First Love | James Hetfield

Hertz Donut

Rory, Bea, and Annie all drove down to Ashland while James reluctantly rounded up the other guys and began clearing space in the garage for the girl's stuff.

The girls were just pulling into the driveway when Lars and Kirk emerged from the garage. Kirk waved his hand aggressively while Lars lifted his chin. "There they are!"

Cliff and James were still in the garage when the girls hopped out of the car. "Took you long enough." Kirk snickered.

"It's like a four hour drive, dude. Shut up." Aurora grumbled. Kirk raised his arms in defense when he realized she was probably exhausted from all the work.

"It was worth it, though." Annie smiled as she approached them. Cliff turned his head and greeted her. "We thought we'd have to make multiple trips, but nah, we got it all." She nodded with one eye closed to block the sun.

"Sweet." Cliff nodded.

"Oh, and by the way," Bea spoke up. "We probably won't have to use the garage." She hid her grin.

"What?" James and Cliff said in unison.

"Yeah, she didn't actually have that much stuff, but my garage needed a cleaning, so thanks!" Bea smiled sweetly before she turned for the front door.

Cliff laughed it off but James clenched his jaw and glared at the back of Anneliese's stupid fucking brown curls. It was probably her idea just to piss him off, he thought.

It certainly wasn't her plan, but it definitely worked.

Annie followed Bea into the house, then the guys did a few minutes later. Cliff gave James a concerned look when he heard him whispering curse words as he stared at the ground.

When the guys entered the house, they went straight for the kitchen for drinks after all their work. James and Cliff sat next to Kirk and Lars on the stools in front of the island while the girls shuffled through cabinets.

"Can you get me a beer?" Cliff asked while he let out a relieved breath. Bea turned to look at him and cocked her head. "Uh.. no? You can get it yourself."

Cliff groaned but got up anyway, and went to the fridge. "Just kidding, you can't. You can have water." Bea said as she blocked the fridge. James rolled his eyes and dropped his head onto the counter as he was about to ask Cliff to grab him one too.

"Whatever." Cliff grumbled, moving next to Annie to get a glass. "What are you making?" He asked while she stirred something.

"Lemonade!" She swiftly turned to face the other guys. "Who wants some?" She looked at Kirk and Lars, and to his surprise, even James.

"Me, please." Kirk said, rubbing the sweat from his forehead. "I'll have some too." Lars spoke up. She nodded at the two then looked at James. He stared at her confused for a minute. She raised her eyebrows and gestured to the lemonade pitcher.

"Oh, yeah.. I guess- whatever." James waved her off and laid his head back on the counter.

Bea flipped the stove on to start making grilled sandwiches for everybody. "Okay, after we eat, we're gonna start loading Annie's stuff into the house."

Annie smiled at Bea's organization- how she always had everything planned and prepared.. like a mother.

James grumbled something after Bea turned away again. "What was that, Hetfield?" She asked.

"Why can't we just do it tomorrow?" He asked, delivering it as more of a statement rather than a question.

"Because I don't want my shit sitting in the bed of Bea's truck for someone to steal overnight." Annie snapped back, flicking the lemonade off the spoon and into the sink.