, and nodded as he jogged off toward the stage.

I shortly saw Kirk, slowly stumble his way toward the stage as-well. We briefly locked eyes, before he let out a heavy sigh, and turned around to continue his way up the ramp.