Hidden feelings | Kirk Hammett

2. The Metallimansion

After ordering our food, we began to talk.

"I just realized I haven't introduced myself yet, I'm Cliff Burton."

"I'm Maya Hawkins.." Maya said timidly. She usually isn't that shy, so she probably likes him a lot.

"That's a beautiful name." Cliff smiled at her and her cheeks turned pink.

"And I'm Juliette Olsen, nice to meet you."

"What are your hobbies?" I asked Cliff.

"Well, you already know, I like horror movies and horror books, and I also play bass in a band called Metallica. We don't have any albums yet but we're planning to record one soon with our new lead guitarist."

"Wow that's so cool, bass is a nice instrument." Maya seemed to be a lot less shy now.

"What happened to your old lead guitarist?" I was curious to know.

"Oh, we kicked him out a few days ago for being violent. I don't have anything against him personally though, but I think it's for the better. I hope he's doing okay now."

"Oh, I see. I play the drums and Maya likes to sing and play guitar."

"Nice, our drummer really isn't the best.." he chuckled.

"I bet he's better than me at least." I laughed.

"Well, we'll see.. You guys should come over sometime to meet the other guys."

We talked for a few hours at the diner, the staff didn't seem to mind.

Maya said that she had to go home, so she and Cliff exchanged numbers and she left.

I told her to call Nancy and tell her I might not be coming home tonight.

Cliff invited me over to his house which he shared with his bandmates. The next day was a weekend and I didn't have work, so it was alright.

They had named it the 'Metallimansion' which I thought was a pretty creative name but was pretty misleading as it wasn't a mansion at all.

Entering the living room, I saw two men drunkenly shouting at each other.

"If you want to be the biggest band in the world, THEN YOU'VE GOT TO STEP IT UP!" a shirtless man with long dirty blonde hair yelled at another shirtless guy with long light brown hair.

"I'M TRYING!" the guy with light brown hair shouted back.

"STOP!" Cliff yelled.

The two men seemed to just notice us walking into the house.

"Who's that?" the guy with brown hair asked, he seemed to have some kind of accent.

"That's Juliette. Juliette, this is Lars, and that is James." he introduced.

Thankfully, they were really nice and welcomed me to their home.

"Stay as long as you want, don't worry." James smiled at me.

"Wait hold on, isn't there another person I have to meet? You told me there were 4 people in your band."

"Oh yeah, he's sleeping right now, I'll introduce you to him tomorrow." Cliff answered.

"Unfortunately, we don't have a guest room, so you can take my bed, just be quiet because I don't want him to wake up."

"Then where are you sleeping?" He was being way too nice.

"On the couch, don't worry I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course." he insisted. "And if you need to change you can borrow some of my clothes, they're in the closet by my bed."

"Thank you so much! Good night."

He showed me to the room and then went back out to the living room.

I stepped into the bedroom and crept quietly to the closet by the empty bed and pulled out a shirt and some shorts.

I went onto the bed and faced the wall. I figured the guy in the bed on the opposite side of the room was asleep, and even if he wasn't, it would be dark enough for him not to see anything, so I slipped off my shirt and pants and changed into Cliff's clothes.

They were pretty big on me, but they felt comfortable.

I pulled the blanket over me and slowly drifted off to sleep.